The Annual Lunacy (aka "I Don't Do Winter") Challenge Chatzone

[aferris2]

Ride 10 done today so only 3 more to go. Just about a repeat of the last ride so it's all familiar territory. I need to do a bit more preparation into these rides so that I get to explore new places. FInding a nice pub for lunch would be a good idea too if the weather holds out. Today would have been perfect but I need to work out a route going a bit further north than I have been doing this year.

Good luck all who are in the challenge. @ColinJ only 10 more? Easy

 

[ColinJ]

Good luck all who are in the challenge. @ColinJ only 10 more? Easy

I'm going to have start an "Ultra Lunacy - I MAINLY Do Winter" challenge!

Unless something bad happens, I will get an imperial century in on Saturday from York to the Humber Bridge and back.

I am going down to Devon for a week in October. The middle part of that visit is reserved for family gatherings, but I am extending my visit long enough to (hopefully!) get 2 metric centuries done, one before everyone else gets there, and one after they have gone home. I'm slightly worried about a 'thorny issue' though... The narrow lanes that I used on my last visit had high hedges which will have probably been given a good flailing since then. I might be forced to do more of my riding on busier roads.

Hmm... That would still leave another 7!

 

[steverob]

One more to go! (And then another three if I want to achieve my stretch goal...)

Felt incredibly warm out there today, yet according to the temperatures recorded by my Garmin, it ranged from 14 to 25 degrees C (and only very briefly at those two extremities) whereas I felt it was a lot hotter than that - certainly there were some parts where I was sweating like a demon and it certainly wasn't down to me pushing too hard!

Went for a journey through Oxford and then a loop down through some villages to the south of the city which would eventually bring me back to the Oxford ring road from where I could pick up the road back home. The best part of it was the proliferation of cycle paths - while sometimes it got a little confusing when it rapidly changed from on-road to shared path to sub-divided path and then back to on-road again in the matter of half a mile, at least it meant that I had no qualms about riding on/alongside major roads that I was unfamiliar with (most of my route down to Oxford in the first place I'd done plenty of times before - it was only once I was in the city centre that it became new terrain).

Also should probably mention my previous challenge ride which was the Etape Loch Ness. Can highly recommend this ride/sportive/event to anyone - was superbly organised (especially given all the Covid protocols) and it is a wonderful route with the closed roads and beautiful scenery. Yes, it can be a bit of a balls ache getting to Inverness in the first place with a bike, but if you make a holiday of it as I did, you can get quite a lot of other quality riding done in the area as well.

Did run into a small problem with the distance however - the course was advertised as being 66 miles (65 being my secondary target) and I'd stopped at two pit-stops which should have added on mileage, but when I crossed the finish line my Garmin only showed 64.7. Even with free-wheeling to the post-race bit where you pick up your medals I was still short and at that point you had to dismount, so I ended up doing circles in the car park until my device said 65.01. The things we do for this challenge!

 

[ColinJ]

Even with free-wheeling to the post-race bit where you pick up your medals I was still short and at that point you had to dismount, so I ended up doing circles in the car park until my device said 65.01. The things we do for this challenge!

I have done a few circuits of the backstreets of Todmorden for that very reason.

 

[steverob]

It's one thing to do that around your local roads when nobody is paying attention - certainly done that myself. Another to do it after the finish line of a sportive when loads of other people are around and probably wondering what the hell you're doing!

 

[ColinJ]

It's one thing to do that around your local roads when nobody is paying attention - certainly done that myself. Another to do it after the finish line of a sportive when loads of other people are around and probably wondering what the hell you're doing!

Just tell them that you are 'warming down' after your ride...

 

[Sea of vapours]

I think that probably really is my final tally for this year's Lunacy Challenge. 18 completed at my target of 150km, but 14 of those at 161km or more, so an Imperial Century Lunacy.

That distance boost was all aided by the 'need' to get to Wells-next-the-Sea, in Norfolk, from the Yorkshire Dales. I took advantage of Premier Inn's 'the bike can definitely go in your room' policy and did the trip each way in two days, via a night in Lovely Scunthorpe, adding four 200+ km rides to the Lunacy count. In doing so I've discovered that it's possible to go signficantly faster and quite a bit further on the flatlands of Lincolnshire than the rather hillier terrain I'm used to. I still much prefer the hills though! Back to trying to complete the Lunacy Climbing Challenge now.

 

[ColinJ]

I rode beyond my (comfortable) ability on Sunday to get my 5th qualifier in. What made it so hard was inserting a 39 km loop with 1,100+ m of often steep ascent in the middle of the ride. The rest of the route was easier but still clocked up over 1,000 m more ascent. My day out totalled about 2,170 m in 100 km.

 

[ColinJ]

I am going down to Devon for a week in October. The middle part of that visit is reserved for family gatherings, but I am extending my visit long enough to (hopefully!) get 2 metric centuries done, one before everyone else gets there, and one after they have gone home. I'm slightly worried about a 'thorny issue' though... The narrow lanes that I used on my last visit had high hedges which will have probably been given a good flailing since then. I might be forced to do more of my riding on busier roads.

I got the first one done today, a variation on the route I did in the summer.

There was some extra detritus on the roads but I didn't have any problems with thorns.

There was 'only' just shy of 1,500 m of ascent but the majority of that was in the first 60-odd km, including some very tough 20% ramps. My legs felt a bit battered by the time that I got to the Exe Valley cycle path from Starcross to Exeter. It was fun to get a good spin in on the path but there was a bit of a headwind which meant it was still hard work.

Let's see if the weather stays good and if I can raise the motivation to do another metric century before going home.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I think that probably really is my final tally for this year's Lunacy Challenge.

I thought that, but I was wrong.

I've been meaning to do the C2C for ages. i.e. the route from Whitehaven to Sunderland via the Lakes, the properly lumpy bit through the Pennines, and then to Sunderland. I couldn't work out how to do it logistically as I'm not at all keen on relying on trains in the UK and there are obvious issues with driving to one end or the other. After all these Lunacy rides this year, I decided that I could probably do it as three days, cycling to the start and back home from the finish on days one and three. There were never any decent weather windows which I was able to use over summer (maybe none at all - I forget), but then one, Sunday to Tuesday just gone, cropped up in mid-October. Hardly ideal from a daylight hours point of view, but I thought it was just about viable (I didn't fancy doing more than a teeny bit in the dark).

And it worked! As well as not liking the bike+train combination, I'm even less of a fan of cycle paths, so my route headed through more lumps east of Consett, which may have added some time. And I had to get back from the coast to an hotel I'd booked in Durham too, which was an unwelcome 23km at the end. Overall, though, a really fine day out; three days out in fact. I may have a go at it in summer when I can get up much later and not spend most of the day concerned about how much I'll still have to go at sunset. As it was, I made the coast about ten minutes prior to the Sun going down and the hotel about one hour post sunset, so not toooo bad.

Seems to me it was properly in the spirit of the Lunacy Challenge :-) Fun too.

 

[ColinJ]

@Sea of vapours is taking care of the tougher rides, so I thought I'd lend a hand with the easier ones...

I treated myself to a much easier Devon metric century today... 102 km with only 1,025 m of ascent and none of that being particularly steep. It was nice to get back with my unfit legs and back not killing me for once! There was just enough difficulty to make me feel that I have made some effort, but I am not exhausted this time.

 

[Sea of vapours]

102 km with only 1,025 m of ascent

Such things exist in Devon? Remarkable. I am genuinely surprised as that is what I'd tend to label as 'flat' around here and I thought Devon was equally lumpy. Well found !

 

[ColinJ]

Such things exist in Devon? Remarkable. I am genuinely surprised as that is what I'd tend to label as 'flat' around here and I thought Devon was equally lumpy. Well found !

I was pretty surprised too!

It is very easy to make rides here very hard, but pretty hard to make them pretty easy...

 

[aferris2]

I need to get out more often! Not been on the bike for a month and it's just down to making those lame excuses. It's too windy, it might rain, it's not boiling hot. Actually once you're out and on the bike, it's great! Just my now standard reverse loop that I did last time. Will try to do something different next time, even if it's just going the other way round.

 

[ColinJ]

I forgot to mention that I made a bad mistake yesterday which could have had serious consequences as I came into Exmouth...

I had made a minor navigational error at a small roundabout and turned left when I should have gone straight on. I realised almost immediately and stopped. I was looking to do a u-turn*** so I was looking back behind me. The road off the roundabout was clear. I looked ahead and there was oncoming traffic. I hesitated. The oncoming driver stopped and indicated for me to go ahead. I forgot to check behind me again and started to do my turn. WRONG!!! In that second or so a fast-moving car had come tanking up behind me. I spotted him and braked. The driver spotted me and braked. I immediately apologised and accepted full responsibility (even though I actually think that he was partly to blame because he was driving too fast AND hadn't seen what I was so obviously doing until it was nearly too late). What peed me off was that he and his passenger then both started raging and screaming abuse at me. I suggested that both of them would soon have heart attacks if they carried on like that. They drove off even faster than before...

I must be more careful in traffic. I do my best to avoid it so my speeding urban motorist-avoidance skills are a bit rusty!

*** Yes - I should have carried on down the road for 50+ metres to get well away from that roundabout!