- Location
- Egham
A like for making me smile
Your ride today.... (part 1)
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
- Status
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ScotiaLass
Guru
- Location
- Middle Earth
Meant to ask if you went 'woohoo' and wanted to do it again......A like for making me smile
- Location
- Egham
I was tempted, and with both feet off the pedals too. This is a little surreal
ScotiaLass
Guru
- Location
- Middle Earth
Oh there's no better way than with both feet off the ground...you feel like you're flying....
- Location
- Egham
I'll give it a whirl tomorrow, wonder what the neighbours will think, maybe I should try it somewhere quiet first...
welsh dragon
Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
Nahh, just go for it....
ScotiaLass
Guru
- Location
- Middle Earth
as long as you shout 'Geronimo' or similar....it's compulsory you know...
- Location
- Egham
I was thinking perhaps, 'fandabidozee', would suit my terribly retroboy 80's status
ScotiaLass
Guru
- Location
- Middle Earth
"fandabidoubledozee'
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
I've just done a major downhill. I didn't shout "Geronimo!" or anything like that, but I grinned so much I had to pick a fly out of my teeth at the bottom.
welsh dragon
Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
PatrickPending
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
My ride yesterday - 178Km round the vale of Belvoir. This time taking different route up from Blaby, just south of Leicester. First ride out with the garmin hedge thingie - mapping meant I didn't get lost as much as usual so rather pleased. Saw an absolutely massive hare, lots of sheep a deer and a baby squirrel - a bird was trying to take him away but flew off when I arrived. Got a bit wet but was rather nice nonetheless..
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
Been out on the bike twice since arriving in Languedoc. Don't know how I've found the time, between some fantastic sightseeing, some great eating out, and a load of loafing in the pool. Weather: Windy but Scorchio! 
My first ride was 13.2 miles, and included a great 2-3 mile climb up from the picturesque village of Cucugnan, up past the ruined Cathar castle of Queribus to the Grau de Maury (a gap in the Corbieres Hills) that leads you into the Catalan part of France, and gives great views of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. I hadn't actually realised that the first 3 miles were slightly uphill, as I was heading into a tough headwind. On the way back, I managed to go at least 3.5 miles without turning a pedal, but it felt extremely dodgy as I was buffeted every which way, and my map holder wanted to go airborne. When I turned to go down through one last gorge, the wind tunnel was so fierce that I struggled to make any headway down hill, so I turned back, deciding it really wasn't safe.
Hard-earned view from above Cucugnan, set among the Corbieres vineyards.
Crossed from Aude into the Catalan department of Pyrenees Orientales
The castle of Queribus on the skyline.
Distant view of the Pyrenees (far background, in the clouds).
My second ride was a 12.5 mile ride out from the hilltop village we are staying in. 1.4 miles straight down, then a near 5 mile climb up into the "Garrigue" scrub land above the vineyards and then back the same way. On the way, I stopped off at a little rock pool, where some very noisy little frogs (the amphibian type) were making a racket. I felt a bit guilty, as they actually screamed as they jumped into the water in panic at the site of me. Also saw a couple of huge hares in a field, and heard a small group of wild boar very close to me, but completely out of sight among the broom bushes. Great 5 mile descent on the way back, but nearly swallowed a fly on the way. Tough 1.4 mile climb back into the village at the end - made much more bearable by Mrs Donger pouring me a cold glass of Kronenbourg to meet me with at the door. The glass had misted up.
The frog pool near Dernaceuillette.
View down through the garrigue to the road I climbed.
Very Roman looking church above Massac.
One thing you can't do with pictures is convey the sounds and smells you encounter on a ride. The sweet scent of broom hanging in the air is a classic trait of Languedoc at this time of year, as is the constant sound of cicadas, and these were two of the highlights of these rides. :
A broom bush (or "plante-a genet", from where the name of the royal house of Plantagenet came).
Fancy a bit more climbing before the week is out, but thunderstorms are forecast for the next couple of days. I'll try to avoid them, but I've been a bit of a lightning magnet lately.
Speak to you all again soon, if this rubbish French internet doesn't crash again.
Cheers, Donger.
My first ride was 13.2 miles, and included a great 2-3 mile climb up from the picturesque village of Cucugnan, up past the ruined Cathar castle of Queribus to the Grau de Maury (a gap in the Corbieres Hills) that leads you into the Catalan part of France, and gives great views of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. I hadn't actually realised that the first 3 miles were slightly uphill, as I was heading into a tough headwind. On the way back, I managed to go at least 3.5 miles without turning a pedal, but it felt extremely dodgy as I was buffeted every which way, and my map holder wanted to go airborne. When I turned to go down through one last gorge, the wind tunnel was so fierce that I struggled to make any headway down hill, so I turned back, deciding it really wasn't safe.
Hard-earned view from above Cucugnan, set among the Corbieres vineyards.
Crossed from Aude into the Catalan department of Pyrenees Orientales
The castle of Queribus on the skyline.
Distant view of the Pyrenees (far background, in the clouds).My second ride was a 12.5 mile ride out from the hilltop village we are staying in. 1.4 miles straight down, then a near 5 mile climb up into the "Garrigue" scrub land above the vineyards and then back the same way. On the way, I stopped off at a little rock pool, where some very noisy little frogs (the amphibian type) were making a racket. I felt a bit guilty, as they actually screamed as they jumped into the water in panic at the site of me. Also saw a couple of huge hares in a field, and heard a small group of wild boar very close to me, but completely out of sight among the broom bushes. Great 5 mile descent on the way back, but nearly swallowed a fly on the way. Tough 1.4 mile climb back into the village at the end - made much more bearable by Mrs Donger pouring me a cold glass of Kronenbourg to meet me with at the door. The glass had misted up.
The frog pool near Dernaceuillette.
View down through the garrigue to the road I climbed.
Very Roman looking church above Massac.One thing you can't do with pictures is convey the sounds and smells you encounter on a ride. The sweet scent of broom hanging in the air is a classic trait of Languedoc at this time of year, as is the constant sound of cicadas, and these were two of the highlights of these rides. :
A broom bush (or "plante-a genet", from where the name of the royal house of Plantagenet came).Fancy a bit more climbing before the week is out, but thunderstorms are forecast for the next couple of days. I'll try to avoid them, but I've been a bit of a lightning magnet lately.
Speak to you all again soon, if this rubbish French internet doesn't crash again.
Cheers, Donger.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I had that on a cycling holiday in Spain. On a very windy day, I tried riding a road up a gorge into a tunnel. I could barely even get to the entrance to the tunnel, and then came to an abrupt stop as the wind coming through the tunnel must have been accelerated to about 50-60 mph. I did an unplanned trackstand in a 39/29 gear which I just could not turn, and then the front of the bike lifted and I got blown backwards off it. The bike actually took off and was about to disappear over a railing and fall down into the ravine below but I managed to get hold of it and wrestle it to the ground. At which point, I too "turned back, deciding it really wasn't safe"!
Looks like a fabulous holiday - I hope you enjoy the rest of it!
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
Thanks. Glad it's not just me, Colin. Shame I've missed your little TDF taster - and the TDF itself. But you've just gotta go for it when you get the chance to take the bike somewhere different.I had that on a cycling holiday in Spain. On a very windy day, I tried riding a road up a gorge into a tunnel. I could barely even get to the entrance to the tunnel, and then came to an abrupt stop as the wind coming through the tunnel must have been accelerated to about 50-60 mph. I did an unplanned trackstand in a 39/29 gear which I just could not turn, and then the front of the bike lifted and I got blown backwards off it. The bike actually took off and was about to disappear over a railing and fall down into the ravine below but I managed to get hold of it and wrestle it to the ground. At which point, I too "turned back, deciding it really wasn't safe"!
Looks like a fabulous holiday - I hope you enjoy the rest of it!
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