Your ride today.... (part 1)

[nickyboy]

Not my ride today, but I hope a day spent watching the TdF sorta qualifies.

We decided to go to Bradfield (about 20 miles away) rather than Holme Moss (10 miles away) because it was easier to get to and, hopefully, easier to get a decent view (more of this later).
Lunch was booked in The Plough in Lower Bradfield (Bradfield is split into two by an extremely steep hill, hence Lower and Upper). Pint of commemorative local Ale at 11.30am, giant Yorkshire pud with chips and gravy at 12.

Now the idea was to go to Upper Bradfield, watch the race on the big screen, then pop up the hill to bag a decent spot. I hadn't anticipated about 6.000 folk on a 1km stretch of hill. No way to get even a semi-decent spot on the way up. Folk looked like they'd been there since daybreak with foldy chairs, cool boxes, the lot. We finally found a spot about 30m over the summit and settled down.

Now for the bit about how I got escorted out of the "premium camping area". We were a bit thirsty (it was a long time since the commemorative ale) so I spotted a burger van in a field with a big screen. Popped through the gate, asked for a couple of bottles of water at the van. Only to be confronted by a security guard who, upon seeing I didn't have a premium camping area told me I couldn't buy water. Luckily the burger van owner saw sense and chucked them to me, I gave her the money. Then, the ignominy, I walked back to the gate....only to find the security guard "escorting" me. I told him to f*** off and not be so f***ing stupid. He took my advice

Didn't manage to snag anything from the promo caravan. No festina watches, garmin sat navs or skoda cars.

But the lead group coming through was mega-exciting. Seeing such a small group with Froome, Contador, Nibali in it made it clear that a real race was on. 15 minutes later Kittel came through for the biggest cheer of the day.

Slow walk down the hill. Queue even for the gents toilets in the pub. Smell of burning clutches with hundreds of cars trying to get home up the steep climbs out of Bradfield.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

On my to do list for June was to ride the hills in the Ride London 100. So I did it today :-)

Drove to Effingham with the bike, I had a 40 mile circular route planned, down to the Ride London route, Climb to West Horsley, Newlands Hill, through Abinger, Leith Hill, through Dorking, Box Hill, through Leatherhead and back to the car.

I started with really heavy legs, I'd done my first FNRttC two days previously which, including the ride home saw me almost hit 90 miles, my previous best being 50 odd. By West Horsley I was wondering what I was doing here, come the start of Newlands and I was seriously questioning it and considering just giving up and doing it another day. Then I lost the chain in to the back wheel and just avoided a clipless tumble. By the side of the road, on the hill, I took some electrolite drink, sorted out the chain, decided to see how I felt at the top and started climbing again.

I am yet to like hills. I have a good recovery rate, but I don't consider myself a fast climber and tire fast. A lot of the serious hills for Kent that I've tried haven't been first time successes, although I'm yet to walk one. The idea of a percentage in double figures worries me.

I headed up for the top in the bottom two gears and after the enforced pause things flowed easier. The carpark came and went and the descent was fast and fun. Turned south at Abinger Hammer and found myself climbing again, while accomplished cyclists might not think so, the Surrey Hills have a lot of climbs in them, I passed two other bikes on the way up the climb, one racer shepherding a hybrid by the look of it, and stopped at the top for a gel. Again a good descent and I was heading for Leith, only to find the route completely blocked due to roadworks (that seem to have a completion date beyond the event date, I presume they'll do a temporary fix for the event). There was no way past, even on foot, so I studied the Garmin a bit and headed south. It was more of a detour (with some more up and downs) than I'd hoped, I followed a guy in an A-Z Map jersey but chose not to overtake him when I finally got to his wheel because he was obviously faster than me. He seemed to know where he was going and disappeared after I took another 'where's the Garmin taking me' stop. It's almost as if the Garmin map has too much detail, I need less dirt tracks to show up and complicate things.

Following real tarmac roads I ended up back on the route at the other end of the connecting road to Leith Hill and started the climb. Everyone says Leith is the hardest of the three and I'm happy to agree with them. Lots of steep (for me) kicks and corners. I ground up it in the lowest gears again and saw some of the slowest speeds I've managed on the bike. I got fed up of hoping the next corner was the last one and by the last couple of hundred metres my brain was starting to suggest giving up and unclipping. Instead I got stubborn and kept turning the pedals eventually making the top and stopping next to one of the car parks for a serious drag of drink and half an energy bar. Between the bike fit, new saddle, and miles including a bunch in the wet I'm suffering a bit with tender bum cheeks and they were really starting to remind me I wasn't treating them right by now. But I still had Box Hill to do so did yet another fast descent. I need to remember the slight up hill kick part way down the hill, Giving it some speed should see me through it easily, but just relying on freewheeling (as I was doing a lot by now) makes it need some proper pedalling. A bit more rolling hills, and then down in to Dorking, which looks like it'll be a fun place to cycle through on the event. Out on to the dual carriageway and along to the bottom of the hill, the right hand turn is quite tight and narrow, which could be quite a nasty bottleneck on the day. Box Hill was a grind, long but comfortable. The hairpins weren't as steep as I'd expected. It's only remarkable bit being the view at the top, and that it seems to never know where to stop, running all the way up to Box Hill Village. From there it was down hill again, back in to some rolling hills to Leatherhead, where the Garmin desperately wanted me to ride on pavements through the pedestrian zone, and then off to the car. I was done by this point and really wanted a reason to stop for 10 minutes, but I'm terrible at 'just stopping' and no petrol station or open corner shop presented itself. By the time I was seriously considering pubs as an option the Garmin told me that the next point was the End Point. I don't have it set to tell me distance to point (I may change this) which meant it seemed to take ages to get there and I was definitely ready to stop when the car arrived. I ate the rest of my Mule bar and chugged the Rehab I'd left in the car (by this point my hydration pack and electrolite drink were both empty) texted my wife to say I'd done it and headed home.

My figures aren't going to win any prizes, 74.1km, 3 hours 11 moving time and 729m elevation, average speed 23.2km/h with a 69.1km/h max. I spent 17 minutes stationary. All of the hills were do-able for me, which was really important to know. I've also got an idea of local hills to try and replicate them on, the biggest thing being length of the hills. I also have a vague idea where Col de Leith ends which is useful. I need to remember not to do 90 miles the day before the event and I think I'll be OK. I might even be able to consider that 6:20 overall time target again. I think the biggest issue for me is going to be Leith Hill with traffic on it. I can imagine a fair number of people stopping on the hill, I came very close to it, and if I end up stopping I'm not sure it won't mean also walking some of it. We'll see.

 

[gavgav]

Thankfully I have rarely had close passes, the only noteable one really was some ar$e in a BMW on a commute. Drivers now seem so much more aware of cyclists and are showing much more patience, which is great for us. They always get a thankyou wave if they are nice

Armathwaite is a lovely little village, but every road out of it involves a steep climb. First time I went there shortly after I started cycling a couple of years back, I went in down the Station road and popped into the shop. The shopkeeper then told me that "well, no matter which way you're going back, you'll have to climb a hell of a hill!". And he was right. I suffered on the way back

I wish that applied to the prat in a Porsche who gave me my closest pass ever, at 70mph yesterday!

 

[Glow worm]

Just a quick 11 mile circuit here today along familiar haunts on the Lodes Way between Cambridge and Ely. This is Tubney Fen near a village called Reach, where I stopped for a brew. On one of my usual busy routes..

A bit further along some poppies caught my eye near Swaffham Prior...

Seemed really quiet today, I guess the TDF and tennis was keeping folk at home. Hoping to see the TDF roar past tomorrow somewhere near Cambridge if I can skive off work for an hour or two!

 

[Gravity Aided]

15 miles today, trying to hold my own in the local standings of the National Biking Challenge. I tried raising the saddle on the Cannondale, but felt like I was a bit too high, so I split the difference and felt okay. Still not times like yesterday, but it was much hotter and more humid today.

 

[Stonechat]

15 miles today, trying to hold my own in the local standings of the National Biking Challenge. I tried raising the saddle on the Cannondale, but felt like I was a bit too high, so I split the difference and felt okay. Still not times like yesterday, but it was much hotter and more humid today.

Can't say I 'd heard of the National Biking Challenge

 

[coffeejo]

15 miles today, trying to hold my own in the local standings of the National Biking Challenge. I tried raising the saddle on the Cannondale, but felt like I was a bit too high, so I split the difference and felt okay. Still not times like yesterday, but it was much hotter and more humid today.

Can't say I 'd heard of the National Biking Challenge

I had a quick read of the website. Sounds like an excellent initiative. Shame it's US-only.

https://nationalbikechallenge.org

 

[DCLane]

A busy weekend:

Rode up to Horton-in-Ribblesdale on Friday ( http://www.strava.com/activities/161664058 ) in the rain, past lots of traffic which eased at Skipton - ?TDF traffic.

Then on Saturday I went to Buttertubs and found a quiet spot about halfway up. 'Found' isn't exactly the term; I was riding up trying to get past the walkers and slower riders and couldn't get any further for the queues. By a load of trees, which blocked the wind, there was a wall with no-one there. "That'll do" thought me, and it did:

Having seen the tour I set off back to Horton-in-Ribblesdale through a packed Hawes, only for the chain to snap. . Loads of people were riding and a couple asked if I had a chain tool / link. I did or hoped I did in my pack. Someone stopped and waited, asked if I knew DCLane and then realised it was me . My excuse for not recognising @oldfatfool immediately was I was looking where the chain had gone ... down the hill . Chain fixed thanks to a quick link and back to Horton, then stopped for fish and chips in Hellifield http://www.strava.com/activities/162136624 after which Strava decided it didn't like the chips and stopped. So no recording for the final 40 miles.

On Sunday my youngest (now 10) and myself drove to near Royd Moor and rode to Woodhead Pass, hoping to meet my club at their 'secret viewing point'. Only they weren't there; thousands of other spectators were. So we had to ride to the top, he waited whilst I had a speed run down and back up again when they finally arrived from a slow café stop. Place found and Stage 2 watched. Apologies if you were the family who were 'befriended' by a load of my club-mates and they ate most of your lunch

Duly rode back just as rain arrived ( http://www.strava.com/activities/162471886 ). Huge crowds, great weather and a great advert for racing in Yorkshire.

 

[Old Plodder]

I watched it, (the TdeF that is), from the comfort of my chair at home with plenty of food & drink to hand.

 

[EltonFrog]

I bet you lot are sick and tired of me just showing you photos of trees, grass, sheep, cows and water, so today I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. Ill be showing you my local town. I wanted to experiment with my saddle as it was too low, so I could ride around the car park raising the saddle to test it. It still needs a bit of a tweak, but as @Rickshaw Phil always says, the first thing to do is check the height of your saddle if your having problems.

Owain Glandwr was the last Welsh prince of Wales, and he had Machynlleth (Mach) as the locals call it as his capital. The Welsh parliament was held here and this building was built around 1404
View attachment 49490

View attachment 49491

there are only around 2,000 people in Mach, but even so we still have a park. View attachment 49492

very fancy gates leading into the park.

View attachment 49493

there's even a nice small woodland for the kids to play in View attachment 49494 View attachment 49495

at the end of the main road is a crossroads. The town clock is there. A couple of years ago, the town spent a lot of money repairing and cleaning it. If you turn left at the clock, the road takes you to Aberystwyth which is about 18 miles away from Mach. If you go right at the clock, the road takes you to CAT, the centre for alternative technology which was set up in the 70's View attachment 49496

There's lovely, look you. Now then, I want to tell you a question isn't it. Why do we only see the rear end of your bicycle in the photos then, now?

 

[welsh dragon]

There's lovely, look you. Now then, I want to tell you a question isn't it. Why do we only see the rear end of your bicycle in the photos then, now?

That does not sound welsh. More like jimmy saville and that wont do at all. Bora da. And to answer your question, i have no idea why i take photos from the back. Next time i'll take one from the front. It will be tidy, and hellish good.

 

[Saluki]

That does not sound welsh. More lime jimmy saville and that wont do at all. Bora da. And to answer your question, i have no idea why i take photos from the back. Next time i'll take one from the front. It will be tidy, and hellish good.

Wish I could like this twice. It made me chuckle out loud. Hubster is looking at me as if I've lost my mind again.

 

[welsh dragon]

Wish I could like this twice. It made me chuckle out loud. Hubster is looking at me as if I've lost my mind again.

glad you liked it.

 

[Old Plodder]

Wish I could like this twice. It made me chuckle out loud. Hubster is looking at me as if I've lost my mind again.

....again.....?!

 

[EltonFrog]

Wish I could like this twice. It made me chuckle out loud. Hubster is looking at me as if I've lost my mind again.

Oi! Where's my like? FFS!