Your ride today.... (part 1)

[EltonFrog]

Sick in ER, tummy bug so bad this year.

Get well soon, I like seeing YRT photos. I hope your back to normal soon. ( did you see what I did there?)

 

[Mattonsea]

Sick in ER, tummy bug so bad this year.

hope you are better !

 

[welsh dragon]

Sick in ER, tummy bug so bad this year.

Hope you feel better soon GA

 

[Donger]

Sick in ER, tummy bug so bad this year.

Sorry to hear that, GA. May your troubles soon be behind you ..... which they probably will be.

 

[welsh dragon]

Poor GA will probably end up with a ring of confidence round his @rse from spending so much time on the throne.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Poor GA will probably end up with a ring of confidence round his @rse from spending so much time on the throne.

Can't be any worse than my @rse, I've had this since Wednesday and it aint slowing down yet.

 

[welsh dragon]

Can't be any worse than my @rse, I've had this since Wednesday and it aint slowing down yet.

So ive heard. Hope you get well soon as well Dave.

 

[gordyfinbar]

A tough ride today 40 miles in the wind. Legs aching even after being in the bath for an hour.

To be honest I left the house with thermal top and rain coat and thermal gloves, when I left the house it seemed that I had the right clothing on.

We had about 10 people turn up for the ride today. Which considering the cold in though it was a good turnout. As usual @gordifinbar and @Donger were both there.

We set off in the Kingsway not long after 0900, it was quite a brisk pace. I slowly made my way through the pelaton to lead coming out of the Kingsway heading into Coplanar Pk. I put my foot down hoping to break away to try the bridge segment on my own. But it's a bit silly trying hard at the start of a ride. Well that's me.

We headed along Secondary Way, and along thematic road till we got to the dualcarriage way where we turned left towards Maisemore. We went through Maisemore and at the Peak of the hill in had to stop. I had to adjust my right shoe and sock as it was really aching evertime I pressed on the pedal.

I then had to push down the hill past Hartpury college, but as I haven't really done much riding in the last few weeks my legs didn't want to play ball. Not long after Hartpury village in found @gordifinbar waiting for me, with a note to say that everyone will be waiting at Staunton.

It was a decision of do we go to Ledbury or Tewkesbury? As there was a few peeps that had time restrictions then it was decided to go the shorter of the two routes.

It wasn't long that I found myself alone again, as everyone else has a road bike and me on my hybrid. You get used to it, I stayed on the road until I saw someone waiting at the turn off point at Berrow. For a few moments I thought I missed the turn off point and was going to end up at Upton on Severn.

Everything upto then was going on, but we were starting to turn for home and the windy ride home would begin in ernest.

Well @Donger was waiting at the turn off point and we set off towards Tewkesbury. I tried keeping up with him but as soon as we hit a incline and he's diesel engine kicked in her was gone.

A little way on I found Dean and @Donger waiting again by a road closed sign as we were going through.
After the M5 we found everyone waiting as there had been a off, but she was fine and everyone was ready to roll again.

Going into Tewkesbury the lights over the bridge were red and @Donger and Dean had to wait and I took too the pavement and carried on lol. In Tewkesbury the wind really hit me and I really started to struggle and list sight of the others quickly. At one point I stopped to message the guys not to be wait as I was struggling. Just as I finished sending it @Donger appeared and turned round and acted as a wind break for me.

When we arrived at Coombe Hill the others were waiting and decided to stay together for the last miles down the A38, we were averaging about 12 mph which was good considering the wind.


Going into Gloucester we avoided the centre as it's so close to Christmas. This time I didn't go to the start point to finish as I was finished! But going back into Coplanar Pk @Donger was slowing for me to finish with him.

For me the ride was 40 miles and even though the ride was tough it's always enjoyable.

sure was a tough headwind down the a38 . if its any consolation my legs were sore too. Just think of it as good training for when you get the road bike

 

[gordyfinbar]

Another 9:00am start with the Kingsway CC this morning, and although it was chilly and grey, it didn't rain at all, so the conditions seemed perfect. We rang the changes a bit and headed out to the North West towards the Malvern Hills, and into Worcestershire via Maisemore, Staunton and Pendock. When we were almost in the shadow of the Malverns we hung a right at Berrow and headed for Tewkesbury, then turned for home. Lovely quiet roads everywhere, and a joy to be out on the road. Sometimes it is only when you turn into the wind that you fully appreciate how strongly it is blowing, though, and it was a bit of a shock to all of us on the way back down the A38 from Tewkesbury to Gloucester. With some of us working as a proper peloton we took turns at leading the way, and it seemed to help. For some reason, people seem to quite like following me in these conditions.

When we got back to town it was quite a novelty to pick our way past all the Christmas shopping traffic and overtake 50 or 60 cars on the way back to Kingsway. My personal highlight today, though, was a close encounter with a free-range turkey near Staunton. He nearly ended up with Schwalbe tyre tracks across his neck. I guess he realised he probably only had about a week to live and thought he'd try living dangerously. 43.6 miles for me today. Surprisingly, this turns out to be my first back-to-back 30plus milers on consecutive days, having done 30 yesterday. I have to say I'm feeling great, so it looks like a bit of cycle touring in future can't be ruled out. Now only 90 miles away from 2,400 miles for the year. Somehow I've just got to do it now, to average 200 miles per month.

Cheers, Donger.

Yours is the wheel to follow in a stiff headwind mate .

 

[Goonerobes]

Sick in ER, tummy bug so bad this year.

Get well soon GA.

 

[derrick]

Did not turn a peddle at all this weekend, Can't remember the last time that happened, A weekend spent doing a few things i should have done a while ago, plus some Christmas shopping done, I really dislike shopping, Still normal service will resume next weekend.

 

[ColinJ]

Yeah, I thought so too. I had a large bowl of sugar puffs and some orange juice and it's usually enough for me to get through 40 without issue. I'm putting it down to a bit of a cold/manflu and a lack of training of late. Don't think i actually bonked after reading up on it, just ran out of energy completely. Managed to do the last 10 or so miles slowly, which i dont think i would have been able to do if i'd actually bonked.

It sounds like you were teetering on the brink of a full-blown bonk! As you discovered - if you catch it happening and back off in time, you can limp on.

A similar thing happened to me on a ride round the Isle of Mull in September. I came down with a 24 hour tummy bug a few miles into my ride and it stopped me eating much so I ran out of steam miles from anywhere. I had to keep lying down at the roadside to get my strength back. I just couldn't get enough food and drink down to keep me properly fuelled. Fortunately, I managed to crawl back to Craignure in time to catch the last ferry back to Oban.

 

[TheDoctor]

A frankly pathetic 4 miles for me today, going to the shops.
On the plus side, I have 6 bottles of wine!

 

[Gravity Aided]

Get well soon GA.

Thank you all. very much. We've had an epidemic of this going around lately, my pharmacists ran out of anti-nausea drugs, and I had to go farther out the Parkway for the medicine. All indications are I will be well by Tuesday. I go to a little R.C. hospital, and their ER was busy!

 

[ColinJ]

A frankly pathetic 4 miles for me today, going to the shops.
On the plus side, I have 6 bottles of wine!

A 4 mile ride to the shops beats a 4 mile drive to the shops!

The man across the road from my parents used to drive in a big loop to avoid walking 200 yards to the newsagent to pick up his evening paper.