jayonabike
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54 miles in the rain solo ride this afternoon and cycled up the wall that is Peters Lane, Whiteleaf in the Chiltern hills.
My ride yesterday started off as a short ride out for a coffee before rain arrived and ended up being my longest ever ride.
I've been seeing a personal trainer since January and following a nutrition plan with the aim of losing weight and getting fitter mainly for cycling. I've been feeling great and have done a couple of short rides this year which went well and was looking forward to a longer one. The weather forecast was looking good right up until Saturday evening, when it changed to cold and overcast instead of warm with sunny periods. I was a bit demotivated.
So I got up Sunday morning and it was indeed cloudy, but it was at least dry so I decided to go out and make up a route as I went along, I followed one of my normal routes for a while out to a local lake and then decided it was worth risking going a bit further to Rapperswil. There was a hill in the way that I've never made it all the way up which I thought would make a good test of my fitness level. That went well, the short but steep climb was conquered and I enjoyed beautiful views of the Swiss Alps in the distance all the way there. Got to Rapperswil and had Coffee and Lunch. The intention was to get the train home, but after a rest I felt good and decided to cycle home down the other side of Lake Zürich - No hills of any note until the climb out of Zürich back home that usually is enough for me, but at my door I'd done 90kms, and still felt good. I had to go for the 100 :-) So I added an extra loop to take me to 105. That was only 1km off my longest ride so I had to add 4 more to get my longest ride.
From starting off disappointed at the weather, I think I had my best ever day on a bike. Aching a bit today though!
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My ride yesterday started off as a short ride out for a coffee before rain arrived and ended up being my longest ever ride.
I've been seeing a personal trainer since January and following a nutrition plan with the aim of losing weight and getting fitter mainly for cycling. I've been feeling great and have done a couple of short rides this year which went well and was looking forward to a longer one. The weather forecast was looking good right up until Saturday evening, when it changed to cold and overcast instead of warm with sunny periods. I was a bit demotivated.
So I got up Sunday morning and it was indeed cloudy, but it was at least dry so I decided to go out and make up a route as I went along, I followed one of my normal routes for a while out to a local lake and then decided it was worth risking going a bit further to Rapperswil. There was a hill in the way that I've never made it all the way up which I thought would make a good test of my fitness level. That went well, the short but steep climb was conquered and I enjoyed beautiful views of the Swiss Alps in the distance all the way there. Got to Rapperswil and had Coffee and Lunch. The intention was to get the train home, but after a rest I felt good and decided to cycle home down the other side of Lake Zürich - No hills of any note until the climb out of Zürich back home that usually is enough for me, but at my door I'd done 90kms, and still felt good. I had to go for the 100 :-) So I added an extra loop to take me to 105. That was only 1km off my longest ride so I had to add 4 more to get my longest ride.
From starting off disappointed at the weather, I think I had my best ever day on a bike. Aching a bit today though!
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Can't afford it after buying a new tyre in a certain bike shop yesterday!
Bike selected; CGR (as I knew there'd be damp/mucky roads, & I might venture onto towpaths/old railways)Four days-off now
However, todays weather is certainly not conducive to a ride
Not that I'm (by any stretch of the imagination) a fair-weather rider
It's more the getting shouted at by SWMBO, when she comes home, for going out just to (as she'd see it) get very wet
Hoping for a better day tomorrow
What to do while your car is being M.O.T'd? I had just the idea today. Left the car at the main dealers in Cheltenham, and headed off along the edge of the Cotswolds for a touristy bike ride.
Stanton is one of my favourite small villages in the Cotswolds:
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Nice bike @cosmicbikeAfter picking up my new (to me) steed at the weekend, today was the day for a decent test and fettle to get the setup right. Since the day dawned nicely and I was in no rush, I opted to do the planned April half century (metric) ride with some extra's added on. This led me to some really quite nice roads that I've not ridden before in the Esher, Oxshott & Stoke A'Abernon area, including a little trip around the octagonal Whiteley Village which was a lovely little place. Of course, with the nice roads come the rubbish ones, and there were a good few miles done on them. Surreys roads seem to have gotten worse through the recent cold snaps and I found myself riding a strong primary on some of the A roads to avoid them, not ideal but all good drivers today so no hassle The new ride was comfy, and bar a couple of minor changes is pretty much spot on.
I couldn't find the 'Your bike against a garden fence which needs painting' thread, so here will do.
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A brief stop at a sunny Walton for a snack
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51 miles for me today. If I do 3 x 50 mile rides per month for the rest of 2018 then my imperial Eddington will be 50. Looks like the half century a month challenge rides will have to be made imperial instead of the current metric