Who was out yesterday?
Discussion
Who was out yesterday enjoying the sunshine??
My colleague & I did our last big outing as a "gentle" warmup for the South Downs Randonnee on 29 June (100 miles offroad). We cycled the 40-odd miles of the Ridgeway between Streatley and Avebury, then back again.
In then end we managed a salt encrusted 89 miles in 11 hours, with nigh on 7000 feet of climb. Plenty of water onboard (3 litre camelback, refilled once), bananas, gels, powerbars and a can of coke kept us going.
We both managed to have a couple of tumbles each (rutted, muddy tracks are our nemesis!), Keith got a bar end in the stomach, and I managed to crack my helmet headbutting the ground. At least the bikes held up superbly (me on a Boardman Pro hardtail, Keith on a Whyte e5 full suss), which were both in very creaky, dusty oilless states by the end of the day, and I got a bit frustrated with 6 punctures for me alone slowing us up. I'm considering a change of tyres for the main event to try and avoid this.
My knees are very sore today, and strangely had an awful sleep last night, legs kept twitching and heartbeat was thumping hard. I'm also 5 pounds lighter this morning even after a massive dinner and all the stuff taken onboard during the ride.
Stats are here: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/592545...
My colleague & I did our last big outing as a "gentle" warmup for the South Downs Randonnee on 29 June (100 miles offroad). We cycled the 40-odd miles of the Ridgeway between Streatley and Avebury, then back again.
In then end we managed a salt encrusted 89 miles in 11 hours, with nigh on 7000 feet of climb. Plenty of water onboard (3 litre camelback, refilled once), bananas, gels, powerbars and a can of coke kept us going.
We both managed to have a couple of tumbles each (rutted, muddy tracks are our nemesis!), Keith got a bar end in the stomach, and I managed to crack my helmet headbutting the ground. At least the bikes held up superbly (me on a Boardman Pro hardtail, Keith on a Whyte e5 full suss), which were both in very creaky, dusty oilless states by the end of the day, and I got a bit frustrated with 6 punctures for me alone slowing us up. I'm considering a change of tyres for the main event to try and avoid this.
My knees are very sore today, and strangely had an awful sleep last night, legs kept twitching and heartbeat was thumping hard. I'm also 5 pounds lighter this morning even after a massive dinner and all the stuff taken onboard during the ride.
Stats are here: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/592545...
Oh yeah, got a good dose of the sun for my troubles as well 
Had a weekend riding Afan.
Rode The Wall on Saturday on my '06 Endruo. I just love that trail. The descent is great, rocky, jumps, off camber bits the lot. And very un-man-made if that's a term. I love a berm and a tabletop as much as the next man, but sometimes it's nice to just have rocks and stuff.
Sunday I rode the Penhydd Trail, Tredz were having a Demo day so I took the '08 version of my bike out. Oh dear, not my cuppa tea at all. They're not really at all alike. Climbed like a mountain goat, was well impressed until I started down the other side. Didn't seem to matter what I did with the rebound or compression it just woundn't hold a line.
Had a weekend riding Afan.
Rode The Wall on Saturday on my '06 Endruo. I just love that trail. The descent is great, rocky, jumps, off camber bits the lot. And very un-man-made if that's a term. I love a berm and a tabletop as much as the next man, but sometimes it's nice to just have rocks and stuff.
Sunday I rode the Penhydd Trail, Tredz were having a Demo day so I took the '08 version of my bike out. Oh dear, not my cuppa tea at all. They're not really at all alike. Climbed like a mountain goat, was well impressed until I started down the other side. Didn't seem to matter what I did with the rebound or compression it just woundn't hold a line.
Edited by P-Jay on Monday 9th June 15:48
I know, tell me about it! I am also amazed that I could go that far. It seems the combination of training to build up endurance, trying to avoid hitting the heart rate redzone and getting plenty of food & water on board during the ride seems to do the trick.
4 months ago the furthest I'd ever been on a bike was a relatively simple 60 miles doing the London-Brighton run a couple of years ago, with plenty of 20-30miler Sunday afternoons out with friends. Just after Christmas, I flippantly agreed to do the South Downs way with my boss, thinking it would be a piece of p*ss, that is until I checked the thing out for real. After reading people saying it "the hardest thing I've ever done" and spoken to some hardened bikers who have done it, loved it but suffered - over 2-3 days too, I realised some serious training was needed.
So I've been cycling several times a week (10-15 milers) and been having a big ride at weekends, gradually building up the distance off road from 20 miles up to the 90 miles last weekend. I've made sure that I cover as much of that distance off road as possible, and doing lots of hills. I've been out and found the biggest, steepest ones I can in my area, and done them again and again, to help me get used to the pain!
I'm not going to do a big ride like that until the actual day itself now, so I'll stick to the daily 10 mile commute and a couple of 40 milers, especially as my left knee is very sore after the weekend and needs to recover.
4 months ago the furthest I'd ever been on a bike was a relatively simple 60 miles doing the London-Brighton run a couple of years ago, with plenty of 20-30miler Sunday afternoons out with friends. Just after Christmas, I flippantly agreed to do the South Downs way with my boss, thinking it would be a piece of p*ss, that is until I checked the thing out for real. After reading people saying it "the hardest thing I've ever done" and spoken to some hardened bikers who have done it, loved it but suffered - over 2-3 days too, I realised some serious training was needed.
So I've been cycling several times a week (10-15 milers) and been having a big ride at weekends, gradually building up the distance off road from 20 miles up to the 90 miles last weekend. I've made sure that I cover as much of that distance off road as possible, and doing lots of hills. I've been out and found the biggest, steepest ones I can in my area, and done them again and again, to help me get used to the pain!
I'm not going to do a big ride like that until the actual day itself now, so I'll stick to the daily 10 mile commute and a couple of 40 milers, especially as my left knee is very sore after the weekend and needs to recover.
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