Kennet Valley Run 200km + 100 km

The plan was to cycle down to Reading on Friday as I had booked the night off.
I eventually got on the bike at about 13.00.
After leaving the wind was getting harder and faster so instead of cycling all the way to Reading I decided to only go as far as Oxford, this changed as I rode along and I only got to Bicester instead :-)
I got on a train there to Oxford and on to Reading from there, arriving in the town centre just as rush hour was starting.
The ride to the travelodge was uneventful really apart from taking the wrong road out of town and doing a slight detour up a hill!!
The evening was uneventful also as Friday night tv is crap. Thank god I work nights!!

I was up at 6 and away for 6.40 and heading for the start of the 200km ride. I arrived with plenty of time for coffee, toast and chat with the other riders before the off.
The ride started well in the bunch and I was going well and making good time to the first control at Hungerford.
At about the 40km mark I had to ride over a bit of rough road due to a van on the other side of the road, I usually try to avoid the worst surfaces but couldn't this time and I felt a change in the handling on the bike.
I stopped a bit further up to check the tyre etc but couldn't work out what it was.
Every time I pushed on the pedals I could feel the frame flex and knew something was wrong.
On arriving at the 50km control I took a beter look and found the frame had snapped!!!
That was the end of this ride.
















I ended up getting the train from Hungerford to London, walking up the Euston road and getting on the train back to Bletchley and home.
I've spoken to the shop that I got the bike from and a new frame shouldn't be a problem :-)
At least it didn't go half way up a Welsh mountain in the middle of nowhere on a mad 600km ride or on the 1200km ride in July.
The RRTY (200km ride every month) has gone pear shaped this year now but not to worry I may still be on for the recumbent points record, I'll have to see how it goes.

More ramblings

It's still coldish here and I've not really done much cycling this month apart from the usual commute, I've even used my mums car a couple of times :-D.
I did go out last Sunday planning to do a 200km ride via Peterborough and Royston.
I was up in good time but after 20km or so my feet were like blocks of ice, mainly because the zip had bust on my overshoes and I'd not got around to getting a new pair.
I'd got to the A422 at Astwood and turned left for a ride around MK instead.
On the plus side I popped over to Phil Corley cycles for some new cleats, overshoes and innertubes and got them at an excellent price. I've been going there for ages and can't recommend them enough.

On another note and to compliment my long distance cycling this year, I've gone and joined the local gym. The last time I was a member of one was about 17yrs ago!!
Even though I've only been going a couple of weeks I can feel and see the difference, in cycling and in body shape. The leg work is definitely making it easier to push the pedals up the hills.
Hope to keep it up and will see if it improves my overall times on the longer stuff.

Next long one is this coming weekend where I've entered the Kennet Valley Run, a 200km ride from just south of Reading to Bratton and back.
Depending on the weather the plan is to cycle down there on Friday and stay at the travelodge, do the ride on Saturday and ride home the same evening making it a 300km ride altogether.

FSoTM ride Woburn via the woods

Last Sunday saw the FSoTM riders do the woods loop again.
I do this ride twice in a year, clockwise and anticlockwise. This time it was the slightly easier anticlockwise.
The weather had been awful again in the week but Sunday turned out to be a nice day, not too cold for this time of year.
Seven of us started from the bandstand for the ride along past the canal and up to the first hill towards Gt Brickhill. Once at the top the route takes a fairly easy undulating path through the villages of Lt Brickhill, Woburn, Aspley Guise and Wavendon before coming back to the estates of MK.
The ride seemed to be going well and we were passed the planned pub stop at least ½hr before planned. So to save us waiting it was decided to carry on and reach one later on along the route.
We then made our way to the pub stop at Caldecotte lake for beer/coffee before we all went our separate ways.

I'd also like to say, It was good to see Margaret waiting to join us at Little Brickhill, she hasn't been on one of my rides since she had an accident back in August 2008 where she was knocked off her bike and hospitalised with a fractured skull amongst other injuries. I'm glad she is still getting out on the bike as a lot of people would be too worried too after such a bad experience.
Keep at it you are an inspiration.

This weekends route can be found here on bikely, as can all my routes if you search for FSoTM or silverbackcycler.

Next months ride will be on March the 7th and will go around the villages to the south of MK including Drayton Parslow, Swanbourne, Dunton and Stewkley.
Hope to see a good turn out.

Training!!

I've been passing the local gym daily for ages now taking/collecting the kids from school and going to work etc. Today I went in and joined!!
I used to go to one in the leisure centre regularly but I've not been in one since about 1993 and in that time even with the cycling I've slowly managed to put on 3 stone!
Will have to start looking at which exercises are good for cycling now.
Google here I come :-D