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

The Willy Warmer

Sunday saw me out on a 3rd outing of this wonderful route, the last 2 times I've had 1 completion and 1 DNF.
The DNF was because of knee ache caused from the pedals I had on the trike at the time.

The ride starts at Chalfont St Peter, a town in the Chilterns just outside London. My choice this year having no car was to either cycle down on the Friday night have a few beers and stay over in the hall or as it was only 55km away get up early and cycle down.
Although the first choice was very tempting I decided to cycle there and back and make it an Extended Calendar Event 300. I was going to be doing 260km with the ride home after anyway.

My alarm got me up at 03.30 and I was in no rush so was out of the door and getting a receipt at 5.15, allowing myself just under 3hrs to get to the start.
The ride took me through Aylesbury for another receipt and I got to the start at 07.30. Just as everybody was leaving (Message to self, check start time next time) The start was 07.30 not 08.00 oh well.

I was away 5 minutes later after getting my brevet card and riding up the wrong road. GPS works wonderful as long as you are following the track the right way. Luckily I was only 50m or so up the road when I guessed I was going the wrong way.
I'm not mad enough (yet) to enter the "scenic" route that bypasses the towns and takes in some nice hills so took the main road option out through Marlow and Henley. The recent weather meant there was a lot of water and debris on the roads and I was passing quite a few riders that had stopped to fix there tyres.
The hills on the first half didn't seem as bad this time around and I was managing to get up them slowly, as usual on audax rides I find myself yoyoing (sp?) backwards and forwards past the same rider. I'd pass them on the flat or at speed downhill only for them to pass me on the next uphill section, the joy of being a 100kg+ recumbent rider.
I seemed to be doing really well and got to Hungerford (1/2 way) at just after 12.00. I had been trying out some new (for me) energy drink and it was working well as I hadn't wanted any food so far but decided to stop anyway. I just had a bowl of soup and a coffee and was away again 45 minutes later.
I was still going well over the hills towards Kingsclere and got to Winnersh 220km at 16.15. It was starting to get dark now and the temp was dropping so after spending an hr here chatting and getting warm it was back out into the cold for the last section back to the start control.
After crossing the M4 for the 6th time it was over the last few hills along the edge of the Chilterns again to arrive back at the start at 19.15, were I sat chatting again for far too long as per usual. I had plenty of time to do the last 60km home so as long as I got in before the time limit at 02.00 I'd be ok.
I dragged myself away from the warm hall and coffee and headed homeward I was getting a bit tired now and my legs were starting to feel heavy. The chain on the bike had been squeaking since about 3/4 of the way round as it was dry even though I had oiled it before the start, my rear brake had also worn out completely due to the water and grit on the lanes of the first half.
This was slowing me down on the twisty lanes but I got back to the garage to get a receipt at 23.15.

Total distance was 322km with a ride time of 13.10 (24.5kph avg) a max speed of 74.1 and 4hrs 50 sat down eating and chatting.
I've put the gps log of the route onto bikely and after looking at the altitude from the route it's no wonder my legs ached at the end.



The new drink worked well, it was just maltodextrine powder mixed with lucozade sport which I found did me more good than other more expensive drinks I've tried. It mixed well and could hardly be tasted in it. Mind you Lucozade is very sweet so it does need watering down anyway.