FSoTM ride to Stockgrove

This months first Sunday ride just happened to fall the day after a 24hr 400km audax and I knew it would be a slow one due to it being one of the hillier rides on the calendar.
The ride started at the bandstand on Queensway at the usual time of 10.00.
There was a bit of a chat about the tyres on Emma's bike. She'd got it from Evans and the person in the shop said it would be ok to put narrow tyres on the wheels that were on there.
It came fitted with large tyres which had been replaced with 28mm ones. These were too narrow and had dropped into the rim making a flat spot, I'd have loved to see the Evans employee try to fit his suggested 19mm ones on there!! Emma decided to come along and see how it went.
After about 3 miles though the tyre was flat so Stuart (her other 1/2) went back to help and told us to carry on.
The hills soon came and I definitely felt it in my legs, it was just a constant up and down. The weather was good for a bank holiday weekend and I soon had to stop and take my jacket off.
After a few more hills the cafe came into site and an egg and bacon roll was calling me in.
Stuart was there waiting for us coming in from the other way but Emma had gone home.

We left again to go up the last hill of the ride towards Great Brickhill with the fast drop on the other side back down to Bletchley.

My legs weren't too bad after the heavy weekend but I definitely felt it on a few of the hills.
I put the GPS track into the programme on here and was surprised with the total climbing of 403m in 30km of riding. Below is the chart and map of the ride.



The next one is on another bank holiday weekend and over a slightly longer distance of 30 miles, see you there :-D

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.

Bike shops around MK

If anyone is looking for bikes or parts in Milton Keynes, here is a list of the local bike shops.

Phil Corley cycles, based on Stacey Bushes they have a wide range of bikes from utility bikes, to top end MTB and road racers.

Chaineys cycles have one shop in Loughton and one in Leighton Buzzard. Another shop selling a wide range of bikes.

P+D cycles in Fenny Stratford, wide range of childrens and electric bikes.

Roy Pinks in Newport Pagnell, bikes and kites.

Evans, Halfords,Tesco, Adsa etc' are all good for cheap parts. But if I was going to buy a new bike I'd stick to the local bike shops myself.