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Felt really strong on commute home last night, scalp fully intact and took a couple myself.... Yet I ended up a full 5 minutes off my pb, curse that headwind. Spuds are making a real difference though, pedalling feels much smoother.

Killed it tonight on my last (or maybe 2nd to last) massive hammer ride of 2010, got an SMS stating: "you wounded me" from a guy with armour that is impervious to chinking.

it happened again! chain jump or whatever, ploughed to a halt while speeding up to junction in middle lane, traffic behind. fortunately the light was red so neither i nor the cars were completely caning it, but. not ideal. so i guess my chain is probably worn tae fuck, probably only ridden 500 miles (v rough estimate) but haven't exactly looked after it, not sure i've ever lubircated.

not sure i've ever lubircated

lubircation is grebt

def sounds like it needs lubing. if it is stiff and dry it will not go from the curves of the chainring and cogs back into flat without some trouble. clean it and lube it. and try to do it once or twice a month depending on how many miles you're riding and if you're riding through wet conditions or high humidity.

My bike is in for major surgery. Whole new drivechain to be fitted, dropout bent back into shape and brakes serviced while they're at it.

Roll on Friday!

yesterday one of my water bottles jumped off my bike at 20mph and I rode right over it, bit of a scare but no punctures and didn't come off

krakow, have you ever ridden through the blane valley on the ballachalairy yett? the views are stunning from the top of that hill

Thirty miles today at a relatively sedate pace. Very windy, quite rainy, and autumnal temperatures. Wore tights and long sleeves for the first time since the end of winter.

Bad news: 10 days left in my season (4 more races):

I got dropped yesterday in a routine training ride, about 8mins into a 10 min TTT @ ~90%max. FUCCCCCK.

Finding excuses, like: Took Wed off which was NOT the plan and kinda paid the price for it. Didn't eat a lot. Blah blah blah.

Fri/Sat will be relatively sedate affairs with a couple hard efforts. 2 races on Sunday am.

up ballachalairy yett again today, so pretty from the top
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/5019667707_fa28813d03.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/5019667347_2f0cb0d216.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5019667517_4e8c68818e.jpg

(those houses in the top pic are where the climb starts, and the top pic is from about halfway up)

MO7S

jk, totally amazing. we need a "pix of your dope ride" thread, i would RSS that in an instant.

kudos to photographers who manage to 'capture' the 'essence' of landscapes or climbs, my pics (albeit bashed out hastily on a K800i) don't do the scenery anywhere near justice

I rode with ILX poster 'jaxon' today around the citay FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! CAUGHT IN A RAD BROMANCE! it was fun. he likes to push the pace.

thanks for riding slow for me

i was the tortoise and you were the hare.

Second week in SF, I stick my back wheel in a streetcar track. Rim now looks like a Pringle.

I mean, I knew better. And this is after my friend patiently taught me to true the wheel.

@cozen, I used to ride that way a lot when I used my road bike, but I haven't ever tried that particular route on fixed, because of my trepidation about the hill. I like the Carbeth huts through there as well.

Marshalling duty today. Up at 5.30am, drove up to the race HQ (for a 30-mile time trial), then rode for forty-five minutes into a howling gale in the rain thinking to myself "I'm glad I'm not racing in this". Then I spent nearly two hours shivering in the freezing cold as I stood at a roundabout seven miles south of Cambridge thinking to myself "I wish I was racing instead of standing here". Then I rode back again, significantly wetter, but with a powerful tailwind.

after reading your first sentence, i was all "WELL RETHINK THAT ONE LOL," but then sentence two. i hope you got many thanks from the racers.

Finished a 150k sportiv. NEVER AGAIN. It was a ride of ups and downs - the hills were all up and the moods were all down. Managed the climbs ok (four big ones, all a few hundred metres of ascent, steepest was 18%) but they were mostly before the half way point, and shortly after half way I felt like I had nothing left, was seriously doubting my ability to go on. But one of the guys I was with hung back and let me draft him for a while, and we caught up with everyone else and had a train of six going, and for a while I thought I was getting a second wind, but after a while I dropped back and was in worse despair than before. Was ok on the flats but as soon as the slightest incline started I was straight into the lowest gear as soon I saw it - even had to walk a couple. I'd turn my computer off, ride for HOURS, look at it again - and I'd have gone about four miles.

So, that was about 20 miles of pain. But then only five miles before the end I caught up with someone else who was struggling, he'd meant to be doing the 110k ride, but had taken a wrong turn onto the 150, and had run out of food. So we rode together for the last bit, and that was a huge psychological boost.

Got slightly confused about directions right near the end - it was raining by this point to add to the misery - ended up asking a woman striding along dressed in pink. She said "Are you doing the John Ibbotson ride? I'm his aunt! Or I was his aunt. Let me give you a kiss!" (John Ibboston was a professional cyclist who died of heart failure at 27, and the fund in his name now helps young cyclists.)

Well, I guess I'm glad I finished. May do 50-60 mile rides again, but anything more? fuhgeddabahtit.

Cool, whitstable on October 24th then? Registration opened today.

lolz! yah ok.

the thing i hate is the awful food, the bars and the gels. they just make me feel bad. i want to eat them to get energy but i don't because they're awful. (not that any wonderfood could have restored my leg muscles tbh.)

Well done

way to stick in there ledge!

only one fuel stop to Whitstable = bacon rolls at 3.30am, although there always seem to be cakes going around at catch-up stops. I am really looking forward to it, even though weather could get interesting.

Haven't you already done that?

it's a monthly thing, they did Southend this Friday just gone. Next years' look really good, one run to Newhaven and thence to Dieppe in the middle of the TdF particularly appeals, also an out of London special in april - Manchester to Blackpool via Blackburn, which could sort the men from the boys.

Rode a gran freddo century out of Hood River, Oregon today. This place is like a cycling theme park. The first 40 miles were super fun rolling hills on what were pretty car-less roads. At one point we climbed up to a point overlooking the Columbia river, and then had 2 miles of really fun switch-back descents. At the 40 mile mark (which I made at 11am) they held everybody until 11:30am and then had a mass-start time trial (we all had timing chips velcroed to our ankles) up the big climb of the day. The climb was 20 miles up the side of Mount Hood. None of it was particularly steep (mostly under 6%) but it was a loooong straight grind. Very mentally taxing to me. It was lightly sprinkling at the top (4500 ft up) which made the first part of the 25 mile descent off the mountain kind of scary on wet twisty roads. Ended up doing the 100 miles in 6:05 on the bike, 7:24 overall. 7500 ft of climbing. I was hoping to do the climb with a little more aplomb. It gives me a goal to work on, I guess.

strava record of the ride: http://www.strava.com/rides/192115#

did 24mi w/shasta blasta on friday and ~50 today. most i've ever done. from fruitvale to richmond and back along water. mostly on bike path. was a great ride and although i can feel my knee, it didn't give me shooting pain like the last few miles of the 35mi that i did a month or 2 ago.

New gearing 46x18, just slightly higher than my old 48x19, but I can definitely feel the difference.

Spent a great week with Th Boris bikes in London. Bike share schemes rock.

I've only done one sportive this year, way back at the start of March, and haven't really done any long rides since. I'm tempted to do the upcoming Evans Ride It event starting from their HQ in Crawley.

get in quick and you can ride to Whitstable with us ;)

Night riding is a peversion, like fixed wheels or tricycles.

night rides on my fixie trike, yyyyeeeeeeeeeeeaaaahhhh

I'm sort of tempted to take the fixie to Whitstable this time, but I'm sure I'll wise up at some point.

There is an upright trike doing the run apparently (and 110 people on the list!)

110 people! That's how it ends up being 8 hours, Tom :)

I think I am looking forward to the bacon sarnies most of all.

Today, 17 miles around the chilterns, mostly off-road but with some fearsome long and steep road climbs thrown in. A fair bit of mud-slogging, and a handful of disturbingly fast farm-track downhills with rocks or mud or slidy chalk or gullies or all four.

Did my last race of the season this morning, so when I got home it was time for the Grand Swapping Over Of The Bikes. The lightweight racer has been consigned to the back stairs, it's time to bring out THE HEAVY BIKE for winter.

Sodding rear derailleur lever (I think) has broken/jammed on my MTB. It could be a tiny tweak, or, well, I dunno, as I don't understand MTB-style levers at all.

Take it to a shop. Under no circumstances try to fix it yourself. Down that path lies madness.

bring out THE HEAVY BIKE

Training kick?

(and yes, I shall. Or get ledge to fix it)

ha! maybe i know a thing or two... but i've also destroyed a thing or two. wouldn't know where to begin with a jamemd lever either. best leave this one to the professionals.

i discovered yesterday my mtb wheels seem to be somewhat egg-shaped. i guess this happened in the alps, although i didn't notice when i took it out last week. i think it only became apparent when i was riding on the road.