your daily bicycle log

Did 30 damp and windy miles round Devon lanes last night in a little over 2 hours.

bunch of bros (there were at least 10 of us) met up at a state park outside of the city and did a blazing lap of singletrack, like 12 miles. insanely fun, and something i think we're gonna do every week

finally hit my goal of climbing 3000 ft - i started trying to get back into riding shape in april after devolving into a slovenly pile of crap the prior 6-12 months. today was a big milestone - the grades were pretty steep, with 2000 feet coming in the first 7-8 miles. hooray for me! okay carry on with y'all's logs.

i've done nothing outside commuting all week and now i'm sick. -_-

Pro tip: on flying ant day, don't worry about expensive protein bars, simply be out of shape and cycle with your mouth open :/

I managed to squeeze in 16 miles after work today (my first non-weekend ride for nearly a month due to work, work, work) and can confirm that today was FLYING ANT DAY. The air was thick with them. I managed to avoid eating them, but I have accidentally swallowed at least three flies in the last month.

Dirty great flying ant hitting back of great as I hit barnes commOn crossroads just perfectly was a highlight, fucker nearly knocked me off.

great = throat?

That's the feller. Posting while cooking = dud

You know what's also good? Cycling on flying ant day while sporting a moustache.

Got hit by a car today. Was headed south on PCH through Leucadia, CA at about 6:00pm. Friday + rush hour meant traffic was backed up on the 2-lane road for a long ways. My cousin and I were filtering down the right hand side of the road at about 15mph when a car in front of us decided to make a quick unsignaled right-turn right in front of me. I hit his rear quarter panel pretty square on, bumped off to the right, and went down onto my (helmeted) head. Cracked the right rear of my helmet (second one this year :( :( ), scraped up both knees, and my neck feels pretty stiff but other than that I guess I'm OK? I feel a little woozy, possible concussion symptoms? Bike was totally fine, and I wasn't hurting too bad, and I was kind of on the spot and a little worried that it was possibly partly our fault for overtaking the long line of cars on the right, so I told the driver that it was all cool and he could go. Kind of regretting that now.

Next Sunday was my 'A' goal race of the year, and I had a long weekend of training planned for it, and now that's pretty much shot. Damn.

8[

that's terrible, man. hope/glad you're okay!

: (

get well soon, slp

^^echo all of this

rode out to round two of the CX comp, but just decided to watch this one as have been sick on and off during the week. (good excuse to have some drinx and heckle imo.) hooked up with some B-graders for the ride home along the same bike path by the creek that i'd dawdled out there on, then found myself in the BIG RING for the entire time as the group of seven wound it up to warp factor 9 (in bike path terms anyway). training for next month started, i guess!

another get well soon

had a great run out today. Felt so good, so strong, 542m of climbing. Had new red bib, so it's true Red is faster.

Biked over 30 miles today, all in the city. SO IRRATIONALLY ANGRY AT STOPLIGHTS STOPPING ME EVERY 200 FEET GOD.

got in 100 mi of road, 9 or so mi of singletrack, 10,000 ft of climbing. only prob was yesterday's ride was over 100 deg, it was killing me.

did the london classic yesterday, as posted by mark c on here, thanks for that. we can organise our own team building type things to do at work, so a few roadies and a couple of mtb people decided to have a day of cycling.

in the afternoon we went west eventually getting to richmond park and WOW, i'll be back there this week. didn't realise it was so bike friendly. really excited about exploring more of SW london, it's so nice!

new ultremo zx tyres stood up well to some pretty nasty off road nonsense we ended up doing. had a bit of a fettle with the bike this weekend and everything feels tight and sharp and focused again, yay

What a great post! I kind of miss Richmond Park now it's not on my doorstep. Make sure you do the three-lap challenge, Crackle Box - under 60 mins is v good (I've not got close to 60 mins).

I got drenched yesterday afternoon in an Epping Forest monsoon. Just 9 miles later I was home and the streets were completely dry. It's SO UNFAIR.

A few of us are eyeing-up doing the 100km of this - http://www.exmoorbeast.org/

Care to join us?

Not for me, thanks - too far away.

No work today, so drove up into Essex and did 42.4 miles, cloudy and not at all July-like, but at least it wasn't raining:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/321852

its hotter than 7 hells here today, 34 but with a heat index of 39 due to the near 100% humidity. Not riding today it's like breathing soup out there.

mtb coming together tonight, it looks like

*developing*

1999 rockhopper A1
2009 SID WC 80mm
F: XT laced to WTB Speed Disc rim
R: White Ind. laced to Salsa Delgado
LX cranks, 1x9
XTR rear
some hydraulic front brake i haven't seen yet
LX V-brake in the rear (to be replaced with XTR once I pull one from my cross bike and rebuild it)
thompson seatpost
specialized saddle
titus stem/bars
XT shift/brake cluster
ergon grips

total cost (thus far): $145

LOL. Can I put in an order?

Rocked out 26 miles to mum and dad's and back tonight, after an hour of 5 a side. The journey there normally takes 55 minutes but I did it in 46; took a tougher route back and fell from average 17mph to just under 16 (had to shoulder it and run up and down steps where they're building on the cycle path at Powderham), but so far I'm pretty damn pleased with my new bike. Nex step is to throw some slicks on it for the rest of the summer.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6133/5962559201_3b820eced0_z.jpg

bike still not built, borrowed a buddy's rigid 29er, did a ~fast~ 12ish miles of singletrack just outside the city

stupid fun, mountain biking rules, fuiud

I was going to ask if you just commuted through London in the rain, but the muck's not black enough.

My boss did the first 95 miles of lands end to john o groats today - 11 more days to go. I'm joining him and his riding partner tomorrow for a few miles few Devon.

Won my rowing race today and then had a nice ride back from the icecream store via the bike store and the cemetary.

NEW BIKE DAY
NEW BIKE DAY
NEW BIKE DAY
NEW BIKE DAY

did 1700 feet of vertical at 5-6% with the most hardcore bonk happening. psychedelic man. i think my eyes were closed for a lot of it, just rolling along at 3 mph, nothing to see folks.

some teeny old dude came rolling by me about half way up on a 28 pound mtn bike, pretended i didn't exist, so i did the same.

at the donation station on top of the climb i ate 10 delicious small homemade chocolate chippers, and a bottle of gatorade. then it was 2800 ft of descending, so it all ended very nicely.

45 miles in 3 hours over Devon yesterday, accompanying a couple of friends who are doing Land's End to John O Groats; the sky was grey but it was great fun, bombing down country roads checking the map at every junction. Loved it.

I was visiting my parents this weekend just gone and got in touch with a cycling club down there to find out if I could join their club run on Sunday. They were great: dozens of people turned up and they were split into five different groups depending on pace and distance. I joined the fastest group who were doing a three-hour ride with no stops. We went out to Black Down which was quite a tough climb - I managed to grind my way up first, which was pleasing. I had to ride to the start/from the finish as well, so I ended up doing just under 61 miles.

That's fab. We were staying with friends in Bucks on Saturday night so I suggested B drive while I cycled. Which turned out to be a smashing idea. It was 25 miles, slightly uphill and headwindy on the way (when I had strength and enthusiasm) and became beautiful countryside halfway there; and on the way back, with less in my legs and a mid-level hangover, I got the tailwind I needed to push me down the Uxbridge Road and home.

Did a quick 26 miles after work tonight. Have now capped 150 miles in five days on the new bike.

http://cdn3.staztic.com/logos/like-button-world-record-10.png

Did a quick two hour on Sunday ride and knocked off 500m of climbing in 42km. Getting faster and stronger everytime. My bikehandling felt better too. Need to start doing group/club rides.

later on, driving to the movie theatre got stuck behind a couple on bikes. Narrow street and they would not move from 2-up to single file, plus the girl was pedalling high cadence and weaving badly, Super poor bike handling. When I finally did pass them. She was riding $5000+ of pinarello dogma with Di2.

lady doctor

NIce metric century today. Depending on whether you believe garmin or map my ride I did 545m or 745m of ascent, mainly in the forms on long drags on crushed limestone trails which are super energy sapping. Still managed to keep a 25km/h average. conveniently ran into a little ice cream parlour for a double espresso and chocolate milkshake.

40 miles through Devon lanes yesterday morning, starting in thick fog at 6:45am and ending in glorious sunshine. 2,000+ feet of ascent, averaged 13mph (upset stomach on Friday made me take it easy). Was with brother in law. Circa 9am we agreed that there was no better place to be or thing to do. Had I not had commitments I'd have liked to have kept riding all day. Wonderful.

Am off out in a minute after a 6am start with the boy, I'll be thankful fir a couple of peaceful hours tbh. Going to swing back by the rapha sale, the polo I bought yesterday is so frikkin nice I want a couple more. Also 3/4 trousers.

85km on the new favoured training road with 1270m of climbing, most of which came between 10 and 35km. hard work!

Back from a lift-assisted mtb holiday in Les Arcs. The hardest riding I've ever done. Aside from a couple of downhill courses which were smooth and swoopy, the trails were all very technical: steep and rocky and rooty. Incredibly hard work but fantastic skills building, and 3-4k of descent per day is probably more than I get all year in my occasional jaunts around the Surrey hills. Was going great guns until Thursday, when I faceplanted right at the start of the day. Wasn't even on a trail proper - which may explain the lapse in concentration - but it was a very steep and loose rocky descent with a ditch at the end, barely 50 yards long but I picked up too much speed, panicked, and hit the anchors. Bad move. Hit the rocks face first and I wasn't wearing a full face helmet. Luckily I got off pretty lightly, just a cut near the eye, no stitches necessary, and I have a great black eye to show off. I got right back on the bike - after being very well tended to by our female trail guide and a nurse who was in our group :D - and rode the rest of the day, but my confidence took a big knock and I never got back up to the speeds I'd been going earlier on. Still, Surrey should be a walk in the park now.

another ride at Kickapoo. scrappy scrappy. need to find some peeps to ride with, cuz late evening rides on an unfamiliar trail system in a rural area seems unwise in the long run

Managed 47 miles yesterday; a breakfast ride, a late afternoon ride, and an evening ride, mostly Devon lanes again. The late afternoon ride was glorious, beautiful sunshine.

This biking stuff is good. Was at the doctor's on monday resting heart rate of 60 and bp of 120/64

Someone stole my bike wheels yesterday so no biking for me until I get my spare set fixed up. :(