Thought i'd start a thread for anyone wanting to tell us about their ride today, whether it was your commute/club ride/charity ride/mountain biking whatever. Im all ears plus it saves me polluting anyone elses thread

The truth is after the winter we've had I finally managed to get out last weekend and the weather forecast is looking good for another jolly boys outing this Sunday and I can barely contain my excitement (im easily excited, you should watch me play online poker ) Bolton-->Lytham, probably a 80mile+ round journey. Anyone else?

18 miles last night on the MTB (61 minutes). Struggling to fit long rides in at the moment as I've been busy most weekends, so a bit envious of your club runs at the mo tbh.

Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit. Hopefully my younger daughter will move up a squad in the swimming club soon so I don't have to go to the pool at 8.00am Sunday mornings and can get out on the bike instead.

18mph on the MTB is good going There was a bloke on a hibrid who managed 19mph average over 90 miles during the M/CR 100, he tailed off towards the end though

Good ride again today, 83 miles with a good amount of climbing on the way and at the end over the West Penine Moors around Belmont. 15.1mph average though, more of a social friendly ride today. 3 of us took the hilly detour home which got the blood circulating. Jeez it was cold though. Im going to get warmed up a touch now with a bottle of plonk

About a two mile round trip to the supermarket - on the way back with a back of potatoes, carrots, a swede, some broccoli and cauliflower and a leg of lamb in my rucksack. Definitely deserve my Sunday lunch and bottle of wine after that exertion.

Joined a club very recently. Did their hilly 50 (actually 56) reliability ride last weekend. 4 big climbs on it. Really enjoying the camaraderie of the club. I have entered the Tour of Pembroke sportive in June to give me a target. Will also aim at the Tour of the Balack mountains later this year.
Unfortunately I couldn't make the club ride today-75 mile relaibility ride although the pictures from on top of Penderyn in brecon looked great.
Did manage a hilly 35 miler with a mate today. It was a nice day and I even managed to take my hat off on the last climb up Caerphilly Mountain.

Excellent stuff NB. Sooo much better riding out with a group rather than on your own. Good for building base fitness and taking it easy now and again Cafe stops are usually great too Which club have you joined?

I have joined Cardiff Ajax. Really friendly bunch. A bit scary going along for the first time worrying if I was fast/fit enough, but made to feel really welcome.

No rides this weekend, as visiting rellies, but did manage to buy a steel road frame with horizontal drop outs off ebay for 99p

Horizontal drop outs mean that I can build it up as a fixed gear bike so that should keep me busy for a while. Not sure what 'auntie' will think of me building another bike though...

Nice ride in this morning. Quiet roads with it being half term. Should get 40 miles in by the end of today.

nightmare last night.
2 laps in (6 miles) and I was shagged. Got dropped, tried to cruise round a lap to recover but ended up feeling sick, dizzy and having to stop.

No idea what was wrong - still feel bad this morning. Don't feel ill but I am knackered. Early night needed tonight I think.

Even the pro's have off days Im officially calling myself a doubt for this weekend, pretty cheesed off tbh. I keep getting painful spasmy type twinges in my lower left back. Came off last week, more of a standing fall really but was crippled with pain after this weeks ride. Funnily enough though whilst riding home yesterday I didn't feel a thing. Soon as I get off the bike it hits me. Not good.

Simple answer - don't get off! Try a 24 hour time trial. If you can average 20mph I'll be impressed.

Daily Euston - > City commute on my folding bike, about 3 miles, got severely pee'd on this morning, looked like I had fallen in the river when I got to the office. Also had to dodge left turning dust cart at the lights plus oncoming cyclist who didn't see me when he turned right, even though I was dressed in fluorescent green and sparkly lights. At least not many pesky pedestrians around to walk out in front of me

Snow/3 hours sleep/hangover meant I caught a cab

Murf:
I dont have and dont intend on getting a TT bike but I may try a few 10's this year. Maybe the club 25 as for the club 12hour, forget it. 24hr TT are for mentalists. End of.

Get well soon Matt

Bad luck with the fall. Back twinges are reasonably common after coming off but hopefully you'll be better soon. I'm still feeling knackered so came in in the car today. Forecasting snow later so probably for the best. Don't want to slide out again - the skin on my hip's still a bit raw

Might go on the turbo tonight just to keep ticking over.

Nice icy roads to cycle on today - Was a bit paranoid after a guy at work came off on the ice and broke his elbow as well having cuts and bruises all over his face, so I took it really slow - I don't think I went above 12mph..

I've seen two forecasts for my journey home - one snow and one heavy rain. Hope it's the rain...

Yay - no ice this morning and a relatively balmy 5 degrees so back on the bike again. Nice ride in, with the mist hanging over the river and virtually no one else around.

Just hope the icy weather stays away and I can start getting a few more outdoor training miles in. The turbo is pretty dull to be honest and there's not much motivation to push hard on it at the moment.

Had a go on one of the British Cycling indoor bikes last week. They had 6 set up in race mode so you could race against each other with a running commentary and graphics projected onto a big screen. Felt very ill afterwards so it's a bit of a blur, but I did manage to get a 13 second 250m sprint - average speed about 71kph and average watts just over 1000. Thought I was going to pass out in the Kilo race though - took me about 2 hours to recover after that

Sounds like fun, i think There's something similar being held in a bar in Manchester this Friday, forget the name now but its some kind of knockout sprint competition. Probably got the screens up and what not. I might have a look in....
Missed last week with a dodgy back, its getting better so i might be tempted with this weekends club run back upto the Forest of Bowland. Fingers crossed for decent weather...

Is the back problem from the crash?

I'd give the sprint comp a go if I were you. Good fun. I Might go along again tonight. I'm 2nd in the league and reckon I can go faster.

Forecast for the weekend looks OK - Forest of Bowland is fantastic so fingers crossed you're OK

Did a very wet and gritty 30 mile outdoor track session last night. My face was caked in dirt and grit at the end, but a great session nonetheless!

I have entered my first sportive being the Tour of Pembrokeshire in June. Anyone done it before?

I only really started cycling properly at the tail end of last year, but am really enjoying it.

Never done Pembrokeshire. What time are you going for (they usually publish Gold, Silver and Bronze standard times as a guide)

What bike have you got - seem to remember you having a MTB at one point? Or maybe it was that you were looking at a race in Snowdonia with some off road bits and wondering whether the road bike would be ok? that may have been someone else though - the memory's not as good as it was

ps - If you're enjoying cycling now, with the rubbish weather we've been having, then you'll really start to enjoy it when the temperature gets up a bit.

Your memory is pretty good!
I did have a hybrid when I did a cycling, walking, rowing challenge in Snowdonia.
That bike was nicked.
I am currently riding a Giant FCR flat bar, but probably soon buying a Cube Attempt with 105's, compact gearing.
Yes i am looking forward to better weather!
For the Tour of Pembrokeshire which is very up and down, I am looking at a modest bronze being new to the game. I genrally average about 16mph on the club runs so should be achievable.
Done a few hilly rides like the Bwlch and the Maerdy,and got up them ok. Can only improve though!
On the track my pace is getting better and managed to stay with the medium group last night going at between 19 and 20 mph for an hour and a bit.
Getting stronger all the time, and hopefully will be strong by June.

If you can get up Bwlch y Groes then you must be doing pretty well! The descent's pretty scary as well

The Cube's a nice bike and you can't go wrong with 105. Cycle to work scheme??

If you enjoy Pembrokeshire then the Autumn Epic would also be a good one to do. Welsh Borders in October, including Glascwm and the Elan valley climbs.

I was going to do about 15 minutes on the exercise bike at the gym after work tonight but found out the Liverpool game kicks off at 6......

ps - http://www.cyclosport.org/events2010.aspx gives a list of sportives by month, with basic info and a difficulty rating. The Pembrokeshire gets an 8, which is pretty tough.

I've not entered any yet, but will probably do the Tour of Britain Tour ride, the national Cyclosportive in Lancs and the Autumn Epic, all being well.

Sportif over load there Unc I fancy getting a few in this year, fancied the Cheshire Cat but other than Mow Cop its apparently not so good this year. Not geting bored of our club runs but new routes/scenery wouldn't go a miss so might swerve any local ones. Well see.

Todays mini commute contained 'cycle rage ' As cyclists we have to endure random rage from drivers cursing us for just being on the road or perhaps they had to slow to pass us causing their journey to be 3 seconds longer I had a bloke once roll his eyes at me because he was to scared to overtake me, i asked him what was his problem as i had done nothing wrong and he mouthed 'fkin cyclists' I gave him some grief back and carried on. A little further down the road the same driver see's me get cut up by a wagon, i see him and point 'see that?' I say to him, thats the kind of shit we have to put up with so give us a bit of leeway here, especially if we dont do anything wrong. We both see the funny side of this and move on. So, when someone tries to kill me like they did this morning i go mental. Its raining, im wet and im cycling down the road on a busy stretch. A huge Landrover pulls out on me and I miss it by inches as it goes down a side road, i swerve to miss it with on coming traffic on the other side getting a close call too. fker!!!!
Either this person thinks their tank can do 0-60 in 2 seconds or she is blind or couldn't care less about me i'd only make a little scratch on her bull bars or needs to read the highway code. None of them are good enough reasons so i pull up and take a look back. Turns out she has stopped also so I peddle over and play hell with her. She just sits there open mouthed as I berate her driving. Afterall its my life she was gambling with and i get enough grief when ever i make mistakes. Felt a bit guilty when i saw the kid in the back I hope mummy explains how she nearly squashed a cyclist and thats why he was a little angry. rant over

Good job you're 'running' good, gotta win them flips!

I get daily road rage cycling 3 miles through central London, I can see why cyclists have a bad name, plenty of them running red lights, weaving through moving queues, ignoring one way signs, and generally having a totally self centred attitude to the road. From the many tens of cyclists I mix with on my short route I would hazard a guess that only 20% of them do not continuously blatantly flout the law

So in return, the drivers on the roads, mainly taxis, seem to be quite happy to make the cyclist feel as unsafe as possible, brushing up very close at high(ish) speeds, cutting up, blocking cycle lanes, impromptu 360 turns without signalling, etc etc

It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under (the wheels of a bus)

Don't let the bustards get you down Pasty.

True but I really believe you are gambling with your own life too as you know how many idiots there are out there.

I travel down a busy single carriageway every day en route to work together with the lorries and half-asleep commuters and distracted-by-kids parents and see a couple of cyclists risking life and limb. I'm always courteous, take my time waiting for it to be safe to pass, give them a wide berth and indicate to let those behind and approaching see the situation but dozens of others aren't.

Cycling busy roads in the rush hour, particularly in the dark or wet is foolhardy whether it should be or not.

I'd also never ride a motor bike for similar reasons. It will be little comfort to your family and friends at your funeral when people say it was the car driver's fault....


(All a bit OTT but in essence what I think and, yes, I have cycled to work in my time)