Frosty frosty frosty

A long and lazy Christmas break, too much food and no exercise and we are desperate to go for a bike ride!

Temperatures are a shade below zero and everything is sparkly white!

We have decided to try the Alban Way, a disused railway line between St Albans and Hatfield, but we need to get there by car.

 The bike rack on the car looks about as ready as the roads to take a bicycle.

But Stuart likes his bike rides, so he defrosts the car and gets everything ready. (I exit the house, once the car hot seat is thoroughly heated). Note the fetching headgear is to go under a cycle helmet, he's not going to attempt an early Loony Dook in Verulam lake.

The Alban Way is a very straight forward cycle path, flat and even and no cars.  Exactly what is needed for an icy day.

We stop in Hatfield for an average toasted tea cake and an awful cup of coffee.  We won't be returning to that establishment.

Fortunately there are no mishaps along the frosty cycle path and when we get home, thanks to a new Breadmaker Bible Christmas present, there is a delicious freshly baked Parmesan and sun dried tomato loaf waiting for us!

Ok, I admit that this blog does not contain a lot of cycling, it is more a reminder that we are prepared to cycle in all weathers!

A wintery mix

On Saturday Stuart and I attempted a late afternoon run to the Potten End Café.  We realised after 1/2 mile that there was still black ice on the roads, so turned around, headed home and picked up the car to head to the café.  A few hundred yards after our turn around point we came across a cyclist who was being loaded into a van after coming off his bike on the ice.  A wise move not to cycle that day.

 

We did however have lovely tea and cake at Potten End

 

 

Sunday morning and the weather forecast is iffy.  We start the ride in cloud, it turns to showers, then light rain, then heavy rain, then hailstones (OK cold stingy rain).  We arrive at the café cold and wet, but after tea and a toasted tea cake we are revived. 

 

Within 3 miles of setting off from the tea spot there are two punctures in the group.  Fortunately, it is blue skies and sunshine, whilst the repairs take place.

 

 

Today's ride was to Gravely, near Stevenage, so a long ride, and half way home I am getting pretty slow.  The group had had to stop and wait for me a few times on the way out, and no matter how many times people say that it is OK, you still feel pretty bad about holding people up.  Stuart had said to Ian, the ride leader, that we could find our own way home from Whitwell, so after that point the group stops waiting and I am effectively dropped.  Stuart my cycling hero stays with me all the way, and helps pushing me up the hills again.  (He's actually my everything hero, why else would I have married him, but I digress, this is a cycling blog).  Once the group is well and truly out of sight, your spirits flag and then the rain starts again, so the end of the ride was cold, wet & disheartening.

However, I have room for improvement, I have plans to start spinning classes in the New Year to help speed me up on the club rides and I am looking forward to lots of new cycling adventures in 2015!  I'm also quite proud that I achieved 66km and 512m of climbing today!

 

Ebb and Flow

Unbelievably for the last day before December, we have sunshine, blue skies and balmy weather, what a difference to last week's ride!

 

Today's cycle ride includes a downhill freewheel challenge,  From a standing start and a push at the top of the hill, the aim is to freewheel for as long as possible to see who rolls the furthest.

 

 

 

 

I'm very brave and don't put my brakes on the downhill, and also very chuffed to find that I end up just ahead of Stuart!

 

 

 

 

Although it is quite clear from the line up at the end that those who have most to gain from gravitational issues are the ones who roll the furthest.  I am now less pleased that I beat Stuart and glad that I didn't win overall!

 

 

We then start the ride proper and head through some gorgeous rolling countryside on the way to Vanstone Garden Centre.   As we cycle along, the group (about 15 of us this week) settle into a natural rhythm, riding 2 by 2, moving into single file as the cars go by, joining up again for a chat, moving up, moving back, it all seems so effortless, A real ebb and flow of riders.  However, there is one riding along at the back, on their own, trying to concentrate on how everything works.  That would be me!  I'm sure that things will get better soon, but I need more fitness and more confidence to really feel at ease in a group.

 

Vanstone Garden Centre doesn't disappoint, it is completely decked out in Christmas baubles!

 

 

 

We arrive at the same time as the Hemel Hempstead cycling group.  (A rival chapter?!)  I ask if there is ever any tension between the groups.  Only if the cakes run out apparently!

 

 

The return journey to St Albans now feels like it is uphill all the way.  (I'm sure the Belgian bun had nothing to do with it).  I'm struggling now and starting to drop behind the group.  Stuart realises what is happening and drops back, he cycles alongside and puts his hand on my back gentle pushing me up the hills, so even though we aren't quite on the tail of the pack we never lose sight of them.  Some very impressive strong cycling from Stuart, that he manages to cycle for the two of us and make it look so easy.

 

The countryside is just as gorgeous on the way back with autumnal colours and lovely sunlight.  Last week I was wishing for an extra pair of dry socks, this week I am wishing I brought sun glasses.  No time to stop for photos though, got to keep the group in view.

 

 

Here I am, made it back to the car, absolutely delighted to have kept up with the group (with more than a little help from Stuart).  However, I think that this week I was a little bit more ebb than flow!

 

Sense of achievement

Four weeks ago I joined the Verulam cycling club and did my first ever Sunday club ride. For the next three Sundays I had other commitments so could not make the ride, therefore I resolved to head out this Sunday whatever the weather. Big mistake!

 

 

Normally a Sunday ride has six or seven groups of riders with about 10-20 people in each group.   (Sociables, Social/Inters, Inters, Mods, Mods+, Rapides and Fast).  I ride in the Sociables group as this is the only one that I have a chance of keeping up with, that and it's friendly and Sociable!

Given the awful weather forecast this Sunday only 30 people turned up!  However, out of the 30 people that did show, 9 of them belonged to Sociables group.  That's a pretty impressive turn out and I reckon it means the Sociables are the most hard core of the whole club!

The rain was constant from the moment we set off and did not let up all morning.  The roads were so wet they were completely flooded in places, and it's quite nerve wracking riding through what is effectively a lake, hoping that there are no potholes hidden under the surface.

Somehow we survived and all arrived in one piece at the tea room in Chipperfield.

 

Here we all squashed around one table, since we are after all the Sociables group.  Jackets, hats and gloves were removed and hung over radiators in the vain hope that they would dry out.  I was dismayed to see that underneath my rain jacket all my warm layers were soaked too, since the seams on my jacket must now be failing.  I may have mentioned this a number of times during the break, as Lyndsey felt the need to point out that yes I had justified the purchase of a new jacket.

 

Most of the group opted for tea or coffee and a slice of cake.  I however felt the need for a sausage sandwich.  Last time I rode with the group I really struggled to keep up, so I figured some extra fuel wouldn't go amiss.  The sausage sandwich really hit the spot, although I was still thoroughly wet through as I sat eating it.  Did I mention that already?

 

On the return journey the rain did not let up.  If anything it got worse. Veronique who also uses Strava named this ride Canyoning not cycling, and she's not wrong! As we cycled up hills, the water cascading down the roads looked like rivers. Fortunately, Bill the ride leader opted for a slightly shorter route today, due to the inclement conditions, so we rode just over 40km today.  The sausage sandwich did the trick and I managed to keep up, although the fact that everyone was riding much slower due to the rain may also have helped!

 

 

 

 

Now that I am home sitting on front of a roaring log fire I do feel a certain  sense of achievement.

I achieved:-

• getting wet,
• finding out that my rain jacket is no longer waterproof
• learning that waterproof socks retain water inside them rather than prevent water getting in.

at least I'm toasty now!

What happened to 2014?

So I admit it has been quite some time since my last fairlyweatheredcyclists post, but I've been busy!!

On 21st April the shippers arrived at our house in Montreal and packed up all our worldly goods ready to load onto a ship heading back to the UK.

On 22nd April Stuart and I took our two remaining suitcases and headed off on an adventure!  

Two months touring round the west coast of the USA.  Sadly not much cycling involved, but it was a trip worthy of its own blog!  We had a brilliant time and you can read about it here

http://9x90dayplan.blogspot.co.uk/

There is also the fly-by video



 

On 1st July we arrive back in the UK, both a little bit anxious as to whether we would settle back to life in the UK after 5 1/2 years abroad.

In our shipping we have 6 bicycles - two town bikes, two touring bikes and two road bikes.  Apparently the correct number of bicycles to own is N + 1, where N is the current number of bicycles.  However, Stuart breaks this rule with an unauthorized sale of the two town bikes on eBay!  We are now N - 2.

 

 

July is a busy month with unpacking and sorting our lives out.  We do however manage a couple of lovely rides to Potten End for coffee with some of the Verulam cycling club.  These are mid week rides which will soon be lost to me when I return to work on 1st August.  This is me at the Potten End Garden centre which is also a lovely tea room.

Over the summer we manage some great rides at the weekend.  The weather is very kind to us, August was a bit soggy, but on balance much better English weather than we remember.  I hope this summer wasn't a fluke!

Notable rides were:-

Goring to Christmas Common

We stayed overnight at the delightful Swan Hotel in Goring.  Great location, lovely evening and this meant we were ready to ride first thing

For this ride I had attached my Sony Active cam to my helmet and set the camera to take a photo once every 10 seconds.  Here is the video that I loaded to YouTube.

I was trialling the mapmyride app (shortly before switching to Strava) so I also have map of the route, which was 53km and bloomin hilly.

 Princes Riseborough to Hambledon

Definitely the most picturesque ride of the summer.  57km and incredibly hilly, 710m of climbing overall

Now I am using Strava and this is the route

 

 

Although this was the prettiest ride of the season, it was also the day that was the closest I have ever come to dying.  Riding along the narrowest of country lanes, single track and no more, I approached a very sharp blind corner.  I could hear a car approaching at very high speed. I couldn't believe that it would take the corner at high speed, but just in case, I squashed myself into the hedgerow.  The car flew round the corner without slowing down, spotted me just a few feet ahead and slammed on his brakes as fast and as hard as he could.  It was very narrow, he obviously thought he was going to hit me.  Fortunately my preventive measure of pressing up against the hedgerow meant that he just missed me, but his car didn't actually stop until he was about 10 feet past me.  If I had been cycling along just a few inches further into the road he would have slammed into me.   I turned the air a vivid shade of blue with the torrent of abuse that I hurled into the back of his car, he drove off very quickly. 

 

Canal tow paths into London

August bank holiday Monday and we had decided to use the canal tow paths to cycle into London.  In traditional British style the weather on the bank holiday Monday was torrential rain, but we weren't deterred and we had a great day!

 

Aside from the trips mentioned above, we have explored many routes local to us.  What we hadn't realised when we went away was that our home in the UK is actually located in a fabulous region for cycling,  There is a lifetime's network of country lanes to explore and if we get the wet weather gear sorted we are going to have a lot of cycling fun!

To the Kelpies and beyond!

One fine November weekend and we head up to Edinburgh, Stuart's home town.  It is looking particularly beautiful this weekend

Our good friend Sarah, had offered to show us the Kelpies, a new installation near Falkirk.  Due to a suspicious communication error (Sarah was intending to drive us to Falkirk, but Stuart had interpreted this as, we must bring bicycles as we are going to cycle there) we find ourselves setting off on another bike ride on a beautiful late autumn day.

The weather was glorious (well, until the return journey).  Not a breath of wind and cloudless blue sunny skies.  We catch the train to Falkirk and then it is a short ride to the Kelpies mainly along a canal tow path.

The Kelpies are magnificent.  A stunning sculpture, 30m high, that was completed in October 2013.  We spend at least an hour here, wandering around, taking photos, marveling at the grandeur.

The plan for the return journey was for Jacky and myself to catch the train back and for Stuart, Richard, Sarah and John to cycle all the way back to Edinburgh.

However, because the weather is so beautiful, Jacky and I decide to join the others on the return journey. (Ominous dark rain clouds enter stage left).

We now have a very interesting bike ride o'er hill and dale and boggy field and muddy shoreline and leafy forests.  I'm now glad I am on a clunky old town bike, rather than my sleek road bike (despite earlier moans to the contrary).

Here is a map of the route we took back from the Kelpies. Note I have highlighted the two "getting lost" points, and with special thanks to John who was responsible for getting lost point 2!  This was a particularly steep hill that we climbed before we realised that we were going the wrong way!

Fortunately, the rains held off until near the end of the ride.  It was getting dark, so we decided to complete the end of the journey by jumping on a train at South Queensferry, but not before a bowl of very fine Cullen Skink at a wee cafe called the Ravenous Beastie.

Florida Sunshine

On Thursday March 20th I departed Montreal as snow was falling!  I was heading to the airport, so that I could join Stuart in Florida.  In true Montrealer style, we headed south to get some sunshine after a fairly brutal winter.

The reason we were heading to Florida was to take part in the Delray Beach Gran Fondo bike ride.  I understood this to be a leisurely Sunday morning jaunt down the coastal road.  However, I had noticed that Stuart had been doing an awful lot of Spinning classes over the winter as training!

We were staying with our friends Keith & Nicole who spend the summer in Montreal and winter in Florida.  Stuart and Keith met two years ago and have spent many happy hours cycling together.

Stuart had rented a road bike and I had borrowed a spare bike from Nicole.  On the Friday morning we went out on the bikes just to check everything was in working order.  I thought that Stuart was looking particularly matchy matchy for this leisurely ride!

Rather than doing any serious cycling Nicole took us on some back roads to see some of the amazing houses.  The scale of the mansions is quite incredible, but this smaller property was one of my favourites.  The bright flowers were stunning, after spending a winter in a world of white.

Although in some cases you can see that all the money in the world can't actually buy you taste.

I was pleased to see a party bicycle go past.  If this is typical of Florida's attitude to cycling, then this really suits my style!

More relaxing in readiness for the ride, we meet up with another friend and take his dogs for a walk on the beach.

It's only on the Saturday that I begin to wonder what I have gotten myself into!  On Saturday night are Criterion races for some of the riders who are taking part in the Sunday morning Gran Fondo.

I have as much knowledge of Criterion races, as I do of Gran Fondos, but a race track is set up in the middle of town that is about a 1km circuit. The women's race is 40 laps and the men's race is 80 laps.  The speed at which the riders fly past is incredible.  Given the number of laps that the riders pass by I have many opportunities to adjust the settings on my camera.  Despite this, below is one of the best pictures that I manage to take.

I'm sure that it is the night time darkness that means my photos are bad, the riders weren't really that fast!

Sunday morning and it's an early start, the ride starts at 7am, but given the temperatures predicted for the day, we're glad the ride is starting early.

(Was it really -15 C when I left Montreal?!)

Keith and Stuart meet up with another cycling buddy Michel.  There seems to be a certain competitiveness amongst them and all seem to have been doing a suspicious amount of cycle training over the winter just for this ride.   Unfortunately, the boys are missing their friend Alain, who couldn't join them for this ride.  The four of them have had two fabulous Montreal summers riding together, at least twice a week.  When Stuart goes out for a ride with them he is like a little boy going out to play with his friends and coming back with tales of who pulled the most, who nearly got dropped and who beat who along which straight!  (I'm assuming that pulling is a cycling term and doesn't involve other women!)

As you will see Stuart is wearing a new Scotland jersey and for the record this is the Lion Rampant, emblem of Scotland, and has nothing to do with Wales!

The ride is a very straight forward, head South, turnaround, head North, turnaround and end up where you started.  62 miles or 100km in total.  (I have no intention of attempting the 100km, and plan a turnound at the 9 mile rest stop, head up to the 43 mile rest stop, and then turn back to the finish). This works out as a nice 65km bike ride, just perfect for a first ride after winter.

At the start of the ride, the riders line up in group order.  Professionals lead off first.  Professionals???, who said anything about Professionals?  I hope I don't get in their way!  Next is the Group A riders, then Group B+, then Group B and finally Group C

Stuart, Keith and Michel are registered with Group B+.  Nicole suggests that we tuck in at the back of Group B.  As we are waiting for our departure, we hear the announcement that Group B rides at speeds of between 20 to 23.  That should be OK, when I was training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer I  eventually managed speeds of around 22 km /hr.  Oh hang on, we're in the US, they work in miles per hour.  A quick bit of mental arithmetic, divide by 8 and multiply by 5.  Ok, so 22 divide by 8, that's just under 3, multilply by 5, that's 15 minus 5 x the just under 3 bit.  Whatever, that is, it's definitely not Group B, and I suspect not Group C either.

Anyway,  we finally depart at around 7.30, and Group B have soon speed off into the distance.  A polite motor cycle rider who is meant to be accompanying the rear of Group B soon realizes that we're not going to be catching the pack and heads off after the other riders.  Marvellous, time to take a picture of the sunrise!

It's only 9 miles to the first rest stop, and this is where Nicole and I turnound, effectively missing out 16 miles of the route.  We are now ahead of many of the riders, but fortunately not the professionals!  

At another photo stopping point, amazingly I see Stuart's group whizz by, and even more amazingly I manage to take a photo

Pretty soon, not only had Group B+ and Group B gone past, but also Group C.  There is nothing for it, but to form our own Group D.  Just two members, no target average speed, and purpose of the group to stop and take photos and enjoy the ride.

The weather was just perfect, probably one of the most perfect cycling days that I have ridden.  No wind, beautifully warm, but not too hot, smooth roads and no hills!

There were many many extravagant mansions, mostly hidden by high electric gates and palm trees,but here is another one that I managed to snap along the route.

Nicole and I make it to our next turnaround point, the 43 mile rest stop, which was fairly badly signed.   We found out later that Stuart, Keith and a few others had got separated from Group B at this point, due to the lack of signs.

Despite being separated from the main pack, Stuart's splinter group worked hard together and Stuart found that they all called him Scotty.  I wonder why?!

About 5km short of the finish line, Nicole and I are overtaken by Group C.  I know that it is only 5km to go, so I pedal like crazy to try and keep up.  I'm cycling at 30km / hr and I reckon that Group C must be targeting 20 mph.  So divide their speed by 5 and multiply by 8.... too late, never mind Group C have disappeared!  I really don't have the speed to take part in this sort of ride.  However, that doesn't stop me absolutely loving it!

At the end of the ride I confess that I didn't do the whole 100km, but I'm awarded a medal anyway!

Next the excitement of the ride times, Stuart and Keith eagerly await the posting of the results!

They are both delighted to find, that their adjusted time (allowing for wait times at bridge openings) for a 100km ride was under 3 hours.  

That evening we all meet up for a lovely supper prepared by Nicole. Michel's wife, Suzanne also joins us.  Stuart proposes a toast to his friends with whom he has spent so many joyful hours cycling.  He chokes up a little and I guess what he really wants to says is that it has meant so much to him to have found such a wonderful group of friends with whom he could cycle.  When he met them he was recovering from a very dark period and a battering of chemo, and at that time he had no idea life could get so good again.  So a big thank you to Keith, Michel and Alain for helping bring Stuart back to full strength.  He's going to miss you guys loads.