RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts for the year
 

Having failed to reach my target of 3000km worth of rides in the recently
ended 2006/7 I decided to get off to a flying start to the new season by
completing a 100km BP ride on the first free Sunday in the new season. As
there's no local calendered events in the early part of the season I did a
DIY permanent from Leeds to Stamford Bridge and back.

The weather was bright and relatively warm as predicted and I set off in
shorts with some tracjksuit bottoms packed in my saddle bag for good
measure. The ride out to Wetherby was a tad slower than normal because
I've missed quite a few opportunities to ride because of other commitments
and a string of colds but I settle into a steady pace on the back roads to
York. Bright sunshine and no wind made for a very pleasant experience and
despite my feelings of being out of condition I overtook a few weekend
cyclists. At Rufforth I spotted a few light aircraft through the boundary
hedge to the airfield and was pleasntly surprised to see an autogyro in
flight - my first.

Passing through York and onto Stamford Bridge was uneventful and I stopped
for a short break and obtained a proof of passage before turning back for
Leeds. I made exactly the same mistake as the last time i rode to Stamford
Bridge. Reacheing the place feeling fresh and redy for anything I didn't
eat enough for the return leg and once or twice I verged on bonking but
jelly babies came to my rescue. On the York - Wetherby leg I was astounded
by the antics of a lad on a BMX bike. It took me a while to catch up with
him and despite his knees in his armpits riding position was nonchalantly
maintaining 13mph or thereabout when I overtook him. A mile or so on I look
over my shoulder and he was there pedalling frantically at around 17mph
before he upped the pace and pulled ahead and turned off at his village but
not before giving me a cheery wave. I was gob smacked.

The final leg between Wetherby and Leeds is a little bit of a slog when one
is tired but I pressed on and finished the ride, over distance at 70 miles -
well past the metric ton specced on my entry form and well within time for
the BR pace of 15km/hr. I suppose I ought to recalibrate my bike computer
to metric units but I'm comfortable with the melange of units I use to gauge
the pace and personal performance on a ride. I managed to get a hint of a
cyclists tan through the backs of my croched track mitts though by the end
of the ride riding in shorts was marginal when I cam to personal comfort.
All in all a nice day out and I'm all set for next weekend's DIY perm to
Darlington.

Must get around to becoming less porky and tackling more 200s this season.
It'd be nice to get the 2000km Brevet award for ten rides instead of twenty
:-)

RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts forthe year
 

vernon wrote:

Must get around to becoming less porky and tackling more 200s this season.
It'd be nice to get the 2000km Brevet award for ten rides instead of twenty
:-)

You, sir, are quite astounding. There I was feeling quite pleased about
taking the trailer to Tesco for the week's shopping and I come back to
read about you cycling a casual 70 miles or so for a pre-season warm-up!


--
Brian G
www.wetwo.co.uk

RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts forthe year
 

Brian G said the following on 06/11/2007 09:37:

You, sir, are quite astounding. There I was feeling quite pleased about
taking the trailer to Tesco for the week's shopping and I come back to
read about you cycling a casual 70 miles or so for a pre-season warm-up!

Yeah, but what he didn't tell you was that his ride was a trip to Tesco
with a trailer on the back - to the next city :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts for the year
 

"Brian G" wrote in message
...
vernon wrote:

Must get around to becoming less porky and tackling more 200s this
season. It'd be nice to get the 2000km Brevet award for ten rides instead
of twenty :-)

You, sir, are quite astounding. There I was feeling quite pleased about
taking the trailer to Tesco for the week's shopping and I come back to
read about you cycling a casual 70 miles or so for a pre-season warm-up!

My exploits are minor league compared to the big hitters in Audax UK. Steve
Abraham expects to get 402 points from Audaxing which equates to 40,200 km
and, when taking into account his over distance rides is closer to
45,000km - roughly four times the distance that I drive each year and ten
times the distance that I ride.

I'll be quite happy to hit 4000 km from Audaxing this season year up from
2,800 km last season and aim to get a total of 6000km of riding done
including another End to End - something easy for a change Mizzen Head to
Malin Head taking in a folk festival along the way.

I simply must eat fewer pies to become less porky. I'm getting the miles in
but manage to match calorie expenditure with calorie intake along the
way....

-=V=-

RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts for the year
 

"vernon" wrote in message
...
Having failed to reach my target of 3000km worth of rides in the recently
ended 2006/7 I decided to get off to a flying start to the new season by
completing a 100km BP ride on the first free Sunday in the new season. As
there's no local calendered events in the early part of the season I did a
DIY permanent from Leeds to Stamford Bridge and back.

Well done Vernon - looking forward to your 08 rides.


--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts for the year
 

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
. uk...

"vernon" wrote in message
...
Having failed to reach my target of 3000km worth of rides in the recently
ended 2006/7 I decided to get off to a flying start to the new season by
completing a 100km BP ride on the first free Sunday in the new season.
As there's no local calendered events in the early part of the season I
did a DIY permanent from Leeds to Stamford Bridge and back.

Well done Vernon - looking forward to your 08 rides.

Thanks Simon. I'll be in your neck of the woods for:

Hessle 200 on 18th May
Beverley 100 on 8th June

plus a few home brewed 200 that will take in the Humber Bridge feel free to
join me on a ride :-)

Cheers

Vernon

RR - First Audax of the new season, last ride in shorts for the year
 

On Nov 5, 9:36 pm, "vernon" wrote:

Must get around to becoming less porky and tackling more 200s this season.
It'd be nice to get the 2000km Brevet award for ten rides instead of twenty
:-)

Well done! I did the Upper Thames 200km on Saturday to get my season
started and keep RRTY on the go. 214km actually and it was 10h40 so
one of my faster 200s, a great day out! :)

Simon