Modelling on Bikes

Back in April, Adam and I volunteered to help with a photoshoot for the Travel Choices Hub in Dunstable (a joint Sustrans/Central Beds Council operation).  Today we received links and download codes to the agency's photos. Here are a few that I especially like.

All photos (c) ATP Media.

CYCLING LOG: 27 May - 2 June 2013

165.06km this week

Sat, Jun 1, 2013 - 121.48 km

Max Speed: 48.00 Calories: 1651.4

121.48 km in 06:40:52 hours at 18.18 km/h on Surly Pacer. FNRttC Whitstable. Fine dry weather (low 12C) with light tailwind. end odo 2943.9 RIDE REPORT HERE.      Wed, May 29, 2013 - 24.02 km            Max Speed: 38.30 Calories: 284.2 24.02 km in 01:24:59 hours at 16.96 km/h on Surly Pacer. To Harpenden and back via Stockwood Park and Sustrans cycle path (clockwise). Rainy, strong headwinds inbound. end odo 2822.4   Tue, May 28, 2013 - 19.56 km            Max Speed: 35.10 Calories: 240.5 19.56 km in 01:01:46 hours at 19.00 km/h on Surly Pacer. To Harpenden and back to meet Adam and ride home with him. Heavy rain. end odo 2798.4

FRIDAY NIGHT RIDE TO THE COAST - Whitstable edition (31 May 2013)

I've had a love/hate relationship with the Whitstable ride, for much the same reasons as with the Felpham (Bognor Regis) ride. They both have long stretches of the most perfect cycling lanes, but they each also have a stretch that saps my will to live (Whitstable: dual carriageway + roundabouts + massive lorries as we approach the Dartford crossing; Felpham: the long slow grind of the A217 around Sutton).

And I don't have good form on the Whitstable run: this was my fourth time to start, but only my second time to finish. 

As it was, finishing this time was not a foregone conclusion.

Vulpine Cycling Fete in SW London on 14th July

I was disappointed I missed the one in Balham last year - must try and make it to this one!

Nick Hussey (Vulpine founder) says:

Dogs, giant sunflowers, and entire families are welcome, even non-cyclists have permission and indeed opportunities to enjoy themselves too.

CYCLING LOG: 20-26 May 2013

Brief delay in posting last week's stats, due to all the cycling... and writing ride reports!

Sat, May 25, 2013 - 86.40 km
86.40 km in 05:15:00 hours at 16.46 km/h on Circe Helios Duo. To Luton Airport Parkway, then St Pancras to Hyde Park Corner then Friday Night Ride to the Coast... Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex. Switched computer off so didn't get return miles on train assist trip home via errands in London. RIDE REPORT HERE.

Sun, May 26, 2013 - 27.54 km

27.54 km in 01:38:06 hours at 16.84 km/h on Surly Pacer. Post-FNRttC recovery ride to Dunstable Downs Visitor Centre via Pipers Lane, Caddington Green, Markyate, Pickford Road, Gaddesden Row, Studham and Dunstable Road/B4541; back via Buckley Lane and Buckley Road to Markyate, then retraced outbound route. Lots of hills, which I needed, to make sure my knees were still working! end odo 2778.9 RIDE REPORT HERE.

To the top of the Downs

On Sunday (after Friday night's tandemista adventure), we went out for a little recovery ride, just to make sure my knees still work! I wanted a few hills so we cycled up to the highest point of the Dunstable Downs.   On such a lovely day, it was a very popular place!

Tandem Debut on a Friday Night Ride to the Coast, or, In For A Penny, In For A Pound



Last Friday at midnight, we set off from London for yet another Friday Night Ride to the Coast, this time to Burnham-on-Crouch. This is a gently rolling route of about 55 miles - just about the flattest ride we have in our ride calendar.

And so it seemed a good ride to aim for as a debut for the tandem we bought last September.

This is where it all gets a little tricky. I've admired tandems from afar and totally get the 'romance' of the bicycle built for two, but I've always had a knee jerk "no way!" reaction when faced with the prospect of getting on one myself. Can't see where I'm going? Can't choose the easiest gears possible for my grumpy knees? When the subject first came up a year ago when Adam and I were first dating, mercifully he seemed to agree. A couple we may be, but a tandem was a non-starter.

Windmills Through A Lens, or, Fueled By Fat

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DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT YOUR NORMAL RIDE REPORT.

Some of my family, friends and readers are aware that I have resumed a ketogenic diet as the only way I have found of controlling my lifelong IBS. For a brief potted history, you can read this.

The first proper long ride I have done since returning to health through this diet was Adam's "Tilting At Windmills" ride on Saturday, 11 May. So this is not so much a report focusing on the ride itself but a report on my first attempt at riding more than 30 miles being fueled by ketones, rather than carbs.

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My day was 115km (just shy of 70 miles) in total, with the first 18km being quite hilly and into a stiff headwind, with the next 32km continuing into that headwind but being mercifully flat.

While I wouldn't go so far as to say it was "a piece of cake" (pardon the expression), I did find it remarkable for lack of "struggle". 

CYCLING LOG: 13-19 May 2013, or, Ramping Up The Miles, PLUS Ride Report Cambridge-to-Southend

218km this week!

After a long winter, I've come right up against a series of long rides on the calendar, so I'm doing my best to make up for lost time on building up the fitness!  Last weekend, I rode part of Adam's "Tilting At Windmills" ride plus the ride out from home and back, for a total of about 70 miles (~115km). This weekend now gone, I did my first overnight ride, which came to nearly 100 miles (~153km). I am a lot stronger generally than I was last year, due to a ketogenic diet and Pilates twice a week, but time in the saddle is still the key and that's where I'm finding it a little tricky to accelerate the mileage while being careful not to get an injury or, in particular, over-stress my knees.

I still need to do a ride report on the Windmills ride. Meanwhile, however, the overnight ride will be reported in full below, as there were no photos so no real need for it to have its own post. The ride leader (aka Wowbagger on the YACF forum) has also written a lovely, more detailed report here.

The next long ride is the Friday's FNRttC to Burnham-on-Crouch next Friday -- a flat 55 miles and our tandem debut! A week later, we are off on a hilly 72 miles (~122km) to Whitstable. A week after that, Adam is running an unofficial Dunwich Dynamo of approx. 113 miles (~180km) -- all the goodness of the DunRun but with FNRttC rules (midnight start, pace of the slowest rider, no one left behind).

From mid-June onwards, the rides calendar lets up a bit but I'm keen to obtain and maintain as much cycling fitness as I can, perhaps rearranging my week so I can get out for a 20-30 mile loop 5 mornings a week. 

Sat, May 18, 2013 - 153.92 km
153.92 km in 09:25:24 hours at 16.33 km/h on Surly Pacer. RIDE REPORT: Wowbagger's "Unseasonable Visit to the Grotto" ride.

The (Not Round The) Isle of Wight Randonnee

The annual Isle of Wight Randonnee is 100km of unrelenting hills - yes, lots of lovely descents but boy do you earn them.  The delay in the arrival of spring this year meant I was nowhere near fit enough for that, so we decided to ride the 55k route instead. This takes in the main route from Cowes to Alverstone but then instead of heading south to Whitwell, goes inland to Newport via National Cycle Route 23, then follows the River Medina north to Cowes.

The black line shows the 100k route, the white line the 55k route.