Follow request accepted mate

did a quick 15 miles today... wind at about 20mph with gusts to >30... tried to keep it at my side most of the ride so had to change my usual route...

New member -- wanted to introduce myself by briefly reporting on a nice 11-day tour in Central Washington State, completed a week ago (Sept. 18.) This is not a published route but was invented by three friends and me -- a big circle.

--We started at the top of White Pass on Rt. 12 for a nice downhill run into Yakima and then on to Toppenish that night. (Days Inn.)We tried to stay on smaller roads and used the bike path to get across Yakima. 85 miles.
--Next day, we followed smaller roads (Yakima Valley Highway) to Richland. (Desert Gold Motel.) 69 miles.
--Then we rode the Columbia River Trail out of Richland, crossed the Snake River and reached the Lewis & Clark Trail Park ouside of Waitsburg. 65 miles.
--Then some climbing from river drainage to drainage, in heavy wind, to the Lyons Ferry KOA on the Snake River. 35 miles.
--Next day multi-mile climbing (8 to 11 percent grades) from the Snake River to the top of the Columbia Basin plateau. Very desolate and beautiful near Palouse Falls. Began seeing dead rattlesnakes on the road. Wonderful, well-paved road with little traffic. My pals were tired in Ritzville so we got 2 rooms at the Top Hat motel ($52 including taxes.) 50 miles (3,000 total feet of climb.)
--Ritzville to Soap Lake via farmland roads -- vast fields of wheat extending to the horizon on every side. 69 miles. Soap Lake KOA.
--Soap Lake to Electric City, via the Coulee Scenic Route. Good roads through huge canyons formed by the Columbia River during the last Ice Age. Almost deserted roads. 51 miles. Playland Campground.
--Electric City to Pateros via rural road. Heavy climbing out of the Columbia River drainage to the top of the plateau again. Farmland and some scrubby wilderness. Dropping to camp on the Columbia River at the Pateros city park for free. 57 miles.
--Pateros to the apartment of a friend's daughter in Wenatchee. Most of the day in view of the Columbia. First live rattlesnake -- a little one. 60 miles.
--Wenatchee via the town of George (yes, George, Washington) to Desert Aire marina/park just past Matawa. We climbed out of the river drainage to the plateau again then finished back down on the river. 78 miles.
-- Desert Aire to Yakima. Again we climbed out of the Columbia River drainage then at the end dropped into the Yakima River drainage. 60 miles. We picked up my van (parked at a friends apartment) and drove four hours home to Olympia.

693 miles total, not a speck of rain, gorgeous scenery and mostly empty roads with smooth paving. At times the climbing reminded me of the Sierra-Cascades Tour a couple of us rode last summer -- but only at times. This is a wonderful route and I hope some of you have a chance to try it.

I remember driving up/down White Pass years ago thinking, "this would be awesome to ride down!" NIce trip!

Another run through Strathclyde Park & into Chatelherault, much drier this week which made the mud slipper and stickier. Huge fun though, couple of technical sections climbing over rocks and roots and a few steep downhill sections that has to be navigated with similar care. Over 30km done, mostly off road. Good run in perfect conditions :-D.

Hey Guys n Gals,

Just joined the group and thought Id share one of my recent rides in Northumberland; mixed on and off road the ride was based on a route by Derek Purdy, the route takes you through beautiful scenery but hits you with steep climbs and some very tough terrain! Fields, bulls, cobbles and a ford with a tiny rusty bridge, great fun!

Distance: 48.43 Miles
Bike: Hardtail
Elevation Gain: 2372 ft
Avg Speed: 10 mph

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230571887

Date: 1/20/13
Distance: 13.9 miles
Elevation Gain: 148 ft
Moving Time: 1 hr 28 min 26 seconds
Burned: 789 calories
Max Speed: 37.1 mph
Average Speed: 9.4 mph (I'm getting faster yay!)
Bike: Roadmaster Mtn. Sport XS
rode along the beach at sunset. what a great view!

New member, but been cycling seriously about eight months now. Have had to put the bike away for two weeks whilst I sorted out a chest infection. Here is a small get back to training route. I use endomondo, and here is the link
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/161414508/4804079

some endomondo figures
DISTANCE
11.13 mi
DURATION
51m:02s
AVG. SPEED
13.1 mph
MAX. SPEED
22.2 mph
CALORIES
838 kcal
HYDRATION
0.19L
MIN. ALTITUDE
224 ft
MAX. ALTITUDE
323 ft
TOTAL ASCENT
193 ft
TOTAL DESCENT
172 ft
WEATHER
Mostly cloudy

Not the best run but give it a week or five and I will be back to 3.25mins a mile

My latest ride report from last Friday:

http://www.composite-projects.co.uk/2013/04/llandegla-friday-19th-april-ride-report/

Riding Time 01:31:54
Riding Distance 25.40 miles
Max Speed 36.4 mph
Avg Speed 16.6 mph
Altitude Gain 646 ft
Calories Burned 1008 Kcal
Avg Speed 16.6 mph
Avg Cadence 75 rpm

2x short rides tonight. 2.7km to the pool, 25min swim, then 2.7km back home.
7:30 there and 8:30 back.

hope to hit a trail on saturday or sunday morning, during the day even, so ill be able to take some pics.

put in 18km in 65 minutes today. this is my farthest ride by about 6km so was really struggling towards the end. plus a strong head wind on the way back didnt help the cause.

man my *kitten* is sore too

Can I input a route prior to the ride and use the Garmin as a "map"

With the 800/810 yes - it'll even do turn by turn instructions like an automotive satnav (though not audio, just onscreen) with the correct mapping installed.

Had one of my best rides today. 8.21 miles and I averaged 19 mph. Overall, it is a 350 descent so it isn't too surprising. However, I've never averaged that speed before (and I've done this route 100's of times) and there were other things. I wasn't even trying to beat any former time, my bike isn't set up right (I have a spare rim and tire meant for a 24 speed while the rest of the bike is set up for 21, so I can't use my top gears). It was encouraging!!!!

I may as well do a bit of a "ride report" of my trip up to the Dales last week to have a little look around one or two of the roads that they're using for the TdF in a couple of weeks.

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to be only 90 minutes or so from the nicer bits of the yorkshire dales... Near enough to wake at a normal time, have breakfast, pack the bike in the back of the car along with my riding kit (remembering my Sidi's this time - wouldn't be the first time I'd got to the start of a ride, only to remember the cycling shoes were still at home!), a couple of bottles and an emergency flapjack, and still be able to park up and be ready to roll by 10:30.

I'd a vague idea of doing a loop from West Witton, down to Aysgarth, crossing the river at the falls then heading towards Hawes on the northerly side of the Ure through Askrigg and then up and over the "Côte de Buttertubs" :LOL: then down the vallet through Muker, Gunnerside and Reeth, before nipping back over the ridge at Grinton, taking in the "Côte de Griton Moor" :)lol: again - really does make me giggle seeing these names "en francaise")before hitting Leyburn and rolling back to West Witton and the car.

What I hadn't counted on was the number of roadworks still in progress, and the fact that there was a charity bike ride on that day. Fortunately, it appeared that the charity bike ride was taking in the route in the opposite direction, so I was spared the ignominy of being passed by a continuous stream of people on assorted ill-fitting and badly maintained Bike-Shaped-Objects. Unfortunately, the roadworks did cause a couple of diversions - forcing me back onto the A684 after Askrigg as the Long Shaw section was off-limits due to maintenance. I really hope that the tarmac isn't still "green" by the time they pass over on the 5th July.

Anyway, the diversion gave me another mile or so extra to warm up before what is basically the "main event" of the ride. Yep, Buttertubs. Not the toughest of hill-climbs in the country. Or even the County. Probably not even in that particular Dale. But, for a 50+ year old bloke that's the wrong side of 110kg's who's got a dodgy knee on the right side and a iffy hip on the left... it's quite bad enough thank you...

http://veloviewer.com/segments/5066439/athlete/165533

6km of sheer misery for me I'm afraid - 302m of ascent overall gives a 5% gradient - but that doesn't really tell the whole story... the 21.5% section just before the cattle grid did for me I'm afraid - weaving side to side, I was just about making it, then I pulled my cleat out of the pedal and that was it. Couldn't get started again, and had to walk maybe 20 yards until the gradient abated.

Of course, what goes up must go down, so at least the fact that gravity likes me had its compensations. If only the tool in the Mondeo who passed me on the crest of the descent hadn't then proceded to ride his brakes on the fast bit of the descent, it'd have been even better. Still - there WAS a section that was straight enough, and he'd finally realised that I was far faster than him on the twisty bits, so he let me through, and I could enjoy the rest of the descent. As to how much I enjoyed it... well, Strava said I enjoyed it at least 72.7kph, but the un-smoothed data in Training peaks seems to imply I enjoyed it at least 104.8kph.

Anyway - the rest of the run down Swaledale was wonderful - about a 15kph tailwind, sun was finally out again, and beautiful roads, decorated all over the place with a series of yellow painted bikes. It really does seem that the people up there are getting behind the whole thing.

One thing that's conspicuous by it's absence from this write up is the lack of pictures. I'd intended taking my new toy with me - a iON Adventurecamera - it's sort of a go-pro with inbuilt GPS tracking of the video. INTENDED... I'd charged it, taken out the memory card to clear the old files down and have a blank slate to record on. I'd mounted the handlebar attachment, and rigged a secondary mount on my helmet. What I hadn't done is taken the memory-card out of the reader after clearing the files and re-fitted it to the iON :oops:

Anyhow, once again the road mending caused an amendment to my prospective route, and I sadly had to knock the Grinton Moor climb on the head, instead riding a little further around the end of the valley and back into Leyburn before returning to my car, packing up and collapsing in a fat sweaty heap for half a hour's nap before even thinking of driving home.

if anyone wants to chart my suffering - have a look here - http://app.strava.com/activities/152251673

So - what did I learn from this...

1) I may have lost over 65kg, but if I'm going to climb 20%+ hills, it's not enough - that last 20-25kg need to be addressed
2) Check your cleats before going on a ride like this, and maybe ratchet up the tension on the pedals a notch or two as well
3) Take proper food to eat after your ride, to save having to drive into the nearest village and raid the sandwich shop
4) PUT THE DAMNED CARD BACK IN THE CAMERA
5) The Yorkshire Dales are beautiful, and I NEED to get out there more often - even if they are a bit hilly in places.

I enjoyed reading TheBigYin's report too