Day 180 - Taunton Stop Line

I had a different riding experience planned for Saturday, a mountain bike ride out on my Crosstrail with Mike, my good neighbour and friend, exploring the Taunton Stop Line. This is the WW2 defensive line separating the south west from the rest of England, designed to stop an enemy's advance from the west. The length of the Taunton Stop Line is impressive, it runs north-south for nearly 50 miles through Somerset, Dorset and Devon, from Axminster to Chard along the River Axe, then along the Great Western Railway to Ilminster (the section we covered today), the railway and Chard Canal to Taunton, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal to Bridgwater, and the River Parrett to the coast near Highbridge. For those of you who know my fascination with this kind of thing, you'll not be surprised of me thinking that I'm going to have to cover it all eventually!

Today, however, we set out in Mike's estate car (I've still not yet sorted out how to transport my bike, let alone two) to Chard. From here we headed along the Route 33 cycle path to Ilminster, following the disused railway line - the sad legacy of Dr Beeching's 1960s demise of our railway network. Luckily, for me, the quality of the concrete defences installed in the early 1940s have stood the test of time and it was like being a child again, out on bikes exploring the countryside seeking out items of military interest!

Donyat Station

Just 3.5 miles along the old railway line we came across Donyat Station, still with its shelter and a model of a young girl sat waiting for the next train which will never come :(. Above the station, along the top of the embankment, are a long line of dragon's teeth fortifications, just visible as pointed concrete blocks in the above photo. Under the bridges, we saw concrete rail blocks which were placed either side of the track, allowing just enough space for the train to pass but which would block the advance of tanks, and slotted concrete blocks either side of the tracks for steel girders to be inserted to block the path of anyone using railway line. 

Concrete rail blocks & dragon's teeth

Then, at strategic sites along the railway, pillboxes and gun emplacements can be seen either hidden alongside bridges or in the hedgerows in the fields beyond. It is amazing what you see when you look. I never knew there was so many of these defensive works installed at the time, let alone having survived the past 70 years.

During our ride, we passed a number of walkers with their dogs and Mike alluded to the fact that he's always been wary of how dogs can sometimes see a moving bike and rider as fair game for a chase. It was amusing, to me, therefore, when exploring a lane containing three hidden gun emplacements, to be chased back down the lane by a very 'playful' collie dog, with Mike bearing the brunt of the dog's gnashing and barking! 

Hidden gun emplacement

Leaving the railway line cycle path, we headed through Ilminster, north towards our next destination, the old WW2 RAF airfield, now RNAS Merryfield, near the village of Ilton. This took quite a bit of time to locate as having spotted the air sock from quite a long way out, high hedges and a network of narrow crisscrossing lanes soon obscured the view and the route we needed to take. We would have made useless wartime spies!

Finally we locate HMS Heron 

Finally homing in on the airfield, access was bared by a friendly security guard as, while there was little evidence of this today, it is still an active naval airfield used primarily for military helicopter pilot training.  

We lunched in Ilton before making the short ride back to Ilminster and via the old railway to Chard. This was perhaps one of the flattest circuits I've done for some time, although we did have quite a climb  back into Ilminster just to keep the heart rate up. A fun ride, great to be back on the Crosstrail and much to see, very different from anything I've done for a very long time. Looking forward to the next one!

Stats: 22.53 mi, 2h:00m, Avg 11.2 mph, Max 29.4 mph, 1004 kcal

Day 178 - Presta Valves

Thursday, AVP night. The day started with another series of early morning business calls and the arrival of the carpet fitters whose cacophony of noises and smells, hammering and gluing, challenged my senses through to lunchtime. My afternoon, while quieter and less fragrant, was no less busy and I feared greatly that I would not make the evening ride. 6:15 pm, a quarter of an hour before bike check in time, I powered down the laptop, slipped into my Lycra and made my way to the bike shed. I've now worked out that I can do the short ride to our club meeting point in around 2 minutes, so was happy I would not miss the off.

Before heading off, I also wanted to ensure I had sufficient air in my tyres. Yesterday, I received delivery of a new set of tyre pumps. Something I had not realised when making my Roubaix purchase, was that it has a totally different tyre valves to those of my Crosstrial. The Roubaix uses the Presta valve, which being much thinner than the Crosstrail's Schrader valves, which are more like those found on a car tyre, did not fit my current set of bike pumps. The differences don't stop there. Inflating the tyre with the Presta valve is far from straight forward for the novice. Luckily a visit to YouTube and terrybyclicles.com got me sorted, you have to fully unscrew the valve stop first! So in the 15 minutes from powering off, not only did I have to slip into my kit, fill my water bottle and power on the Garmin, I also had the challenge of inflating the tyres .. which I'm pleased to report, worked a treat.

Arriving at the meeting point, the Roubaix attracted a great deal of attention. The pressure was now on to perform and this the Roubaix did. I had a much better ride out than the previous Sunday, may be because I was able to ride with the peloton and take part in a few of the sprints, while if you recall, while out with the SVCC, I lost the peloton very early on. I also think I'm getting more familiar with the gearing. We cycled out to Wilmington and Honiton and 21 mile circuit, although in my hast to leave the house, I did forget to power on the Garmin, so had covered a mile or so before I realised. Most unusually on an AVP ride, we lost 3 of our number and although two went back to seek them out, fearing a puncture or a crash, they were nowhere to be found. With the delay we cut short the intended circuit and using the power of the peloton, 3-4 of us made rapid progress down the last 9 miles of lanes and main roads, at times we were powering along at just short of 30 mph on the straights, something I would never have been able to do on the Crosstrail. I also achieved a new fastest speed of 41.2 mph and brought my 10 mile time down from 37 to 35 minutes.  I'm loving my Roubaix!

Stats: 21.38 mi, 1h:31m, Avg 14.0 mph, Max 41.2 mph, 1195 kcal

Day 176 - New Average Speed PB

Back on the Roubaix feeling especially good this morning, that was until I hit the first of my 3 hills on my climbing circuit out to Colyford. The Roubaix definitely takes less energy to move forward but I think I've underestimated the gearing quality of the Crosstrail which makes climbing so easy and down hill rides so quick.

The Crosstrail has 3 chain rings to the Roubaix's 2, which means that while there is potentially less gear changing to do on the Roubaix, the Crosstrail is more forgiving if you select the wrong gear .. yes I'm still getting used to the Roubaix's gear ratios as I'm tending to go too far through one chain ring before moving up to the next, leaving me either spinning on the pedals or juddering to a halt!

Setting off in such good spirits, I had expected to beat my Seafront Sprint2 Strava record of 21.8 mph .. this is the one that Andy took from me a month or so ago, putting in an impressive 24.4 mph .. but I could only reach an average of 21.5 mph over the half mile run, a difference of just 1 second over the distance. What is more frustrating, is that my quickest time was on the Crosstrail, I think this may be because as there is a down hill start to this segment, its increased weight adding greater forward momentum to launch me into the level straight .. that's my excuse anyway! 

Seafront Sprint2

What was pleasing on this ride was beating my previous average speed for any circuit (over 5 miles) of 13.5 mph set on Day134 - 16th July, by 0.6 mph. This stat's relevance over such different circuits is probably questionable but when compared to the last time I ran on this exact route, Day 141 - 23rd July, I can see that my average speed is up 2 mph, taking over 4 minutes of the 7 mile circuit. So while a small improvement, it is certainly a move in the right direction!

Stats: 6.95 mi, 29m 29s, Avg 14.1 mph, Max 32.8, 391 kcal

Day 174 - SVCC Morning Ride

Two weeks ago, I spoke of a couple of changes I needed to make in preparation for the Axe Valley Pedaller's 100 mile event in September. The first was to consider moving to a road bike, this I achieved last week, with the purchase of my amazing Specialized Roubaix Sport. The next was to work on getting in a few more miles to test I could get close to the distance, this I made a start on today by joining the Sid Valley Cycle Club (SVCC) on their morning 40 mile ride out to Dunkeswell. My previous best had been a long 25 mile evening ride with the AVP; long, in that we normally complete around 20 miles so as to get back to the pub before closing time!

So it was an early Sunday morning start for me with a short drive out to Sidmouth to meet at the football ground for 9:00 am. I was probably the only one who drove, as a steady procession of cyclists in their colourful lycra and road racing bikes entered the ground. We headed off pretty much bang on 9:00 am as we needed to meet up with others at Tipton Bridge at 9:15. In all, I would say we had at least 20 riders, however, once off Tipton Bridge, I only ever saw a few of our number as the peloton split a number of times to either take high speed or good climbing routes, something I have not been used to with the AVP who stay together from start to finish. As it was, I saw more sheep than cyclists on this ride as on one occasion, riding through Kentisbeare, we had to stop to let a flock pass us by!

The 29 mile ride out to Dunkeswell, the site of a small airfield first created for the US Navy in WW2, had only a few long but gentle climbing hills so I found breaking my 25 mile milestone a relatively easy  achievement. After enjoying a much needed coffee and large slice of carrot cake at the airfield's cafe, I joined the remaining 6 cyclists on the homeward journey, the remainder having long since moved on, their route to the airfield actually being 9 miles shorter. I was not bitter, it was miles I was interested in clocking up, I've had loads of practice climbing my local hills!

Talking of hills, I had thought that the 15 mile return ride would again be light on climbs, indeed the expectation was that as we headed towards the sea, the road would be predominately down hill, I had forgotten, however, about the painful climb out of Honiton to Sidford which after 35 miles in the saddle was a real test of my stamina! 

Overall, this was a great ride with 43 miles covered. I have a mountain bike ride planned for next weekend, but all being well, I can see me joining the SVCC on another morning ride very soon, if not that following weekend. Thankfully, my wife is being very supportive of me and my new found cycling interest as I can see that my time away, spent out on the road is starting to lengthen .. I am very grateful for this!

Stats: 43.47 mi, 3h:16m, Avg 13.2 mph, Max 40.0, 2,341 kcal

Day 172 - VAM

While out with Jason last night, we did much talking on the technology of cycling and I'm sure we touched on the subject of VAM. This is the Italian abbreviation of Velocità Ascensionale Media the cycling parameter of Average Ascent Speed. I mention this now as I've been looking at my Strava stats and was impressed to see me at the top of my local leader board for the category 4 Northern Lane  climb we completed through Brancsombe, the one up past the beautiful church.

VAM is apparently calculated using the formula, metres ascended x 60 / minutes taken to ascend. I achieved a credible 617, however when compared to 1650 of the top 10 Tour de France GC or mountain stage winners, you can see what athletes they really are!

This is another stat I'll be looking out for in climbs going forward .. just pleased now to be back at the top of one of the leader boards, Just don't tell Andy!

Day 171 - Evening Ride with Jason

Monday, legs too sore to ride, Tuesday and Wednesday away with work, Thursday fit again for my AVP evening ride. But no, I did not ride out with the AVP, Jason, a good friend of mine called to suggest he drive over with his bike for a ride out. Perfect, I thought, an opportunity to get a few more miles under my belt on the new bike without the risk of embarrassing myself in front of the AVP, perhaps selecting the wrong gear or falling off!

I loaded one of my previous AVP circuits into the Garmin to follow. the one I selected was a good coastal ride out to Branscombe and back through Colyton. All was going well until 4 miles out, Jason hit a patch of gravel and punctured his rear tyre! Luckily, Jason having all the spare parts and equipment to hand he made quick work of the change and were back on the road, climbing the hills out of Branscombe with only a minor delay.

Following a route on the Garmin 500 is not that easy, as you have a line on a screen as an indication of route but no reference points such as road junctions and therefore, it was no surprise that we veered off the correct path. Although noticing this very quickly, we thought we'd continue on; no one likes to have to turn around! While this did give us a few more hills to climb, it also gave us the opportunity to join the main road and the high speed decent into Colyford from tower hill. I thought I must have surpassed my earlier 40.4 mph speed record, but alas, I was just 0.3 mph short. Next time!

Stats: 18.1 mi, 1h:33m, Avg 11.6 mph, Max 40.1, 1,006 kcal

Day 167 - Moving to the Next Level

It had to happen. I've been thinking long and hard recently about moving to the next level in my cycling and perhaps next year buying a road bike to both achieve the speeds of my fellow pedallers on the Thursday evening rides and to increase my distances. I have also been mulling over the AVP 100 Mile Ride scheduled for Sunday 15 September and whether I wouldn't be better acquiring a new set of wheels now rather than waiting for next year ..  as a) I'm already at the stage of needing to make the move and b) I'm not getting any younger so why delay! So, yes, it had to happen, a trip to the Bike Shed saw me striking a great deal on a 2013 Specialized Roubiux Sport Compact model 90E3-6152 in carbon, charcoal and white. I'm still pinching myself!

A new stable mate for my steed, the new Roubiux

The weekend started, however, with a quick 9.5 mile ride over my three hils and a circuit of Colyton. I've remarked before on how this is a perfect mix of flat and hills and all this can be done in less than an hour.  I need to record it on my Garmin as a lap so that I can track my performance from one day to the next while actually on my ride, I am sure I can do this, I'll have to dig out the manual again. Having completed this Saturday circuit on my hybrid in a reasonable 45 minutes, I had wondered what the same would be on my new road bike, so a re-run was on the cards for Sunday afternoon.

My steed, my trusted hybrid Crosstrail

Two things were however against me on the Sunday, not even counting the unfamiliarity of my new racer - yes you can see I'm managing your expectations here - an afternoon in a seaside town in holiday season meant the roads were crowded with lost tourists and my legs were still killing me after my over ambitious attack on the Thursday hills. So, first impressions. I was very impressed with its initial pickup, carrying considerably less weight that the hybrid and it made the first rise up Seaton Down Hill with ease. I found that in the high speed down hill sections, I had less confidence than on my steed, the racer being lighter and more skittish, than my seemingly invincible hybrid, is going to take time getting used to. I was, however, amazed with how it soaked up the bumps in the road. I guess this is a combination of the flexing built into the frame, its lightness and the extra padding in the handle bars; it is really designed for our Devon roads!

Overall, the racer covered the same distance in 42 minutes, a 3 minute improvement. Many of my split times were not as good and the top speed was slightly down, but the average speed was an extra mph quicker overall. So I can see great potential, I just need clear roads and a return to fitness.

Stats:
Sat:  9.5 mi, 45m :24s, Avg 12.6 mph, Max 36.9, 503 kcalSun: 9.5 mi, 42m :01s, Avg 13.6 mph, Max 32.7, 504 kcal

Day 164 - Time to Buy Lights

After a good rest, I was very ready for a long ride and Thursday's evening outing with the AVP did not disappoint. I was ready ahead of time so completed a mile and a half 'warm up' lap before arriving at our pub meeting point. Once formed up, 11 riders headed out through Axmouth towards Lyme Regis. Rather than entering this beautiful seaside town as we did back in May, we took a detour through Uplyme but this did not negate the need for the long climb back up the Lim valley away from Lyme which, just as last time, still equals one of my most challenging climbs. Bypassing the town, meant that we were able to take in Axminster and the Kilmington cycle path.

Once through Musbury, on our return journey, it was definitely time to power on the lights. Luckily a large enough number of our group had lights to provide sufficient forward illumination and I'm going to have to think about fixing more than just my current 'be seen' neons in future weeks! 

This was probably one of my toughest rides, giving me the greatest pain from the hill climbs which I was determined not to be beaten by. The quick 5 miles of roads ending the circuit were hard going and on this occasion, my hybrid team mate and myself got very left behind by the road bikes. I just hope I've not done too much muscle damage.

Stats: 24.17 mi, 1h:56m, Avg 12.5 mph, Max 35.3, 1,290 kcal

Day 162 - Rest Day

I'm taking a much needed rest day today. My leg muscles need some time to repair and a day or two out of the saddle will let other sensitive areas recover from the pounding I've given them these past few weeks; it does all start to mount up and there is no fun cycling when you know you can go faster and take steeper hills but the body just says no. Coincidentally, browsing through this week's Cyling Weekly, my eye caught a quote from Beth Crumpton in the Pro Rider fitness tip of the week .. "Rest is as good as training and afternoon naps can do you the world of good!". So there you go. If you're asking whois Beth? .. you can check out her blog here http://bethcrumpton.blogspot.co.uk/.

I did manage to get out for a ride yesterday morning, but it was a tough one. Avoiding the severe hills, there being no way to avoid them all together here in Devon, I completed a 10 mile loop of Colyton and the seafront. Amazingly, Strava, which has recently usurped Endomono as my favoured training 'buddy', logged me achieving PRs for two sectors: Cowhayne Lane to Boshill Cross (01:56) and the Seaton seafront stretch (57 sec) ... I think this is more because it only has a month's worth of data and not all160 days that I've been riding this route! It is still nice, however, to get these reports, it is like getting a virtual pat on the back and don't tell Andy, but he's only lying in 4th against my 2nd placing in the AVP club rankings - that's something at least to be pleased about!

I've been looking at what should be my challenge for 2014, now that, in spite of how I may be feeling today, I've started to reach an elementary level of cycling fitness. I've spoken of the club's 100 mile ride later in September which would really be a great achievement for my first year. While I've not done this yet, the question is then how to top this. Well, yesterday the ballot for the 2014 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 opened and yes, I submitted my entry! There is no guarantee that I'll get a place, but it is this intent that is starting to shape my 2014 challenge and that is to ride in an organised distance event.

Vauxhall Corsa's ingenious built in bike rack

I have also been looking at the local cycling clubs and in addition to the Axe Valley Pedallers, who I am already riding with, I have been checking out the Sid Valley Cycle Club. Seaton lies between the river Sid and Axe, with the Axe flowing into the sea at Seaton and the Sid, some 10 miles west along the coast, at Sidmouth. The Sid Valley Club is affiliated with British Cycling and as such is more involved in organised events. They, for instance, are marshalling on the Tour of Britain in September and complete longer group rides at the weekend, something I'm thinking I'm going to need practice of before taking on my 100 mile challenge. What I also really need is a more suitable vehicle to transport my steed to these more distant venues. Believe it or not, this petrol head has even been eying up the Vauxhall Corsa's interesting built-in bike rack. Could my next car be a Corsa!

Day 160 - Jurassic Classic

Another lovely weekend to be out on the bike, but such a busy one with my sister coming to visit, that I just managed to snatch two quick morning rides. To be honest, however, this was about all my legs could muster, I can feel a couple of rest days coming up!

On Saturday, I rode out and up Seaton Down Hill and back in towards the sea at Stafford Cross via the pig farm and caves into Beer. Two motor cycles and a van attempted to take me out, but quick reactions and a crafty overtaking manoeuvre saved the day. Returning to Seaton, I then took the Axmouth road out to complete a loop of Colyton, taking in the stunning views across the estuary to the Beer cliffs in the distance.

Sunday, was the day of the Jurassic Classic, a cycling fund raising event in aid of prostate cancer with 3 rides, 50 km, 100 km and 100 miles, the latter, I discovered on my short morning ride, came through Seaton!

I passed a stream of riders through Axmouth and along the sea front, I hasten to add, they were going in the opposite direction! May be I'll join them next year ;)


Stats: 15.1 mi, 1h:11m, Avg 12.7 mph, Max 31.9, 794 kcal

Day 157 - AVP Evening Ride

Thursday night and come what may, it's the AVP Evening Ride. This has become a bit of a ritual of late and one few things are going to make me miss. Amazingly, and this will probably be the comment to end it, over the past few weeks, Thursdays have been one of if not the best day, weather wise, in the week. Having fuelled up earlier in the day with fish & chips on the beach I was ready to burn some calories!

The holiday season seems to have really kicked in this week as our peloton number was down to 11 tonight. With a junior bunch of riders, and I don't mean just in age, Andy, one of our most experienced members took the lead in marking out our route. Andy likes a hill or two so burn calories we did!

Heading first over to Colyford to place our order for apres cycling chips, yes again, we headed back towards Seaton and then looped anti clockwise up to Axminster across a busy A35 - not the best idea we've ever had - and over some very bumpy cycle tracks. I was regularly switching modes on my front forks to cater for the different terrain, something I think the road bike guys would have appreciated having the ability to do. 

Out of Axminster we took a an extended loop around Shute Barton, with its impressive gatehouse which had to be included in the backdrop of a hastily taken picture before racing off back to Colyford before we totally lost the light. The nights are really drawing in now and I think I've only a couple more weeks of this evening ride left, unless I purchase a set of heavy duty spot lights as I hear the AVP do get out for a bit of night riding ... not sure about that though!

Tean shot at Shute Barton

The route was what I think must be one of my greatest climbing rides with apx 1800 ft of elevation reached .. that sounds impressive anyway. The cross-section image below seems to bear this out too.

The route art for those of an artistic disposition out there is a leaf .. can you name the tree?

Stats: 24.4 mi, 1h:58m, Avg 12.3 mph, Max 34.9, 1,362 kcal

Day 156 - Lost Record

What a difference a week makes. After the full cycling agenda of last week, I've been so busy in the office that it took to Wednesday evening before I could get out on my bike.

By Wednesday, I was so in need of a ride that I decided on a circuit I'd not completed for some time. This includes the challenging 2 mile 'Social Club' climb out to Colyton towards Beer, a Strava category 4 hill, rising in places to a 10% incline, with some beautiful views.

Cycling through Beer, it is hard not to pause to take in more beautiful views across the roof tops towards the sea.

Once back in Seaton, having seen Andy take my Seafront2 sprint record earlier in the week, I had to make an attempt at getting it back but was unable to better my original time of 1:23, 10 seconds short of Andy's new record. This is going to take some beating!

Stats: 11.4 mi, 57m:43s, Avg 11.9 mph, Max 32.6, 640 kcal

Day 153 - Time Machine

On the day that 20,000 cyclists take to the streets of London and the hills of Surrey, I've concluded my week's cycling with a new personal weekly best of 83 miles. Frustratingly just 17 shy of today's London-Surrey route and definitely a target I now have in my sights to achieve over the next few weeks. While I often find there is more left in the tank, I find time is an issue; fitting in even the 7 hours I've spent in the saddle this week has been a challenge.

Friday lunch at the Cliffside Cabin

I've jumped a few days since my last blog, again finding time to to either cycle or write has been the challenge, naturally, cycling won that battle. Friday saw me use the bike on a short 2.5 mile circuit to meet up with the Seaton Hole gang for a quick bite for lunch down at the Cliffside Cabin; a much quieter venue since Old Beer Road was lost to the sea during last year's heavy rains closing this section of the coastal path.

Old Beer Road lost to the sea during last year's heavy rains

Contrary to the weather forecast, Saturday morning was gloriously sunny, but severely aching limbs from a week of hills made me think twice about taking a ride out. I also had a busy schedule ahead and little time to cycle. Oh, what I could do with a time machine! A small window of opportunity did come available later in the day for a sneaky 9 mile circuit. Avoiding all but the final climb up Castle Hill, for the sake of my limbs, I kept to level ground where possible and rode a very enjoyable circuit to Colyton and back.

Stats: 8.95 mi, 43m:27s, Avg 12.4 mph, Max 33.27, 482 kcal

Prior to my Saturday ride, I had in my sights my previous weekly distance record of 73 miles and these 9 miles covered yesterday broke this by probably just a few hundred feet. So, waking this morning, and seeing the promised rains had still not appeared, I had to get back out to establish a credible new record. I also recognised that I was tantalisingly close to my 700 mile marker .. but one record at a time, my focus was on smashing the 73 miles. Despite the aches, which had lessened from the previous day but were still sapping my power, and against my better judgement, I took the mile climb up Seaton Down hill with the thought of that long and fast Harepath Hill decent down into Colyford keeping me going. I had learned on my last AVP ride that locking the front shocks greatly improves my climbing ability, less peddle power being absorbed by the shocks allowing all of my effort to be used on the ascent. This definitely helped me make the mile climb and I think maybe even on increasing the speed of my decent, on which for the first time, I broke the 40mph barrier!

40.4 Mph!

The home run through Axmouth got me thinking about the state of our roads and the current favoured way councils have of repairing them, using a spray of bitumen and a layer of loose gravel chipping. While this may be seen as an economical solution to a never ending problem of keeping our road network free of potholes, it is an absolute nightmare for cyclists. I hear that the resulting rough sandpaper like surface provides a better stopping surface for cars, so yes, use it where stopping is required .. junctions and along side schools, but not along straight country lanes where there are no junctions or obstructions. I have also heard of another reason being that during the summer, this way of resurfacing is preferred to avoid tar being displaced under hot temperatures ... !

Skid Risk!

The reason for me bringing this up, is that our Devon council has been having a go at resurfacing some of my local roads and after being showered with chipping by an overtaking car doing more than 20mph, it made me think that the skid risk signs on display should be reworded 'Flying Chipping Risk'. I am sure in my youth they used to warn drivers of a risk to shattered windscreens but I guess the modern glass of today has eradicated that issue. Perhaps, therefore, they should say, 'Chipped Paint Risk' as since the removal of lead has certainly meant this is softer and more prone to chips than on cars of old, but I digress. My point is that announcing a skid risk on a surface which is designed to reduce skids is a daft thing to say and that cars may take more notice if there was an announced threat to their bodywork. 

Road in need of attention

Moving off the new rough and 'slippy for a bike' surface, I hit the join with the old surface which required me to unlock the front shocks and move into mountain bike mode in order to avoid losing all my fillings! This is like riding over cobbles and I can sympathise with the TDF riders who had several laps of the Arc de Triomphe at speed over covered but very noticeable cobbles. The risk of a snake bite puncture here is high. I see, if I read the writing on the road correctly,  that this will be resurfaced in 2014 .. good to know.

South Devon to surface from here in 2014

I am sure roads were better in the past, but then again I'd need the use of that time machine again to prove this. Funny thing, memories.

Stats: 10.04 mi, 54m:03s, Avg 11.1 mph, Max 40.4, 599 kcal

Day 150 - Tour de Branscombe

After a few days of technology talk, today I'm getting back to the cycling.

My150th day marks the most miles I've cycled in both one day (30) and one month (242) and I am on target for the most to be completed in one week (73). I am now contemplating whether to take on the challenge of the 100 mile ride that the club is planning for the second week in September, watch this space.

This weekend the Prudential London-Surrey 100 sees 20,000 amateur cyclists converge on the capital for Britain's biggest ever cycling event. They will tackle 100 miles of closed road sportive, from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park through the Surrey Hills, retracing large parts of the course used in last year's Games, to finish on the Mall. In addition to this, an elite event  - including double Tour de France green jersey winner Peter Sagen - will also take place following a similar 140 mile route, ending Britain's 16 year wait for a world class single day road race. I unfortunately - or fortunately not one to appreciate vast crowds - will not be there in person but will certainly be tuning in to watch the BBC's coverage.

Early morning ride down at the seafront

Back in Seaton, it was another early rise for me as I was keen to try out my new Garmin GPS unit ahead of the AVP Thursday evening ride. I thought I'd just do a gentle few miles to test it out. As it was, with the milage display clearly visible before me, I could not help but clock up a 'gentle' 10 miles before calling it a morning. The road art could either be the wistful bunny on a skateboard or, as my wife pointed out, a squirrel engaged in a elaborate skateboard stunt ... see his head bottom left with tail and one foot in the air!

Stats: 10.36 mi, 56m 07s, Avg 11.1 mph, max 29.5 mph, 622 kcal

Later in the afternoon, I met up with the AVP for our regular Thursday evening ride. Where to tonight? Branscombe including, as seen in the profile below, two category 4 climbs! 

We headed out up hill towards Beer and dropped down into Branscombe before then taking the long climb out past the village's idilic St Winifred's church, that I'd visited at a couple of weeks ago, in the opposite direction. Once out of Branscombe, we crossed the A3052 and via Blackberry Camp dropped down - reaching speeds of 30mph+ along gravel strewn twisty lanes - into Southleigh. The road then levelled out, with the occasional undulation, back through Colyton and Colyford into Seaton. I forwent a beer and plate of chips, the normal post ride fare, in favour of tea and cake - there having been a baking going on at home!

While out in the peloton, there is usually time for a social chat and since joining the AVP group on Strava I felt compelled to share my recent leaderboard victory for the Seafront Sprint2 .. 1st/3 of our small group and 25th/118 overall. On my Crosstrail not built for speed, I'll not go attempting to beat the current 36 mph record, which in a 30 mph built up area, I'm not sure it is even wise to go advertising! But I have added below a picture of myself leading the club's record, before Andy, who currently has most of the other records, realises he's missed mopping up this segment too!

What is interesting and only dawned on me this week, is the reason for the occasional sprint breaks from the peloton that I've seen some of our riders making these past months. This is the fact that along our routes there will be Strava timed segments, such as my Seafront Sprint2, which they are looking to clock a good time for. It's just like the sprint sections on the TDF when riders battle for the Green Jersey points.

Stats: 20.08 mi, 1h:45m:55s , Avg 11.4 mph, Max 31.5, 1174 kcal