Anniversary AVP Evening Rainbow Ride

Around 15 pedallers were out last night for the AVP Thursday evening road ride. I would have taken a better count but was a late arriver having had both a puncture to fix and vote to cast before heading out and was lucky to just catch the front of the peloton leaving the Kings Arms.

Tigger lead us out, just as he did a year ago to the day on my first ride with the pedallers.

My first ever ride with the Pedallers, 23 May 2013

... yes last night was my anniversary with the club.

Tigger and Rex discussing an exotic form of fungi

Tigger's route was to take us out to Branscombe, Blackberry Camp, Southleigh and back through Colyton via an ecliptic mix of roads and hills, some quite varied from the ones we've taken before. The ride was not to disappoint, as it provided us a veritable mix of nature's delights: from farm safari, to exotic fungi and meteorological phenomena.

Negotiating the farmyard safari

To add to the rich social tapestry of our ride, we were also joined by Curtis, our American Pedaller, just recently returned to these shores and a new addition to our number, a visitor to the area, so I believe - I did not catch the full story - and then the rare experience, of meeting the off-roaders in a Red Arrows styled crossover, as they came upon us in the opposite direction on the road to Southleigh.

A mesmerising view across to Lyme Regis

End of the Rainbow Ride

Heading back to Colyton, we were greeted with the view of the most spectacular rainbow and luckily avoided the worst of the downpour which
had obviously preceded us as we road back into Seaton.

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

Day 124 - Scorcher

The week has been building nicely to a scorcher, both in terms of weather and cycling performance! Unfortunately, I've not had opportunity this week for my daily update and so this again will be the weekly round up, although technically speaking, there is still tomorrow to come.

My 6.5 mile circuit, which I first paced out last week, remained my training routine for my Monday and Wednesday morning rides. My introduction of rest days has so far worked well in keeping the aches at bay while still building my fitness and stamina for the Devon hills. This was definitely proven on my first ride out in 4 weeks with the AVP this Thursday evening. The 19 mile circuit out through Beer and Branscombe under glorious cloudless sky was amazing and I even felt I should be wearing the 'king of the mountains' spotted jersey the way I was climbing the hills! This ride out also saw me achieve 3 new PBs, for distance travelled in 1 hour (increased by 1 mile), and my times for the 10 mile (3 mins less) and 20 km (8 mins less) distances, very good going considering I felt this was my easiest ride out with the club.

This week's stats:
Mon: 6.76 mi, 31m 14s, Avg 13.0 mph, Max 29.8, 346 kcal
Wed: 6.96 mi, 31m:14s, Avg 12.8 mph, Max 29.8, 346 kcal
Thu: 19.08 mi, 1hr:47m:57s , Avg 10.6 mph, Max 27.5, 1197 kcal

Out with the Axe Valley Pedallers

PB:
   One hour 12.28 mi, 10 mi 44m 28s, 20 km 1hr:01m:39s