audio-talk

Morning Ray, I hope everything goes well for you on the ride today.

Likewise!

Looks like a light headwind of 7 to 10mph for Ray and the gang today. Probably no rain though. Should be OK with 25 riding, plenty of people to take turns at the front.

It's very quiet - hope everything is OK ....

Erks! I thought that too. Hope he's OK.

Yesterday I discovered how mechanical advantage affects the feel and power of brakes. I just couldn't get Capsey to feel right on the brakes. Aaaaah, MA.

Getting cooler here now I'm off for an early evening zoom.

Yep, everything is fine but thanks for thinking about me though.

We had an epic and eventful day so it was a late finish and I went bye-byes pretty quickly after last evenings bowl of porridge.

I haven't had a puncture for a long time, two yesterday! We also had a sick rider in my group so progress was a little slower than planned. We didn't get to Yeovil, still 30miles to go, until 18:30hrs and had to dig out our bike lights, then at about 20:15hrs, with just 3-4miles to go there was another puncture! We eventally made it to the meeting point at about 08:45hrs - we had got quite slick at fixing punctures by that point.

In the end I did 119.3 miles in the saddle at an average speed of 13.5mph. No ill affects except a bit of tiredness and I have on my bike today to keep loose. Training works as I really had no problem completing the ride.

I'll try to post some pictures/videos later.

Cheers

Whahey! He's still alive! Top work Ray, well done.

23 of us rode the whole distance with 5 more doing part of the ride, either from Blandford or from Yeovil.

We are raising money for the Leukaemia Support Group at our local hospital in Taunton; one of our number has direct experience of the the work they do as his wife is very poorly.

So some pictures...

Firstly, the view at around 06:30hrs on the morning of the ride;



We met up at HMS Victory for an 08:00hrs rollout. I kept clear of the little cyclists, very odd...



Here is some of my group waiting for the little pink ferry across the River Hamble (I'm in the yellow/green top);



On the little pink ferry;



My group leaving Southampton on the Hythe Ferry;



and arriving at Hythe (that's a long jetty you have to walk along!);



Puncture #1, about a mile after Hythe;



Some of my fellow riders refuelling in the New Forest;



Puncture #2, just after Ringwood;



Lunch stop at the Greyhound Inn, Blandford Forum;



On the road in Dorset;



Puncture #3 (not me this time), in the gathering gloom just 3-4 miles from the final meet up;



and finally a short video clip of the whole group finally arriving at our office in Taunton at around 21:00hrs. We met up at a hostelry about a mile away and rode the last mile together. As the event organizer I, got to leat the group into the establishment, followed by the guy who's wife is suffering from Leukaemia, then the rabble;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c9e8p5cwwnsms ... 2.mp4?dl=0

Looks like a right lark !
Good effort mate

Ray, did you have a donation link somewhere at the start of this subject ?

Naive question - I suppose you still have them puncture repair kits with patches to stick on?

IslandPink wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:00 am Ray, did you have a donation link somewhere at the start of this subject ?

Hi Mark, here you go...

https://mydonate.bt.com/teams/admiraltycollection

Mike H wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:07 am Naive question - I suppose you still have them puncture repair kits with patches to stick on?

Indeed we do Mike, though on the charity ride we were all carrying spare inner tubes so it was quicker to get back on the road.

The punctured tubes were repaired by one of our support crew at the lunch break so we had spares for the afternoon too.

When I go out I generally carry a spare tube and a pack of these sort of patches, much quicker than the traditional puncture repair kits as there's no 'glue' involved;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/slim ... prod133440

It's actually pretty quick to change an inner tube and get the wheel back on the bike, the time consuming part is pumping up the tyre with a tiny lightweight pump with only about 3-4inches of stroke; I normally inflate to around 90-100psi but on Monday I rode at lower pressure until I could meet up with a support crew where a track pump was available.

Having said all that, some people still use tubular tyres and the newest technology on bikes is tubeless.

Here are the basic stats for Monday's ride;

Departed: Aug 20, '18, 08:14AM
Starts in: Gosport, England, GB
Distance: 119.3mi
Elevation: +6345ft
Max Grade : 7.70%
Total Duration: 11:59:54
Moving Time: 8:49:19
Calories: 5028
Avg. Watts: 158
Max Speed: 35.4mph
Avg. Speed: 13.5mph

I recorded each section as a separate ride so this is calculated from them.

^^^ Thats awethumnunumunum riding Team Ray, top work.

I took Capsey out for his 1st London Loop yesterday. I'd been fine-tuning the riding position on a few local loops while it was too hot (for me) weather-wise to do a big 'un. Then last week we went away on another 5 day holiday chugging along a section of the Trent and Mersey, so yesterday was the 1st day I've had to give him and me a proper work out.

Boy dun good...



Stats.

Departed: Aug 22, '18, 10:40AM
Starts in: Dartford, England, GB
Distance: 62.7 mi
Elevation: + 1794 / - 1794 ft
Max Grade
7.1 %
Avg. Grade
0.0 %
VAM 222 Vm/h
Ascent time 02:27:34
Descent time 02:24:30
Total Duration: 06:54:46
Moving Time: 04:52:04
Stopped Time: 02:02:42
Max Speed: 27.1 mph
Avg. Speed: 12.9 mph
Pace: 00:06:37
Moving Pace: 00:04:40
Sandwich Filling: Cheese n Mushroom
Fun Factor: 97%

"Look Capsey, London River!"...


...still minimalist but in 'touring-mode' (read as with Waterbottle and basic tool kit)...


Cruising past the 02 Arena on the Greenwich Peninsular there's a sand bank revealed at low tide, 1000's of Gulls yesterday and one noisy Seal doing Yoga, it was brill to watch...


Capsey did good, I'm a bit out of shape though TBH. I need to get some other brake levers though, he's still a bit 'dead' brake-wise and should be better IMO. There's a busted BMX bike thats been dumped in bushes alongside the Local Loop route, I'm might snaffle the brake levers off that if its still there