Some nice longer rides over the past few weeks with the club and solo. Things are not getting any easier (but you do just go a little bit quicker). 60 miles is now feeling relatively stress free so confidence is gaining again. I am now doing regular rides with the Woking CC social group which is perfect for RideLondon training. We ride at a slower speed which gives me longer time in the saddle and I tag on an extra loop after the club run to push the distance up. Not long to go now, just over a month and we will be on closed roads. I hope they fix the bridge between Pyrford and Ripley, the road has been shut for 3 months now, and they will need to get a move on to fix the bridge before August the 10th.

Cranleigh coffee and cycles 100km

Woking CC made an appearance at the Pearl Izumi Tour series last week. Stage 9 saw professional riders hit the closed circuit in Woking town centre. Woking CC put up the gazebo and we camped out to watch the action. We also entered 2 teams into the “community races”. Teams of 4 riders with the first team to get 3 team members across the line – wins it. Its a great festival and the weather was glorious.

Check out the action, in the latest video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a0AfpAYS08Q width=”320″ height=”180″]

A longer ride planned for today, The 3 Counties cycle ride. This is a great event organised by the Bracknell Rotary Club. The weather was promising to be kind with the forecast of warm temperatures with sun. To add some distance I rode from home to the start to add some extra miles. The ride is a great event, once you get out of Bracknell and into the country lanes up towards Henley on Thames the cycling is beautiful. Open fields, single track roads and various wildlife as you cycle along. I got plenty of views of re-introduced Red Kites. I was riding today with a friend I play football with, it was his first time on a roadie and the furthest he had ridden was 30 miles. For this reason we took it at a sensible pace and went for a the 50 mile course. By the time we got round, he had mastered the gears etc and was even sitting in my wheel on some of the flat sections (not sure if we have a cycling convert yet, but he definitely seemed to enjoy it). Due to some sign-age malfunction we ended up cutting the top of the course short but we took in some beautiful countryside along the Thames as well as some very nice looking country pubs. (I have made notes of their location and intend to re-visit after RideLondon)

All in all.. It was a very nice 80km in perfect cycling weather.