This Ridelondon thing seems to have a jinx on my bike just before the big day. If you remember last year I completely trashed the wheel. We are into the final weeks before the ride so something bad was bound to happen, and it did. I had planned a very nice ride down to Devon with my brother and all was going well. We had a few of the usual mishaps along the way a couple of punctures and routing issues (apparently Garmin have no understanding of the concept of a “No through road”) but all in all the the ride was great. Beautiful blue skies, sunshine, countryside and the roads were fantastic, we hardly saw a car all day.

Lovely 20% decent coming up

Even the punctures did not put a downer on the day. Although my pump is on its way out (need to get a new one ordered).

The clock is ticking on the puncture change, stop posing and fix it.

He’s getting good at this.

The big issue occurs when I had the chain fly off, going up one of the steep sections. I had changed the chain about 2 weeks back so it was fairly new and had already ridden some 200km on it and it had been fine. Looking at the break, the rivet had given way and the chain was off. No big deal for us hardy cyclists and soon I had removed the 3 bent links and remade the chain with my fancy tool, and we rode on.

About 20km further up the road the chain jams completely on the front ring, and as I was off the saddle climbing at the time, there is nasty noise as the rear dérailleur shears off the back of the bike wrapping the chain in the cassette. Luckily I did not come off but there was a comedy moment as I rapidly had to unclick and get myself off the bike in a hurry. The bike was now a complete mess, and the only option was to freewheel to the nearest pub, call it quits for the day and phone for the team car (thanks Dad)

This is what was left, (the rest is spread over the Devon countryside)

Sheared off and missing on a road in Devon

Next stop – chain reaction cycles , and book the bike in with a mechanic. (expensive month this one)

Well training is coming along well, am feeling good on the bike again and can ride all day. We have had a nice break in the weather and its been glorious to just get out and enjoy the scenery and outdoors. Have done a few more checkouts of the route and am amazed at how many cyclists are out and about the numbers are definitely increasing on this stretch of road. Lots of official Ridelondon jerseys and some very nice new bikes Leith and Box hill are now a mecca for those on two wheels. I am glad to report the bridge on Newark Lane is now almost done (just some line painting to do) some very nice new tarmac along that stretch of road. On the other hand there is the equivalent of the Grand Canyon on the B2126 between Forest Green and Leith Hill lane. The road was currently shut as from last weekend. You can just about get past with a bike as long as you can throw your bike over a 6 foot high fence and then get past a few prickly holly bushes. The road should be fixed in a few days hopefully, they have sorted out the subsidence but just need to fill in the trench and tarmac it over.

Checking out the RideLondon route again.

Its getting close now, the signs are up along the route for advanced road closures. Get on your bike people – NOT LONG TO GO NOW !!!!

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.