14th April - Amersham pre-Fridays tour ride - 66 miles
- Thread starter srw
- Start date
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GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Should have seen what I did when he saw me at the hospital.
oh Greg! get well soon, i was a bit worried when he started to hug the paramedic
pics later
ianmac62
Guru
- Location
- Northampton
And, as if things weren't bad enough, I rushed back to Northampton to see the Cobblers lose 1-3 to Bradford City. Got a big cheer (or jeer) from the Bradford supporters I passed on my Brompton afterwards.
Hope the rest of you enjoyed the rest of your day. The pub looks good!
Hope the rest of you enjoyed the rest of your day. The pub looks good!
lilolee
Veteran
- Location
- Maidenhead
Any one want a Charge Single Speed. Some slight scratches and will need new bar tape.
OP
OP
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?&id=2718667
Here's the profile:
First there were 12
Twelve of us gathered at Amersham station. On the Saturday after Easter that might not have been the good omen it seemed...
We trundled out through Hyde Heath to what I will now remember as Greg's hill, but is actually, very prosaically, Chesham Road. It's the first downhill on that profile User13710, Flying Dodo, Rebecca Olds and topcat1 all sailed past the tandem, and we stopped at the bottom and waited. And waited. The tandem shipped its chain as we changed down to go back up and see what was going on, so we had a very frustrating few minutes trying to reseat it - and wondering. R said that she thought she'd heard a crash behind us, and the absence of bikes suggested something had gone wrong. A driver kindly told us he'd passed the crash further up, so we knew something bad had happened.
Eventually, dellzeqq came down and told us what was going on - and kindly volunteered (as a fellow Sarf Lunnoner) to look after the victim and see him home. At this stage he expected him to be sent straight home from the roadside. I walked back up (R took the opportunity for stoker saddle fettling) to see Greg in a very dramatic head bandage (the sort of thing you might put on for comic effect), and a large puddle of blood on the road. An ambulance rapid response driver had been diverted from another call and was taking temperature and blood pressure regularly - and had sent for a proper ambulance to take Greg to Stoke Mandeville.
And then there were nine
It had been agreed that dellzeqq would ride up to the hospital to chaperone the patient - as a former local he knows the area well, while lilolee had pedalled back to Amersham to pick up his car and look after Greg's bike. When the ambulance turned up, I walked down the hill to pick up the women (who had very effectively sorted out R's saddle, and spotted that mine wasn't exactly straight) and we all regrouped at Great Missenden.
Flying Dodo then kindly refettled the front mech that we'd failed to fettle properly the previous week. Memo to self - learn how to do it properly.
And then there were eight
Ianmac62 had an appointment to watch a football team lose, so he peeled off into Aylesbury. Not before we'd taken the opportunity outside the back gate of Chequers to look at his OS map (memo to self - don't forget it next time!) to hunt out a shortcut. Having identified one we pushed on to Waddesdon, via the Eythrope estate. The bottom of that profile is the River Thame as it flows through Eythrope on its way to join the Thames.
Lunch was taken slightly short of the original planned elevenses stop, at the Lion in Waddesdon. (Sign round the back - no ball games or bicycles, so we sat in the front beer garden, by the rather noisy A41). Good food, and plenty of it, but fairly slow service. Topcat1's photo upthread was taken on departure from the pub, which is why he's not in it!
The trouble with taking shortcuts without a map is that you don't necessarily know what the road will be like. In my mind the Aylesbury plain is just that - flat. Maybe it is compared with the Chilterns, but there are two or three chalk ridges sticking up, and we had to traverse them all. Massive views back to the escarpment made up somewhat for some long draggy climbs, and the traffic was light - but light traffic can encourage a few close passes.
A ride through Whitchurch (a very pretty village, new to me, that is worth a more leisurely wander) also made up for the undulations, and we dodged the potholes up to Wing.
And then there were four
RebeccaOlds and Flying Dodo peeled off at Wing, missing the swooping descent to the valley below Mentmore - and the climb up again (on which our tandem took another opportunity to ship the chain). Topcat1 and redflightuk followed at Cheddington, leaving three bikes and four riders to make the trip up Wendover Woods. There's a short, flat blast underneath the hill to Aston Clinton, and then the climb begins in earnest.
CharlieB's front mech had failed (and the Italians had failed to supply his new road bike), so he was standing in the big ring up one of the steepest local hills I know while we were spinning away in our 28x34 bottom gear. Some people just make you envious...
The sun came out for our final climb up to the cafe in the woods and a final cake stop. It's a lovely private drive up to the car park, with a one way system and a 15mph speed limit - so cars are pretty patient and pretty thin on the ground. But the profile shows it's a pretty big hill. It's about the same climbing as Ditchling in about the same distance, but it's much less relentless. It's also rated by mapmyride.com the same as the rating they give to the worst of l'enfer du Nord.
And then there were three
CharlieB peeled off to go direct to Chesham (a great road, that one - wide, smooth, consistently downhill) while the tandem and TMN carried on back to Amersham. It's one of my favourite rides, and not just because it's nearly home. It's a great reward for the climb up to the cafe - just technical enough to feel interesting, but basically a 10 mile downhill. I'm afraid we shot off the front in Hyde Heath - it's a tradition to see how fast we can go on a slight down into Hyde Heath. Only 31.9mph today, but still fast enough to force us to wait for TMN to catch up.
Total mileage - 58.43, in 4:45 of riding, at an average of 12.3mph. The bike computer tells me we got up to 37mph, and the gps track seems to confirm that - in a couple of places.
Thanks to all of you for coming - it was a great ride, and having something organised meant that we didn't just spend the morning in bed. It also gives us comfort that the (new) tandem's speed isn't all that different from the solo riders - we weren't (I hope) opening up too big gaps on the downhills, and it didn't feel as if we were being pushed from behind too much on the ups.
We must try and do it again without the unwanted drama!
Here's the profile:
First there were 12
Twelve of us gathered at Amersham station. On the Saturday after Easter that might not have been the good omen it seemed...
We trundled out through Hyde Heath to what I will now remember as Greg's hill, but is actually, very prosaically, Chesham Road. It's the first downhill on that profile User13710, Flying Dodo, Rebecca Olds and topcat1 all sailed past the tandem, and we stopped at the bottom and waited. And waited. The tandem shipped its chain as we changed down to go back up and see what was going on, so we had a very frustrating few minutes trying to reseat it - and wondering. R said that she thought she'd heard a crash behind us, and the absence of bikes suggested something had gone wrong. A driver kindly told us he'd passed the crash further up, so we knew something bad had happened.
Eventually, dellzeqq came down and told us what was going on - and kindly volunteered (as a fellow Sarf Lunnoner) to look after the victim and see him home. At this stage he expected him to be sent straight home from the roadside. I walked back up (R took the opportunity for stoker saddle fettling) to see Greg in a very dramatic head bandage (the sort of thing you might put on for comic effect), and a large puddle of blood on the road. An ambulance rapid response driver had been diverted from another call and was taking temperature and blood pressure regularly - and had sent for a proper ambulance to take Greg to Stoke Mandeville.
And then there were nine
It had been agreed that dellzeqq would ride up to the hospital to chaperone the patient - as a former local he knows the area well, while lilolee had pedalled back to Amersham to pick up his car and look after Greg's bike. When the ambulance turned up, I walked down the hill to pick up the women (who had very effectively sorted out R's saddle, and spotted that mine wasn't exactly straight) and we all regrouped at Great Missenden.
Flying Dodo then kindly refettled the front mech that we'd failed to fettle properly the previous week. Memo to self - learn how to do it properly.
And then there were eight
Ianmac62 had an appointment to watch a football team lose, so he peeled off into Aylesbury. Not before we'd taken the opportunity outside the back gate of Chequers to look at his OS map (memo to self - don't forget it next time!) to hunt out a shortcut. Having identified one we pushed on to Waddesdon, via the Eythrope estate. The bottom of that profile is the River Thame as it flows through Eythrope on its way to join the Thames.
Lunch was taken slightly short of the original planned elevenses stop, at the Lion in Waddesdon. (Sign round the back - no ball games or bicycles, so we sat in the front beer garden, by the rather noisy A41). Good food, and plenty of it, but fairly slow service. Topcat1's photo upthread was taken on departure from the pub, which is why he's not in it!
The trouble with taking shortcuts without a map is that you don't necessarily know what the road will be like. In my mind the Aylesbury plain is just that - flat. Maybe it is compared with the Chilterns, but there are two or three chalk ridges sticking up, and we had to traverse them all. Massive views back to the escarpment made up somewhat for some long draggy climbs, and the traffic was light - but light traffic can encourage a few close passes.
A ride through Whitchurch (a very pretty village, new to me, that is worth a more leisurely wander) also made up for the undulations, and we dodged the potholes up to Wing.
And then there were four
RebeccaOlds and Flying Dodo peeled off at Wing, missing the swooping descent to the valley below Mentmore - and the climb up again (on which our tandem took another opportunity to ship the chain). Topcat1 and redflightuk followed at Cheddington, leaving three bikes and four riders to make the trip up Wendover Woods. There's a short, flat blast underneath the hill to Aston Clinton, and then the climb begins in earnest.
CharlieB's front mech had failed (and the Italians had failed to supply his new road bike), so he was standing in the big ring up one of the steepest local hills I know while we were spinning away in our 28x34 bottom gear. Some people just make you envious...
The sun came out for our final climb up to the cafe in the woods and a final cake stop. It's a lovely private drive up to the car park, with a one way system and a 15mph speed limit - so cars are pretty patient and pretty thin on the ground. But the profile shows it's a pretty big hill. It's about the same climbing as Ditchling in about the same distance, but it's much less relentless. It's also rated by mapmyride.com the same as the rating they give to the worst of l'enfer du Nord.
And then there were three
CharlieB peeled off to go direct to Chesham (a great road, that one - wide, smooth, consistently downhill) while the tandem and TMN carried on back to Amersham. It's one of my favourite rides, and not just because it's nearly home. It's a great reward for the climb up to the cafe - just technical enough to feel interesting, but basically a 10 mile downhill. I'm afraid we shot off the front in Hyde Heath - it's a tradition to see how fast we can go on a slight down into Hyde Heath. Only 31.9mph today, but still fast enough to force us to wait for TMN to catch up.
Total mileage - 58.43, in 4:45 of riding, at an average of 12.3mph. The bike computer tells me we got up to 37mph, and the gps track seems to confirm that - in a couple of places.
Thanks to all of you for coming - it was a great ride, and having something organised meant that we didn't just spend the morning in bed. It also gives us comfort that the (new) tandem's speed isn't all that different from the solo riders - we weren't (I hope) opening up too big gaps on the downhills, and it didn't feel as if we were being pushed from behind too much on the ups.
We must try and do it again without the unwanted drama!
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
I suspect the answer you'd get from Greg would be the same as you'd have got from me if anyone 'advertised' the Viner after my little off....over your dead body
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Nice report Steve, sounds like it might be worth a trip up if/when there's a rerun.
lilolee
Veteran
- Location
- Maidenhead
Sounded like fun. I'll have to do it another time.
OP
OP
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
Sorry you couldn't - and thanks for the support.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Yes please! I've mislaid mine.
lilolee
Veteran
- Location
- Maidenhead
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