Your ride today....

[cyberknight]

Determined to get a decent ride in today but i didnt plan a route so just followed my nose with the intent of heading to the kabin at twycross but got there way to early so i continued heading for bosworth battlefield centre .
A few miles from bosworth near the water park the traffic was at a standstill as a family of swans was walking along the road and the cars had been stopped by a couple of ladies who were trying to herd the swans onto the grass , eventually a couple of guys turned up from the park ? and got them off the road,
I then continued to the tithe barn cafe where i found out the coffee machine was broke ! i had to have tea which was a nice change as i havent drunk tea in years .
Headed home into the pretty sharp cross headwind for a total of 47 well earned

miles .

 

[ianrauk]

A fab days riding with @Trickedem up and down through the Kentish lanes. A fabulous day for it. Stopping for a Bacon buttie at the Hop Pickers Rest in Yalding and finishing off with a well earned pint at the Granville in Rochester.
46 fab miles for the day.

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part Duex
Day 3
This was another transition day as we moved hotels so Moustiers Sainte Marie to Sisteron .The guides had now got as idea of everyone's riding abilities and the start times were staggered so in theory we all arrive at lunch together .I was the fastest of the slow group or the slowest of the quick group and had the option ,I decided to ride with the quicker group until lunch hoping to hang on in the draft until the route split after lunch . The group dynamics worked well the stronger riders towing us along on the flats then me or another just hanging on rider set the tempo up the climbs as I found if difficult to ride the climbs in zone 2 so always pushed on a bit .The timing for lunch sorted of worked out and we all stopped at a fantastic local boulangerie which was cheap and portions massive excellent value for money

CycleChat in France

We did a bit of the tour La Provence route .Again after lunch the route split and this is my 1 regret of the trip ,I chose the shorter route again as I was conscious of the fatigue building up and what was to come and didn't do Montagne du Lure or Ventuex,s little sister in hindsight I could have done it

The 1st view of Ventuex

General mountain scenery .
By doing the shorter route got me to Sisteron and the hotel earlier than most allowing me time to wonder around the town with it's ancient citadel and amazing surroundings





Day 3 stats 63.2 miles with just 3638ft of elevation and 3hrs 50mins in the saddle

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part trois
Day 4
Another transition day Sisteron to Malaucene .Another ride through stunning scenery including the Gorges de la Meouge and the Gorge de Nesque difficult to chose my favourite . Set off with the same plan as the day before hang onto the faster group until lunch .We had a spot of rain which turning into hail as I neared the top of one climb and saw lightening in the distance and had thunder near by which was slightly disconcerting but it didn't go cold

The wet roads made descending interesting, you can see how quick it passed . In the Gorge de Nesque I got my only puncture of the week it what can only be described as a beautiful place to get a puncture. The roads are very narrow here so much that the support vans are not allowed in the Gorge but there was a refuge off the road so I could safely change the tube ,which I got done surprisingly quickly considering I hadn't changed a tube in years as I run tubeless on my bikes . I could only inflate the tyre to about 60psi with the mini pump so had to take it easy on the rest of the descent but thankfully as I exited the Gorge the vans waiting so new spare tube grabbed and made use of the track pump

Not a bad place for a puncture. As we nearer Malaucene I start to recognise climb names from the tour de France we did part of the Col de Madeline and past the town of Sault which is where one ascent of Ventuex starts from

Sault

Getting Near
Day 4 stat 77.7 miles 4462ft of elevation with 4hrs 55mins in the saddle

 

[geocycle]

Scones provided the inspiration for today’s ride. After last week’s epic I felt like finishing the month with a more gentle route. Early morning rain meant a late start which set the tone for the day. The weather was overcast and quite breezy which blew me to Kirkby Lonsdale. The bakery there is a well-known source of excellent scones which I managed to squeeze into my saddle bag. After Kirkby I headed up into the limestone Hills of Hutton roof which gave some nice views across towards the Lake District. From there it was mainly downhill to Silverdale. After a look at the sea from the Cove, I made my way to the Wolf Café for the standard cyclist’s flat white and cinnamon bun. Short return ride left me having completed 67 km with 793 m of climbing.


Pictures are of some lovely woodland with mossy stone walls, typical undulating lowland lanes and Silverdale Cove.

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part Quatre
Day 5 ,Ventuex Day 😮. The previous days had all been leading up to this ,can I climb Ventuex ? . At the ride briefing the night before 4 of the group decided to take on the club de cingles ( translation club of crazies) and take on all 3 ascents in one day, 3 of us me included 😮 were going for 2 the other 8 just content with getting up once .Start times were all over the place and credit to the 2 support vans who had to cope with people all over the mountain but somehow were always in the right place for everyone . The 3 timers took on the Malaucene climb first so that meant climbing straight out of the door this has the steepest gradients and is thought to be the most difficult everyone else got a warm up by riding from Malaucene to Bedion to do that ascent the middle in terms of difficulty .My wahoo kindly reminded at the start I'd got 12.5 miles to go and only 5181ft of elevation 😮😮. The first few miles are nice and gradual at less than 5%. Just before we hit the steeper stuff we had a van stop to fill water bottles etc . Then onto the 9 10 % gradients found my climbing rhythm and just rode on keeping the pedals turning the mountain is full of riders so your constantly getting overtaken or overtaking others . I slowly started passing our slower riders who had started earlier and was questioning my pacing but legs felt ok so just pressed on . As time went on the temperature started to rise as your riding slowly and get little air flow as you ride . I chose to stop at chalet Reynard for a coke before the final push to the summit . This section has no shade no vegetation and is described as a moonscape with little wind it was hot . Back on the bike and you get the first proper view of the summit which seems near but isn't . About halfway along this stretch I started feeling a bit queasy as the heat really got to me and I regretted not having just water in a bottle so I could have poured it over me . Had to stop at the Tom Simpson memorial for a photo which is so close to the summit

Stopping wasn't a good idea as I heated up even more and it's at this point I decided one ascent is enough even if the ascent from Sault is easier I would have to ride this section from chalet Reynard again and my brain said no way am I doing this again . Struggling now 200mts from the summit the van and a few of the group shouting encouragement got me to the top even remembering to do the Tour de France finish bit

Me struggling near the top

Made it 😁😁😁

The view

A fellow tour rider doing the tour de France finish .After a relaxing coffee at the cafe there was just one thing left to do Descend ,so just the 12 miles downhill oh boy was that fun 😁😁 apart from the swarm of flies for the first 1 mile near the summit which were pinging off you . 3 of us descended together not really pushing it but we didn't hang about averaged over 30mph for the downhill which made a nice change from the 6.5mph going up . Funny story of the day one lady doing the 3 ascents missed the turning going down after her 2nd ascent and ended up back in Bedion again rather than Sault ,the van came to her rescue and transferred her to Sault saving either a 20 mile detour or another ascent to chalet Reynard then down to Sault . The 4 all did the 3 ascents ,2 made 2 ascents and the other 9 of us made it up .What a day

Spotted at the bottom of Ventuex no idea if they were going up 😮
Day 5 stats just 34.4 miles nice short day oh and 5850ft of elevation ,time in saddle 1min over 3hrs . For those interested my Strava segment time is 2hrs 36mins but that includes a van stop ,cafe stop and photo stop at the memorial so I'd estimate something around 2hrs 10 to 2hrs 15 ,having done the zwift version in a tad under 2hrs I was more than happy with that time

Sunset over our hotel after an EPIC day

 

[sevenfourate]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part Quatre
Day 5 ,Ventuex Day 😮. The whole previous days had been leading up to this ,can I climb Ventuex ? . At the ride briefing the night before 4 of the group decided to take on the club de cingles ( translation club of crazies) and take on all 3 ascents in one day, 3 of us me included 😮 were going for 2 the other 8 just content with getting up once .Start times were all over the place and credit to the 2 support vans who had to cope with people all over the mountain but somehow were always in the right place for everyone . The 3 timers took on the Malaucene climb first so that meant climbing out straight out of the door this has the steepest gradients and is thought to be the most difficult everyone else got a warm up by riding from Malaucene to Bedion to do that ascent the middle in terms of difficulty .My wahoo kindly reminded at the start I'd got 12.5 miles to go and only 5181ft of elevation 😮😮. The first few miles are nice and gradual at less than 5%. Just before we hit the steeper stuff we had a van stop to fill water bottles etc . Then onto the 9 10 % gradients found my climbing rhythm and just rode on keeping the pedals turning the mountain is full of riding so your constantly getting overtaken or overtaking others . I slowly started passing our slower riders who had started earlier and was questioning my pacing but legs felt ok so just pressed on . As time went on the temperature started to rise as your riding slowly and get little air flow as you ride . I chose to stop at chalet Reynard for a coke before the final push to the summit . This section has no shade no vegetation and is described as a moonscape with little wind it was hot . Back on the bike and you get the first proper view of the summit which seems near but isn't . About halfway along this stretch I started feeling a bit queasy as the heat really got to me and I regretted not having just water in a bottle so I could have poured it over me . Had to stop at the Tom Simpson memorial for a photo which is so close to the summit

View attachment 809918
Stopping wasn't a good idea as I heated up even more and it's at this point I decided one ascent is enough even if the ascent from Sault is easier I would have to ride this section from chalet Reynard again and my brain said no way am I doing this again . Struggling now 200mts from the summit the van and a few of the group shouting encouragement got me to the top even remembering to do the Tour de France finish bit
View attachment 809919
Me struggling near the top
View attachment 809920
Made it 😁😁😁
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The view
View attachment 809922
A fellow tour rider doing the tour de France finish .After a relaxing coffee at the cafe there was just one thing left to do Descend ,so just the 12 miles downhill oh boy was that fun 😁😁 apart from the swarm of flies for the first 1 mile near the summit which were pinging off you . 3 of us descended together not really pushing it but we didn't hang about averaged over 30mph for the downhill which made a nice change from the 6.5mph going up . Funny story of the day one lady doing the 3 ascents missed the turning going down after her 2nd ascent and ended up back in Bedion again rather than Sault ,the van came to her rescue and transferred her to Sault saving either a 20 mile detour or another ascent to chalet Reynard then down to Sault . The 4 all did the 3 ascents ,2 made 2 ascents and all 9 of us made it up .What a day
View attachment 809923
Spotted at the bottom of Ventuex no idea if they were going up 😮
Day 5 stats just 34.4 miles nice short day oh and 5850ft of elevation ,time in saddle 1min over 3hrs . For those interested my Strava segment time is 2hrs 36mins but that includes a van stop ,cafe stop and photo stop at the memorial so I'd estimate something around 2hrs 10 to 2hrs 15 ,having done the zwift version in a tad under 2hrs I was more than happy with that time
View attachment 809925
Sunset over our hotel after an EPIC day

Awesome !! Well done you…….💪

 

[Donger]

Well done, @13 rider. Chapeau!

Nice to see the old Cyclechat jersey being given an outing too. I once googled Cyclechat when posting a ride while I was in France, and the French language word search came up with a site about menstrual cycles in cats. (In case you've been getting any funny looks!)

 

[13 rider]

13 rider goes to France 🇨🇵 part cinq and final round up
Day 6
The organisers had 2 routes on the plan for today nobody went for the longer one ,so 8 of us set of on the shorter route ,5 riders did an unofficial cafe ride and 2 choose not to ride at all .We headed out on a loop into the Parc naturel régional des Baronnies Provençales . After yesterdays efforts this was a relaxed group ride with long relaxed stops and then after lunch it became a bit faster and a free for all . Now a dilemma back at the hotel with 60 miles in the bag my OCD kicked in so I rode up a hill for 1 mile and rolled back to get over the 100km distance (62.14)

Lunch was a yummy pizza

Said it was relaxed

A general view

Montbrun Les Bains
Day 6 stats 62.5 miles 4708ft of Elevation ,time in saddle 4hrs 10 mins
Weekly stats 368 miles with 30709ft of elevation and over 25.5hrs in the saddle a big big week. The whole week was amazing no travel hassles which I was worried about ,everyone in the group just got on and it didn't matter who you rode with you just chatted away . Obviously a few of the group had travelled together but there was no cliques and thankfully no one in the group was overly competitive for a complete random mix of people and riders of all abilities we all just got on and some of us are mulling over ideas via the wattsapp group about doing something next year . Like I say I cannot recommend Marmot tours enough ,yes you can do it cheaper on your own but having the support is invaluable. This included getting one of the ladies bike fixed as the hydraulic hose was kinking in the integrated headset when being reassembled and giving her a hire bike for the day she was without it . Some off the riders had done over a dozen tours with Marmot all over Europe so they must be good. If you've ever thought about an adventure just do it

 

[HLaB]

Can't quite do Mont Ventoux like @13 rider but after not being there in a year that's me been to Cafe Ventoux twice within 7 days. My Sunday group ride had their scheduled annual visit today and my Saturday group had an ad hoc trip on Bank Holiday Monday.
Today was a bit cooler 16-23deg than last Mondays circa 34deg so that saw me return to winter socks, gloves and arm warmers. I was a bit sluggish for the first 7 or 8 miles but once I warmed up I was cruising.

Helmet Hair

 

[13 rider]

Can't quite do Mont Ventoux like @13 rider but after not being there in a year that's me been to Cafe Ventoux twice within 7 days. My Sunday group ride had their scheduled annual visit today and my Saturday group had an ad hoc trip on Bank Holiday Monday.
Today was a bit cooler 17-23deg than last Mondays circa 34deg so that saw me return to winter socks, gloves and arm warmers. I was a bit sluggish for the first 7 or 8 miles but once I warmed up I was cruising.
View attachment 809966

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Helmet Hair
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From the flatlands around Huntingdon and Peterborough I expect the Leicestershire Rutland boarder area seems like mountains 👍

 

[HLaB]

From the flatlands around Huntingdon and Peterborough I expect the Leicestershire Rutland boarder area seems like mountains 👍

I used to go up there often when I first moved here but hardly anyone else wants to often.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Bit of an unusual situation for me to be in today, having to extend my ebike ride mid ride to hit my weekly minimum ride target!

With the battery extender fitted for the first time since fitting the 45mm Caracal Race to the rear wheel, I could use more assist to maintain speed, while I kept things fairly easy for myself after yesterday's Tiny Races on the turbo. Up over Old Winchester Hill and meandering close to Marwell Zoo, where Samba the capybara is still missing since her escape over two months ago, for a surprising 40-odd mile rolling ride averaging over 16mph.