Great ride out

[Simon]

We just had a great ride out,for the past 3 years my son and I have travelled (only about an 1 1/2 hrs drive) to go on a annual non competative ride in the test valley,there are a great number of riders who attend and each year the weather has been great,this year it was in the high 90s,I know thats common for many of you but we're rarely used to it [smiley=laughing.gif],
this year the track was great with a great variation of single track,climbs,decents etc intersected by a little road riding ,though not overly to difficult as its aimed at all skill levels but hard enough where many have to take to walking,eg steep climbs and a couple of shear decents  ,anyway it was a good family day out, my wife daughter and the dog all came spending there time in the great weather reading etc and just taken in the sun (did I mention it was sunny  )except the dog who just lazed under a tree,all this in the parking area where a BBQ and other facilities where all laid on,it was all well organized, the track was waymarked plus a map supplied and 3 manned water stops on the way,everyone got lost at one certain point where the track was not so clearly marked but overall they did a good job,anyway running at my 14 year olds pace and including 3 stops just to refill our bottles we covered 34.5 miles in 3 hours and actual riding time 2hours 56mins, he was running a good pace unfortunatly he hit a physical wall at 3/4 distance but after eating a couple of cereal bars on the move managed to continue on to the end and completed the full course without stopping (apart from water stops) and made all the climbs,I'm impressed within the next couple of years he's just going to disappear and I'll be just running at my pace way behind  ,also what was great was both bikes running perfectly and without a hitch,well just thought I'd share,I did have some pic's before we set off but dopey here had the camara set on close up
Simon.

[kiwi]

ahaha the wall eh.....tis common on the first real over two hour effort.Went ona a raodie bike ride the other day and on the way home ,,,,,BONK,no food only water in the bottle just after 2 hours on the dott

[shovelon]

Sounds like great fun. Bonking is no fun.



 On a ride a couple of years ago, I counseled a cycling merit badge for some Boy Scouts. The last requirement was the 50 mile mapped route riden in one day not to exceed 8 hours. This route started at the San Fernando Mission, over the Santa Susanna Mountains, to the Ronald Reagan Library and back.

 The first 40 miles were uneventful. Then one kid started lagging and I held back with him. His weaving caught the attention of a doberman sitting in his yard. Anyway this doberman chased us and took after me. I sprinted and led the dog away but not before it chomped my back tire. So the kid and I limped along. Every 5 minutes stopping for him to rest and I to pump my tire. Boy were we both bonkng at the finish, 15 minutes before the 8 hour deadline. Crazy day.



Terry