Hertfordshire: The land of machacas

Today we discovered the land of machacas--Hertfordshire, to the North of London, on a Sunday morning.

We had somewhere to be in the afternoon so Alberto planned a quick 68km loop (42 miles) in Hertfordshire, starting and finishing at Potter's Bar train station. It was a lovely route, with many quiet lanes, and though mostly flat, it had a few challenging hills, especially towards the end. The only negatives were two non-paved sections, which were especially hard to navigate after yesterday's rains.

However, the most notable thing about this ride was the number of other machacas we passed! There were loads of cyclists out on the lanes, of varying levels of ability (from what we could tell), and we also passed (or, more accurately, were passed by) three pelotons of club rides. Two in matching jerseys, how professional!

We normally try to get a bit further away from London for our day rides, but today we learned that sometimes cycling closer to population centres also means you'll be close to other crazy cyclists. From now on, when we need to do a quick ride that doesn't take too long to get to, we'll definitely think of Hertfordshire!

Quick Rides in the Neighbourhood

Ever since I have first gotten in to cycling, I have viewed it as a day-long activity, usually done on a weekend. From the beginning, when it would take most of the day to cycle along Regent's canal from my old flat in Shadwell to Alberto's place in Kentish Town, to two weeks ago when we completed our 100 mile ride, I've always needed to set a day aside in order to have fun on the bike. Of course, I do commute on the bike (though not every day), but it just isn't the same, especially now that I had my Boardman -- which only ever comes out on the weekends.

However, I've been reading a lot of cycling blogs recently, and they are showing me that it doesn't have to be this way. One of my favourites is Bike Noob (probably because I'm such a newbie myself!), and there the Noob always talks about going for rides after work in his neighbourhood. Now, I'm sure his residential area is a lot bigger than ours, being in Texas while we're in central London, but I started to think about the hills in our local area which I sometimes have the misfortune of having to tackle when just riding around town.

Today, I needed to do a short ride to see whether my shoulder would give me any trouble while cycling (it's been bothering me since I took that clipless fall two weeks ago, but I haven't been able to see a doctor yet). So I decided to head out into the residential streets to the north and west of our flat. The roads are relatively quiet, but there are a fair number of intersections so it is difficult to build up any kind of speed, since I want to be ready to stop suddenly if a car comes along. However, there are several short streets with relatively steep climbs--not a problem the first time around, but I can imaging I could tire myself out if I kept going round them!

According to Map my Ride, I can do a series of three small concentric loops (each loop has a climb) with the whole thing adding up to 2.5km. So, my new goal is to make time to do 6 of these loops--a total of 15km--at least one night a week to start with. This is not much, but setting such a low goal makes me more likely to actually get out on the bike when I get home from work. This will probably take me an hour to complete due to the low speed I mentioned above, so at least in the summer months it should not be a problem to do in full daylight.

My hope is that this will help me stay fit between weekend rides (especially when we don't get a chance to ride every weekend!) and maybe I'll improve my hill abilities as a bonus! But really, I just don't want to have to leave my Boardman behind 6 days out of the week :-)

Why are cycle lanes not always safe?

We "londoners" are very used to crap cycle lanes all over the place. Cycling instructors do not recommend cycling on them unless there are wide enough to travel comfortably. In fact, most of the time they are just an indication for cars to be aware of cycles. This great video from New York not only shows why cycles lanes are sometimes unsafe, but also that you can get fined for not using them!



A few good examples in the UK below (from Guardian crap cycle lanes):

Cycling the Suffolk and Norfolk coast

We have always wanted to cycle the Suffolk and Norfolk coast of England, but never found the right time to do it. Although the route has no difficulty gradients-wise, I have planned two relatively long days on the saddle that will at least build up some strength ...in our butts.

We will be taking the train to Ipswich, East Suffolk, from Liverpool St. Buying the tickets in advance we have got four one ways for about £20, including bicycle reservation. Apparently they are a bit funny with bikes on the East Anglia trains, although I doubt they would bother on a Saturday 7 am train!

The route out of Ipswich visits some nice beaches along the Suffolk coast, which I am very much hopping to swim if weather is not too bad. I will be carrying my Carradice with swimsuit in it, just in case. I have also put in Dunwich just to see the beach we will be cycling to on the 16th of July with the Dunwich Dynamo machacas. Apparently this tiny town was once upon a time a major port in the East Anglian coast. The sea coastal erosion has eaten the old bustling city, but there is some ongoing projects that will maybe reveal the lost city.

The route on day 1 will cover 100 milles from Ipswich to the coast village of Mundesley where we found a bike-friendly B&B that gets great reviews. The climb is about 600 m which is as flat as it can get on a bike and that is why Lucy was always attracted to this route!

The route on day 2 continues on from Mundesley heading west along the north coast into King's Lynn, where we will catch the train back to London. First Capital Connect is the only company that links this town with the capital, and so the discounted tickets are still fairly pricey to buy in advance. It is a flat 70 mile route with a slight climb 2/3 of the way over farmlands that rise over 80 m, giving a decent view of the seaside apparently. It totals about 600 m of incline, so overall it seems a bit "steeper" than day 1. We do not expect the last bit to be very nice, but maybe we will be surprised?

my comfy saddle

I spent all of last year riding my Raleigh Venture hybrid, with its original saddle. Since I was (am?) a slow rider, with a heavy bike, we used to spend 9 hours in the saddle easily when we went out for our weekend rides. I never had too much of a problem with that saddle; my butt would be a bit sore at the end of the day, but I never got saddle sores.

Then, I bought my Boardman. It was great in every way, except for the saddle. The saddle was awful! It looked good--white, smooth leather that really looked like it belonged with the rest of the bike, but it hurt my lady bits quite a lot! There was no groove or hole in the middle like most road saddles out there, and not much padding either. We cycled about 30km in Richmond one weekend and I vowed never to get on it again!

I did extensive research on saddles because I really wanted to find the right one. I read the reviews for every women's saddle on Wiggle! The one that was hands down the most well reviewed was the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow. Actually, the Selle Italia Lady Diva Gel Flow was equally well reviewed, but it was £20 more expensive and the only main benefits seemed to be weight and a more sleek appearance.

I bought the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow without trying it out, and I don't regret it at all! It's been immensely comfortable. Even on the 100 mile ride we did two weeks ago, my butt really wasn't that sore! I did have one ride of soreness, in the Peak District, but I think it was due to the warm weather (hence sweating) rather than the saddle itself. I'll be waiting to see if it behaves the same way next time we go on a ride in hot weather (that is, if it ever warms up again!!).

PS: In case it isn't obvious, we don't get paid for our reviews and we only review products we have bought ourselves unless otherwise stated!