I bought a mountain bike!

For a few months now I've known that I wanted to buy a mountain bike. Having just bought the Boardman in January, I wasn't ready to buy another bike right away, but I knew that I wanted one. This is despite never having actually ridden one before!

But we have ended up on bridleways and other trails enough for me to see that they're nice places to cycle  (and would be nicer with some suspension!). I thought it would be nice to not have to worry about cars sometimes. Also, Alberto and I are planning to complete the Camino de Santiago, a historic pilgrim's trail in Spain, this summer. A mountain bike is necessary for that.

So, I had been keeping my eyes open for good deals, waiting for Autumn when I knew the sales on last year's bikes would begin. And wouldn't you know it, it's now Autumn!

Alberto was just participating in one of his favorite hobbies--window shopping on cycling websites, when he came across the Corratec Expert Xvert Disc Hardtail. It was the 2009 version and was on sale from £650 to £350, and in my size! It was a clearance sale and we didn't know how many they had in stock, so I felt I had to make my decision quickly. I bought the bike!


I placed the order and then waited an anxious 48 hours for it to be delivered. Luckily, Alberto happened to be at home in the middle of the day when the bike arrived, because having to pick the box up from a post office would have been a nightmare--it was huge!

I'm still not sure how he managed to get it into the house.

Since Alberto likes to live vicariously through my bike purchases (as he has not bought a new bike in 3 years -- meanwhile I've bought 3 in just over 2 years!) he kindly unpackaged it and put it together for me so that when I got home from work it was there waiting for me.

My beauty!

I was a little busy on the road bike last weekend, so have only been able to ride it in the neighbourhood, not out on the trails yet, but I'm looking forward to doing that very soon!

Fancy building your own bike (from scratch, really!)?

I have recently discovered Dave Yates frames. When looking at his website, I came across an interesting section: Framebuilding courses.

So basically, you spend a week of full-time frame building experience and you end up walking out of the warehouse (in the middle of the English Lincoln countryside) with your very own frame that you have welded over the week. Unfortunately they seem booked up for now, but I think I will keep an eye on their website and maybe get someone (i.e. parents, gf, or wealthy friends) to treat me to some to this. How amazing would it be to return to the UK on a holiday, drink tea (drink as much as you can during the course, it's free), enjoy the wet countryside, learn how to weld steel, and have my very own frame at the end of it?! Would that not be nice?

A report that appeared on Singletrack magazine speaks by itself. A Swede also wrote an fantastic article on building his own frame. The frames look stunning (images obtained from Dave Yates' framebuilding gallery)!

John Isles' fixed-wheel

Darren Wright's racer

Ben Orson's hardtail mtb

Ride report: The New Uppertea 200 Audax, Stages 3 and 4

So there we were on our first audax, seemingly keeping up with the crowd as we kept meeting them at the controls. The morning had gone very well and as we left the second control we both had high hopes for the afternoon...

Stage 3: Sutton Scotney to Upperton (69 km)
...but the indian summer heat was starting to kick in, and on our first climb after the control I started to fade too quickly. I think, despite the rest at the control, that I hadn't been drinking enough water. We had to rest in the shade for a while before I felt ready to continue on... and even then I thought it would be better to go at a slightly slower pace rather than push myself too hard and need to stop again. We carried on, only pausing again in Liss when we had to wait at a level crossing for a train to go through. We also managed to convince a pub owner to fill our water bottles up, despite the pub not being open yet. It was that kind of heat that they took pity on us!

Level crossing at Liss.

We eventually turned on to the A272, which we had been worried about being quite busy. But by that time I was feeling quite strong and it was mostly downhill, so we kept up well with the traffic and the km's kicked by pretty quickly. Finally we turned into Upperton, going up the tough hill and finding the third control with the El Supremo feed station we had heard so much about!

We sensed trouble when we arrived and the organisers were already starting to pack up the feed station. They confirmed we were the last riders on the course and it seemed like there was quite a bit of time between us and the previous guys. Still, there was lots of lovely cake, a nice hot drink, and basically any other kind of food we could wish for. We tried to eat and drink as much as we could and then prepared ourselves for stage 4, which we knew would mean night riding.

El Supremo feed station.

Stage 4: Upperton to Newlands Corner (47 km)
We put on our hi-viz vests, changed our sunglass lenses to clear lenses, and switched on our lights. We had to go back on the A272 for a while, this time less easy going as there was a climb out of Petworth that really killed me! Having to climb on such a busy road was stressful and I was starting to feel very tired from the day's hard work. We took another break by the side of the road and Alberto snapped some pictures of the sunset while I tried to gather myself together for the last 45 km.

We road on into the night, keeping an eye on the clock as we knew we would be cutting it close for the final control. After Billinghurst, we were supposed to go onto the A29 which looked really busy with people coming home from their Saturday activities. Alberto took a quick look at the GPS and plotted a route on quiet lanes instead. Then we were in our element of night riding and I was feeling much better again. That is until the final tough climb of the day in Ewhurst! I had to walk it and Alberto was kind enough to ride slowly with me rather than leaving me to walk alone in the dark!

We made it to Shere, the last town before our destination and then up a gradual climb to Newlands Corner. Alberto kept shouting out distances on the GPS (1 km! 500m! 300m!) and we could hardly believe it when we turned into the carpark at 9:30pm, just half an hour before the cutoff time! We were several hours later than everyone else (and apologised profusely to Richard the Audax secretary for having to wait there for us!), but we made it! After our brevet cards are validated, we will officially be randonneurs!

For those interested in the stats:

- Moving time: 10h 7m
- Stopped time: 3h 04m
- Moving average: 21 km/h (not bad!!!)
- Overall average: 16.5 km/h (including stopping, meaning we cut it very fine to get to the last control!)
- Max speed: 51.3 km/h
- Trip odometer: 215 km

Ride report: The NewUppertea Audax 200, Stages 1 and 2

"Time is miles" - quote from the Upperton control stamp

Our Audax ride started at 8 am from somewhere near Guildford, in the southwest of London. We had to have breakfast, cycle to Waterloo, catch an early train, cycle to the start and register for the ride. So alarm went off at 5:15 am but could only open my eyes at 5:35 am. By 6:20 am we were already out of the house and about to descend down to Waterloo...and then I realised that I had a flat tyre! Rushed back into the house and within 5 min I had a new tube in and pumped up to 110 psi. Apparently the valve could not hold up for much longer and realesed all the air overnight...

With all this we missed our train. Not a big deal on a normal ride, but it meant that we would be late for the start. The clock was ticking. And therefore the miles were ticking (see quote above!). We would be cycling behind schedule and also we would not be able to enjoy the atmosphere at the start, with tea and biscuits. Oh well. Got to Guildford and cycle up to Newlands Corner, met some people cycling in the opposite direction, met Dave & Richard (the organisers), got our brevet cards and without delay went back down to Guildford for stage 1. We will see Dave later at the Upperton control. Richard, not that we knew, would be waiting for us much later back at Newlands Corner for the final control. We started the ride at 8:25 am.

Stage 1: Newlands Corner - Three Mile Cross (46 km)
After a gentle downhill we were on relatively busy roads (not at this time of the morning though) heading northwest of Guildford, via Jacobs Well, Pirbright, Frimley Green, Yately & Eversley, Spencers Wood and finally Three Mile Cross. The route was mostly flat and urban, as it approached Reading towards the end. The temperatures were very comfortable and we were riding on summer clothing all the way. At some point we got passed by two other audaxers, who we will meet again at the first control. We managed to average >25 km/h and the stage took us less than 2 h, which is probably the fastest we've ever ridden in quite a while! We made it to the control with more than half an hour to spare which, considering our late start, was not bad at all! Met a few others that were leaving and as proof of passage we got two juices at the gas station, put our receipts in our pockets, and off we went on to stage 2. It seemed that were were the last ones already.

Smiley Lucy after >25 km/h average, at the Three Mile Cross control

Stage 2: Three Mile Cross to Sutton Scotney (45 km)
The temperatures were going up by now, it was 20 degrees or more, very unusual for this time of the year, when it should be more like 10. Left the control and happily rode another 45 km. This time we soon entered the beautiful English countryside, with pretty much traffic-free roads. After reaching Silchester, we rode along an old Roman wall, after which we got to Ramsdell. The roads were very flat so far. We went past Ramsdell, Ibworth, Deane and Steventon, to then ride along a very long section of country lanes that went gently uphill (the old A303 we belive!). We made a diversion from the original route to avoid busy roads, making a few more km than necessary, in exchange for some nice views and quiet lanes. At this point we felt ready for another break, so we pushed on to the second control. It really helps spliting these kind of rides into various stages, so that you have short goals to meet to keep yourself motivated. After about 2 h of riding (>23 km/h) we got to the second control in yet another gas station. We met the same riders again, which must have got there about 20-30 min before us. I chatted about bikes (duh!) and specifically about audax bikes (duh!) as am thinking on getting/building one. I got excited about long audaxes as we spoke to the veterans. One of them had even ridden the Paris-Brest-Paris back in 2003! Definetely something I am aiming for (in 2015!)...

Lucy battling the rolling hills

Applying sunscreen at the Sutton Scotney control, not a very scenic stop

It had been very easy going so far, decent average of >24 km/h and very little stopping. We even had more than 1 h to spare at the second control, we had our hopes up, felt pretty good and got a little relaxed. 90 km and another ~125 km to go. An "El Supremo" feed in between after stage 3. The rest from now on was not that easy...

Ride report from stages 3 and 4 coming soon!

We are randonneurs!

We've just got back from our very first Audax 200 (215 km)! That means...we are unofficially (until we get the approved brevet cards) certified randonneurs!

It has not been easy though, the ride was not flat, it was hot, and we had a late start! A full report will follow in the next few days...but for now we are so happy to have joined that exclusive group of cyclists who are willing to give up a whole day(s) (sometimes literally) of their time to ride long distances!

22:20 Guildford-London train after a long day in the saddle

We rode for a total of 250 km, that is including from home to Waterloo, Guildord to the start and back (Newlands Corner), and a few loops in our neck of the woods to make it up to 250 km!