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Geoff_SS
Joined: 19 Dec 2007
Posts: 1029
Location: Derbyshire UK
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 Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 9:26 pm |
| velocitizen wrote: | | The descent from Crich to Lea Bridge and Cromford every time I ride there, and any silent, sunrise 'road to myself' moments. |
Maybe, but it's bugger going the other way isn't it? We usually drop down to Bullbridge (as we did yesterday) which is quite satisfying too.
Another golden moment for me was finishing the 1990 CTC 400km Audax on the front of a line out at 23 mph because I wanted to get inside 20 hours. A guy I'd been riding with for 300km tried to sprint me for the Writtle sign but I held him off. No idea who he was and can't remember his name but it was a good alliance of mutual benefit.
It's doubly meaningful because 3 weeks later I was laying in a hospital bed paralysed after taking a header over a bolting cat on my way to work. I've never been fitter because we were also in training for a Himalayan trek in the Autumn. My wife went alone the following year.
Geoff
Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster |
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robmurr2000
Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 29
Location: kent and fife
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 9:55 pm |
In september when my dad and i rode the 'cycle for life' charity event in chelmsford. No idyllic setting,just the two of us peddling along on a cold and windy sunday morning.He used to ride with his brother for kennoway road club in fife back in the 60's and seeing the joy on his face as we crossed the start/finish line was something i will remember all my life.Even though it was only a 50k charity ride,the old man still did ok for a 60yr old!!
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cougie
Joined: 21 Apr 2004
Posts: 11538
Location:
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 12:06 am |
One of my all time faves is when I was 18 - built my own custom made 531 frame up, and on its first test ride, i overtook an opentop Ferrari on a descent. Same model that was in Magnum ?
(ok the ferrari was stuck behind a caravan - but we were still doing 40 or so).
Happy days !
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ChrisInBicester
Joined: 05 Sep 2008
Posts: 931
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 1:18 am |
Blimey - this has picked up.
I'd further nominate:
Stopping at a (the?) pub in Caerwys at the top of a short but sweet climb for a well-earnt pint back in June (remember June? Summer and all that?), and having a local spy the bike and gawp at the route on the handlebars (Day 2, Rugely to Prestatyn) in awe - that was enough tbh, and then saying to him 'go on then' when he asked if he could pick my bike up. Smug Factor 12. And then two miles up the road, having a MK 1 Lotus Cortina hare past me, squat in the road, all white & green flashes. Oooh. Just ooooh.. Bikes are great, but a proper Lotus Cortina...? It 'd be a case of 'cheers lads, but I'm off now. Thanks but...'
Rolling up at the Would-have-been in-laws in Skipton some years ago from well south of Nottingham, and on arrival being asked by would-be Father-in-law 'Would yyou like a drink?', and saying 'I've just had a couple of pints with your son up the road actually'. His jaw did actually hit his well-polished floor; then GF was standing smiling beningly behind him at me. Priceless. Improves with age, and beligerence...
What else? Beating the hour to work (21 miles) with a 59:58 blast last September, then smashing that with a 56:31 earlier this year.
Riding home from work on Friday this week just gone, in a persistent drizzle. Can't put me finger on it, but it was just awesome - rooster tails of water front & back, being in completely dark lanes witn zero traffic, noticing how Autumn has almost morphed into Winter - bare trees, chill in the air, bare brown fields, no squirrels or deer, rabbits or farm cats disappearing from the line of sight as you round a bend in a quiet country lane - it's all gone quiet, and dark, spookily dark but gorgeously dark with it. England is deeply fabulous a lot of the time, most of the time indeed. Around now is one of those times. We live in a special place. We should appreciate it more than we do.
What else? Collecting the new bike this week, thinking after two short rides that it might as well go back but then knocking off 63 miles on it yesterday and realisng how great it is. Pa still can't grasp why I want to ride 46 miles to his farm rather than drive up there to see them.
The Blenheim 100 mile Sportiv this year. No single special moment, just the whole thing. Superb.
And being on the bike. Whenever, anywhere, anytime. It's what roads & legs are made for.
Share your SC Stats. Who's done the most miles? |
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Macondo01
Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 140
Location: South Manchester
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 4:00 pm |
Summers day, smell of grass at Dunham Massey, launching my son on his bike and watching him for the first time cycle and cycle. That look on his face was priceless!
'All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ — Pascal
Poor Pascal never had a bike... |
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Pross
Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 652
Location: South Wales
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 4:04 pm |
Getting off the bike after a 100 mile TT. Getting to the top of a big hill, enjoying the view for a few minutes and plummetting down the other side. Being in the bunch with 200m to the finish line 
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pneumatic
Joined: 17 Jun 2007
Posts: 1286
Location: Kingdom of Fife, Scotland
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fizz
Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 325
Location: Somerset
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 10:36 pm |
Tour of Wessex 2008, Saturday ride, headwind all the way across the levels back towards Glastonbury, I hit the wall quite badly, was tired, hungry, legs felt like lead, turned out onto the man A39 at the bottom of the Tor, past Edgarley Hall school and just wanted to throw my bike into the hedge and I'd have quite happily never seen it again. There was a few people in their back garden watching the riders go past. The little shouts of encouragement and claps they gave me as I plodded my way past really spurred me on. I was completely shattered at this point, both physically and mentally. I was on the verge of tears and hearing those people cheer me on really turned around that last bit of the ride and within a couple of miles I felt fresh as a daisy again. I cant describe how those few words of encouragement made me feel at that precise moment.
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Macondo01
Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 140
Location: South Manchester
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 10:49 pm |
Thanks pneumatic. I'll look the book up.
And thanks to everyone else. I am really enjoying the richness and variety of your experiences.
'All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ — Pascal
Poor Pascal never had a bike... |
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Lakesman
Joined: 14 Jan 2009
Posts: 14
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Posted Mon Nov 9, 2009 10:59 pm |
some great posts folks. tis what it's all about :
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Gav888
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 428
Location: Suffolk
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stfc1
Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 99
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Posted Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:56 am |
Coming out of the forest at Chalet Reynard on the Ventoux this summer and realising that unless I blew up I was on for an even better than hoped for time. Those final kilometres were a dream come true, like playing tennis on the centre court of Wimbledon or football at Wembley. Looking down and seeing how high I'd come, it was like the view from an aeroplane. I'd never ridden a climb outside of the UK before.
Apart from that, any crisp, dry winter Sunday morning club run (as long as it's not painfully cold!), wrapped up against the elements and riding with friends while the rest of the world sleeps off its hangover.
And, ultimately, just every time I get on a bike. Even riding to work in the rain this morning.
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Skinarelli
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
Posts: 11
Location: West Lancs
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Macondo01
Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 140
Location: South Manchester
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iain_j
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 1040
Location: Liverpool
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:55 pm |
What an excellent thread
Off the top of me head...
Climbing the Horseshoe Pass back in 2003 on my "new" Giant, and reeling in all the spots at the side of the road where I'd stopped and slumped over the handlebars a few months before, today realising I've cracked the art of climbing big hills.
A short time later, my first brakeless descent of the same road. Taking the racing line through the corners and all that. Unfortunately my nerve has gone again since then 
Completing a 110-mile slog from Liverpool to Pen-y-Pass on my heavy old clunker made even heavier with panniers stuffed full of stuff I didn't need, thinking that because I'd completed a similar distance a few weeks earlier (without all the luggage) it would be just as straightforward. I had my first taste of riding in torrential rain (nearly crashed 10 miles into the ride because of it), my first long-distance headwind (yes about 90 miles into a headwind), my first experience of the bonk (struggled up a hill near Colwyn Bay, got to the top, put my foot down for a rest and collapsed in a quivering heap), and my first experience of the Sustrans cycle routes (Conwy to Bangor - avoid!!). But after over 12 hours on the road, I found myself rolling slowly up to the top of the Llanberis Pass into a glowing sunset, all the pain magically disappearing from my legs in that final mile.
More recently, conquering Holme Moss for the first time (climbed from Holmfirth), after fully expecting to walk most of it after having dead legs on the approach after 60-odd miles around the nearby hills. I'd done it once before and died several times on the way up. As soon as the climb got going good and proper I felt like I was ready for battle. Game on. Round the first couple of hairpins, it's a brute but I'm managing. Out of the initial hairpins, I'm starting to get the shakes, please don't bonk here, and my hamstrings are protesting - oww. The long haul up before the gradual left bend to the summit, I'm shouting all sorts of expletives at the tarmac. Into that final bend, are they the cars at the summit carpark I can see? My legs are really trembling now, I feel like if I get out of the saddle I'll just crumple. Argh it's painful. Up past the cars, the gradient eases, the lactic acid starts to fade, heck I can even click up a couple of gears. I can't control the triumphant smile as I push it all the way to the summit sign. Woohoo!
And finally - my first experience of international track racing at the Manchester World Cup earlier this month. Vicky Pendleton's fight against Olga Panarina and Shuang Guo to win the sprint, Geraint's record breaking qualifying ride in the pursuit, Wendy, Lizzie & Jo's record breaking team pursuit, and highlight of the weekend for me, Geraint, Steve, Ed and Andy's win in the team pursuit final. One second off the world record. That was epic. Never been at an event with an atmosphere like that.
2003 Giant OCR 4 (FCN 3, sometimes 5)
2007 Claud Butler Dalesman (FCN 5, sometimes 7)
My routes ~ My photos |
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friso
Joined: 27 Jun 2009
Posts: 14
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:00 pm |
My best moment so far was realising i had 3 miles to go to finish the 98 mile Autumn Epic this year and knowing it was all down hill
The sense of achievment was overwhelming
This was my first proper ride after a 20 year complete lay off the bike
Why oh why did i wait so long?
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iain_j
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 1040
Location: Liverpool
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iain_j
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 1040
Location: Liverpool
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:13 pm |
Crikey I'm addicted now. Can I have one more?
Last spring, doing a 116-mile circuit in Shropshire. Suffering like a b*stard on what I was expecting, hoping to be one of the easier sections of the ride, 20 miles long, into a block headwind. 10mph on the flats, speed negligible on any slight inclines. Oh I suffered. And the horror when I got to the town I was aiming to have lunch at, and thought there was no café. However I pushed on, never one to give up. And I was rightly rewarded. Did the last 40 miles from Ironbridge to Oswestry with that brute of a wind directly behind me, barrelling along at >20mph all the way. Flew along like something possessed. Man it felt good!
2003 Giant OCR 4 (FCN 3, sometimes 5)
2007 Claud Butler Dalesman (FCN 5, sometimes 7)
My routes ~ My photos |
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Macondo01
Joined: 02 Sep 2008
Posts: 140
Location: South Manchester
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chriskempton
Joined: 22 Apr 2008
Posts: 705
Location: The Sun Dappled Yorkshire Dales
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:41 pm |
Riding up Le Bettex to watch a TDF stage finish (1989/1990?) for my first ride in the Alps. Racing up it against other fans from all over Europe and elsewhere on a perfect summer's day.
London Embankment with the wind behind you.
The feeling of commitment when you're on a 90 mile solo ride in the Dales and it's further home if you turn back than if you carry on.
Daybreak when you've started a ride before first light in spring.
A local time trial on a humid windless summer's evening.
A ride I did with some friends on mountain bikes, from Hertford up to London Docklands and back, along the canal. Stopped at about 5 pubs on the way home and got gradually battered.
Beer garden of New Inn, Church Knowle, Dorset, after a long ride roundthe Purbeck Hills.
I'll stop there, but could go on for some time.
+1 Great thread.
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