London Fixed-gear and Single-speed SJS Cycles

tricky woo · 14th May 2008

Me and a mate have started an epic touring trip around the coast of Britain, one week/end at a time, on our fixies. Two day trips down already (Kent is weird!), with a couple of weekender's and a week planned for the rest of the summer.

We are blogging the whole thing here, and welcome any thoughts on paths, pubs and pitfalls to avoid as we do our revolutions round this isle!

We are also welcome to anyone joining us on any legs - we have a few mates who promised (it was in a pub though!) to do some bits - and even a couple of offers of "support vehicles" for the long stretches.

It's somewhere between 4,500 and 5,500 miles, by the way!

tricky woo · 27th May 2008

Day two on there now - and what a day! Faversham to Ramsgate along the Viking Coastal Trail!
Read all about it here

Object · 27th May 2008

Only just realised you're doing this. Good work.

TheBrick(Tommy) · 27th May 2008

Well written little report sounds like nice trip.

ChrisNW · 28th May 2008

What year will it be when you get to Liverpool?

lpg · 28th May 2008

5000 miles!? jesus, good luck to you fellas!

tricky woo · 28th May 2008

What year indeed Chris - maybe whilst we are still in our thirties! And half (shurely praise be to god!) of those 5000 miles have got to be downhill, LPG?! The one question I have, though, and I am sure someone out there has the maths to do it, is how many revolutions of the pedal will it be?!

If you are interested, we now have a Facebook group too - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19530489255 - come join the fun!

Now, who's idea was this...?

lpg · 28th May 2008

with a 72" gear, roughly 4500 revolutions.

fc9k · 28th May 2008

I think you're out by a factor of 10^3

miro_o · 28th May 2008

Inspiring stuff.

lpg · 28th May 2008

whoops, 4 1/2 million revs!! fuck!! that's a lot!!

tricky woo · 7th July 2008

Day three up there now - Ramsgate to Folkestone, with badly behaving hubs, 400 foot climbs and some stunning Kent countryside. Our next trip will see us complete our first county! And I am now thinking we should just circumnavigate England, rather than tackle the Welsh and Scottish mountains! Day three

The Seldom Killer · 8th July 2008

You might want to rethink cutting out Wales as that'll send you right down the Welsh Marches. The coastal region will be less brutal.

Dylan · 12th July 2008

if you go around wales you'll pass my hometown :) really beautiful place the coastal region of mid-wales. No people !! yey!

MJC · 19th July 2008

That is going to take years with only an average of 30-35 miles per day. Build the pace up lads.

tricky woo · 2nd March 2009

It's back! Yes, we're back in the saddle for "Cycle around Britain Leg 2 - 2009". And yes, it was all a bit crap last year (thanks for pointing that out MJC!) so we will, indeed, pick up the pace. And perhaps less beer. 50 miles a day to start - though we will see how we get on coz Mr Bear has been couriering in Brighton and I'm in training for a 100 mile sportive (the Cycling Plus Sportive at BikeRadar Live - NOT on a fixie though!)

To celebrate we've moved onto our own webspace (www.cyclearoundbritain.co.uk) and plan to do a decent weekend of it on the 20th March - Friday to Sunday. So far it looks like Hove to Gosport, Gosport to Poole, Poole to Axminster. As always, we are open for people to come join in - fixed or not.

Wish us luck!

tricky woo · 2nd March 2009

Oh, and the routes are Hove to Fareham, Fareham to Poole, Poole to Axminster
Not sure where I got Gosport from! And Gmap Pedo is way better than MapMyRide, or Bikely, imho

blodnik1 · 2nd March 2009

good luck on Abbotsbury Hill-lungburster!

Death_before_digital · 2nd March 2009

Would love to come but think I may die due to chain smoking..
*No pun intended

miro_o · 2nd March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by tricky woo

And Gmap Pedo is way better than MapMyRide, or Bikely, imho

Really?

In my experience Gmaps Peado won't print, MapMyRide costs actual money (not good) and Bikely is kind-of the ugly child of each.

MapMyRide and screengrabs FTW.

Bearoon · 2nd March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by blodnik1

good luck on Abbotsbury Hill-lungburster!

Blodnik1: What is the Abbotsbury Hill lungbuster?? You're making me jitter :)

tricky woo · 4th March 2009

New plans!

Mr Bear has a friend on the Isle of Man who is kindly putting us up so we are going to do a lap of the island too! New maps to reflect this - any local knowledge about busy roads to avoid welcome:-
[SIZE=2]
Day 1 - Hove to Portsmouth (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603930)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Day 2 - circuit of Isle of Man (TT!) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603939 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Day 3 Ferry from Yarmouth to Lymington, then carry on to Weymouth http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603953 [/SIZE]

It means missing a bit of the mainland coast - but doing a circuit of the Isle of Man has to be done! Not that we will be doing all islands on the way round - that would be bonkers crazy mad.

(coz planning to cycle fixed around the coast of britain is completely and utterly a sane thing to do.)

And Miro - I take your point regarding Gmaps Pedo and MapMyRide - for route planning on a grander scale it just seems to be a hell of a lot quicker than the others.

Elvis · 4th March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearoon

Blodnik1: What is the Abbotsbury Hill lungbuster?? You're making me jitter :)

Secret BTB handshake? ;)

Good luck on the ride man, I'm missing the couriering at the moment. Full time in office not as much fun!

blodnik1 · 4th March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearoon

Blodnik1: What is the Abbotsbury Hill lungbuster?? You're making me jitter :)

It's just steep and fairly longish-staggering views of Chesil Beach and Portland will take your mind off it!

melon · 4th March 2009

if you ever go down west i can give you some good places to go. ive done almost all of of cornwall and devon, and some of south wales on fixed. i highly recommend a gearing in the 60-67GI range as anything above that will probably kill you unless you are superman. i always aimed to do 80miles a day on 65gi and normally did it fairly comfortably.

ive thought about doing the whole coast of kent seeing as i partially live there, but im finding it hard to find the motivation as kent is mainly a skanky hole. rode through bex hill the other day, my god thats a depressing place, but not as bad as pikey paradise folkstone.

bombadil · 4th March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by tricky woo

New plans!

Mr Bear has a friend on the Isle of Man who is kindly putting us up so we are going to do a lap of the island too! New maps to reflect this - any local knowledge about busy roads to avoid welcome:-
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Day 1 - Hove to Portsmouth (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603930)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Day 2 - circuit of Isle of Man (TT!) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603939 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Day 3 Ferry from Yarmouth to Lymington, then carry on to Weymouth http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603953 [/SIZE]

It means missing a bit of the mainland coast - but doing a circuit of the Isle of Man has to be done! Not that we will be doing all islands on the way round - that would be bonkers crazy mad.

(coz planning to cycle fixed around the coast of britain is completely and utterly a sane thing to do.)

And Miro - I take your point regarding Gmaps Pedo and MapMyRide - for route planning on a grander scale it just seems to be a hell of a lot quicker than the others.

Do you mean the Isle of Wight? (much nearer to Portsmouth!!)

tricky woo · 4th March 2009

Doh! Idiot that I am! Of course I do!

tricky woo · 4th March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by melon

if you ever go down west i can give you some good places to go. ive done almost all of of cornwall and devon, and some of south wales on fixed. i highly recommend a gearing in the 60-67GI range as anything above that will probably kill you unless you are superman. i always aimed to do 80miles a day on 65gi and normally did it fairly comfortably.

ive thought about doing the whole coast of kent seeing as i partially live there, but im finding it hard to find the motivation as kent is mainly a skanky hole. rode through bex hill the other day, my god thats a depressing place, but not as bad as pikey paradise folkstone.

Yup, would have to agree that Kent is a bit, well, bleak. But it was an interesting ride, none-the-less, with some weird sights along the way. Most of it is on the Coastal route too - which was really lovely actually. Thanks gearing advice too - I think that has to be my next plan to start trying with different ratios. We will be down the west way soon - a week planned for early summer so hope to make a big bite of devon and cornwall.

tricky woo · 4th March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by bombadil

Do you mean the Isle of Wight? (much nearer to Portsmouth!!)

Still blushing, actually, with embarrassment. That's why I need googlemap-based apps!

Oliver Schick · 4th March 2009

Is there a TT on the Isle of Wight?

won't-do-hills · 4th March 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by melon

if you ever go down west i can give you some good places to go. ive done almost all of of cornwall and devon, and some of south wales on fixed. i highly recommend a gearing in the 60-67GI range as anything above that will probably kill you unless you are superman. i always aimed to do 80miles a day on 65gi and normally did it fairly comfortably.

ive thought about doing the whole coast of kent seeing as i partially live there, but im finding it hard to find the motivation as kent is mainly a skanky hole. rode through bex hill the other day, my god thats a depressing place, but not as bad as pikey paradise folkstone.

I live in kent and it is not skanky bloody cheek!

joergmueller · 1st April 2009

Hi,

I'm going on a multiday trip from cologne to london this summer.
I write a blog about planning, route, gear, training.

http://www.cgnfixed.blogspot.com

joerg

tricky woo · 1st April 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by joergmueller

Hi,

I'm going on a multiday trip from cologne to london this summer.
I write a blog about planning, route, gear, training.

http://www.cgnfixed.blogspot.com

joerg

Enjoy! We did our three days (Isle of Wight gots some hills, I tell ya!) weekend before last; stunning weather with a little stretch of road through the new forest which i consider to be the best bit of cycle road I have ever gone through. Felt like a F1 track! Our blog post will be up soon.

joergmueller · 1st April 2009

I will enjoy it.
Does anyone know a good route from either Dover or Ramsgate int Central London.
I plan to take the ferry from Oostende (Belgium) to Ramsgate, but I read somwhere on this forum, that they don't take bikes on board !?

el squire · 1st April 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by melon

if you ever go down west i can give you some good places to go. ive done almost all of of cornwall and devon, and some of south wales on fixed. i highly recommend a gearing in the 60-67GI range as anything above that will probably kill you unless you are superman. i always aimed to do 80miles a day on 65gi and normally did it fairly comfortably.

ive thought about doing the whole coast of kent seeing as i partially live there, but im finding it hard to find the motivation as kent is mainly a skanky hole. rode through bex hill the other day, my god thats a depressing place, but not as bad as pikey paradise folkstone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by won't-do-hills

I live in kent and it is not skanky bloody cheek!

He does have a point about Folkestone.

It's sell by date was around the end of the Victorian holiday resort era.

el squire · 1st April 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by joergmueller

I will enjoy it.
Does anyone know a good route from either Dover or Ramsgate int Central London.
I plan to take the ferry from Oostende (Belgium) to Ramsgate, but I read somwhere on this forum, that they don't take bikes on board !?

The Tour de France route is on here somewhere, pretty sure that did Dover to London.

14th May 2008	#1
tricky woo	Fixies around the coast of Britain Me and a mate have started an epic touring trip around the coast of Britain, one week/end at a time, on our fixies. Two day trips down already (Kent is weird!), with a couple of weekender's and a week planned for the rest of the summer. We are blogging the whole thing here, and welcome any thoughts on paths, pubs and pitfalls to avoid as we do our revolutions round this isle! We are also welcome to anyone joining us on any legs - we have a few mates who promised (it was in a pub though!) to do some bits - and even a couple of offers of "support vehicles" for the long stretches. It's somewhere between 4,500 and 5,500 miles, by the way!
	quote reply

2nd March 2009	#16
tricky woo	le grand tour continues... 2009 It's back! Yes, we're back in the saddle for "Cycle around Britain Leg 2 - 2009". And yes, it was all a bit crap last year (thanks for pointing that out MJC!) so we will, indeed, pick up the pace. And perhaps less beer. 50 miles a day to start - though we will see how we get on coz Mr Bear has been couriering in Brighton and I'm in training for a 100 mile sportive (the Cycling Plus Sportive at BikeRadar Live - NOT on a fixie though!) To celebrate we've moved onto our own webspace (www.cyclearoundbritain.co.uk) and plan to do a decent weekend of it on the 20th March - Friday to Sunday. So far it looks like Hove to Gosport, Gosport to Poole, Poole to Axminster. As always, we are open for people to come join in - fixed or not. Wish us luck!
	quote reply

1st April 2009	#32
joergmueller	cologne to london fixed Hi, I'm going on a multiday trip from cologne to london this summer. I write a blog about planning, route, gear, training. http://www.cgnfixed.blogspot.com joerg
	quote reply

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27th May 2008	#2
tricky woo	Day two on there now - and what a day! Faversham to Ramsgate along the Viking Coastal Trail! Read all about it here
	quote reply

27th May 2008	#3
Object	Only just realised you're doing this. Good work.
	quote reply

27th May 2008	#4
TheBrick(Tommy)	Well written little report sounds like nice trip.
	quote reply

28th May 2008	#5
ChrisNW	What year will it be when you get to Liverpool?
	quote reply

28th May 2008	#9
fc9k	I think you're out by a factor of 10^3
	quote reply

7th July 2008	#12
tricky woo	Day three up there now - Ramsgate to Folkestone, with badly behaving hubs, 400 foot climbs and some stunning Kent countryside. Our next trip will see us complete our first county! And I am now thinking we should just circumnavigate England, rather than tackle the Welsh and Scottish mountains! Day three
	quote reply

8th July 2008	#13
The Seldom Killer	You might want to rethink cutting out Wales as that'll send you right down the Welsh Marches. The coastal region will be less brutal.
	quote reply

12th July 2008	#14
Dylan	if you go around wales you'll pass my hometown :) really beautiful place the coastal region of mid-wales. No people !! yey!
	quote reply

19th July 2008	#15
MJC	That is going to take years with only an average of 30-35 miles per day. Build the pace up lads.
	quote reply

2nd March 2009	#18
blodnik1	good luck on Abbotsbury Hill-lungburster!
	quote reply

2nd March 2009	#19
Death_before_digital	Would love to come but think I may die due to chain smoking.. *No pun intended
	quote reply

4th March 2009	#22
tricky woo	New plans! Mr Bear has a friend on the Isle of Man who is kindly putting us up so we are going to do a lap of the island too! New maps to reflect this - any local knowledge about busy roads to avoid welcome:- [SIZE=2] Day 1 - Hove to Portsmouth (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603930)[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Day 2 - circuit of Isle of Man (TT!) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603939 [/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Day 3 Ferry from Yarmouth to Lymington, then carry on to Weymouth http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2603953 [/SIZE] It means missing a bit of the mainland coast - but doing a circuit of the Isle of Man has to be done! Not that we will be doing all islands on the way round - that would be bonkers crazy mad. (coz planning to cycle fixed around the coast of britain is completely and utterly a sane thing to do.) And Miro - I take your point regarding Gmaps Pedo and MapMyRide - for route planning on a grander scale it just seems to be a hell of a lot quicker than the others.
	quote reply

4th March 2009	#25
melon	if you ever go down west i can give you some good places to go. ive done almost all of of cornwall and devon, and some of south wales on fixed. i highly recommend a gearing in the 60-67GI range as anything above that will probably kill you unless you are superman. i always aimed to do 80miles a day on 65gi and normally did it fairly comfortably. ive thought about doing the whole coast of kent seeing as i partially live there, but im finding it hard to find the motivation as kent is mainly a skanky hole. rode through bex hill the other day, my god thats a depressing place, but not as bad as pikey paradise folkstone.
	quote reply

4th March 2009	#30
Oliver Schick	Is there a TT on the Isle of Wight?
	quote reply

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