Lockdown Blog

Hi all, may I suggest that during lockdown, if you ride on a Wednesdy, then write a short report and add a photo or two. It helps to keep people inspired and is a great motivator. 

Tony..

Author: Tony

Lest We Forget ...

 

It's Remembrance Sunday tomorrow.   Thousands of ceremonies in our towns will be held without the usual crowds.

Through the generosity of the Midweek Wayfarers, we have raised £200 for the Royal British Legion.  Thank you.   I will write to David after the 11th to let him know, and to pass on the many messages of friendship and thanks to Maureen, Wendy Jane and David.

There is still time to  donate  if you'd like to add to the total.   No contribution is too small, or large!   Thank you again.

Author: Simon L

B Group - 4th November

It was my first time as a Leader having to design a route for the group ride. After three years cycling with CTC SW London I gradually learnt about a few quiet routes and hills in Surrey departing from Cobham.

I was lucky to secure three willing sub-leaders Tim Gibbons, David Cullen and Bob Pannell a month before the ride. Tim Court is my IT support and soundboard about the route including choice of pub for lunch. Thank you all.

It was a gloriously beautiful autumnal day with continuous 🌞sunshine, and no head or tail wind either. We had 22 riders in 4 groups (max 6 in a group) departing from Cobham from 10.20am with a 20 minutes gap. We cycled through Plough Lane, Long Reach and West Horsley to climb the Shere Road with its glorious sections of the hill and marvellous coloured arboretum. The Fuller's Farm with a clock tower is still under renovation. We reached the top of Staple Lane and rode down with fantastic views of London and Woking in distance.

At the top of Shere Road, Ken, Paul, Sue and Steve

Blinded by the sun, Paul, Ken, Sue and Steve

We lunched at Bull's Head West Clandon sitting in the sun, with sandwiches, jacket potatoes and other yummy pub grub. Landlady Wendy and her helper Harriett were very friendly.

We went back via Hungry Hill Lane and Cobham to Esher Claremont Garden for Tea.

We were happy to make the most of the sunny weather for the last organised group ride. Thanks to all the leaders and riders for joining us. Terry Lowe was chauffeured to take some photos along the route, but unfortunately couldn't join us for the lunch. We wish him a complete recovery from his operation.

Christina

Sally and Terry

And from Dave 'Fixie' Cullen ...

We (Gill H, Jacqui, Paula, Grant,Tony Hooker and myself) departed from Cobham near enough on time. I do believe that our spirits were raised by the pleasant weather. Our Spirits were also raised when we ascended Shere Road!
 
Christina had booked in at the Onslow Arms when we did the recce. However the Onslow Arms decided that they couldn't host our groups after all. So it was off to the Bulls Head in West Clandon which proved to be a good choice of venue, with friendly staff and good food.

All six of our group stopped at the Claremont Gardens for afternoon Tea, with cake for some. This place has a nice ambience, especially so in the Autumn sunshine.

All in all a good day out.

Fixie Dave

Grant, Jacqui, Gill, Paula, Dave

Jacqui, Gill, Paula

Claremont Landscape Garden (NT)

 

Author: Tim C

The Electric Hare's Tale

 We had a good day out yesterday, a good ride, good company and even a ray of sunshine.  The climb up Gatton Bottom to Reigate Hill impressed quite a few riders, so, as one of the 'Electric Hares', I thought I'd do a short piece showing how it works out with electric assistance.

Starting with the bike, I was riding a Boardman ADV 8.7E.  It's a fairly modest machine; aluminium frame, SRAM Apex 1X and Schwalbe G-One Speed tyres.  The defining element of the bike, as with all e-bikes, is the motor system.  The difference between motor systems is much greater than the difference between bikes.  I bought this one last summer to ride gravel trails and trackways, I've done a lot of them and it has worked very well.  The Boardman has a Fazua motor system, which is middle-to-lower end of the power available for e-bikes, and it's just the thing for gravel riding, or, indeed for general road use.  

The Fazua system fits in to the downtube of the bike.  The black tube in the picture contains the motor and a battery, you remove it to charge the battery and you can even ride the bike without it, if you want. If you do this, a plastic tube covers the hole in the frame.  A gearbox in the bottom bracket joins the motor to the pedals.  This is a fancy piece of kit.  It measures the power that the rider is producing, and provides matching power from the motor - I'll come back to this, as it's quite significant.  It also contains an automatic clutch, so that the motor is completely disconnected from the pedals when you are not using it, allowing you to ride the bike without any drag.

Let's take a look at the power.  The Fazua system allows the rider to choose from one of three power levels; Green, Blue and Red.  You change between them by just pushing a button.  The bike is delivered with the power levels preset, but I have changed mine quite a lot, as the standard settings envisage a rather younger, and stronger, rider.  You change the settings using a laptop connected to the bike; if you're happy with your work it's a one-time job and you need never bother again.

Here's how you do it.  For each power level, Green, Blue and Red, there are sliders to set the amount of rider power, the amount of motor power, and the rate at which the power is introduced.  These days I can do about 200 watts, and I can't keep that up for long, so I have set my base power at 100 watts for Green and 150 Watts for Blue and Red.  I can hold this power output for a long time, if I need to.  For Green I have set the motor to go smoothly from nothing to 100 watts, so when I am riding at 100 watts the motor will give me 100 watts on top.  Blue is 150 watts with 200 on top, Red is 150 watts with 250 on top.

Right, over to Gatton Bottom and let's see how this looks on the road.

Here's a power chart from yesterday's ride. The black box highlights the power output at the steepest point on the hill.  As you will see, the gradient is 13.9%, which is fairly steep,  I was doing 6.4 mph and the power was 356 watts.  I was riding on the Blue preset, so 200 watts of this comes from the motor, and 156 watts from me.  That's a reasonable amount of work, but not crippling.  

Less powerful and more powerful motor systems are available, each has its advantages.  With a less powerful system you do more work, a more powerful system gives you the choice of doing less work, or going faster up hill.  UK regulations cap all e-bike motor assistance at 15.5 mph, so, above that, it's just you and the bike.  Obviously, it's a bike, so you can go as fast as you like (or at least, as fast as you can), but there's no motor help over 15.5 mph.

Putting all of this in context, it's worth comparing these numbers with professional cyclists on big hills.  Chris Froome, for example, can put out about 400 watts on a sustained basis, and I've no doubt he can do more, if put to it.  If he had been riding up Gatton Bottom yesterday he would have beaten me, but not by a huge amount.  I'm very happy with this.  I'm an old man, not all that fit, but I can still get the pleasure of the road, and the pleasure of the hills, with a little help from my electric friend.

Mark

Author: Mark G

6 Comments:

Fixie-Dave 05 November 2020 at 15:57 GMT

Interesting Mark, thank you for posting.

Ged Lawrenson 06 November 2020 at 07:39 GMT

Thanks Mark - for a succinct explanation of the technology. What I don't understand is the pedalling dynamics - i.e. the relationship between gears, cadence and assisted power. Typically, on Wednesday's climb, do you keep the same cadence and same gear, increasing assisted power; increase cadence and change down with less assisted power; or a combination of both?

Mark G 06 November 2020 at 09:09 GMT

The technology is pretty sophisticated, but it's very straightforward to use. You simply pedal at the cadence and in the gear that suits you, and the motor follows along according to the setting you have chosen. It provides power in proportion to the effort you make.

On Wednesday, when I spoke to you at the bottom of the hill, I switched the motor to Blue, as I knew there was a big hill coming. I then just rode away, setting the gear to suit myself. The gear would certainly have been higher than it would have been without the motor, as I was getting up to 200 watts additional power, but it's not noticeable to the rider.

If I had chosen Green, then I would have gone up the hill in exactly the same way, but a little slower and in a lower gear as the motor would only have provided 100 watts. Equally, I could have turned the motor off and just ridden up in the normal way. The bike's not particularly heavy and there's no drag from the system, so it's perfectly possible if you want to.

Ged Lawrenson 06 November 2020 at 10:23 GMT

Q.E.D.!

Tim C 11 November 2020 at 13:15 GMT

I found that to be massively interesting. The only question for me is how much more will I observe myself slowing down and deteriorating before taking the big step.

Alan L 23 November 2020 at 19:52 GMT

I finally gave in to buying an electric bike when I was regularly overtaken by walkers on the hills in Richmond Park. 40 years of playing squash every day had taken its toll of my knees and back. I discovered on my indoor trainer I could only generate about 75 watts and was kept awake by knee pain most nights after a ride. My weekly mileage was going down steadily and I was not enjoying riding anymore.
I bought an E-mountain bike to allow me to tackle anything. What a revelation all the pleasure of riding with none of the pain! To get the best out of the motor you need to pedal fast : cadence over 80 . So I am getting plenty of low stress exercise and can go out with my pals again and sleep peacefully every night.
My weekly mileage is 150 miles and climbing every month. My only problem is I have not used any of my regular bikes since and although my legs are far stronger I still cannot generate more power without the pain.
I would strongly recommend anyone to try an E-bike : you will be amazed; and to buy the most powerful motor you can afford to future proof your purchase as you get older and weaker. It will keep you riding and protect your joints from the ravages of arthritis.
Alan L

‘A’ Group Weds 4 Nov 2020 – End of Term Report

 

There was a distinct end of term feeling at Cobham this morning and the ‘A’s’ had 25 keen riders, and four co-leaders (Ged, Simon, Dave J and Brian, who had all volunteered at very short notice).   We have now got the process of setting off for rides in fives or sixes down to a pretty slick operation.   Groups are all in place on time, and leave punctually and seamlessly. My own group (Dave F, John B, Alan, Keith and Steve D) were last off, but the waiting time went quickly in the welcome sunshine.   Try as I might, I couldn’t shake off my group on our gentle morning saunter through the leafy autumn lanes punctuated by the occasional, gentle incline.    As we sped up the final climb towards lunch we crossed an earlier group struggling back downhill after their lunch stop.   Naturally we offered them applause and words of encouragement!

Simon’s group and Mike Morley were still at lunch at when we reached the top of the hill.   Junction 8 café had a varied range of food, the service was pretty good on the whole, and the view excellent!    Once the autumn afternoon started to set in it became distinctly chillier, and we didn’t linger.   Keith unfortunately suffered a front wheel puncture on the way back down Gatton Bottom and we left him to fix it.   Alan particularly impressed – the route to tea passed within half a mile of his house but he chose to carry on to Epsom, knowing he would have to climb all the way back up again!  Thanks to all in my group, and to Steve for back-marking.

 

I wish I could say ‘Must try harder’, but I’m afraid it has to be gold stars for all 25 who rode, and extra housepoints for the co-leaders who all came joint first in their geography practicals (ie, following my route)!    Don’t forget your homework during the holidays (keep riding, that is), as there will no doubt be tests at the start of next term!

Report from Simon

Autumn colour on the way to the start

What a memorable last group ride before the second lockdown.   David W had organised an interesting, scenic and (it has to be said) hilly route along the back lanes around the North Downs.  Perfect autumn weather meant everything was a picture postcard with sunshine, autumn colours and clear blue skies.  Even the roads were dry - something we haven't seen for a while.   My group of Sue, Gina, e-Pete (Betts) and Dave Vine enjoyed almost all of it, with an al fresco lunch at Reigate Hill with views to die for (and we nearly did, on the last near-vertical climb to get there).  There was a shock when we got to tea though: someone had eaten all the cake!   Thank you for a great day out, and to Dave V for back marking.

Greyhounds at lunch!

Checking the way home (this is what we used before Garmins)

A seasonal robin at tea (Is this where all the cake went?)

Report from Ged

What a view! In lovely sunshine. Was the long drag up Gatton Bottom worth it? Hell it was! The electric hare (Mark) was chased by two greyhounds (Patrick and Neil W.), leaving the two tortoises panting in their wake up Reigate Hill. But at least we went as fast as them on the return.

After navigating 50metres of treacherous off-road muddy track on Great Bookham Common our ride flowed like a dream. (We arrived for tea at Horton soon after 2pm - normally pub leaving time).

Thanks to the 10.40am crew for sharing the corner marking and backmarking. 

Thanks Dave for a great route - and delivering glorious pre-lockdown sunshine. We'll meet again one sunny day

(Acknowledgements to Steve D, Simon and Ged for the photos).

Author: David W

1 Comment:

Dave Vine 05 November 2020 at 17:52 GMT

Thanks, Dave, for organising a super end of term ride.

Judging by the atmosphere yesterday it seems as if everyone is entering lockdown in high spirits after a short but very active summer season. Stay safe and I hope to see you all before Christmas.

And remember to post any lockdown rides or cycling stories on the blog. We will all enjoy reading them.

Wayfarers Rides Suspended due to Covid - 19 National Lockdown.

From next Thursday 5th November all Wayfarer group rides are suspended until December.

Will we update the Blog when any further announcements are made by the government and any additional guidance is available from Cycling UK.

Author: Ged Lawrenson

'A' Group Ride 4 Nov 2020

 The 'A' Group ride from Cobham on Wednesday 4 November will be going ahead as things currently stand.    Lunch is at Junction 8 Cafe, Reigate Hill, and tea at The Old Moat Garden Centre, nr Epsom.   Impossible to emulate Dave F's recent Cobham/Ashtead/Banstead ride, but you may find some echoes of it here (or is it a recurring nightmare)!   A shortish distance (20 miles to lunch and 11 back to tea), which will allow us to take 2,300 ft of evenly-spread climbing steadily!    One off-road section (Bookham Common) which one group will omit, but we have often ridden this in winter and it doesn't usually present any problems.   I haven't spotted any blue plaques, but we will be passing through the former 'rotten borough' of Upper Gatton, unbelievably one of the most notorious centres of electoral corruption in the UK until voting reform began in 1832

Junction 8 has only very limited shelter, but plenty of (public) seating, toilets, and a superb view.   You can bring your own packed lunch if preferred.  The Old Moat has a covered terrace.

These days I have a morbid fear of cycling in the dark so hope to be home well before dusk, but advise you to bring lights in case of any unplanned delays.

If you'd like to join the ride please let me know ( cycledave23@gmail.com ) by 7.00 am on Tuesday 3 November.     There are 20 places.   Unless you have any questions, you won't hear back from me until Tuesday morning when I'll send you your group and start time details and the .gpx files.

Author: David W

6 Comments:

Janice 01 November 2020 at 08:35 GMT

Dave I’d to join your ride please, on road group if possible. I’ve commented here as I don’t have your email address.

I’m guessing this will be a popular ride given the lockdown from Thursday and the sunny forecast!

Hans 01 November 2020 at 09:04 GMT

Hi Dave, likewise can you count me in for the road group please.

Patrick W 01 November 2020 at 09:36 GMT

Ditto

Steve Wiltshire 01 November 2020 at 19:28 GMT

Hi dave, I'd like to ride too please.

David W 02 November 2020 at 07:28 GMT

Thanks, noted, Dave

Mike Morley 02 November 2020 at 22:14 GMT

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