Flat Tire Syndrome

Dear all,

today I would like to focus on a terrible desease that afflicts millions of bikers world wide: Flat Tire Syndrome.
I know many of us are ashamed and don't like to talk about it, but the truth is that Flat Tire Syndrome hits 3 out of 4 bikers ... next time we are out riding together think about that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBENAiwbu7I


Remember, it is nothing to be ashamed of ... it happens to the best of us at some point in time.

Cheers,

Fred

Sortie VTT 27 Decembre 2009

Take 1:
... having read 4C on the thermometer I closed the gate and confidently started to hop on my bike - blahm - and found my self on all fours skidding down the road ... the sheet of ice on the road was so perfectly slippery that I was not able to stop skidding until I was passed my neighbores house.

Take 2:
... well, I guess I will ride on the grass to the RDV point, but wait ... as I fell, the deraileur hit the ground, bent, got tangled in the spokes and now the rear wheel is blocked.  Never fear ... for a member of VCS is always prepared.  A couple of yanks with the appropriate allen wrench and the deraileur looked a lot better.

Take 3:
I put one foot on the asphalt to reach for my gloves, which I had dropped on Take 1 and whoopsy down I go again ...

Okay, so its going to be one of those days ...
It took me a good ten minutes (and two more falls) to cover the single kilometer to the RDV point and to my disappointment there was no was there.  I gave my deraileur some more attention and set off towards the Ermenonville forest where I eventually ran into Pascal Laroche and his friend Fred (!).

... and this is how it went:

(this is my first video edit, so please bear with it ... )

Cheers,

Fred
p.s. Next Sunday, get your lazy asses out of bed!!

Wake up in the snow ...

Harry and Fred set out for a little snow ride this morning at 8:00.

8:00 seemed a perfectly reasonable time to start, was it not for the fact that sunrise was at 8:46 today.  Dohhhh!!!  So the first 20mins were quite tricky as we could not really read the terrain (everything was white).

We went around "le Massif d'Aumot" for a total of 15kms in 1h20m.
It was quite fatiguing as we couldn't ever stop pedaling and staying on the bike was a bit tricky from time to time.  Mud, snow and ice ...

How about a Christmas ride tomorrow?  I am sure you are all going to be dieing to try out all the gadgets that Santa brought to you!!

Cheers,

Fred and Harry

L'hiver, c'est bien pour demain !!!!

Voilà la raison pour laquelle le VC SENLIS ne roulait pas ce matin.

Il doit cependant y avoir quelques furieux qui auront bravé le froid, la neige et le verglas pour une petite sortie....

S'ils existent, qu'ils se déclarent et nous narrent l'expérience !!

Helll and High Water

Last week I was out all week for business and could even get a single ride in so I told my self that on Sunday I would ride "come hell or high water".  Wish granted.

I was dead set on biking on Sunday because all year I have been running an average of 3 bike outings / week.  I am currently ahead as I have biked 146 times vs a plan of 141.  As a matter of fact there has only been one week during which I didn't bike at least once ... an that was because I was sick.

So, despite the strong rain, today I geared up and headed to the beloved "point de RDV" ... but there wasn't anyone there! I was quite disappointed the that the VC Senlis would be stomped by such a dismal drizzle.  Just as I was getting ready to put my head down and set out on my own the two Romains and Pierre arrived and they pointed out that Pascal was in his car in the parking lot.  As Pascal geared up Jean-Philippe and Olivier arrived as well: Vive le VC Senlis!!

So seven of us set out and since it was "que des cousteaux" I knew it would be good.  Jean-Philippe pointed out that in the rain the best thing would be to "faire que de bosses" to keep warm, and since I am not one to let people down I took the lead and started joining every since hill and single track that I could think of in Ermenonville.

We started out with "la butte aux gendarmes" and then we took a left at the top of the hill for some tough hills, we then moved to the golf the Montrefontaine, then to Ermenonville, la Mer de Sable where we joined a 2km stretch of sneaky single tracks.

The weather was ... well, it was "wet".  However, at one point the clouds thinned out just enough that you could tell where the sun was in the sky and Romain said "il fait presque beau"; and that my friends, is when you know you live in l'Oise.

The group was quite homogeneous and absence of mechanical failures meant that we rode "comme des Sauvages" without ever stopping for at least a two hours.  By noon we had pushed so hard that Pascal fell victim of some heavy cramps and simply remained in Ermenonville (that'll teach you to drink on Saturday night!!).  The next victims were the Romains which simply ran completely out of "jus" and was escorted by Pierre back to Senlis.

Jean-Philippe, Olivier and Fred decided to climb a few more hills to round off the ascent at 500m.  Jean-Philippe kept bombing down the hills and hopping his bike left and right like he was Bambi.  He had the same look on his face that my son has when he gets to play in the "pool full of plastic balls"!!  You know what I am talking about right?

How many hills can you count???*

To finish the day off we sprinted though the puddle by the highway at 40km/hr to wash the bikes off!!

What started out as a "tentative ride" turned out to be one of the most technically challenging rides of the year.

Distance:    46km

Time:        3h 45m

Ascent:       510m

Fun:            100%

For those who remained in their warm beds: YOU MISSED A GREAT DAY OF BIKING!!!

Rain?  What rain?

Fred

* 18 (enough for today!)