RetroRoadRide Series - Rd 5: The Four Abbeys - 24/08/13

Looks like a top day out and bikes look great, spill which bike broke then?

And do those sandles have spds on the bottom velo?

It was , I'm afraid , the Galaxy , which had the only mechanical.
Having only finished putting it back together on Friday afternoon there was no time for a shakedown ride. Gears that work on the bike stand dont neccessarily work on the road. Came to the first hill and found the chain wouldnt drop to the small chainring. Changed it by hand and left it there until just before Melrose when it became apparent that chain on small ring at both ends was flapping about too much. Put it back on big ring only to discover there was a sizable hill approaching. After grinding to the top I had thighs like Sir Hoy !!

I also lost my waterproof jacket just before Kelso when the velcro on my saddle pack came loose. Velo and gmac both suggested that it was an omen and it was sure to rain. Sure enough , whilst eating our chips , the rain came on and stayed a steady heavy drizzle for about an hour. I was damp as were Velos Jesus sandle clad feet :shock:

Those who couldnt make it for whatever reason missed a good day out. Great route , reasonable weather and good company.

And no punctures despite some cobbles , a ford and a farm track which would have suited a CX bike. Gmacs skinny 20s coped with them all !!

the yates had it's issues too, with slipping gears - not enough friction on the levers, easy to fix but suffered for half the distance for some reason :facepalm: . and a last minute change from toe clips to retro look pedals meant a stop to adjust cleats... anyhows such incidents are par for the course in retroland

hopefully this macretro ride will grow in the years to come!!

Thanks to Andy and Graham for allowing me to lead from the back............way at the back. Not fit enough for leading road rides so shall be passing that honour over to someone else for next year.

We had chips and Andy lost his waterproof a Jedburgh, 33 miles into the ride not Kelso as my observant companions stated. This is the easiest circuit going as you just follow the arrows but they would keep asking me is this arrow pointing this way where we should go :facepalm:

The ford from Gmacs photography perspective looked way wider than it felt when you were riding it. My soggy Jesus sandals mainly resulted from the Ford when Gmac said Stop !!! I want to take pictures of you crossing causing me to foot down in the river to retrace my steps Mind you seeing Gmac try to walk down off the slippery foot bridge in road cleats was a sight to behold as well

Brilliant ride, shame only three of us could do it

Bloomin peeved I missed this but personal life just got in the way on Saturday morning, hence the last minute texting

Looks like a good route though and well worthy of a repeat from what I've seen.

Also really annoyed that I had to miss this due to a ridiculous situation which arose on Friday afternoon and took the whole weekend to resolve. Too complicated to go into on here.

Anyway, it looked to be be a great route and I'm pleased the weather held out for you.

The last time I was road riding in that area, we were hit by a huge summer storm. Riding off a hill with lightning ground striking within half a mile certainly focuses the mind.

Hope to get up there again soon.

velomaniac":3gprl07t said:

We had chips and Andy lost his waterproof a Jedburgh, 33 miles into the ride not Kelso as my observant companions stated. This is the easiest circuit going as you just follow the arrows but they would keep asking me is this arrow pointing this way where we should go :facepalm:

Click to expand...

don't know where I am, don't know where I'm going.. sounds about right.

pity you missed it guys, hopefully we can repeat next year and get the headcount up..

big thanks to velo for getting it off the ground this year, choosing a grand parcours and navigating in extras like the ford and farm track