The 20 mile Weekend Day 1

Hi all,

So we have a bank holiday weekend in England which means we get Monday off work too if we're lucky! I am so I have ;)

 Just a quick thanks to some of the guys and girls at VeloReviews.com who have responded to a couple of my posts from last week. Thanks for the support and encouragement :D

 "So what's the subject all about?" I hear you ask. Well my mate Mark has challenged me to do 20 miles over the weekend. I thought this will be doable but I would have to prove to myself that I could do a further ride than I've done since jumping back on the saddle. Therefore I set out to go do the same route as last weekend but add the next set of lanes onto the back of it. How did I get on? well carry on reading and find out!

First up, get to the pub! This is the Mops and Brooms pub in Well End. Well End is a small town not far from my house and is also the start of the Strava segment "Rowley Lane Suicide Dash"

 Please forgive the dodgy angle of the photo I think my phone's shutter speed was a little delayed today for some reason, one of my photos was of a pavement for example! This is a good pub, famous locally for having a large beer garden, and more recently lots of good foods! It used to have a games room which was basically an effort to see how much smoke could be in a room before the blokes opened a window :) This has recently been knocked through to open up the bar/dining area. It also has a big fireplace in the middle of the bar area.

So after braving the Rowley Lane downhill and avoiding two cars coming at me at speed I reach Holmshill lane and got up it quicker than last week according to Strava, I've not checked times but hey that's a nice little booster!

This is where I turned down Bucketshand (sp?) Lane last week and headed back. Today I carried on down Summerswood Lane and back up it to the Old Guinnea Pub in Ridge.

 This is a pretty old pub which I guess would have been in the middle of nowhere back in the old days. It's got a bit of beer garden and looks like it's become a bit bistroey too, There's a sign near the door advertising a Pizzeria on certain days!

From here I went down Deaves Hall Lane and took the left turn to Shenley, rather than right to South Mimms. So I went on down and up South Mimms Lane and followed signs to Shenley which included a good few climbs between farmers fields and scrub.

I finally reached civilisation in Shenley town and took a picture of Hunters Farm which didn't come out, unless I fake it and meant to take a picture of the farms driveway! I could have got a picture of the White Lion Pub which also has a good beer garden! I wanted the Hunters Farm logo as I used to go shoot air rifles at targets and bits of scrap when I was younger there. Some great weekends plinking bits of rusted metal and printed bunnies or target rings printed on my Amiga 500.

Anyway, from Shenley I took the old London road back to Well End and then home again. Some good climbs and not many flats!

All in all a good day out! I'm going to attempt a similar route tomorrow but go on from The Guinnea and take a couple of different lanes back to Shenley. This does mean I will be further down the hill when I get there so will have to climb back up! I may also take Green St. instead of the lanes back to Borehamwood so we'll see, but I could bust 20 miles in two days if everything stays together!

Didn't see one other cyclist today :( Did pass a couple of joggers going the other way but they didn't say hello - stuck up gits! All the pedestrians I said mornin' to smiled and said it back :)

Tunes: Veloreviews Podcast
Drinks: Camelback: SiS Go Orange Energy, Bottle: SiS Electrolyte Lemon and Lime.

Tone