Three 30-minute rides each week of the year Challenge 2023

[bluenotebob]

Something I like to do once or twice a month .. just go out on the bike with my camera – no particular route in mind and no fixed end time (apart from sunset) – take lots of photos and simply enjoy a pleasant outdoor potter.

I had a cold but sunny ride today and I’ve put some info + photos in the ‘Your Ride Today’ thread (and a couple more in two MBIFO threads). Here are a few more of today's photos …

 

[ColinJ]

I made quite a few mistakes on today's ride!

The first mistake was in thinking that the sunshine streaming through my window meant that conditions outside were mild. They were not. As soon as I opened the door and wheeled my bike out, a blast of freezing wind hit me.

My second mistake was to forget that I had recently bought some merino glove liners. I was wearing full-finger gloves but they were not warm enough. I could have done with those liners on underneath them.

I noticed patches of ice at the kerbside. Some of the roads on my lumpy local loop are narrow backstreets which might not have been gritted. Better to avoid them this time so I decided to head off up the main valley road instead. There was mistake number 3. I don't carry tools and spares on my normal loop because I am never more than about a 20 minute walk from home if I had a problem with the bike, and usually more like 10 minutes away. The main road route is different. The furthest point would be about a 75-80 minute trudge away. I got 1 km up the road before realising that my tools & spares bag was still at home. I u-turned and headed back into town.

I then made mistake number 4. Instead of calling in at home for my bag, I decided to risk the lesser of the 2 steepish climbs that I normally do. I had forgotten that there are currently 2 burst water pipes on that hill, spilling water out onto the cold road surface! As soon as I turned up the hill I could see that the surface looked decidedly iffy, but I pressed on. Because I am way over-geared on my singlespeed bike, I normally climb that hill standing up but it was too risky for that today. I had to climb sitting down and pedalling very cautiously. That was hard work, and I felt the rear wheel slip 3 or 4 times; not good! Fortunately, the descent on the other side of the hill is on the sunny side, and the sun had melted the snow and ice on that side.

I completed my little ride without falling off. It was nice to have done that ride, but nicer still to get back in the warm afterwards!

 

[figbat]

W3R1
Monday - 1:14, a cold unenjoyable slog just to get the miles in.

W3R2
Wednesday - 1:28, weekly group MTB ride. Frozen ground, a couple of offs, surprisingly good ride though.

W3R3 - 1:16, set out to get a picture of my bike with the statue of King Alfred the Great in Wantage - just the right distance away to have a nice ride and get the picture for a thread elsewhere on here.

 

[FrothNinja]

I made quite a few mistakes on today's ride!

The first mistake was in thinking that the sunshine streaming through my window meant that conditions outside were mild. They were not. As soon as I opened the door and wheeled my bike out, a blast of freezing wind hit me.

My second mistake was to forget that I had recently bought some merino glove liners. I was wearing full-finger gloves but they were not warm enough. I could have done with those liners on underneath them.

I noticed patches of ice at the kerbside. Some of the roads on my lumpy local loop are narrow backstreets which might not have been gritted. Better to avoid them this time so I decided to head off up the main valley road instead. There was mistake number 3. I don't carry tools and spares on my normal loop because I am never more than about a 20 minute walk from home if I had a problem with the bike, and usually more like 10 minutes away. The main road route is different. The furthest point would be about a 75-80 minute trudge away. I got 1 km up the road before realising that my tools & spares bag was still at home. I u-turned and headed back into town.

I then made mistake number 4. Instead of calling in at home for my bag, I decided to risk the lesser of the 2 steepish climbs that I normally do. I had forgotten that there are currently 2 burst water pipes on that hill, spilling water out onto the cold road surface! As soon as I turned up the hill I could see that the surface looked decidedly iffy, but I pressed on. Because I am way over-geared on my singlespeed bike, I normally climb that hill standing up but it was too risky for that today. I had to climb sitting down and pedalling very cautiously. That was hard work, and I felt the rear wheel slip 3 or 4 times; not good! Fortunately, the descent on the other side of the hill is on the sunny side, and the sun had melted the snow and ice on that side.

I completed my little ride without falling off. It was nice to have done that ride, but nicer still to get back in the warm afterwards!

I did not repeat your feat today. Low sided on a flat road. Slight dip in the ice on the road and the front wheel washed out. Fortunately the bike was ok and the camera was rolling. It does look like I was going faster than I thought. This happened 2 minutes after another cyclist warned me it was really slippery
Will endeavour to do better tomorrow on my run to the Clarion. Am feeling a little bruised so I will be taking it steady.
Nice sunset on the way back today.

 

[bluenotebob]

Am feeling a little bruised so I will be taking it steady.

I hope you're feeling OK today - getting back on the bike as soon as you can definitely helps (even if you really don't want to)

 

[Saluki]

Logging in.
It was a bit shonky this week, to be honest. With the cold, a pre-work ride was not happening as the roads were icy as anything then after work, finishing at 6 and then walking the dogs, it was so freezing that I didn’t fancy it and the roads were getting bad again.
Yesterday was ride 1: Norwich to Horsford, via Spixworth and St Faiths. I dropped off a birthday card to a friends house near the church, had a quick espresso and a biscuit 36 minutes
Yesterday was ride 2: Horsford, near the church, after the espresso and biscuit, then down the hill to The Dog PH and Dog Lane, right up to the woods, through the woods and up and over the bridge over the NDR duel carriageway. I followed the Marriotts Way off road trail, through a lot of mud, past Thorpe Marriott and into Drayton, then back by road, up the hill (I chose road hill over flat mud), through Hellesdon and home. 42 minutes.
Today, Ride 3: was a flat 31 minutes, to get it done. It’s freezing and I stuck to main roads, out of Norwich towards West Earlham, past the community hospital and then round and back down in a 6.5 mile figure of 8 loop. That Joe Wicks workout beforehand might have been a mistake.

Earlier start this week and the cold should be going so I am hoping for at least one evening ride.

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 3 qualifying rides (16th January to 22nd January)

What a cold week – the temperature dropped steeply on Monday afternoon and still hasn’t recovered. Snow fell on Wednesday morning

Week 3 – ride 1 (Mon) – 2 hrs 5 mins – Plaisance, Brignac, Riaye, Corbinais, Kerminy and SBdM, on the Princess. Photos + more info in the ‘Your Ride Today’ thread

Week 3 – ride 2 (Tues) – 40 mins – out to Pontmenard and back in the rain, on the MASSI mountain bike.

Week 3 – ride 3 (Wed) – 52 mins – through the rapidly melting snow to Devison, Pontmenard and SBdM, on the MASSI mountain bike. Caught in a hailstorm on the way home

Week 3 – ride 4 (Thurs) – 45 mins – a cold and rainy loop out to Pontmenard with a bit of muddy off-road, on the MASSI mountain bike again. Saw a hare – another animal that thankfully escaped la chasse this winter

Week 3 – ride 5 (Fri) – 47 mins – around the village then 1.5 loops of Pontmenard on the Urban Shaper. It was very, very cold

Week 3 – ride 6 (Sat) – 1 hr 7 mins – SBdM, Evriguet, Bourg Neuf and Esquiniac: on the Urban Shaper – a howling, gusty, bitterly cold wind out of the NE. Saw two more small deer (probably muntjac) cross the D2 east of la Ville Geffray and there were lots of lapwings in a field near la Suais.

Week 3 – ride 7 (Sun) – 51 mins – local lanes and a bit of offroad then a loop around SBdM: on the RAID mountain bike. Still got that icy-cold NE wind but not as gusty

On Thursday I passed 50,000km cycled since 1st January 2017 – duly celebrated with a little fête du chocolat with my neighbours.

Two of my bikes have now passed 100km in 2023 – I’m hoping that, with the milder weather to come, I can get all five of them up to the 100km mark before the end of the month.

A photo from Wednesday ..

 

[FrothNinja]

I hope you're feeling OK today - getting back on the bike as soon as you can definitely helps (even if you really don't want to)

Did over 20km today - with a lengthy chat break. Feeling a bit stiff but everything is working as it should

 

[FrothNinja]

W3R1 - Folda 30 mins - Errands around Brierfield, dusk by return. Some ice in shaded areas.
W3R2 - Centurion 32 mins - Local Burnley miles after dark.
W3R3 - hybrid 76 mins - Burnley, Fence, Spen Brook, Barley, Ogden Clough, Barley, Roughlee, Noggarth, Wheatley Lane, Brierfield. Dark by return. Plenty of snow and ice on the smaller roads, lanes & on the main road edges.
W3R4 - hybrid 76 mins - Brierfield, Wheatley Lane, Spen Brook, Newchurch, Sabden Fold, Croft Top, Fence, Burnley. Plenty of snow and ice on the smaller roads, lanes & on the main road edges + most of the snow frozen hard.
W3R5 - hybrid 73 mins - Burnley, L&L, Brun Valley, Netherwood (& the low side incident), Rowley Lake, Brunshaw/Pike Hill, Brun Valley, L&L, back as the sun set.Plenty of snow and ice on the smaller roads, lanes & on the main road edges + most of the snow frozen hard.
W3R6 - hybrid 71 mins - Burnley, Brierfield, Fence, Noggarth, Roughlee, Clarion, Newchurch, Sabden Fold, Fence, Wheatley Lane, Brierfield, towpath back to Burnley. Bleedin' cold and a lot of the lanes almost snow/ice free. Back around dusk.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm going to start logging the rides to the nearest quarter of an hour, rounding down... I can't be bothered with minutes here and there, but will make sure that I exceed 30 minutes on every ride!

Week 3: 3 rides, 33 km, 1.5 hrs

• Ride 1 (Mon): (Singlespeed) My lumpy 8 km local loop in slushy/icy conditions. 1/2 hr.
• Ride 2 (Sat): (Singlespeed) Avoiding ice on A646 to Cliviger Gorge and back - 12 km. 1/2 hr.
• Ride 3 (Sun): (Singlespeed) Avoiding ice on A6033 to Summit and back - 13 km. 1/2 hr.

Success rate: 3 weeks out of 3.

9 rides so far this year, totalling 85 km, and totalling approximately 4.5 hrs.

 

[annedonnelly]

Complete failure this week. My only ride was one that qualified for the tiny rides thread.
Too icy for most of the week. I had planned to get out at least once today but I've been shifting furniture around since yesterday lunchtime and I don't feel too good at all. At least I managed to force myself out for a walk this afternoon.

Will have to do better next week!

 

[bluenotebob]

Will have to do better next week!

It should start to get a bit milder next week.

I hope you manage to get some rides done

 

[Alex321]

Too icy most of this week, but I got out Monday before the ice, and yesterday and today during the day when it wasn't too risky.

W3 R1 - 16/01/23 40 min, 9.4 miles, loop through city - Craig Penlklyn - Penllyn - Cowbride.
W3 R2 - 21/01/23 49 minutes - 11.38 miles - Pontyclun - Miskin - Hensol - Tredodridge - Welsh St Donats. Took this one very cautiously and didn't ride really small roads
W3 R3 - 22/01/23 - 2h 26m - 35.42 miles - Welsh St Donats - Bonvilston - Llancarfan - Llancadle - Boverton - Llantit Major - Marcross - Monknash - Wick - Llandow - Sigginstone - Llantrythid - Warren Mill - Welsh St Donats.

 

[Houthakker]

Bit late updating this but here goes
W3R1 16/1/23 54:30 and 10.4 miles
W3R2 19/1/23 35:42 and 5.2 miles
W3R3 21/1/23 55:18 and 8.79 miles

W4R1 22/1/23 32:17 and 5.48 miles
W4R2 23/1/23 1:03:03 and 12.06 miles
W4R3 27/1/23 1:17:12 and 14.14 miles

 

[figbat]

W4R1 - 1:22, lovely ride in the cold but beautifully clear evening

W4R2 - 1:47, weekly ride with the village MTB group. The previously frozen mud had thawed…

W4R3 - 1:21, rounded the week off with a nice, surprisingly fast gravel ride.