Your ride today.... (part 1)

[I like Skol]

Comfort food, that's what you need when you are on deaths door.

Or even AT deaths door?

 

[EltonFrog]

Or even AT deaths door?

Indeed, but I'm ON it, in fact all over it.

 

[LarryDuff]

Set off at 06:30 for work but only got 3 miles before I got a rear wheel puncture. Not a huge problem I thought, I got the wheel off and replaced the tube quite quickly but when I went to pump it up my mini pump came apart and was rendered useless. I had to phone my lovely wife who without a complaint got out of bed and came and brought me home. I just changed and drove to work. Bought a new pump at lunchtime.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Over at my parents' again today, so out early this morning. Uneventful ride out today, thankfully with the one exception of some idiots at some road works who decided that a cyclist who had come through on green and couldn't get through all of the road works before their lights turned green, didn't get any right of way or anything else for that matter. I changed their minds by refusing to stop (there was no room to pass them - the road is too narrow). By the time they got through, the other set were on green - point made. Had they stayed put for all of an extra 5 seconds I would have cleared the road works and no-one had a problem.

Coming home was also uneventful except for the weather and localised flooding. It has taken exactly a week to christen the new bike, but did it really have to rain for so long and so hard to christen it? I think it was more like one of those 'baptisms' where they immerse the entire person in some really dirty river...
I got home to be presented with a towel and instructions to deal with my bike first and then strip at the door . The bike has been washed & chain dried. My boots & socks released well over 1/4L of water between them when emptied/wrung out and I suspect my leggings could have been wrung out as well. Its a very long time since my boots have filled with more water than my socks can absorb! Yuck... Strangely I only saw one other cyclist on the way home and he looked very dry (as in only just set off dry)...

http://www.strava.com/activities/134083810

 

[I like Skol]

Today was the big day for Skol Jnr. He has signed up for the M/cr-Blackpool ride and this was his first training ride. The plan was a 30 mile ride via the Fallowfield Loop to The Chill Factore at the Trafford Centre where we could have a drink and cake at Costa Coffee and then a short mooch around Evans cycles next door.

After breakfast we prepped the bikes, checked tyre pressures and swapped his clipless pedals from the MTB to his road bike. The furthest he has ridden his road bike before today is about 10 miles so this was a real endurance trial to see if he would be comfortable over longer distances.

The sun was shining (we've had good luck with the weather lately ) as we set off. Skol Jnr has been showing quite bad nervousness when riding on the road recently so I was keen to get him back on track and help him regain his previous confidence.

I'm glad to say he was soon very happy even in heavy traffic. Here we are at the huge busy junction on Edge Lane by the Stretford Arndale...

All smiles

We were soon at Trafford Park, here going past the iconic Kellogs factory.

We found it to be horrendously busy at the Trafford centre due to roadworks by the bus station but Jnr soon realised that as long as we kept our place in the queues and obeyed the lights and lanes that actually it was very simple and straightforward...

The return journey went just as well and a very happy dad and lad found they had completed an easy 32 miles and Young Skol was keen to do it again soon.

I'm very proud

 

[LarryDuff]

Bit of a self inflicted disaster this morning. Got a puncture yesterday and had changed the tube. Headed out this morning and got 400 yards before I realised tyre was leaking air. I thought maybe tube was faulty so I went home and put another new one in.
I set off again and got a mile and a half when I realised I had another flat. Walked home (all uphill) feeling a bit pissed off. When I got home I found a wee piece of glass sticking through the tyre which must have punctured the 2 new tubes I had put in.
I thought I had checked the tyre ok but obviously I hadn't. Just goes to show you really have to check carefully.

Anyway a hard lesson learned and roll on tomorrow.

 

[cosmicbike]

Set out today with an aim of achieving a 100 mile week, so needed to do 27 miles or so. Given how windy it was I headed to my usual haunt at The Royal Landscape and did a few laps, got rather wet on 1 which confirmed my correct clothing choice.
Nowt too exciting though, and a steady pedal saw the 27 miles up soon enough. 101 miles for the week, only the 2nd time I've managed that in quite some months..

 

[Stonechat]

Set out today with an aim of achieving a 100 mile week, so needed to do 27 miles or so. Given how windy it was I headed to my usual haunt at The Royal Landscape and did a few laps, got rather wet on 1 which confirmed my correct clothing choice.
Nowt too exciting though, and a steady pedal saw the 27 miles up soon enough. 101 miles for the week, only the 2nd time I've managed that in quite some months..

Well done - need to do a ride tomorrow regardless of weather
Have done up to 135, but often don't do 100 miles

 

[gavgav]

Despite the forecast of winds and showers I was intent on a long and fairly hilly ride over to my mum and dads, with mum having come out of hospital yesterday in the latest part of her battle against cancer. I was about 5 minutes from leaving when my brother (Ade) informed me he wanted to come along as well, but had yet to shower! Ade, or his cheap Amaco bike (used to be mine) have not been out cycling for about 12 months and with me 400 miles into training for the BHF event I did stress to him that it was going to be a fairly hard ride. Ade is naturally fit though and has a lot of bravado about him and so was determined to join me. Whilst he was getting ready I dragged his bike out of hibernation and gave it the quick once over, oiling the chain, pumping tyres up, etc, but the brakes didn't seem great to me!!

Anyway, we headed out and it soon became clear that the wind was very strong and gusting from the South and so it was a hard slog up to Bayston Hill and then up Lyth Hill, over the "flooded moguls" section and down to Exfords Green. Ade was doing quite well, but was taking it gingerly on the downhill sections, due to those brakes and was having trouble with the gears as well!!

We took Long Lane, which is quite narrow and usually quiet, but today had about 10 cars on it in the mile or so up to the junction . We paused in a small layby for a drink and snack and a tractor towing a muck spreader and then a Combine Harvester turned into the road and wanted to do a 20 point turn in the layby!!

Ade having a carbo gel before the Tractor and Combine arrived!

We then turned onto the road towards Longden Common and Pulverbatch. It is quite hilly along here and the wind was in our faces and so it was really hard work and we were both glad to be at Pulverbatch when we got there! It was then a left turn downhill to Mum and Dads at Stapleton, but we still had a headwind/sidewind at times and it had strengthened as well by now. We encountered a few groups of funeral goers at Church Pulverbatch who, if they carry on walking up the middle of the road, with some of them facing away from us having a kiss, and ignore frantically rung bike bells, may be attending their own funeral if they are not careful. Good job we were on bikes and could weave through, rather than cars!

We arrived at Mum and Dads with Ade having sprinted past me to arrive 1st! I knew we had 20 miles to go yet and so would get my revenge. Whilst we were there I adjusted his brakes so that they actually worked! We had a nice couple of hours with Mum and Dad, with a couple of big showers blowing through whilst we having lunch.

We set off back home, dodging cars from another funeral that was taking place in Stapleton and took the road to Ryton. The wind was brutal now and directly in our faces again and so Ade really started to struggle. It was hard going even for me. A chap in a car, who was lost, stopped us in Ryton to ask for directions to a fishery. Neither Ade nor I had any idea where a fishery was round there and so couldn't help him, but he cheerfully waved us on our way and we battled against the wind to Longnor. The rain had threatened to start again, but luckily only a few spots blew in the wind and we didn't get wet at all on the ride!

We then turned left and I knew that we had a fabulous part of the ride to look forward to now, as the horrendous wind was directly behind us and it blew us to Frodesley, Acton Burnell, Pitchford and Cantlop, with me hitting 32mph on a couple of occasions . Ade was lagging a fair way behind me by now and so I pedalled on ahead, stopping at various places to allow him to catch up, as we reached Atcham, where there was a wedding taking place at the Mytton and Mermaid Hotel (a Happy event for a change on this ride!).

It was then onto Upton Magna and we flew down Downton Hill in my fastest ever Strava segment time, due to the tailwind .

It was then back through the estate to home.

Ade struggled a lot on the second part of the ride, but fair play to him for plodding on, on that old bike for 36 miles in those conditions, after not cycling for 12 months!!

There were a few milestones reached on the ride for me. I passed my total amount of miles ridden for 2013 (425) already in 2014 (447 and its only the end of April) and it is also the 1st time I have ridden over 100 miles in a 7 day period (117)

35.62 miles
11.6 avg mph
1455 ft of climbing

 

[Dave 123]

I am no longer a 100 mile virgin.Rode from Oxford to Cambridge today with my two brothers, something I have wanted to do for a while now.
The curry has been ordered so I will make a better write up tomorrow.

Feeling happy....

 

[Gareth C]

Daffodils Sportive

Back in the cold winter when I was pulling together my training plan to ride Land’s End to John O’Groats, it seemed a great idea to fit in the Daffodils Sportive in late April, and why wouldn’t you do the long distance? More miles in the legs for training, and an ascent of Blakey Bank from Farndale. What’s not to like?

That wasn’t the feelings I had on the morning of the event! A 5:30 AM alarm call to get out of bed, a weather forecast for cold, windy, rainy weather, and a rear hub that sounds like the bearings could give out at any time. The only thing to stop me turning over in bed was that Graham from work had bravely joined at the last minute, and I’d be letting him down if I did a no-show. I was still bearing a grudge that in fact he had let me down, as he’d only signed up for the middle distance, and wouldn’t have to climb Blakey Bank.

On arriving at the start at Thirsk, met up with Graham, and ran my plan by him that I would downgrade to the middle distance and we could ride together. Unfortunately, he’d beaten me to it and had already upgraded to the long distance!

The route, I have to say, was beautiful: a part of the world I knew about, but had never visited. Great little villages, quiet roads. I’m guessing they’d planned the route on the basis of our normal winters of late, as the mild winter meant the famous Farndale Daffodils were already past their best, but the blue bells were out and the views were amazing. My fitness is clearly improving since last year, and I can go longer out-of-the-saddle on short, punchy climbs; I did this to good effect passing a guy looking quite “pro” but issuing a stream of profanities from his mouth as he tackled the climb. My approach had it all over in the blink of an eye (but a further five minutes on the flat for my heart to recover!)

I’d been religiously checking the weather forecast, and the predicted rain did indeed arrive at 9 AM, but wasn’t the heavy variety predicted, so not too bad. The pace was pleasant, and plenty of opportunity for side-by-side riding chatting with Graham. The first feed stop arrived at Church Houses, but this meant an imminent ascent of Blakey Bank. It’s one where having the Ordnance Survey map on your GPS isn’t helpful, as there is a progression of chevrons marked on the road, meaning steep, steep, steep. For these long hills, no out-of-the-saddle work, more select an easy gear and spin (or grind out pedal squares) to the top. Some of the athletic riders passed me, but it made my day when they eventually get off to walk, only to be passed by my slow pedalling.


If I smile, will it stop this hill hurting?

The top of Blakey Bank was another world; in the cloud, fully exposed to the wind and the rain had turned up a notch. Time to put on water/wind-proof tops, switch on the lights and run around the top of the moor before dropping into Rosedale. Once back out of the clouds, the wind died down, and we just had to cope with the constant ups-and-downs of the route. I told Graham that sunshine was forecast for 1 PM, which was met with derision.


All bagged up in wind-proofs from the descent into Rosedale.



Once out of the North Yorks Moors, we had a long run south towards Malton (and the sun did come out). Graham did excellent work on the front, time-trialling into the wind. It was all I could do to stay on his wheel. We then made the turn westwards and got the benefit of a big tailwind for around 20 miles, and at that stage of the day we needed it.

Before joining the route we’d taken outwards, we were back on the course of the short route in the Howardian Hills AONB. I’d never heard of them, and while pretty and not too high, they were certainly rolling enough to cause a grimace late in the day.

The final 5 miles into Thirsk were pan flat, with a great tailwind and made for rapid progress.

Top marks to the organisers Velo 29 Altura Cycling Events, who had great folk who genuinely seemed interested in how the ride was for us, and what they’d done well, and where they could improve. Certainly one of the better things I saw was motorcycle outriders helping with tricky junctions, and with a copious supply of inner tubes and assistance for anyone with mechanical issues; they even stopped for us to check if we were OK, when all that was happening was I needed a breather!

So another training milestone is over, the day after the legs feel actually very OK. Next major milestone is the MITIE London Revolution, which will see whether my legs are up to two 100 mile days back-to-back.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Last night, we were asked to dog sit again (usually do on Saturdays not normally on Sundays), so we knew we were not going to be able to get an all day bike ride in (and tbh I didn't mind, I have done quite a few miles this week (170 miles) and ache a touch ) so I was happy for a morning only ride. Being greeted this morning by a poorly Irish Wolf Hound we knew we were only going to be able to have a short ride, so opted for the mountain bikes and some mud...

The weather this morning was less than warm and welcoming but it was forecast to stay dry for the morning and indeed it did. Today's plan was simply to get over to Delamere Forest and ride around... the route out was via the new Oakmere Way (OK done that once, don't need to do it again anytime soon , the grass was OK, the sand and endless gates and you're not welcome signs from the local golf course leave you wondering if it is even worth the effort!) and then onto Delamere Forest itself. A few technical hitches along the way made life more interesting (my seat post is sinking and the QR clamp was gritty and not really doing what it was meant to... note past tense) but otherwise it was just a pleasant ride around the forest.

Testing the waters first time around....

Going for it 2nd time around....

OK - I have a confession to make - I baled at this water splash... I know, but I haven't managed to get my boots dry from Thursday's soaking and I only have one other set of shoes and I wanted to keep them dry...

On the way home, I commented to my OH that I thought his rear tyre was looking like it needed air in it by the time we got home... At home he looked at the rear tyre...

The entire tyre is like that all the way around! I was cycling on the other side of him, so didn't see this! The only possible place he could have acquired this damage is in that water splash - so glad I didn't do it... this month is proving to be rather expensive as it is and now I need to get him a new set of tyres!
http://www.strava.com/activities/134686537 22.6km at a typical off-road mtb pace... not being declared!

 

[Mo1959]

Last night, we were asked to dog sit again (usually do on Saturdays not normally on Sundays), so we knew we were not going to be able to get an all day bike ride in (and tbh I didn't mind, I have done quite a few miles this week (170 miles) and ache a touch ) so I was happy for a morning only ride. Being greeted this morning by a poorly Irish Wolf Hound we knew we were only going to be able to have a short ride, so opted for the mountain bikes and some mud...

The weather this morning was less than warm and welcoming but it was forecast to stay dry for the morning and indeed it did. Today's plan was simply to get over to Delamere Forest and ride around... the route out was via the new Oakmere Way (OK done that once, don't need to do it again anytime soon , the grass was OK, the sand and endless gates and you're not welcome signs from the local golf course leave you wondering if it is even worth the effort!) and then onto Delamere Forest itself. A few technical hitches along the way made life more interesting (my seat post is sinking and the QR clamp was gritty and not really doing what it was meant to... note past tense) but otherwise it was just a pleasant ride around the forest.

View attachment 43506
Testing the waters first time around....

View attachment 43507
Going for it 2nd time around....

OK - I have a confession to make - I baled at this water splash... I know, but I haven't managed to get my boots dry from Thursday's soaking and I only have one other set of shoes and I wanted to keep them dry...

On the way home, I commented to my OH that I thought his rear tyre was looking like it needed air in it by the time we got home... At home he looked at the rear tyre...

View attachment 43508
The entire tyre is like that all the way around! I was cycling on the other side of him, so didn't see this! The only possible place he could have acquired this damage is in that water splash - so glad I didn't do it... this month is proving to be rather expensive as it is and now I need to get him a new set of tyres!
http://www.strava.com/activities/134686537 22.6km at a typical off-road mtb pace... not being declared!

Wow, that's the worst damage I think I have seen to a tyre! Must have been a sharp ridge or something under water and the tyre rubbed along it?????

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Wow, that's the worst damage I think I have seen to a tyre! Must have been a sharp ridge or something under water and the tyre rubbed along it?????

No idea, but there are 9 of them all the way around the tyre and on top of a new bike this month for me, he now needs new tyres as well... hopefully I can delay it until next month! (He's only had the bike 2 months!) Who said cycling is cheap?

 

[Mo1959]

No idea, but there are 9 of them all the way around the tyre and on top of a new bike this month for me, he now needs new tyres as well... hopefully I can delay it until next month! (He's only had the bike 2 months!) Who said cycling is cheap?

Tell me about it. Buying them is the easy bit, it's all what comes after that!