Your ride today.... (part 1)

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Well as it rained yesterday and was forecast to start at around midday today I thought I would go out on my trusty Raleigh Airlite100 rather than get my best bike crudded up again. So set off at 10 planning to ride for a couple of hours. About 1 mile into the ride I was nearly side swiped off as a BMW overtook then immediately turned left into a side road of only to park. She knew she had been a stupid b#%#h as she sheepishly looked back at me. Continuing on battling against the wind,oh the wind,God it was strong and the Airlite is heavier than I remembered. A little later on down a dead straight country lane where you could see miles ahead another idiot decides that he would like to donate some of the lacquer from his car to me by overtaking me so close I may as well as been in the car with him...d#%k! So I plough on and with about three miles to go a very talented van driver decides to overtake me on a blind bend and cut back in so close that I raise a hand to salute his undoubted driving skills he decides to brake and slow down. Right my friend if you want to have a chat about your driving skills lets do it. So as I get closer he drives off, coward! Now normally on a ride you normally encounter one idiot but today they were throwing themselves at me. The only difference today to how I normally ride? I was wearing a high vis waterproof jacket just incase it rained so it goes to show being visible doesn't help make you safer, well not me anyway.
All in all 26 miles covered in 1hr 50m. Slower than normal but a good workout against the wind and I took a few piccies on the way.
Sorry to rant on.
https://www.strava.com/activities/139150097



Love being out on the bike. #stravaproveit #essex #strava by paul139, on Flickr




Now that's a sky.#essex #stravaproveit by paul139, on Flickr



Bit breezy, all the blossom is blowing off the trees. #essex #stravaproveit by paul139, on Flickr

Please rant on, that way I know it was not just me it was happening to (and hence why I didn't do a ride report!). I was cut up badly whilst wearing hi-viz as well (due to it raining) and I run with my rear light on all the time when I'm on the bike. Later on, I had the total opposite, some woman on the school run with kids in her MPV gave me that much room she forced a white Audi off the road! Poor guy coming towards me got my sympathy I can tell you. Seems the rain and wind brought out the bad drivers today!

 

[postman]

[QUOTE 3068855, member: 9609"]Not my ride of the day but my brother is on yet another massive tour across europe, and he annoyingly keeps me informed with maps and pictures of his progress. I think this one is Porto to Munich (who cares) anyway I quite liked these two shots and thought I would share them on here.

i love the bottom photo.[/QUOTE]

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Well as it rained yesterday and was forecast to start at around midday today I thought I would go out on my trusty Raleigh Airlite100 rather than get my best bike crudded up again. So set off at 10 planning to ride for a couple of hours. About 1 mile into the ride I was nearly side swiped off as a BMW overtook then immediately turned left into a side road of only to park. She knew she had been a stupid b#%#h as she sheepishly looked back at me. Continuing on battling against the wind,oh the wind,God it was strong and the Airlite is heavier than I remembered. A little later on down a dead straight country lane where you could see miles ahead another idiot decides that he would like to donate some of the lacquer from his car to me by overtaking me so close I may as well as been in the car with him...d#%k! So I plough on and with about three miles to go a very talented van driver decides to overtake me on a blind bend and cut back in so close that I raise a hand to salute his undoubted driving skills he decides to brake and slow down. Right my friend if you want to have a chat about your driving skills lets do it. So as I get closer he drives off, coward! Now normally on a ride you normally encounter one idiot but today they were throwing themselves at me. The only difference today to how I normally ride? I was wearing a high vis waterproof jacket just incase it rained so it goes to show being visible doesn't help make you safer, well not me anyway.
All in all 26 miles covered in 1hr 50m. Slower than normal but a good workout against the wind and I took a few piccies on the way.
Sorry to rant on.
https://www.strava.com/activities/139150097



Love being out on the bike. #stravaproveit #essex #strava by paul139, on Flickr




Now that's a sky.#essex #stravaproveit by paul139, on Flickr



Bit breezy, all the blossom is blowing off the trees. #essex #stravaproveit by paul139, on Flickr

Please rant on, that way I know it was not just me it was happening to (and hence why I didn't do a ride report!). I was cut up badly whilst wearing hi-viz as well (due to it raining) and I run with my rear light on all the time when I'm on the bike. Later on, I had the total opposite, some woman on the school run with kids in her MPV gave me that much room she forced a white Audi off the road! Poor guy coming towards me got my sympathy I can tell you. Seems the rain and wind brought out the bad drivers today!

Likes for telling us about it. Not for the idiots.

I only got about 3 miles in today for testing new pedals and a couple of tweeks. Was put off going further by the weather.

 

[EltonFrog]

Great ride today. I was going to go on the FNRttC Brighton tonight, but the weather forecast plus a better offer from the enemy for something to tomorrow changed my mind. So today we rode along the K&A canal again but this time to Hungerford.

We left the canal and stopped on the way along the A4 to look at a cattery, ‘cos we’ll need somewhere for the cat when we go on hols at the end of the month, then we carried on along the busy A4 and found the canal again, and headed to Newbury. A blumen’ blasty head wind all the way plus extra heavy gusts to sap the energy and take your breath away.

Once in Newbury we had lunch at the Cornish pasty shop, then headed along the canal to Hungerford where we stopped had tea, bread pudding and banana ice cream and came back again. But with the wind behind us and going downhill, we knocked nearly an hour off the return journey. Including having to lift both bikes over a tree that was right across the path, on a the we bypassed when we went along the A4 earlier.

I love cycling along the canal.

50.19 miles today on the MTB

Screen shot of video. Train, Bike and Boat (on the right) all in the same shot.

 

[EltonFrog]

@Paul139 & @4F nice piccies, I like seeing the maps of rides its really interesting to see where folk are riding.

 

[Dark46]

Yesterday's ride was interesting as I got lost and need up in a field with a Bull at one stage! But covered 12.6 miles

 

[Dark46]

This evening went out about 7 this evening. Thought I was going for a quicky. Yes I know for a lot of peeps it very small . But I was really pleased how I felt when I got home , which gives me real hope for the future on the bike.
I just enjoy begin on the bike, I just don't want to get carried away doing too much too quickly

 

[Paul139]

This evening went out about 7 this evening. Thought I was going for a quicky. Yes I know for a lot of peeps it very small . But I was really pleased how I felt when I got home , which gives me real hope for the future on the bike.
I just enjoy begin on the bike, I just don't want to get carried away doing too much too quickly

@Dark46 it doesn't matter how far you ride, it's how much you enjoy it that counts.

 

[alans]

Yesterday....back in the groove for the Friday tandem ride.20-odd km in a ferocious wind.
Stone/Swynnerton/Slindon/Eccleshall/Chebsey/Stone.
Which means I've spent a large part of my wife's birthday with another woman

 

[Old Plodder]

Happy Birthday, Mrs 'alans'.....

 

[Donger]

No pictures today .... took all my concentration just to stay on the bike. Thought I'd blitz a quick ride before the rain sets in. The wind to the South of Gloucester was very blustery and unpredictable today. Sometimes 20mph, but with gusts of (I reckon) over 40mph. Rode South on the A38 into the teeth of a gale. At times I was going as fast as I could, and looked down to see the speedo registering 6.8 mph! Then the wind dropped suddenly, or a line of trees or a house provided shelter, and suddenly I was doing 15mph. Steering in a straight line was quite difficult and, as usual, car traffic made absolutely no allowances for the wind conditions. Came back the long way via Frampton on Severn, Saul, Epney and Longney - my usual route following the Severn. At times I hardly had to pedal, I had such a good following wind. Shot along the waterfront at Epney at over 25mph almost effortlessly. There were white breakers on the waves on the Severn. Had a few very scary moments on the most bendy part of the route, with sudden side winds at farm entrances and a weird mix of head winds, side winds and tail winds making it quite a technical ride. Never really knew what gear to be in from moment to moment, so settled on the middle ring. Definitely not the weather to let your young 'uns out on the roads on their bikes round here. The pan flat outward 9 miles were as good a workout as any of the hills around here, but really rather dodgy in this weather. Only 19 miles in all, but it felt like 30 despite the tail wind back home.

 

[kipster]

Um'd and ah'd about which bike to take, what clothes to wear much to the annoyance of my wife. Decided on the good bike, well it's meant to be used isn't it. Went for light clothes as the forecast said I would miss most, if not all of the rain.

Set out with the group and 6 miles in there was total confusion at a junction, a man with kid and dog stopped half way across the road, two cars appeared and the group slowed, I slowed just as I got to the drain cover and the front wheel went and I ended up on the ground, no damage to me but my brake level has a scratch so I'm off to find some black paint next week and lovingly cover the scratch up. After much fussing by group and my insistence that I was ok we continued on.

The rain stayed away for two thirds of the ride, but when it did appear it chucked it down, with it came a brutal head wind. I was glad to get to the end. Total of 66.3 miles done, which is my longest ride to date, and averaged 15.8mph even with the wind trying to push me backwards.

Got home to freshly baked gingernuts and the promise of a Chinese takeaway

 

[Dark46]

Just worked out an evening ride for weekends at 7.2 miles using a lot of my routes I've done before. Tried harder and set 6 personal best sections. For those who like pics of rides I've attached some pics.
Ok a brief discription I left the house lol and on to the main road in the Kingsway, which is Woodvale . Straight passed Asda and passed the park and ride. Then down to the roundabout by the Police Headquaters and straight across to the next roundabout in the industrial estate and followed the road to the bridge which goes over the A38 . Then into Hardwick and turned left and right at the end of the road along Sellar Road . Then left at the roundabout to the river over the bridge by the Pilot Inn and turned right along the canal. I then stayed along the canal and over 2 roads then under the A38 and passed the Gloucester Rowing Club and to the next bridge of which there is a pic. I didn't go over the bridge as I turned left there and went along the A38 to the Tuffley bypass lights. I then hit the pavement to go over the A38 to go to the Copeland estate before sticking to the oath and back to the Kingsway.

 

[thetribe]

Headed out this morning on my usual 20 mile loop and ended up with another little detour as it was nice, made it 27.5 by the time I got home. Was a bit windy and sadly mostly in my face but enjoyed it, so much colour still around in the fields, rivers and sea. Yet again didn't like to stop too many times because of the wind but here's a pic from this morning.

This is where I rode today for those interested:

 

[ScotiaLass]

It felt good to finally be out on the bike. My health issues kicked in last week and floored me. That's the trouble with Fibromyalgia (FM). I spent most of the week doing nothing except sleeping. I kept looking out the window and wishing I could be outside but one thing I have learned living with this condition is that I have to be patient. It's not easy for someone like me - I'm always on the go! It can be a few days or a few weeks before a flare-up passes, and nothing can be done to speed that up.

Anyway, patience paid off and today I got out. It was a glorious day, little wind, which is always good and lots of mud and water, again, always good! My son wanted to go via town to get a game for his Xbox360 so we headed to Helix Park and the Kelpies first as we had time to kill before the shop opened. There were some gorgeous classic cars at the Kelpies - I hadn't taken my camera so these were taken on my phone camera.

Mustang baby!

From the Kelpies we headed into Abbotshaugh woods for a spot of 'off-roading'. Then back through Helix Park and into town. After a brief stop, we got back onto the canal towpath and headed up to the Falkirk Wheel. The circuit was completed as we headed back home via the Falkirk Tunnel - it was the longest canal tunnel to be built in Scotland and was completed in 1822. One of the reasons for its length was that the owner of Callander House would not allow the canal to be dug within sight of the house. The solid limestone and millstone was excavated by hand using picks, shovels and early gunpowder. The tunnel is 630 metres long and at least 3.6 metres high.

I hate walking through the tunnel but it's too narrow and slippery to cycle through. It's also dark, despite lights being put in during the Millennium. Today I played 'chase' along the canal towpath with a chap on a MTB. He was behind us in the tunnel. This is the point I should make my public apology. You see, I listen to my iPod whilst cycling. I usually only have one earphone in, so that I can hear things around me. It will come as no surprise then, to hear that I have a tendency to sing! So, the poor chap behind me was treated to a rendition of 'Desperado'. It could have been worse, it could have been 'Sexy and I Know It'!

All in all a good ride and much needed - I have a tendency to think about nothing when I ride, so it's downtime for my brain.

Priscilla, Queen of the mud!