Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Archie_tect]

First trip out on the tandem with MrsA_T... 25 miles up to the cafe at Bolam and back. Met and got caught up in the Sky Ride on their way up to Wallington which was good for a chat with friendly people. A bit of fettling to do with good fun, lovely day. We hit 30mph somewhere according to the Cyclemeter.... best not mention that to MrsA_T yet...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Put some cross top levers and bottle cages and swapped the stem on the new tourer over the last few days so went out into the Surrey Hills.

Four hours, 50 odd miles and 4000 odd feet of climbing later my legs were having a bit of a wtf? moment.

Here is Jamez (as in "I'll have the blandest thing on the menu") as it has been named

in repose on my return.

Left the matching bar tape in a drawer at work. Doh!

 

[Old Plodder]

Went out for a ride with my nephew this morning, & rode some lanes I haven't reached for a while, forgetting how many extra hills there would be.

Hiding from the sun, we don't have many leafy lanes in my bit of Hampshire, so I have to make the most of them.

The 'line' going across the picture is our next road, going the opposite way to which we are travelling at this point.

This is usually quiet along here, heading to my little rest point.

A quick breather & then off downhill to go back up again.

Just come from where you can see the houses.

Standing where I took the last photo, someone set the crows off, only managed to capture a few of them, must have been close to a hundred of them!

Half way up the hill my chain jumped off, luckily I was going to get off & walk from here anyway.

Nephew looking out towards Basingstoke from Sutton Common, notice the wind pump.

Only 22 miles by the time I got back home, but enjoyed it.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

The Jade Tea rooms Newtown Linford the destination, 66 miles the journey, it was a beautiful morning for cycling, warm, birds singing, blue sky with the odd fluffy cloud about and a light breeze, the countryside was looking verdant, lots of green growth and lots of bright flowers on the verges and in the hedgerows, in places lots of poppy's, which was apt with the events we're celebrating this year, fast enjoyable ride out in the sunshine with the tail wind blowing me along, whilst I was at the cafe the weather started to change, it started to cloud over and the wind started to pick up, the ride home was a slow and into the wind most of the way, by the time I got to Astley it had clouded over, the sun had gone, it had cooled noticeably and the wind was had picked up, my arms were starting to get cold, crossing the M6 on the outskirts of Coventry it started to rain a little but only amounted to a few spots before clearing up and it stayed dry the rest of the way home, another excellent enjoyable Sunday morning riding in the countryside.

 

[Doseone]

Had a couple of hours out on the MTB so ventured on to the Sennybridge Military Firing Range. Its an amazing place and very eerie, 15000 hectares with no one else there but me. Got to be careful though and a bit of local knowledge to know what days there is no live firing is useful as I was riding right through the live impact area.

 

[Cubist]

Whoops. I seem to have been talked into riding LeTour Day two route for a sponsored ride at the end of July. That means getting in some hills training, so today set off on a 22 mile loop from my house with two long draggy climbs on it. The first, Slaithwaite to the Pennine Way at Standedge Cutting was into a brisk headwind. Not exactly brutal, but punishing nevertheless for a fat lad. 827 feet of climbing in 5.7 miles. I was joined up by the Motorman Cafe by a female rider who tucked in behind me as far as the Carriage House.

The next climb is 6.3 miles from Delph to Buckstones climbing 850 feet. Much gentler in the tailwind, but my legs were feeling it by then. I'm going to have to get some serious miles in between now and the end of July! There's the Cragg Vale climb and Holme Moss to conquer between now and then. I might try and shift a bit of ballast too.

 

[Saluki]

First ride for a long time today with Stokes Cycling club as I have been very unwell with bad depression. The club ran two routes today, with the medium route splittting off after a coffee and cake break at Warmley Station. Met a nice chap down there who is going to open a cycle hire business that will do picnc hampers and repairs for those wanting to cycle along the Brisol to Bath railway path. I decided not to stretch myself too far and came back from Warmley with the small novice group. We still did a respectable 19 miles or so (the connection with the Giant computer was lost for a time on the route).

Feel good having done it, but will probably now fall asleep for a few hours. There's a possible appointmment with a CPN for stronger anti depressants and I have some courses to attend on stress and mood management. Have probably lost my job though as have been off work for 2 months now and I'm still in my probationary period.

Hugs
Archeress x

Well done on your ride @Archeress 19 miles is better than no miles. Even 5 minutes out on your bike is better than not doing it. Cycling has been the saving of me over the last couple of weeks. Don't worry about the job, your health is way more important. Have a nice snooze.

 

[Saluki]

We are just back in from a slow and steady 25 miler. We rode from ours to Wreningham and across to Hethel and the cyclepath. From there we went right to East Carleton and took a nice pic of our bikes outside East Carleton Manor, where Colin Chapman used to live. Naturally my phone is refusing to speak to my laptop today and the lappy won't acknowledge that there is anything in my phone what so ever despite a reboot and a lot of swearing.
It was near hear we saw the Ladies from Mulbarton Velo and then a nice family who were following a route they'd worked out on the OS map. We showed them our 'bike it' map and told them where they could get the set from.
From there we took the Intwood road and took another pic of the pretty church (trapped on my phone ) and then down the hill to Eaton where we stopped an had coffee and cake (pictures on the phone). We had a lemon yum yum and a almond croissant which we shared but cutting each in half. From there we went along the hideous cyclepath along Bluebell Lane, past the UEA to Earlham Fiveways and along Earlham Green Lane to Bowthorpe. Through the cyclepaths and then on to Bawburgh and up Stocks Hill in one hit. We had a breather at the top and then headed home via Little Melton, Harts Farm road and estate. I was very glad to see our close as the last 5 miles were bloody hard work. Just as we got in, the ice-cream man arrived in the close so we had a nice ice-cream with sauce on.

25.54 miles in a shockingly slow 2:04:50 not including the time stopped for snorfling cake. I have an irritating click coming from somewhere in the bike and I can't find it. OH's Boardman has a click and now I have one on the PX. Irritating clicks are contageous? Who knew.

 

[ColinJ]

First ride for a long time today with Stokes Cycling club as I have been very unwell with bad depression.

Keep it up! Cycling is the best thing in my life at the moment - I'd be lost without it.

I hope your job situation and everything else in your life improves.

 

[EltonFrog]

My route on Friday was 5.99miles. My wife dropped me of at Gunnersbury in west London 11pm and I rode to Hyde Park Corner to meet up with folks to ride the FNRttC. Riding in West London at night is not something I had done since the early 1970's it was both scary and exhilarating, especially navigating the Hammersmith one way system. When I got to Knightsbridge I hit a pot hole that literally whipped the bars out of my hands for a second, frightened the crap out me I can tell you, I was lucky there was no damage.

I arrived at HPC in a timely fashion and at midnight 60 of us set off to Whitstable. You can read about those antics on the FNRttC Whitstable thread. It was great fun. If you have not yet taken part in one of these rides I encourage to make an effort to go on one, you will not regret it. Approx 81 miles in total for me with my rides at each end tagged on.

 

[Gareth C]

The Tour de France Starts Today!

You have bad, average and good days. Sometimes something happens to make a good day great; well today was a fantastic day!

Yesterday Graham and I went for a quick spin before the rain to check out Unthank Bank in Weardale, a new addition to the Etape Pennine this year. Needless to say, half-way out the heavens opened and we got well-and-truly soaked. However, we now know it is do-able, and it actually wasn’t too bad riding in the rain (especially when you have no option).

We made plans for today to ride the top half of the first day of the Tour de France, but eventually decided not to bother, as the weather forecast was terrible.

So why a fantastic day? Well…

• We decided to go for a ride anyway, acknowledging we’d probably be most of the day wrapped in GoreTex.
• We rode the Swaledale and Wensleydale part of the Tour de France. (Did you know the Tour de France was coming to Yorkshire this year?)
• The much forecast rain didn’t happen, and bar a couple of spots of rain near Hawes, we rode in sunshine and ca. 20°C temperatures.

Meeting in Reeth at 10am, time to pose my bike in front of the Tour de France Grand Depart sign (and the Swaledale Outdoors sign, best purveyor of outdoor equipment for miles around – OK, Rich, the owner, is a mate). The whole village is getting ready for the big event.





Then, with out a warm-up, we were onto the last King of the Mountains stage of Day 1, the Cote de Grinton Moor. This was steep(!) but possible – I wouldn’t want to imagine trying to race up it. Then near the bend it opens out onto moorland (where I guess I’ll be for the real thing), and then another savage kick up onto the moor top.



After a gradual ascent to the watershed, we descend rapidly into Wensleydale and through Askrigg towards Hawes. Even the villages off the route of the Tour are all decked out with bunting, posters and yellow bikes.





At Hawes we stop for lunch, and happen across a sportive that seems to be following the route of the Tour. Once our lunch is over, there is nothing for it but to face up to the ascent of the second King of the Mountains stage, the Cote de Buttertubs Pass. There’s a sign showing 17%, which reminds me of Crawleyside Bank two weeks ago, and also gives me confidence I can do it. There seem to be two steep sections, and then we’re onto a gentle(-ish) climb to the top of the pass; I even manage to pass some of the folk on the sportive. We take a picture at the top looking south to prove we were there, and then commit to the descent.



On the way down there’s a sign warning of a 25% descent and bends. This is augmented by the sportive signs. This doesn’t stop the guy before me over-cooking a corner, hitting his brakes too hard and doing a front wheelie down the road leaving a streak of black rubber on the road. Before disaster strikes, he switches to the back brake and makes a nice skid-mark along the road towards the wall. He survives and I complement him on his bike handling “skills” and whiz by. At the bottom, for fun, I spray some of my water bottle onto the brake rotors and there’s a hiss and jet of steam from them.

The end is in sight now, and we have an undulating and fast ride along beautiful Swaledale, before reaching Reeth, and passing through for cake at The Dales Bike Centre.





So why a fantastic day? Low aspirations, and an expectation of getting soaked, a beautiful ride in perfect weather, completing two Tour de France King of the Mountains stages, and having the memory of today to put it all into context on July 5.

Don’t believe weather forecasts!

 

[Paul139]

Did a training ride in Surrey with the people I'm doing a London to Paris ride with today. We were making our way back to HQ when our ride leader pulled us over and says " Who fancies doing Box Hill?" After looking at each other nervously we agreed to give it a go. Have to say I think its reputation is worse than riding it. It's a nice steady gradient on lovely a smooth road surface. Yes it is a long drag but when you get to the top you can't stop smiling, or at least I couldn't. Brilliant.

 

[mrbikerboy73]

Did the Wiggle Sussex Surrey Sportive today. Epic route conquered and 101 miles under the belt so I'm feeling rather pleased. It's my first century!

 

[Donger]

HARESFIELD BEACON - Never, (and I mean, NEVER, ever) again! Nipped out without my rain top in glorious sunny weather to go and climb a local hill or two. Had the genius, spur-of-the-moment, idea to make it the Beast of Haresfield that I took on one more time, having failed on every previous attempt. Needless to say, I failed again. Didn't help that it started to rain stair rods just before I got to the bottom of the climb, so I had to shelter under a tree in Haresfield (half way between Gloucester and Stroud) for ten minutes or so before starting my climb. The road was then quite slippery, just in the places where you needed the grip.

It is a narrow, single track lane that rises up in a series of sudden shifts of gradient. Almost every turn in the lane hides a further ramp-up in steepness that makes your heart sink. Just when you think it can't possibly get any steeper, guess what? It does.

A right turn, hiding a sudden drastic change of gradient.(Photo taken on the move).
Once again, I got about 80-90% of the way up in one go before stopping. This is the point that always beats me. I think it must be about 25% here, just where the Cotswold Way crosses the road.

Farm on the right at the "killer" part.
Opposite side, same place. Note the gradient. camera was held level!

The last time I got this far, I just had to stop for a rest, and then couldn't get back on the bike. Every time I grabbed the bars, I did a wheelie. This time my legs just failed me, and I ground to a halt. Just had to accept the fact that, being 53 years old, 6'6" tall and still 20 stone, I'm never going to be able to do this climb. Accepting that discretion is sometimes the better part of valour, I broke my one and only golden rule, and got off and pushed for about 200 yards, until a visible ridge across the road signalled a sudden reduction in gradient (still quite steep, but climbable). An instant stream of traffic coming downhill witnessed my failure, of course. Got back on for the last 200 yards and came over the top predictably unobserved. Was still puffing and wheezing like a steam locomotive when I came across this field of llamas at Whiteshill. Not sure who was more curious, them or me.



View of one of the Stroud valleys from Whiteshill.

Very enjoyable glide down to Stroud through Whiteshill and Ruscombe, (where a further downpour meant I missed the chance for some fantastic landscape photos, apart from the misty shot above), then back to Gloucester via Stonehouse, Eastington, Whitminster and the A38. Might not have beaten the Beacon, but it was still and enjoyable 19.4 mile ride out.

If anyone ever does beat the Beacon, do let me know about it. I shall just have to enjoy it vicariously.

 

[MikeG]

I did exactly 50 miles with the club this morning, and my wife rode along as a guest. We pootled out to Bardfield and the legendary Blue Egg cafe, and a jolly good time was had by all. We found some big hills to climb on the way home (via Gosfield). I realised after I had got home that my weekly mileage stood at 146, so after lunch I did a quick spin around the block, taking me up to 151. I try not to fall below 150 if I can help it.

I then spent the afternoon wandering around some open gardens in Nayland. Anyone want to see 40 photos of flowers, trees and lawns?


No, I thought not........