Your ride today.... (part 1)

[vernon]

My hosts Richard and Lynne.

Yesterday's ride was a steady forty miles from the Crask Inn to Tain. Compared to the previous hilly day, the ride was in the main, a descent with the four miles from the Crask Inn being the most enjoyable.

I was meet at Tain by an ex colleague and her husband who plied me with copious pints of Guinness and took me to the local harbour to see their boat at midnight.

My bike is safely locked away in Tain`s social services offices three miles away and I'm currently enjoying bacon sandwiches to prepare for today's ride.

 

[HLaB]

View attachment 47921
My hosts Richard and Lynne.

Yesterday's ride was a steady forty miles from the Crask Inn to Tain. Compared to the previous hilly day, the ride was in the main, a descent with the four miles from the Crask Inn being the most enjoyable.

I was meet at Tain by an ex colleague and her husband who plied me with copious pints of Guinness and took me to the local harbour to see their boat at midnight.

My bike is safely locked away in Tain`s social services offices three miles away and I'm currently enjoying bacon sandwiches to prepare for today's ride.

Is this a spot the difference competition?

 

[nickyboy]

By coincidence, I am just plotting a route for a forum ride which will take in this climb!

Remind me to kick you in the nuts next time I see you

There are few harder climbs in the Peak District. Winnats is shorter but steeper, Holme Moss is similar I guess. Wessenden Head runs NE-->SW so the prevailing wind is a headwind. I only ride it on still days or a nice Easterly if I can get one. It's beak up past the cattle grid so a 30mph headwind would be no fun at all

 

[ColinJ]

Remind me to kick you in the nuts next time I see you

There are few harder climbs in the Peak District. Winnats is shorter but steeper, Holme Moss is similar I guess. Wessenden Head runs NE-->SW so the prevailing wind is a headwind. I only ride it on still days or a nice Easterly if I can get one. It's beak up past the cattle grid so a 30mph headwind would be no fun at all

I have already seen sense ... The ride was looking way too tough so I am toning the difficulty down by about 1/3! (We will turn back at the top of Scapegoat Hill.)

 

[HLaB]

Remind me to kick you in the nuts next time I see you

There are few harder climbs in the Peak District. Winnats is shorter but steeper, Holme Moss is similar I guess. Wessenden Head runs NE-->SW so the prevailing wind is a headwind. I only ride it on still days or a nice Easterly if I can get one. It's beak up past the cattle grid so a 30mph headwind would be no fun at all

OT I was a bit underwhelmed by Winnats, how does Holme Moss compare? might get a chance to give that a go later.

 

[nickyboy]

OT I was a bit underwhelmed by Winnats, how does Holme Moss compare? might get a chance to give that a go later.

Very different sort of climb. Winnats is basically 1km @ about 17% after the not too difficult run into the bottom of the climb.

Holme Moss is much longer. Apart from a 20% section in Holme Bridge, it never gets above about 12%, the climb "proper" is about 2.5km of 9-12%. It isn't too difficult unless you get the prevailing headwind, then it is very tough as it is so exposed in the final 2km. Views are spectacular, as are the descents off it.

You could easily do Wessenden Head and Holme Moss, they're only about 5 miles apart

 

[PeteXXX]

'My ride today' is a 3-in-1 report: Saturday, Sunday and yesterday.. I didn't get home until 20:00, so beer and pasta was my priority!!

A couple of mates and I set off to ride the L2B from Northampton. This was the Saturday ride. 78 miles down to Battersea, ready for our 07:00 start on Sunday.

Another friend from Milton Keynes who was not doing the ride, met up with us at Newport Pagnell and rode as far as Toddington with us which was nice. He had to head back home for fatherly duties after taking this photo.

At one point, a mate's Garmin told him to ride round a duckpond..

So he did!!

Once we reached, and navigated our way through, London, we found the Travelodge quite easily (Mrs R had driven down and taken our luggage, so we could travel light which was great!)., so after a shower, we headed out for a beer and some food. We were lucky enough to find a pub that advertised the fact that they weren't showing the football
Saturday: http://www.strava.com/activities/153409625

Sunday was the London ~ Brighton ride.
We had about 2 miles to ride to the start line where we met up with the rest of the mob.

This year we decided that if we got split up, we'd all plan to meet at Fannys Farm Shop rather than stop start wait, stop start wait at every set of traffic light. As expected, we were strung out over several miles by the time we'd got to the outskirts on London.
We all enjoyed the ride, but got split up again at Turners Hill where lots of people were walking, then stopping at the top at the refreshments. Never mind, we all had one destination in mind so decided to meet near on the seafront by the pier in Brighton.

The start of Ditchling Beacon.

These are a couple of pics I grabbed whilst pedalling up Ditchling Beacon. This is about half way up, just before it gets a bit steeper. I was quite slow, averaging 6.1mph, but I didn't stop. Ditchling, depending where you start/finish, the segment is either a Cat 3 or a Cat 4 climb. I'm happy I can still ride it in one hit at 62 years old

Ice Cream was consumed at the top!

The blast down into Brighton is awesome... then into the town and back to traffic lights and stop start again. Never mind though, it's only for the last mile, then up the seafront to the finish line. My daughter, her fella and my granddaughter drove down for the day to wave me over the line, which was great then after we'd all met up again, we had fish and chips on the beach and skimmed some stones into the sea and a walk along the prom before they headed back home.
Three of us were staying overnight and two of us were riding home on Monday (Once again, bags transported so we could travel light!)
We saw all sorts of bikes on the ride, including several single speeds and a couple of Boris Bikes! I didn't see so many 'novelty' bikes this year though. Maybe because we had a slightly earlier start time. Who knows..

It's very sad, but a couple of people were badly hurt in crashes during the ride. One on Gatton Hill (a steep downhill past Fannys Farm). He hit a telegraph pole, I believe, and a woman in a similar area had to be airlifted to hospital. She looked in a bad way when I went past, but was receiving medical attention. There were a few other tumbles as well, but not so bad, mainly grazes and a bit of gravel rash. With 27,000 riders I suppose it is bound to happen though.

In the evening, I rode a few miles to the hotel t'others were staying at and had food and a beer then back to my Travelodge on the seafront where I rode a mile or so up the seafront towards Worthing to stretch the legs a bit.

I didn't quite sleep with my bike, but it wasn't far away!!

I finished the ride in 4hrs 18 mins, at stunning average of 12.6 mph, mainly due to the crowds and getting out of London. The only way to get a clear run is to be on the 06:00 start time!

Sunday L2B: http://www.strava.com/activities/153762419


Monday was the challenge for Bob and I.... To ride from Brighton back to Northampton.

We had a decent breakfast and a bucket of coffee at our hotels, then I rode a couple of miles to where he was staying, dropped my backpack of to be transported home by car.
At about 08:00, we set off. We didn't bother with a total reverse of the L2B route, but used the bike path alongside the A23 towards Crawley where we turned right to Turners Hill and kind of use the ride route back into London. We also just followed my maps and our noses to keep the route as direct as possible.
London slowed us down quite a bit we tried to keep to bike lanes but not all roads have them unfortunately. We rode to Wandsworth Bridge, into Chelsea up the Kings Road & Sloane Square, then Hyde Park, Marble Arch and straight up the A5 pretty much all the way to Dunstable, then across country via Toddington, Woburn, N. Pagnell and home.
Apart from a few quick stops for banana/mars bar etc, and to top up the water bottles, then a tea and a bacon sarnie at Redbourne, we kept going.

My longest ride to date, 131 miles. (also my 1st double metric century!!)
PS I'm not doing it again...

http://www.strava.com/activities/154362913

Day one:78 miles
Day two: 61 miles
Day three: 131 miles

 

[gavgav]

'My ride today' is a 3-in-1 report: Saturday, Sunday and yesterday.. I didn't get home until 20:00, so beer and pasta was my priority!!

A couple of mates and I set off to ride the L2B from Northampton. This was the Saturday ride. 78 miles down to Battersea, ready for our 07:00 start on Sunday.

View attachment 47925
Another friend from Milton Keynes who was not doing the ride, met up with us at Newport Pagnell and rode as far as Toddington with us which was nice. He had to head back home for fatherly duties after taking this photo.

At one point, a mate's Garmin told him to ride round a duckpond..
View attachment 47924

So he did!!

Once we reached, and navigated our way through, London, we found the Travelodge quite easily (Mrs R had driven down and taken our luggage, so we could travel light which was great!)., so after a shower, we headed out for a beer and some food. We were lucky enough to find a pub that advertised the fact that they weren't showing the football
Saturday: http://www.strava.com/activities/153409625

Sunday was the London ~ Brighton ride.
We had about 2 miles to ride to the start line where we met up with the rest of the mob.

View attachment 47928

This year we decided that if we got split up, we'd all plan to meet at Fannys Farm Shop rather than stop start wait, stop start wait at every set of traffic light. As expected, we were strung out over several miles by the time we'd got to the outskirts on London.
We all enjoyed the ride, but got split up again at Turners Hill where lots of people were walking, then stopping at the top at the refreshments. Never mind, we all had one destination in mind so decided to meet near on the seafront by the pier in Brighton.

View attachment 47930
The start of Ditchling Beacon.


View attachment 47933

View attachment 47931
These are a couple of pics I grabbed whilst pedalling up Ditchling Beacon. This is about half way up, just before it gets a bit steeper. I was quite slow, averaging 6.1mph, but I didn't stop. Ditchling, depending where you start/finish, the segment is either a Cat 3 or a Cat 4 climb. I'm happy I can still ride it in one hit at 62 years old

Ice Cream was consumed at the top!

View attachment 47934

The blast down into Brighton is awesome... then into the town and back to traffic lights and stop start again. Never mind though, it's only for the last mile, then up the seafront to the finish line. My daughter, her fella and my granddaughter drove down for the day to wave me over the line, which was great then after we'd all met up again, we had fish and chips on the beach and skimmed some stones into the sea and a walk along the prom before they headed back home.
Three of us were staying overnight and two of us were riding home on Monday (Once again, bags transported so we could travel light!)
We saw all sorts of bikes on the ride, including several single speeds and a couple of Boris Bikes! I didn't see so many 'novelty' bikes this year though. Maybe because we had a slightly earlier start time. Who knows..

It's very sad, but a couple of people were badly hurt in crashes during the ride. One on Gatton Hill (a steep downhill past Fannys Farm). He hit a telegraph pole, I believe, and a woman in a similar area had to be airlifted to hospital. She looked in a bad way when I went past, but was receiving medical attention. There were a few other tumbles as well, but not so bad, mainly grazes and a bit of gravel rash. With 27,000 riders I suppose it is bound to happen though.

In the evening, I rode a few miles to the hotel t'others were staying at and had food and a beer then back to my Travelodge on the seafront where I rode a mile or so up the seafront towards Worthing to stretch the legs a bit.

View attachment 47927

I didn't quite sleep with my bike, but it wasn't far away!!

I finished the ride in 4hrs 18 mins, at stunning average of 12.6 mph, mainly due to the crowds and getting out of London. The only way to get a clear run is to be on the 06:00 start time!

Sunday L2B: http://www.strava.com/activities/153762419


Monday was the challenge for Bob and I.... To ride from Brighton back to Northampton.

We had a decent breakfast and a bucket of coffee at our hotels, then I rode a couple of miles to where he was staying, dropped my backpack of to be transported home by car.
At about 08:00, we set off. We didn't bother with a total reverse of the L2B route, but used the bike path alongside the A23 towards Crawley where we turned right to Turners Hill and kind of use the ride route back into London. We also just followed my maps and our noses to keep the route as direct as possible.
London slowed us down quite a bit we tried to keep to bike lanes but not all roads have them unfortunately. We rode to Wandsworth Bridge, into Chelsea up the Kings Road & Sloane Square, then Hyde Park, Marble Arch and straight up the A5 pretty much all the way to Dunstable, then across country via Toddington, Woburn, N. Pagnell and home.
Apart from a few quick stops for banana/mars bar etc, and to top up the water bottles, then a tea and a bacon sarnie at Redbourne, we kept going.

View attachment 47922

My longest ride to date, 131 miles. (also my 1st double metric century!!)
PS I'm not doing it again...

http://www.strava.com/activities/154362913

Day one:78 miles
Day two: 61 miles
Day three: 131 miles

View attachment 47935

Sounds good fun and great to see a bottle of Shropshire Beer being drunk!

 

[EltonFrog]

No ride for me today, platelets again, though I did get here on two wheels....my Triumph Tiger 1050. Cheating...I know.

 

[Toeclip]

A short 18 miler and scary ride this morning, first a fox decided to run out in front of me as I was going downhill, I missed him I`m glad to say. Then after a cuppa at Langdon Hills I had a model aircraft crash about 15 feet in front of me! I cleared up what was left of it off the road, found the owner looking for it in a nearby field. He wasn`t a happy bunny when he saw it!

 

[PeteXXX]

Sounds good fun and great to see a bottle of Shropshire Beer being drunk!

The Shropshire was part of my Father's Day pressy

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Last weekend I was told of a couple of old railway tunnels you can ride through just south of Market Harborough, so I decided to look them up and build them into my imperial century for June

The tunnels turned out to be Oxendon and Kelmarsh tunnels on the Brampton Valley Way. Did my usual planning on ridewithgps, i.e. careful planning for 50 miles or so of the route and then getting bored and quickly clicking on likely places to ride and letting ridewithgps work the details (past experience has told me this doesn't work but I will never learn)

Anyway the rough route was Leicester to Market Harborough, down the Brampton Valley Way into Northampton, across to Daventry and then to Rugby and finally back home to Leicester. Ridewithgps gave the route as 100.4 miles.

Completely uneventful ride to Market Harborough apart from coming across a broken down car four or five miles away from Markert Harborough, a mother, her two kids and her mother in the car, rear tyre flat as pancake. I offered to change the tyre but they couldn't find the spare, I suggested they may have one of those emergency kits that fill the tyre but I looked at the tyre and it was that worn that the car should not have been on the road and an emergency kit would have been useless. Luckily they had RAC cover so gave them their exact location from my gps (granny was very impressed with it) and I went on my way.

Onto the Brampton Valley Way: It is a 15 mile stretch of old railway running directly from Market Harborough to Northampton and was in the main compacted hardcore, so a bit bumpy for the road bike. Was a fantastically peaceful run to Northampton and would make a great commuter route, though probably better suited to a hybrid than the road bike.

Tunnels were a bit muddy and very dark, I had a maglite strapped to the front of the bike and whilst it gave me sufficient light to see, the chinese cree light would have been much better. I stopped a couple of miles from the end of the path for a comfort break and a packet of porridge biscuits.

Just before I got to Daventry my laziness in using ridewithgps bit me in the arse as my route disappeared into a hedgerow! Looked at the map and worked out how to detour around the fields the route wanted me to go and was on my way.

At the edge of Rugby, ridewithgps put a huge boil on my arse and sent me down a track that a tractor would have struggled with, again I had to detour.

At 70 miles another comfort break and I took time out to eat a mars bar and watch a bird of prey hunting in the field I was stood next to.

Miles 70 onwards were hard, I had mainly a headwind and my right foot was really hurting (I get really hard skin on the outside of my foot for some reason) and I was wishing I was at home. Anyway, you can't quit, so I told myself not to be a wuss and kept thinking of that nice cold coke I was going to reward myself with when I got home.

Eventually got home, with the detours I had to do I had done 104.8 miles. A bit slower than normal, but that was expected with the 15 or so miles on the Brampton Valley Way, which if you like an off road pootle I can fully recommend, though take decent lights if you are going to go through the tunnels.

Time for a cup of tea.

http://www.strava.com/activities/154631982

 

[welsh dragon]

Aanother 10km today. Wasnt quite as hard going as sunday as the air quality was slightly better today

On my journey i came cross 3 french tourists. They're trek had started in Newport, and this morning theyr'e journey was to take them from aberystwyth to Bala. They were aiming to do 50 miles per day. they made me laugh by saying "it is very hilly here. An understatement if ever i heard one.

there were a few dark clouds along the way, but the rain held.

 

[Cubist]

Commuted to work then home the long way via A640 Buckstones. 20 miles in total, 1800 ft of climbing. Four Strava Cat 4 climbs and 4 PRs. Hoorah! There's a good descent at the start of the commute if I go this way, and topped out at 48.6mph. Wondered why I span out, then realised I was still in the 30 ring. Doh!

 

[HLaB]

@Supersuperleeds one tip with RWGPS, drag the Google man on to the map and if the road is mapped its usually ok. If you need more than a quick check, actually enter street view.