Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Deleted member 1258]

Hidcote Manor Gardens the destination, 74 miles the journey, long, hard, slow and lumpy sums the ride up nicely, out of Coventry on the picturesque but lumpy Kenilworth road, left at the Gibbet Hill cross roads to pick up the quiet road into Warwick, then followed a favorite route through Barford, past Charlcote House, up over Loxely and on through Alderminster and Crimcote to the outskirts of Ilmington, then turned right and headed to the stop, the cafe was a bit disappointing, no hot food, a bright and breezy day, I seemed to spend most of the 35 miles to the cafe working into a head wind. Into Mickleton and turned for Long Marston and Welford On Avon, crossed the B439 and climbed through Binton then turned right and crossed the A46 and headed for Wilmcote and Snitterfield, then climbed to Norton and on past Hatton Country World to Balsall Comon then on into Coventry, I thought I'd have an easy ride back with a tail wind but it didn't work like that, I obviously had a tail wind in places but it seemed as much hard work as riding out.

 

[G3CWI]

Continuing my dalliance with club riding I joined the Macc Wheelers for their "easy" ride. It was a very sociable event with a cafe stop. It was more to my liking than the chain-gang session that I tried on Thursday. A nice mixed group, 13-70+ years (guessing at the top end). No-one got dropped. Two punctures slowed the rate down. 39 miles, 3,600ft ascent so it was not a trivial ride.

I have one more taster ride left. Next week perhaps?

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I had hoped to do my metric century for August today but was rather put off by how windy it is out (been gusting over 30mph according to Met Office) so did a shorter ride instead.

The route was south through Condover and Longnor to Cardington, then north east to Hughley and Harley (well, almost) before heading to Cressage, Wroxeter, Upton Magna, Uffington, Shrewsbury and back.

After enjoying a personal best average speed last time out I thought I'd change my tyre pressures to see how the bike rode, so put them up 10psi to 75 front and 80 rear (they're rated up to 85). The ride is more jiggly but it does seem to scoot along quite nicely. The way the wind flows round the hills in the area meant it was against me for the first 9 miles and strengthened as I neared the Stretton Valley, yet I averaged just under 14 mph as far as the first climb which I thought not too bad.

The climb up to Folly Bank is more sheltered so no problems here and the descent the other side was fun as always. A couple of miles beyond Cardington the road turns so that the wind was directly behind me which made cruising along quite effortless. I'd have been even quicker if not for the flock of sheep being moved between fields. The shepherd said I'd be okay riding slowly through the flock, and so it proved.

Between Harley and Cressage I considered cutting the route short as I knew I'd have the wind and gradient against me for the final section if I carried on. After taking a couple of minutes to have a drink and mull it over I thought I'd rather get the miles in so carried on.

Between Cressage and Wroxeter the route is a bit lumpy and twists so that I was getting a cross wind at best, but despite this progress was reasonably good. I could see that it was raining over towards Stretton by now and was hoping it didn't blow this way.

By Upton Magna I knew I'd be riding against the wind the rest of the way back so just took it steady and took a slightly shorter way back through Shrewsbury so there would be les distance on the washboard-surfaced cycle paths.

38.6 miles this time at 14.1 mph average.

Edit: This ride takes the Raleigh over 1000 miles for the year to date and my total mileage for the year to just over 2400 miles - well on course to beat 3000 this time.

I was concentrating on the ride so not much in the way of photography this time:

At Ryton - harvesting is in full swing locally. A couple of weeks earlier than recent years I reckon.

A glimpse of Caer Caradoc on the climb to Folly Bank.

The memorial bench for Graham Bufton at the top of Folly Bank.

Much later in the ride and heading out of Shrewsbury via the bridge at Castlefields.

 

[craigwend]

on bit of a whim 62 miles jaunt due to a query by @gbs about spurn point ...

It's a long time since I went down there - guessed it would be about 20-25 (40-50 round trip) underestimated a bit

the Holderness coasts is generally flat & undulations feel like cols ...
today though the in your face north easterly felt like one long climb on the way there

the sun was rather hot & my fuel tank was early on , with only a banana

After a fair ride; passed through Withernsea, Hollym & fields of wind farms & pass the expansive / immense gas terminals at Easington with their

Spurn Point -A truly beautiful place ; the North Sea (Gas terminals & off shore wind farm) to the left & Humber to the right; pictures don't do it justice

http://s156.photobucket.com/user/craigwend/slideshow/Spurn Point 3 August 2014?sort=3

back through Patrington , Winestead & Roos on way home

Utterly by home

 

[davdandy]

62 miles up and over the hills of Rivington and nearby areas.

We set off from Leigh and headed up to Scout Road in Bolton then over to Belmont.From there we rode through Chorley and headed back towards Rivi barn and had a ten minute stop before hitting some more climbs.A tough day but very rewarding.

By the way,that`s me far left.

 

[Toeclip]

A found it a bit chilly first thing this morning but it soon warmed up and became a bit breezy later on. 33 miles out to Little Canfield and the Green Cafe for a cuppa & bacon roll, then headed for home via London Stansted Airport. 73 miles so not a bad ride out.

 

[Dave 123]

I went out for a fast 25 blustery miles this afternoon, I got stuck in a traffic jam through the lanes as we were all held up by the vintage cycling club out on a ride.
I knew it was safe to get round the cars, so I got up a good head of speed and shouted at the bloke who retired from my department "come on David, PEDAL!". He shouted some light hearted abuse, but I was gone. Lycra lout.....
So I came home and me and me bird went out for a quick 12 mile loop. She's loving the new bike, but I've had to give her a jersey as I pointed out this afternoon that in the vest she wS wearing she had a wonderful cleavage! She prefers a modicum of modesty does my wife!
We did half a dozen unclipping practices, one nearly went wrong, but she saved the day. Fantastic!

 

[srw]

Last chance for a ride before the RideLondon 100, so 67 miles around north Bucks. 5 hours of riding time and 5:25 in total. Adding on 50% gives us 8:15 for the 100 miles, which is within cutoff times. That allowed for a loo stop at Claydon, a shop stop at Wing and several general resting stops.

Yes I know, that's simplistic. You can't just multiply by 1.5. But north Bucks is a lot more unflat than Greater London, even if it's not as unflat as bits of Surrey. And we won't be held up by traffic or traffic lights.

"Are you feeling thirsty?" I asked as we approached home. "No", said @rvw, not spotting the subtext. I spelt it out to her, and there followed chips, cheesy garlic bread, beer and cider in the sun.

 

[Kevoffthetee]

More of a "what have you done this weekend?"

Yesterday I took my daughter on the Newcastle/Gateshead GoSkyRide and I was proud as punch. She managed 2 laps of the track plus to and from the car totalling over 10 mile

Today was my day and I got out with my new club - Blaydon Cycle Club
https://www.strava.com/activities/174727544
46 miles and a few gliches on strava and some of the lads with garmin recorded 49 miles and over 2200ft climbing
There was a good mix of ability and I'd rank myself smack bang in the middle. Pace was slow at 12.5mph but that'll improve as the development group does. What I did decide was I need some new bibs and a new bike. There was definitely some bike envy and Le Pug struggled against the triple gang on the hills

Where's my wallet...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

After getting home really early from our last 2 Sunday rides we decided that we would extend out 100km Sunday rides to 125km Sunday ride... This meant a new route needed to be plotted and given that neither of us has cycled around the Wirral before we thought that would be a good idea...

So cutting the extra climbing out of a start, we headed out on the normal Sunday route and made the café stop in Mickle Trafford quite early on. Then the Chester Greenway which was exceptionally busy with joggers (some run was on) and before long some cursing about that headwind... (it was very windy out there today and it was a stiff South Westerly...). Then a turn off and into new territory and to be hit from the side by quite gusting wind. From here it was a "Garmin Magical Mystery Tour" as we followed our planned route and tried to fathom out where exactly we were... this would have been made easier by my OH bring the correct map with us but.... Still provided the planned route worked we would be fine. Well it did work, but I think there was significantly more off-road that either of us expected and road bikes were very definitely outnumbered in the bike numbers we saw - though we were not the only road bikes on the route. It was a really nice route as well.... I was complimented several times on the niceness and tone of my "ting ting" to various walkers... I don't have a bell on the bike and prefer to actually say the words. It always gets a better response from people

Somewhere around Wallasey (maybe) we came across some yachts and some great light which I just had to photo. They in no way whatsoever represented the weather we had today.... someone somewhere was getting rained on very heavily, it was just not us. In fact I think I should have really put some sun block on...

From there it was around the corner and a start to head south into that headwind. We had 50km of it (we had looked at the forecast a decided that clockwise was the best option for this ride today - it was but it was still a long way into that headwind... averaging +17mph and gusting upwards to whatever can blow my front wheel away from me at times )... Another café stop followed, somewhere but I can't really tell you where ...

Somehow my route seemed to take into account the only hill in the Wirral/Birkenhead area and this was dully commented on by my OH... I did ask him if he wanted to plan the routes in future, he has declined. , so he is going to have to put up with them!

Coming home along the Shropshire Union Canal and NCR 5 reminded me why we have only done that section once before, 2 years ago... I think it will be more than 2 years before our next visit on road bikes... but the light was nice and the weather in the photo more representative of what we have had all day.

Then it was a uphill struggle through Delamere Forest - the final stretch always seems to knock it out of me, but I did set a PR on it, but by now we were almost out of water and needed to ease off. My Garmin (admittedly it was in the sun, as was I) showed 28C several times during the ride... and it felt that way as well. Loads of PR's and 3 new QOM's ...
127km at a respectable 21.4kph given that roughly 1/3 of the route was not tarmac and our August 100km ride is complete.
http://www.strava.com/activities/174865475

 

[coffeejo]

After getting home really early from our last 2 Sunday rides we decided that we would extend out 100km Sunday rides to 125km Sunday ride... This meant a new route needed to be plotted and given that neither of us has cycled around the Wirral before we thought that would be a good idea...

So cutting the extra climbing out of a start, we headed out on the normal Sunday route and made the café stop in Mickle Trafford quite early on. Then the Chester Greenway which was exceptionally busy with joggers (some run was on) and before long some cursing about that headwind... (it was very windy out there today and it was a stiff South Westerly...). Then a turn off and into new territory and to be hit from the side by quite gusting wind. From here it was a "Garmin Magical Mystery Tour" as we followed our planned route and tried to fathom out where exactly we were... this would have been made easier by my OH bring the correct map with us but.... Still provided the planned route worked we would be fine. Well it did work, but I think there was significantly more off-road that either of us expected and road bikes were very definitely outnumbered in the bike numbers we saw - though we were not the only road bikes on the route. It was a really nice route as well.... I was complimented several times on the niceness and tone of my "ting ting" to various walkers... I don't have a bell on the bike and prefer to actually say the words. It always gets a better response from people

Somewhere around Wallasey (maybe) we came across some yachts and some great light which I just had to photo. They in no way whatsoever represented the weather we had today.... someone somewhere was getting rained on very heavily, it was just not us. In fact I think I should have really put some sun block on...

View attachment 52365 View attachment 52366

From there it was around the corner and a start to head south into that headwind. We had 50km of it (we had looked at the forecast a decided that clockwise was the best option for this ride today - it was but it was still a long way into that headwind... averaging +17mph and gusting upwards to whatever can blow my front wheel away from me at times )... Another café stop followed, somewhere but I can't really tell you where ...

Somehow my route seemed to take into account the only hill in the Wirral/Birkenhead area and this was dully commented on by my OH... I did ask him if he wanted to plan the routes in future, he has declined. , so he is going to have to put up with them!

Coming home along the Shropshire Union Canal and NCR 5 reminded me why we have only done that section once before, 2 years ago... I think it will be more than 2 years before our next visit on road bikes... but the light was nice and the weather in the photo more representative of what we have had all day.

View attachment 52367

Then it was a uphill struggle through Delamere Forest - the final stretch always seems to knock it out of me, but I did set a PR on it, but by now we were almost out of water and needed to ease off. My Garmin (admittedly it was in the sun, as was I) showed 28C several times during the ride... and it felt that way as well. Loads of PR's and 3 new QOM's ...
127km at a respectable 21.4kph given that roughly 1/3 of the route was not tarmac and our August 100km ride is complete.
http://www.strava.com/activities/174865475

Love the first photo.

 

[Bryony]

As some of you know almost a month ago I was in a car accident which left me with back and neck injuries and unable to cycle. Well today I'd had enough of sitting inside while the weather outside was lovely, so I thought I'd have a little pootle round the tarmac track at Fowlmead Country Park.I chose my MTB as I thought the more upright position would be better for my back than the road bike. Any way I managed a massive 4.7 miles before the pain started kicking in!

Even though I'm now in a lot of pain I feel so much better in myself for just getting out for that short ride, I'm going to try another little ride in the week and hopefully slowly build the miles back up, oh and I got to try out my new Garmin today too!

 

[derrick]

A nice 50 miler out to Hatfield Heath, 6 of us set of we had a new rider with us for the first 5 miles, we soon realized she was going to struggle with the ride,so she made her own way back, we carried on for a few more miles when a guy rides along side asking where we are going, how far it was and were we coming back to Epping, Gave him all the answers, then he asked if him and his mate could tag along, i told him to join the back of the ride and we carried on. turns out they are both Columbions, a couple of nice guys really into there cycling, they asked about our club and they are going to give it a go, the rest of the ride was uneventful, was a bit windy, got to the tea rooms i had scramble eggs and smoked salmon on toast washed down with a nice cup of tea, back on the bikes headed towards home and a nice pint in one of the local pubs, the two guys really enjoyed the quiet country roads and are looking forward to riding with us again. A good morning was had by all.

 

[derrick]

As some of you know almost a month ago I was in a car accident which left me with back and neck injuries and unable to cycle. Well today I'd had enough of sitting inside while the weather outside was lovely, so I thought I'd have a little pootle round the tarmac track at Fowlmead Country Park.I chose my MTB as I thought the more upright position would be better for my back than the road bike. Any way I managed a massive 4.7 miles before the pain started kicking in!

Even though I'm now in a lot of pain I feel so much better in myself for just getting out for that short ride, I'm going to try another little ride in the week and hopefully slowly build the miles back up, oh and I got to try out my new Garmin today too!

That's the way nice and easy does it.

 

[Donger]

As some of you know almost a month ago I was in a car accident which left me with back and neck injuries and unable to cycle. Well today I'd had enough of sitting inside while the weather outside was lovely, so I thought I'd have a little pootle round the tarmac track at Fowlmead Country Park.I chose my MTB as I thought the more upright position would be better for my back than the road bike. Any way I managed a massive 4.7 miles before the pain started kicking in!

Even though I'm now in a lot of pain I feel so much better in myself for just getting out for that short ride, I'm going to try another little ride in the week and hopefully slowly build the miles back up, oh and I got to try out my new Garmin today too!

Well done, Bryony. A bit of the spirit of the Blitz there. Keep it up.