Your ride today.... (part 1)

[DCLane]

My club's annual 120-mile charity ride today; again raising funds for Kirklees Cycling Academy.

It involved a climb of White Horse Bank - with a lunch at the Sutton Bank Gliding Club (coffee, beans on toast & a cake for £4.20)

Big hill: http://www.strava.com/activities/191381372

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I do a lot of my riding out that way, lovely quiet roads and nice and flat

You'll have to show me the flat roads, I did some good lumps today.

 

[djb1971]

Excuse the crap pics. Taken during a natural break

Took a new route, proved to be a cock up. The tarmac vanished and turned to crud. Ended up in the arse end of nowhere, I think it's Shropshire. I cross over from Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire a few times during this ride so I could be anywhere!

It was cool out tonight, my toes were freezing.

With the flash


As I could see it

 

[BigAl68]

This morning it definitely felt as if Autumn is on its way as it was about 6 degrees and misty so I had an excuse to try out my nice Northwave boots(£50 off a chap on a facebook site and he only wore them once RRP £150) which were ace and kept my feet toastie all the way in. I also had my 3/4 bibs and my chapeau mistral jacket and my autumn gloves.

There was a huge blood red moon in the sky and mist shrouded the cycle path for the first 5 miles which made for a rather spooky feel with the owls hooting, bats swooping and the odd grunt of what were possibly deer or badgers from the woods. I did stop a few times to take photos but they didn't really do the moon justice so I won't post the blurry images as they may as well be a street light. The cooler weather has thinned out the number of cyclists and I didn't see a soul until I hit the ring road at Bristol. All in all a lovely way to start the week.

 

[coffeejo]

75 miles for me today to see stage 1 of the TOB. The ride didn't set off too well when the GPX file wouldn't show on the Garmin. So I thought hey I will just use the navigation using the maps on the card in the Garmin. Well that didn't work very well and I ended up looking at the overall maps. I decided to head to Warrington then Widnes and then to Sefton Park via Liverpool airport. All was going well I don't mind busy roads but somehow ended up on the DC between Widnes and Liverpool airport. Not good. Full on 70 mph limit with no hard shoulder, the junctions were a nightmare being passed on both sides at 70 plus is not nice. I thought ok I will get off at the next junction and find some other way. In the meantime a small hardshoulder about a meter wide had appeared. A bit of a sanctuary from the carrigeway. Well it would have been if had gone on rather than stopping abruptly just over the top of a rise. I stuffed it big time. My fault for being on a road totally unsuitable for bikes. Luckily I landed still clipped to the bike off the road on a concrete area rather than in the carrigeway

Those of sensitive disposition may wish to look away now.

View attachment 55504 View attachment 55507 View attachment 55509

As well as me I managed to ruin a pair of shorts, a mitt, an arm warmer, a leg warmer and a sock.
The bike on the other hand apart from a few lights scuffs was ok. So as you do as nothing was broken I hopped back on the bike and rode the rest of the way to Sefton Park. Caught most of the race and was pleased to see Richard Handley and Jon Mould in the breakaway . Sefton Park was resplendent in the sun and there was a good friendly crowd.
View attachment 55510
View attachment 55511
My phone camera was not taking good photos of the action but here are a couple which aren't too blurred.
Had a chat with an old guy who used to ride back in the day who pointed me in the direction of the old road back to Widnes which was godsend after the DC on the way out then back via Warrington on more familiar roads.
Strange despite feeling a bit sore and stiff. I quite enjoyed the ride. Not sure I will feel the same in the morning.

Ouch. How are you this morning?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

This morning it definitely felt as if Autumn is on its way as it was about 6 degrees and misty so I had an excuse to try out my nice Northwave boots(£50 off a chap on a facebook site and he only wore them once RRP £150) which were ace and kept my feet toastie all the way in. I also had my 3/4 bibs and my chapeau mistral jacket and my autumn gloves.

There was a huge blood red moon in the sky and mist shrouded the cycle path for the first 5 miles which made for a rather spooky feel with the owls hooting, bats swooping and the odd grunt of what were possibly deer or badgers from the woods. I did stop a few times to take photos but they didn't really do the moon justice so I won't post the blurry images as they may as well be a street light. The cooler weather has thinned out the number of cyclists and I didn't see a soul until I hit the ring road at Bristol. All in all a lovely way to start the week.

I've just been and got the bike out and its definitely a bit this morning, I'll have to break out the winter jacket if this keeps up, I recon it could be a chilly ride in a light summer jacket.

 

[Hacienda71]

Ouch. How are you this morning?

Not too bad. The road rash is stinging a bit but not feeling stiff at all.

 

[Spartak]

Rode my first solo 25 mile TT yesterday on the R25/3L course at Rhigos, South Wales.

1:00:46

http://www.strava.com/activities/191104797

 

[Elybazza61]

Bit late with this but the Saturday club ride was a bit more 'sprightly' than usual;apparently it was more like a mid-high Sunday pace which usually includes some of the more 'hard-core' riders in the club and surrounding area;still had enough energy left to extend it to 94kms so now only have 100kms to do this week to complete the Strava Gran Giro challenge .

http://www.strava.com/activities/190597982

 

[Arjimlad]

[QUOTE="We crossed the busy A591 and passed Dove Cottage before a stop to look at the map. We had 2 choices here, ending up back at the main road and mixing it with the traffic or trying the "Old Coffin Road" to Rydal. @Rickshaw Phil did a recky up the steep bank to see what the bridleway was like, and he sent a message to say it looked fine, with compacted gravel.......

As Doug and I wound our way up the steep climb we met Phil who had been speaking to a couple of walkers and they'd mentioned it was rocky in places.....

Phil does have previous form with these sorts of paths....(Coniston to Tarn Hows) and sure enough it was a pretty poor path that meant a lot of walking and bike carrying!!! There were some amazing views over Rydal Water though
View attachment 55451

We finally left the path and crossed over to the back end of Ambleside and Clappersgate where we joined the road to Skelwith Fold and came across a car blocking the way. The reason being that a buzzard was sat on the wall, completely unfazed by those around. An amazing sight
View attachment 55456

It eventually flew away into the woods and we climbed over to Skelwith Bridge and took the off road path back to Elterwater, which thankfully has been resurfaced since i paddled in the mud in March!

15.7 miles
A slow 8.4 avg mph due to all the walking and climbing!
1625 ft of climbing
Billions of fun[/QUOTE]

My family & I did that "Old Coffin Road" path at Easter - with my three year old in a bike seat. The guide assured us it was bikeable. It was a PITA !! But an enjoyable day out on the bikes nonetheless...

 

[coffeejo]

I'm feeling surprisingly sprightly today, and not just because it's Monday. I rode out to see a friend near Yeovil yesterday and what a glorious day it turned out to be, just perfect for cycling. It started chilly but by 9am the sun was rapidly burning through the clouds and I happily packed away my gilet to enjoy the blue skies and sunshine.

I forgot my camera, so you'll have to just imagine the scenery which unfolded round each corner, each tree and hedgerow speckled with the beginnings of autumn. On a glum day, this would have been fairly depressing given how early it is, but the sun worked its magic and these signs of decay instead glowed and glimmered so that the countryside was illuminated with a golden sheen.

I had a sandwich at my friend's and stopped for a cake and a cold drink on the way home, and am bloomin pleased with my efforts - 83.67 miles at 14mph (lightning fast for me!!), with 984 meters of climbing and a maximum speed of 43mph, just beating my previous top speed.

I think I spent most of the day with a huge grin on my face but was obviously knackered - my landlords were full of praise this morning for the dog barking at a disturbance in the night. First I'd heard of it - I slept through it!

 

[gavgav]

Excuse the crap pics. Taken during a natural break

Took a new route, proved to be a cock up. The tarmac vanished and turned to crud. Ended up in the arse end of nowhere, I think it's Shropshire. I cross over from Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire a few times during this ride so I could be anywhere!

It was cool out tonight, my toes were freezing.

With the flash


As I could see it

I hope that's not a generalised opinion of Shropshire as I can assure you it's a lovely place and great cycling country!!

 

[djb1971]

I hope that's not a generalised opinion of Shropshire as I can assure you it's a lovely place and great cycling country!!

An opinion of the crappy track I ended up riding

I think you knew that really, just trying to get a bite

 

[gavgav]

Day 3 of my holidays and a longer ride today.

We set off in lovely sunshine, but the air was cooler today and I was glad of my jacket as we descended to Skelwith Bridge.

We took the quiet roads to Barngates and then used the off road cycle path to Wray Castle, which was nice compacted gravel, unlike when we used it in August 2013, before it was properly open and got bogged down in the gravel!

From Wray we followed the off road path alongside Lake Windermere, where it looked resplendent in the sunshine

After arriving at Ferry Nab we climbed up to Cunsey and then following a few downhill bits it was the very steep and long climb up to Graythwaite. The jacket had been removed now, due to that climb!

Back on the busier road we descended at decent speed to Lakeside, where we enjoyed our packed lunch and the lovely view up the lake

Next destination was Newby Bridge and we encountered the only prat of a driver (I will say that all other drivers gave us loads of room today, much better than most rides) but this one stayed behind us on a straight bit and then decided to overtake as we approached a bend and bridge, finding themselves alongside me and another car coming head on at them. So they cut me up and forced the other car to come to a complete halt. Total idiot!!

From there we wound our way up more hills towards Rusland. There is some gorgeous rolling countryside down there and it's much quieter than the main touristy areas, great cycling country if you don't mind a few hills.

Talking of hills we found some long and steep ones as we headed towards Thwaite Head and Esthwaite. I must admit my legs were really feeling it now and I was running out of energy.

There was a nice descent into Hawkshead, where I peaked at 31.5mph, passing a chap that was either Pete Waterman or his double (probably the latter) on a bike!

From Hawkshead there was more climbing to Outgate and Barngates, before some downhill (finally) back to Elterwater, which is set in a stunning location.

After getting back, the consensus all round was that tomorrow will be a rest day off the bikes, to give the legs chance to recover, before more rides on Weds and Thurs hopefully.

31.8 miles
9.7 mph average
2950ft of climbing

 

[gavgav]

An opinion of the crappy track I ended up riding

I think you knew that really, just trying to get a bite

Absolutely