Your ride today.... (part 1)

[welsh dragon]

A beautiful and warm day here today. I had to go out this moring, so as soon as I got back home, I changed and went straight out for a pootle. The farmers have been busy here cutting hedges. And I must say, they do a cracking job clearing up after themselves. It was nice to just get out on my own for a while. Only two cars passed me, both of the drivers waved at me. And a few others outside they're property said hello and waved as well. Another enjoyable ride.

 

[ScotiaLass]

A beautiful and warm day here today. I had to go out this moring, so as soon as I got back home, I changed and went straight out for a pootle. The farmers have been busy here cutting hedges. And I must say, they do a cracking job clearing up after themselves. It was nice to just get out on my own for a while. Only two cars passed me, both of the drivers waved at me. And a few others outside they're property said hello and waved as well. Another enjoyable ride. View attachment 56572 View attachment 56573 View attachment 56574

It looks so peaceful

 

[welsh dragon]

It looks so peaceful

It is. That's one advantage to living in an area like this. It is totally unspoilt.

 

[stephec]

For some reason the public toilets in Ramsgate are wearing a crown!

It's in case you need to sit on the throne.

 

[ScotiaLass]

Bealach na Ba, Part 2:
He's only gone and done it! After 6 years of cycling, and 2 years of specifically trainng for this ride, I got up it today at last. Feels fantastic.

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13.3 miles today. A little flat run up to get the legs working, followed by this monumental climb up the Pass of the cattle on the Applecross peninsula in NW Scotland. Amazed myself by keeping going all the way to the 4.5 mile mark before my first stop - shortly after getting above the huge lip of the bowl in the hills, and seeing the depressing sight of a gradient increase. I made it a further 300 yards or so up the steep (1 in 5) bit before resting again at the base of the hairpin bend section near the top. Surprised myself on these, and even went back down a couple of bends so that a nice chap from a campervan could take a photo for me.

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Great views of Skye from the top, where the plack siad the altitude was 2053 feet. I had climbed all of that, having started at sea level. The descent was much less scary that I had expected, as traffic was quiet. I would recommend anyone attempting this t do so in the morning, before the rush of daytrippers heading to Applecross for lunch or picnics.

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Feeling great now, thoug sure I'll be sore in the morning. This is one of those days I took up cycling for. Wow.

Cheers, Donger.

Fantastic effort!!!!! Well done!

 

[PeteXXX]

I got the chance today to pop out on the road bike. I had to be home by 14:00 ish as I was picking my granddaughter up from school, feeding her and doing the Rainbows run before dropping her back home at 19:30. However, I digress as usual...

Only one piccie today, maybe that's why I managed a 17.1 mph average on the ride

An energy giving sized slice of coffee cake at Salcey...

Quite happy with the day really. It's surprising how much effort is needed to add a MPH or two to an overall time!

One of my usual jaunts, but pleased with 11 or 12 PB's, mainly on the uphill segments

http://www.strava.com/activities/195720649

 

[brand]

Friday needed to do some harvesting although my daughters insist on saying "your not farming you are foraging" pedantic I say. Decided to go to a pick your own for some raspberries... not quite foraging! But I dehydrate them and have them in my muesli. I kept an eye on the hedge all the way. Mainly looking for Sloes struggling this year not sure why as they look perfect but not as many as I would expect...could be the birds are being greedy! All the way on nice quiet back roads. First thing I found was badger in the road which appeared to have been skinned! Not on my list of items to forage so left it...don't think badger will ever be on my list skinned or not!
Went a bit further and found 4 tires by the side of the road. I crossed a tyre of my list ages ago. I use one fixed to my wood splitting block as it stops the wood flying all over the place when you are splitting logs. Saves a lot of time! So I called the council to tell them.
The part of the road where the pick your own is is very quiet. Had to avoid 4 cockerels and an albino peacock on the road... some people take free range to far. My neighbour is one, sign outside her house the other day "no eggs today chickens nil, fox 12". I noted some nice looking fungi but I forgot to bring a book or better still my tablet with numerous fungi apps on. Prefer to check in situ as I will forget by the time I get home plus they can change colour once picked. Got a kilo plus of raspberries and asked for some punnets as her blackberries were to expensive compared to the ones in the hedge... told me to sod off.. not very nice.
Put the raspberries in a plastic box on my bike rack as the Carradice panniers had buckets in them for sloes...being a bit hopeful! Not a great idea as it was a bit hot and they were a little soggy when I got home but still useable. Struggled to find any Sloes although plenty of blackberries. Gave up and decided to go home but was passing a no through road. Now due to my poor memory I could not remember why I needed to go down it. I remember coming across an apple tree down this lane which was obviously self seeded (therefore feral) due to its location but I was nearly certain it had disappeared last year. Feral trees can often produce good apples Granny Smith and Blenheim Orange are examples. Either way decided to look for some Sloes down there. Ultra quiet road just pushed the bike along it stopping to pick a reasonable amount of Sloes. Beautiful day and stunning location what more could you want? other than more Sloes! Walked one and a half miles picking and talking to one of my daughter's. Great location and mobile reception to boot! In the hour and half 2 cars passed me, the same car in both directions. As it happens it isn't a no through road as it turns into a bridle path for a mile or so before turning into a road again. As I was cycling along it I suddenly noticed why I had it in my head that I needed to go down this road/briddlepath. There's a few bushes which are not massively dissimilar to elderberry bushes same size similar size berries which are the same same colour. But the berries are not on the end of the branch, leaves are wrong and most importantly the berries start with a slightly sweet taste but then the flavour turns into something quite disgusting! I have always wanted to identity them but as I always forget to take a sample or a photograph I have never identified them. Tasted some on a few of the bushes and they were consistently disgusting. Also there were a lot of pheasants about a clue that later helped me identity them. The path eventually led to something you could call a road. When I turned at a junction the road surface was immaculate it looked like it had just been tarmacked yet the road was so quite that a bloke walking towards me was bang in the centre of the road looking down at the road as if cars never used it. Lincolnshire council seems to retarmack for no reason. They retarmacked a road into the village with not a single pothole on it? And left the road closed signs up for two weeks after they had finished. Anyway decided to go home as I was vaguely heading in that direction. Passed the sign pointing towards a small group of houses saying "hedgehog hospital this way". Have been tempted to call in just to see if the stories are right. All the hedgehogs are in the house, kitchen, sitting room etc. The smell is supposed to be horrendous you need to bring your own cup if you want tea and something to sit on. Also I have not crossed hedgehog of my list.. joking not on there. Although I believe it is very tasty if wrapped in clay and baked! Not that I will ever find out. Honest! Got to the corner where the tyres are hoping they have been collected but that is being very very hopeful? I came across the skinned badger again but now he has been moved a mile away and is on the grass verge? Now that is weird very weird indeed. As an aside he is very smelly as he has been dead for quite sometime.
Short ride long day just 16 miles. Very unproductive but well worth it.
Oh and the bushes were common buckthorn a favourite of pheasant and a medicinal remedy since the middle ages. Not used anymore except by vets. Thank god I only had a few, as the berries are a staggeringly strong laxative and a pigment for dying clothes and used in making paint for artists. Possibly worth picking to sell? need to look into it....if I remember!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I should wear gloves then, if I were you. I don't know if buckthorn juice may be ingested through the skin, but from your description, I do not think I would want to find out.

 

[Elybazza61]

Just a short ride in on the path from Waterbeach station into Cambridge had some time so stopped for a quick coffee and snack;

And the view.

The sprint(ish) in.

http://www.strava.com/activities/196079461/segments/4614391236

 

[brand]

I should wear gloves then, if I were you. I don't know if buckthorn juice may be ingested through the skin, but from your description, I do not think I would want to find out.

I was thinking of adding it to cordial and sending it to my ex-wife......I have issues! Big issues.... 50p each

 

[EltonFrog]

Super effort!

A friend of mine did a loop up there taking in the climb and he said that it was one of his best rides ever

PS I notice that you have mirrors that fit where the bar plugs would normally go. I have a hard-of-hearing friend who could do with something like that to give her extra warning of cars coming up behind her. What is your opinion of the mirrors ... worth the money? Don't they catch on your knees?

Thanks Colin. I really rate the mirrors, though if I'm honest, I don't look in them as much as I should. They really come into their own in group rides, when you get some idiots overtaking on the wrong side or riding too close. They also act as a good warning of unwanted wheelsuckers! I got 2 of them because I take my bike with me every time I go abroad, and looking over your left shoulder takes some getting used to. My knees don't catch them, but they do get nudged out of position easily when you rest your bike against anything. They are really easy to place back in the correct position, though.

Cheers. I will suggest to my friend that she should think about getting one (or two). She had a car following her up a singletrack hill on our Scottish trip and was oblivious to its presence and to me warning her about it.

I think I had something like that many years ago. It was quite useful, but rough road surfaces made it vibrate a lot, which was annoying.

Mirrycycle.com should get you there.

Would these mirrors be any good? Has anyone used these?

http://avt.bike/WebStore/merchant.m...currency=GBP&gclid=CLL-jPL56sACFVDItAod5woAtA

 

[brand]

my plans for Saturday were to forage or to forage, mainly for Sloes....again! But a neighbor suggested foraging for WOOD. I love wood you cannot have to much just a lack of storage space. As my central heating is LPG I am in no rush to use the central heaying. It cost more than twice natural gas. I used to collect wood in a cycle trailer the one below to be exact. Still do for the odd single load. But after cycling to a woods doing 5 x 10 mile round trips seeing the little pile I decided to do a bit of sharing! long run worked out better. Now my opinion is that foraging a vertical tree is stealing but a horizontal one is just foraging...farmer Giles may disagree!
But this wood was not only offered to us we were actually doing them a favour by taking it away....happy to oblige. it was supposed to be 4 journeys in a van with trailer but we only managed one as both us and the chainsaws were knackerd. Difficult to cut and full of hidden bolts and nails. Nails that were pointed at both ends. Why or better still how do you nail 2 pieces of wood together with both ends pointed? Anyway minimal cycling for me but what a return. Just in case you trying to work out what wood it is it is Greenheart an interesting wood with a nice

long burn time. top foraging!

 

[ColinJ]

Would these mirrors be any good? Has anyone used these?

http://avt.bike/WebStore/merchant.m...currency=GBP&gclid=CLL-jPL56sACFVDItAod5woAtA

If you look back to this post, you will see that Donger uses them (or something very like them) and that is what prompted me to ask about mirrors in the first place!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Just a quick (and it actually was quick for me with an average of 23.3kph ) commute up to the hospital for a consultants appointment and back in Warrington.... 44km round trip.

Kindly one of the staff there (a cyclist) gave me the code for the bike storage area which meant that my bike was hidden from view unless you walk through the hospital and are left wondering how on earth you get there - I only really found the way to it by 'accident' having seen a cyclist leave down a little path, so followed it and ended up somewhere I suspected I shouldn't be, looked around, went a touch further and found a door with a combination lock on it.... the code worked and low and behold I was in the bike 'shed'.... much safer than having to leave it elsewhere.

I didn't really try to be quick , even had a pannier and 2 heavy bike locks with me, it just seemed to happen. 31 strava cups as a result and a rather hot and sweaty ride! not sure what went wrong! Only had one incident on the way home - 3 ****** cyclists who though crossing the A49 in front of me and leaving me nowhere to go to other than jam my brakes on was a good idea. A few choice words were used ("cyclists still count you know!" - they were going pavement to pavement I wasn't that impressed really especially as they had seen me before they started the move... its not as though the A49 is even bad along that section, its a nice wide open, if fast, road with plenty of space for vehicles to overtake you!).

It is also strangely warm and humid out there

http://www.strava.com/activities/196215502

 

[EltonFrog]

If you look back to this post, you will see that Donger uses them (or something very like them) and that is what prompted me to ask about mirrors in the first place!

I saw that post Colin, but the mirrors I linked to were not the same at all, they don't move about.