Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Goonerobes]

Thankfully we seemed to have missed the snow & this morning was quite sunny. However, I missed that too due to work so had to make do with a slightly cloudier afternoon ride with just a nippy breeze coming off the Solent as I headed south across the New Forest.

Once past Beaulieu I bear left & the scenery changes from forest to more arable for a while as I pass through St Leonards on fairly dry & fairly well maintained roads before looping round & heading back across the forest towards Lyndhurst & home.

32 pleasant & flat miles & I just got back before the rain started!
https://www.strava.com/activities/240968537

Former WW2 airfield used in the D Day landings with the Isle of Wight in the background.

I think I know which direction tonight's rain is coming from!!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I haven't bothered mentioning the commute for a while but today the snow studs got a good workout as the wet surfaces left by the snow/sleet showers overnight had frozen hard and I ended up riding on sheet ice for a good 9 miles of the 11 to work.

There were other cyclists about, which surprised me, but they were going very slowly and carefully while I was able to travel with a lot more confidence. I did have a couple of small slips when the tyres were kicked sideways by the rough surface on the trail to Uffington but the studs bit almost straight away and kept me upright. This felt rather disconcerting, however if I'd been on normal tyres I'm certain I'd have ended up on the floor.

No ice on the way back but I had a strong wind to contend with. It helped for part of the ride then hindered quite badly for the rest so progress was pedestrian. At one point I could see a slow moving cyclist up ahead but no matter what I did couldn't catch up this time.

Another 22 mile round trip at 11.75mph average which I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad about considering the conditions today.

 

[howdenbiker]

A windy commute today, on the way blowing from the west in my face, cycling home the wind had changed direction, blowing from the east and still in my face! Nice frosty trip this morning though.

 

[Jon George]

A quick 7 miler to bed-in/test the new pair of SwissStops Greens I have put on the front wheel of my #2 Winter Road. The real test will be to be in the wet stuff and see how they slow me down. To be honest, anything will be better than how the Aztecs have performed when damp. (But that may have had something to do with the fact I had toed in the blocks the wrong way. .)

A pic taken near Foxhall.

 

[PeteXXX]

Lovely sunny day here in Northants., though still windy and chilly.
I had intended getting up quite early (for me) and cracking on with a decent ride. However, I finally shifted my carcass out to the bike shed at about 9.30 ish, and on the road by 10 (ish). Buoyed up by porage and espresso I decided on a sort of anti-clockwise circuit of the area as that would, possibly, give me the best chance of fewer headwinds.
The idea was OK, but, as headwinds do, they swirled around in all directions..

I was going to cut through this bit to get to The Washlands, but it was getting slightly deeper than the tops of my boots whilst on the down stroke, so I turned back and rode across to a raised dyke, part of the flood defences, to the higher ground.

Slightly easier, but still a tad moist and slippery.

Once across The Washlands, I used an old tunnel under the A428 to get towards Brackmills, Gt. Houghton and coffee at Salcey....

Crackin' home made fruit cake there. £1.80 for quite a thick slab, and a decent black coffee. There weren't many people out and about today as usually it's a popular stop for cyclists and walkers. They must have read the weather forecast or summat!

Oh well, onwards and upwards as they say.. As it was quiet, I could blast it down the forest trail and byway to the Horton Road and managed a 3rd place on the Strava leaderboard.. Rare chance to grab it as it's a popular walking and kids day out area so usually have to take it a bit steady.

I stuck to the roads to get home as, looking at my bridleway routes, it would have been virtually unrideable for most of the way. I did cross a few fields as a shortcut, but ended up struggling against the mud so returned to the tarmac.
As I still had an hour to pedal around before having to get home for Grandfatherly duties, I added a few more miles to the loupe and took a slow ride past Sywell Aerodrome. Slow was the word.. Straight into the strengthening wind (blimey! I spelt strengthening without getting wavy red lines under it!! )

A Spitfire thingy on a gatepost at Sywell..


Three of The Blades were flying and practicing their manoeuvres today (they are ex-Red Arrows pilots, based at Sywell) Quite fun to watch. Usually there's four, but not today.

Back home, with the wind and weather getting ever chillier, on 31 miles.
Quite happy with that for a January day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/240934604

 

[Jon George]

Straight into the strengthening wind (blimey! I spelt strengthening without getting wavy red lines under it!! )

Bet you got some for porage, didn't you?

 

[PeteXXX]

Bet you got some for porage, didn't you?

Nope.. that's what it says on my box of Porage (Jock spellchecker, no doubt... )

 

[gavgav]

I haven't bothered mentioning the commute for a while but today the snow studs got a good workout as the wet surfaces left by the snow/sleet showers overnight had frozen hard and I ended up riding on sheet ice for a good 9 miles of the 11 to work.

There were other cyclists about, which surprised me, but they were going very slowly and carefully while I was able to travel with a lot more confidence. I did have a couple of small slips when the tyres were kicked sideways by the rough surface on the trail to Uffington but the studs bit almost straight away and kept me upright. This felt rather disconcerting, however if I'd been on normal tyres I'm certain I'd have ended up on the floor.

No ice on the way back but I had a strong wind to contend with. It helped for part of the ride then hindered quite badly for the rest so progress was pedestrian. At one point I could see a slow moving cyclist up ahead but no matter what I did couldn't catch up this time.

Another 22 mile round trip at 11.75mph average which I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad about considering the conditions today.

It was lethal out there this morning! I went sideways twice on our road before joining the gritted roads.

Got to work and they hadn't gritted the paths or road (this is a hospital site, before I get told to man up!!) and could have done with my crampons to get from car to the office!

 

[i hate hills]

Not so much my ride today but someone elses.....last night heading home from work at 10pm i came across a guy on a mtb. What so special about that you ask ? Well the roads were covered in snow and and icing up ,a wind which cut you in two which in turn blew the crazy intense snow storm sideways. As i passed him in my car open mouthed he gave me a half wave . I then stopped to salute his efforts and ponder why i'm a mere shadow of the man he is.........

 

[Accy cyclist]

I finished work early today so that i could go for a ride before the wind got up. I managed 21 miles but i hadn't eaten all day and after 6 hours of climbing ladders my energy levels were low. I must've stopped for a short rest about 10 times. In future i'll have a banana before setting off!

 

[PeteXXX]

Cheeky little ten miler this morning.
I replaced the snapped chain on my Marin, but decided to take the SL4 out instead. A full suss was a bit 'overbiked' for a tootle round the villages and lanes...

The furthest I got 'off road' was down Spectacle Lane and through the ford to wash the wheels.

Still, all miles are good miles
Off to w*rk soon... Booooo

10.5 miles in WINDLESS weather. I'd almost forgotten what that's like!!

https://www.strava.com/activities/241702979

 

[cosmicbike]

A muddy part towpath, part road 25 miles for me today. Think it's time to put some mudguards on the CX..

 

[Dirk]

Didn't manage to ride today.



But I did manage 46 lengths at Ilfracombe swimming pool.

 

[arranandy]

Circuit training for an hour at 6.45 this morning before work. Hard going as it was the first time I'd done circuits for over a year. Planning to go out on the cross bike tomorrow morning if my legs still work

 

[nickyboy]

Today was a lesson in paying more attention to the weather forecast in future.

Looking out of the lounge window you can see the Snake Pass. It was goading me today, "go on, have a ride up, you know you want to". I could resist no longer, got togged up, and off I went. It's only about a 10 minute ride to the base of the climb. Weather was a bit raw, probably about 1 degree but not too windy compared to recently.

I felt pretty good setting off on the climb, got into a nice rhythm. I even toyed with the idea of doing it twice. It's about 5km in total, after the first km, the snow started to gently fall. Now you may know the Snake as the road which always seems to be the first to close when it snows. It tops out about 1650ft and is really bleak on the tops. Ho hum, bit of snow never hurt anyone, not sticking on the road, no problem. On I went.

By the end of the second km things had changed. I was probably about 1100ft up by then. It was snowing really hard, the wind had got up and it was starting to settle on the road, despite the traffic. Hmmm....ok, it's sure to stop in a second, let's push on a bit more. At about 2.5km into the climb even an idiot like me realised this was a bad idea. Blizzard, snow all over the road, getting dark. Turned round to head back down the climb. Only then did it change from nice soft flakes to stinging icy hail. I couldn't see a thing. It was even thundering. FFS! It was even hurting my head where the helmet vents allowed the hail through. This is a 40mph+ descent. I went down it at about 15mph. Finally got to the bottom and I had to get some recovery by hiding in a bus shelter.

Here's the bike in the bus shelter.

I was freezing and a bit fed up. Went round to a mate's house who is always in on a Friday afternoon for a bit of a warm up and a hot drink. He was out.

Rode up a couple of hills, just to try to get warm. Got home, feet numb. Hot shower, mocha, recovering