Your ride today.... (part 1)

[postman]

40 miles today .Swinsty ,Fewston and Lindley wood res',Lindley needs a lot of water .Turned a bit grey and dull so back towards Otley for tea and Skone with jam .Very nice .Cock Pit Farm Tea Rooms.

 

[PatrickPending]

Quick 61Km south of leicester - Blaby - ashby magna - ashby parva - bruntingthorpe and othe nice quiet villages. First time in a month Ive done any riding aside from commuting (1200Km of that!) so nice to give the Burls Ti a spin....

 

[HLaB]

I went out for a random 100miler. I saw a nice looking quiet road taking me straight to Perth from the middle of nowhere (Kinkell Br) Looking at the streetmap, its an Old Roman Road. The road was perfect for about 6 or 7 miles then cars appeared and their driver behaviour was aggressive, a mile later it terminated at the A9 (for those who don't know it, its a very busy/ fast dual carriageway thats akin to a motorway but no hard shoulders). Rather than spoiling my ride I decided to back track rather than trying to merge with the wall of traffic, to a quieter spot.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Nice pleasant Club Run today. Our leader had to get back early so I was appointed stand in. We had done some hills and I continued the theme in some narrow lanes. A Hare darted in front of us prompting lots of hare puns and a blackbird flew across clipping me with its wing as in went. Having covered 40 miles to the cafe I decided to have 2 chunks of some very nice sponge cake. But the next climb was a 4 arrow one and the cake sat a bit heavily on that. A few more climbs and we emerged onto a super downhill and a longish flat run home. 83 miles covered. Probably the longest club run for ages. Our "sprinter" didn't have the legs for the final 30 sign so myself and another crossed the line in an honourable dead heat.

 

[ACS]

Had a visit from her Ladyship at 3 miles, sunburnt face, soaked in a serious downpour, broke my sunglasses trying to get my helmet off in a effort to release a wasp, stung on the finger by said wasp, killed said wasp (had to be done), legs did not want to play on the hills, ignored by other roadies. Bugged out at 30 miles, 20 miles short of my planned wandering first time in about a year.
Cycling why do I bother?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Went for a really nice three hour ride yesterday morning taking in a few of my favourite backroads.

On the way home I could see four tiny creatures scampering across the road, nearly to the other side two of them decided to double back and one almost went under my front wheel but managed to dive into the verge twisting around as he went and squealing quite loudly.

I'm going to try and avoid the 'weasels are weasily recognised and stoats are stoatally different' line but I think they were weasles, little brown chaps with white tums.

 

[Glow worm]

Saturday night's easy amble across the Fen proved a real pleasure. Dawdling along bridleways, footpaths and tracks, as far away from people and noise as it's possible to get hereabouts, I switched the lights off and navigated by starlight as well as with help from a low moon hanging just above the horizon. It's amazing how fast your eyes get accustomed to dark, but the senses are sharpened as pretty soon I saw a tiny pin prick of green light on the side of a ditch. Then another- as I got closer I was delighted to find two female glow worms. (As my avatar may suggest, I've always been fascinated by these amazing creatures. They're not 'worms' at all but beetles, and the larvae spend a year in the undergrowth before becoming adults next summer. The females are sedentary and flightless. The males fly and hover in search of their mate's little lights. Adult females don't eat, they just glow for a few days, hopefully mate, lay their eggs and die). I took a hazy pic of one on a phone which I'll try to attach, but photos never do them justice - you have to see them for real.
A mile or so further on, a big old tawny owl sat at the top of small tree silhoutetted against the sky. he was shreiking at his mate in some other trees who I couldn't see. Then as I got towards the edges of the fen, the traffic noise levels rose and nasty orange sodium lights appeared and completely dazzled me. Had to switch the lights back on to avoid falling into the ditch. Shame the wretched things seem to send so much light upwards and outwards rather than downwards. A quick scamper unseen across a road and I was back on the Fen. lights back out for the last few miles home. Several shooting stars suggest we may be in for a good August for these this year. Back by midnight to the usual shrieks of 'where the bloody hell have you been?!!'

 

[G81]

I simply had to reply glow-worm, what a lovely account of the fens, as my home-turf I hear such negative comments of its flat baron landscape its great to read a post as romantisied as yours. Thank you.

 

[Glow worm]

I simply had to reply glow-worm, what a lovely account of the fens, as my home-turf I hear such negative comments of its flat baron landscape its great to read a post as romantisied as yours. Thank you.

Hi G81 and thanks! There's still plenty of hidden gems hereabouts if you know where to look and enjoy escaping the crowds. It was such a great night, the kind that summers rarely provide more than one or two of each year, especially as commitments often make it difficult for me to escape. The clear skies, moon, plenty of wildlife and calm - just lovely. Such things would have been much more familiar to generations gone by of course. I sometimes think we've lost a lot over the years with all the modern frippery- seems to me like we get poorer as we get richer somehow- if that makes sense!

 

[addictfreak]

Sunday.

A nice club ride to Corbridge, only 4 of us this week (must be the hols). But a nice 60 mile round trip in reasonable weather if a little windy on the outward leg.

Lovely bowl of soup at Marthas in Corbridge (recommended).

Bumped into a larger group from Tynevags (http://www.tynevags.org.uk/website/index.php) who were on a longer ride out to Alston. Hope you all enjoyed the day.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Hmmmmph - had a 90 miler planned for today. But it's peeing down outside

Just not fair (weather)

 

[addictfreak]

Just a short 35 miles today, along the coast into County Durham then inland and back through Washington. One of my regular routes, not a bad average speed of 17.9.
Had intended a much longer jaunt but wasn't sure about the weather.

 

[Chamfus Flange]

Two in the bag today: first to work and back, then second to the swimming baths and back. No energy to cook this evening so straight to the take-away.

 

[HLaB]

I went for a deceptively fast Dunfermline CC ride today. It was also the first chance to test out my new cleat position (I shifted the right spd cleat back by 2mm), in doing so I also found and eradicated the source of a long term creak :-)

 

[PatrickPending]

Quick 30Km testing out the ribblr framed commuter - basically a specialized allez I was using for summer commuting had a crack in the headtube so I bought a ribble audax frame and swaped the bits over. Rides pretty well too!