Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Deleted member 1258]

Club Xmas lunch, Cov Road Club, at Middleton Hall today. Got out late and rode out on my own. Out through Balsall Common, Fen End, Temple Balsall, Barston and Hampton In Arden then the direct route through Maxstoke and Shustoke, 34 miles covered in cold icy conditions. Followed by an excellent Xmas lunch, turkey and all the trimmings with Xmas pud and mince pies afterwards, in excellent company. Then a gentle ride home by the direct route in the company of a good friend I hadn't seen since mid summer, 56 miles in total and a great day out.

 

[deckertim]

Very cold ride today and I was visited by the p***** fairy. The worst thing was I don't know what caused it, so worried about it the rest of the way! I would much rather find a flint, nail or thorn and then remove it. Cycled from Rochester to Hastings and back, starting and finishing in the dark. I think this will be my last ride this month.

 

[gbb]

23 miles...
Day off, busy round the house etc, but managed a hour and a half or so meandering round the country lanes, no particular route...just where my nose took me.
Isn't winter riding boring, so little to see...
+4 degrees...not too cold, ok for riding overall.
Sadly nothing else to report. Who says turbo ridings boring

 

[craigwend]

35miles off 3000 for the year, did not seem a difficult target on my last ride on the 24th November, then the white stuff came, no not milk, SNOW!!!!!!!

Only managed one other ride since the above, another 9.7 mile loop last saturday - an even worse ride than the previous week, was the melted snow/ice/permafrost for half the route - with even more 'unclipping' than riding, at least the previous ride through tractor tracks through 18" of snow was fun.

The weather changes again on thursday so tonight was my window of opportunity to finish off my last 16 miles to hit the 3000 mile barrier.

Apart from the first 20 - 50 yards of superskiddyice on my street, the rest of the ride was mainly on a (very) busy A road, though it just felt good to be out actually riding, even if the A road was a bit too busy & bright with car headlights / occasional streetlight to appreaciate the night sky & environment.

I managed it in just over an hour; the 'target' seemed very 'doable' in October / November, I just never envisaged the great British weather to hamper my target this much.

 

[gbb]

Just over the 20 miles city riding today. Saturday i felt lethargic, yesterday was just a pootle, today...turbocharged, well comparatively so.

Nice and clear round here for the last few days, very light frosts or none at all, actually it was wet out there this morning. Winter commutings here and so's cleaning the bike on an almost daily basis.

2 degrees this evening..didnt really feel the cold at all, i could have just kept going and going.

 

[GrasB]

First 25 was a liberating very fast ride, nice 'high' air temp of well over 7C, however when it started to snow I was blind. With glasses on the snow was just covering the lenses making them useless & with them off the snow was getting in my eyes so I was closing them for several seconds at a time so limped home at slow speeds & even then nearly lost the bike a few times. Overall a good ride though due to the lack of road traffic

 

[gbb]

How's this for commitment...always take the car wednesdays, shopping day, but snook the bike in the back, got to work and did 6 miles before start time.
Mind, a bike and 7 bags of shopping in the boot's a bit of a mare.
Today...took the good bike, very mild this morning, maybe 5 degrees and i was getting too warm. Quick 9 miles, worked like a trojan all day, then another murky, chilly, slightly wet 5 miles home.

Now ive got to clean the bike again.

No big mileage (today was less than normal) but its regular day in, day out mileage. It's as good as it gets at the moment.

 

[Hacienda71]

18 miles for me today on my old mountain bike with knobblies back on it. Cold -2.5, rear mech froze, drink froze, big toe on left foot froze. MTB was slow compared to the road bike, it is rigid so the off road bits I did were not that easy, but loved it, out and about, saw couple of other tracks in the snow but no others on bikes. Even managed to average close to 11 mph.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

No ride for me today, I'd have needed ski's or a sled to do the club run today. Instead I've just had a 45 minute interval session on the turbo today.

 

[gbb]

Jeez, the thermometers off the scale even now at 11am. 6.30am rode to work, circa 7 miles on the roadbike...it must have been between 8 to 10 degrees below zero.
There's a lovely hoar frost building up on the bushes and trees, even silvery fine 'dust' falling...its misty and murky here but no snow.
Really really bad back, sharp sudden stabbing pains in my spine. Diclofenac taken, its easing off a bit now.
Worst of it is, probably got to go home, wait for lorries to arrive then come back and work till maybe 7 or 8 pm.
Its so cold its playing havoc with the machines at work....its going to be a long day.

I even had to get the wife to lift my rucksack on my back this morning...couldnt get on the bike with it swinging about and hurting my back.
Just too damn determined to ride, come what may.

 

[numbnuts]

I was going to go out, but sleet stopped me, OK I'm a wimp, in my defence I'm old

 

[GrasB]

30 miles of farm tracks & back roads on the MTB... I officially declare I hate & I really HATE mean platform pedals! Came off 5 times due to my feet slipping or yanking my foot off the pedal when I wanted to put some serious torque into the cranks.

 

[gbb]

Last nights ride actually...worth a mention because of the thousands of motons i overtook in bumper to bumper traffic for bloomin miles.
A lorry had come off the dual carriageway, turned right onto Oundle Road and either slid and crashed or was too high for the bridge he was passing under...either way, the whole south side of Peterborough instantly became a carpark
Took a ride round town, past hundreds of hapless drivers, then maybe 2 or 3 miles of more hapless drivers up to the stuck lorry which was right across 2 lanes so they were slowly filtering everyone through. It was so good, i turned round and did it all again.
Snow here today, been slightly milder for the last couple days. Yay.

 

[GordonB]

So sick of the turbo trainer I braved the cold for a 15 miler this afternoon. I really, really don't like cycling wrapped up to the nines but it was either than or frostbite. Very few cars about, still lots of ice patches on the country rides I favour, but rideable. Not what I'd call fun but much more satisfying than riding indoors, might try again tomorrow if it's still dry.

Gordon

 

[craigwend]

avoidng the turbo - even after eventually winning the battle of the turbo-tyre, i took three hits (p********) gettting it on though...

So possibly '4th ride' in a month & the most enjoyable yet in the conditions, not llike the deep snow a few weeks ago or the ice fields last week, sort of a mix of both and 'easier' to ride (apart from the respite of one off night ride)

So the ususal 10 mile loop - though again the mighty rockhopper comes back to save me

'Monte Blance dese Holdernesse'

St


Prehistoric ice-fields

The road home...

Heck, possibly another couple of rides before the New Year beckon?


Oh yeah - the temp function (which i've never used before) got to -5.3...