Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Klaus]

13.3 miles today - just up and down the A40 (more or less) in High Wycombe. It looked like rain in the morning and so it did ....
15 miles yesterday going up to Bledlow Ridge, height 240m, took a hill ca. 800m (up the road not the hill), had to stop three times .... but was rewarded with far reaching views of the Chilterns.

 

[FetterSteve]

First rides with my new Defy 3.5 :-)

10 miles yesterday and 12 miles today. Not a lot for some of you guys but another step up in distance for me and riding into a headwind whilst going uphill for almost 3 miles made me wonder if I was mad but despite that I actually felt good ( sore erse excepted) after it and am counting it as another small milestone on the way to doing some "serious" mileage.

Aiming to do the Cairn O' Mount by the end of the season so need to get those legs working!!

 

[Christopher]

Lovely ride through the Fylde lanes to Lytham from Preston. Two lovely pints in The Taps - super pub - and back via different lanes to home. Nice day too - mostly sunny although with a fairly chilly NW wind. Drivers very considerate today (for once) - even the big SUVs snd BMWs...
First weekend ride on the fixed for ages - it is geared 42x17 which is a bit low for spinning o'er the plains but just right for my slighly hilly commute which has a very short 10% hill out and even shorter 17% back. Nice light bike, well worth the £30 I paid for it (and the £200-odd I spent converting it )

 

[PatrickPending]

60km down to ashby parva, across to walton anstey etc via a very roundabout route. nice and sunny tho my feet did somehow manage to feel cold....

 

[ThePainInSpain]

Absolutely nowhere, everywhere around me is still too muddy or waterlogged, after a stupid 4 days of non-stop rain.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

My best bike came out today for the longest ride since last summer. I completed Mikes Warwickshire 100, 66 miles that turned out to be 68 miles. Pretty wet at the start but dried up nicely as the event progressed. There were a number of friends of mine, who I hadn't seen for a while, at the HQ, both before and after the event, a good chance to catch up on the gossip. The route, a circular one, wound through Warwickshire's rolling countryside, most of it on lanes I knew, some I didn't. I did some of it in a large group, my error, it was one of the fast groups and I should have watched it go past and not jumped on the back, Some with friends. After a stop at Kineton for something to eat I did most of the last 23 miles on my own. With riding to and from the HQ as well as riding the event I clocked 90 miles for the day. I'm sat here tired and with aching legs, but I've had a very good and enjoyable day.

 

[Jayne Raynor]

Had a great ride yesterday...did my first 30 miles...whoop whoop! A rainy start (love the feel of rain in my face) but cleared up fairly quickly. Average mph was only 11 but climed over 1000ft so I'm happy. A total of 50 miles cycled last week which is the most I've ever done in a week so all is positive.

 

[Brandane]

First ride out on the new Secteur. 40 miles around North Ayrshire: Largs, West Kilbride, Dalry, Lochwinnoch and home. Weather wasn't great with some light showers (just enough to get the new baby covered in grit and assorted cack ) and a head wind for much of the ride. Enjoyed the new bike once I did some fine tuning to the gears.

Average speed for the ride was 13.03mph. Slightly up on what I would expect on my Tricross, but not significantly so, considering it is about 2 kilos lighter!

Bike now had a good cleaning and back in the spare room, waiting for some decent weather . Tricross will still be used in the meantime, complete with mudguards......

 

[gbb]

Circa 22 miles extended commuting today, and took in a newly surfaced section of road that used to be a nightmarish series of potholes and poor surface. A pleasure to ride it now...if only all roads were this good !!
Pushed along a bit, made good pace (for me) even against the wind (well, moderately breezy) , and a joust with the rush hour traffic once back in town.

 

[Saddle bum]

I should have studies the weather forecast instead of Carol Kirkman's warm front! It steadily got chillier as I did my standard loop around Biggin Hill. Performance was OK, but as usual the roads were barely tolerable. I anticipated improving conditions and put 23mm shod wheels on, nearly a bad decision.

 

[gbb]

Just shy of 50 miles. Now i'm asking myself why i havnt got round to getting a new computer, then i wouldnt feel disappointed with 'just shy of 50'.
Ah well, misty bordering foggy and just slightly breezy at 10am, set out for Peterborough, alongside the Nene to Whittlesea (or is it Whittlesey?..damn Fenmen, can't make up their minds), then on to March via long, straight, flat and boring roads. On the plus side they were remarkably quiet. The only diversion on an otherwise humdrum ride was seeing some Skylarks, first ones ive seen this year...ooh and the odd Mallard in the dykes that proliferate the area (thats how exciting it is in the Fens )
March, onto Wimblingdon, along more straight, featureless, hedgeless flat roads, alongside fields of famous black fen soil, to Benwick, Whittlesea and home. Black soil ?...why is one field black...and the next one brown ? Wierd
Climbed off the bike feeling almost as fresh as when i climbed on it. Just a nice moderately paced ride.

 

[Jerry Atrik]

Just had a 30 mile bimble up and down the Teign valley in glorious sunshine and a pint of Dragons breath in the Teign House . Perfik afternoon .

 

[gbb]

Just a dozen or so miles today, but the bike's running better than it ever has.
New wheels, upgraded the bearings, BB bearings upgraded, new computer fitted today after a few weeks without one...and i'm doing 17mph + on sections of road with a headwind where i'd normally be doing 15. the whole thing just runs so freely. It's like having a new bike

 

[fossyant]

Well, this is my last day off before returning to work, so 'tested' the shoulder a little more than I expected.

Decided as the weather had cleared up enough (still a bit hazy) that I'd head out to Scout Moor Windfarm on the outskirts of Rochdale. The Farm was built about 3 years ago and can be seen from my home in Bredbury, over 20 miles away.

View from the rear of my house at 300mm zoom.

The route was somewhat Urban, at least until leaving Heywood. Woodley, Hyde, Duckinfield, Ashton, Oldham, Middleton, Heywood and then I looped back.

10 miles still to go from Oldham - bit Hazy, but the farm is above the two trees on the largest hill.

Now heading towards Heywood - just about to cross the M62 - 5 miles still to go.

Finally hit Heywood, and take the back lanes out. Now the road is in the country, but it's going up hill fast....ah slight mis-calculation... 18 minutes later, and a long slog up 10-15% gradients on a 39 x 21 (4 weeks after a shoulder op ) a reach the top.

What a view.........

And turn the other way for a view of the metropolis............

Right then, now for the 20 miles back home.....

42.5 miles, 2 hours 36 mins, 2600ft of climbing, average HR of 151 (max 182), average cadence of 79 and my shoulder / arm didn't drop off. Whoop.

 

[HLaB]

Nice ride Fossy; my ride today was a bit flatter only 1474ft of climbing in 38.6 miles. Woke up to a nice calm and sunny day barely noticed the 6mph (according to the met) tail wind on the way out, I did nottice the 17mph head winds on the way back though!

Edit: Jeez I was looking at the Edinburgh records by mistake, it was actually 21mph winds (with 30mph gusts) in Fife no wonder I'm still shattered!