Your ride today.... (part 1)

[MattHB]

amber rain warning today and high winds so had to bin the weekly 75 with the club will do some FTP work on the trainer later on instead.

 

[Hacienda71]

With jam and cream ???

I couldn't possibly comment on that.

 

[Hip Priest]

I did a gentle 35 miler. Conditions were poor, but I was keen to get on a bike for the first time after my crash. There was a 5 mile period during the ride where there was a lot of ice about, but I took it gently, kept a keen eye out and managed to stay rubber side down.

I've done a lot of climbing in recent weeks and I was quite pleased at how good my legs felt on the climbs. Not once did I have to use my lowest gear, and I think that's a first!

 

[HLaB]

A relaxed ride with the club this morning. It was a wee bit frosty (patchy fog) and the pace was modified to suit, we got back so early though me and another rider extended it a bit and that was a wee bit faster, he can really motor; I guess thats why he rides for Rapha

 

[EltonFrog]

The enemy and I set out to do a 72 miler today, but it was heavy rain from the moment we set off, so we cut it short and rode 33 miles, with a stop at The Little Thief for beans on toast, hot chocolate, with cream, flake, and marshmallow, and a pot of tea. Not only was it raining, it was the wet rain that seems relentless and determined to coat you. And it was Cold too.
We saw a group of about 30 cyclists out today, probably a club run, I couldn't see which club, well 'ard core they looked too.

 

[potsy]

This is going to sound really bad, but it was cold so I also had, a very large hot chocolate with marshmellows squirty cream and half a flake on it....

with a stop at The Little Thief for beans on toast, hot chocolate, with cream, flake, and marshmallow, and a pot of tea.

Feel like I'm missing out on something today

 

[EltonFrog]

Feel like I'm missing out on something today

When you go for a nice ride, you can have these little treats, guilt free and still feel self righteous.

 

[potsy]

This was one I had earlier this year, was so cold outside and so warm in the cafe the camera steamed up

 

[EltonFrog]

This was one I had earlier this year, was so cold outside and so warm in the cafe the camera steamed up
View attachment 15593

That looks posher than my one.

 

[coffeejo]

This was one I had earlier this year, was so cold outside and so warm in the cafe the camera steamed up
View attachment 15593

 

[Cheshire Celt]

Just a little 103 miles last night in the freezing cold Manchester to south port and back in to Manchester

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView?id=1766683

 

[HovR]

An interesting ride today, to say the least..

Leaving the city centre we head up a cycle path which allows us to skip a horrible bit of bypass, however the cycle path had turned in to a stream which had eroded away the surface, leaving an extremely bumpy and watery ascent on road bikes!

After that we headed further down the cycle path (which was strewn with debris) where we found a fairly large fallen tree, so in cyclocross style we jumped off and carried our bikes over.

We reached the top of the cycle path and on to a quiet road only to find that one of the group had a puncture! So we stopped and fixed it and were on our way.

On the country roads there was standing water everywhere, and where there wasn't standing water there was running water - A driver considerately soaked me by driving through one of these large puddles whilst overtaking.

A few miles later, on one of the many sections of road that had gravel washed all over the road, and debris from trees and bushes blown all over it, two more riders got punctures! So we stopped and fixed them..

When we finally got all the punctures out the way we were able to begin the great ascent in to the Forest of Dean!

Upon arriving at the Cafe stop in Soudley we could see the extent of the flooding - Ponds around the cafe had burst their banks a few days earlier resulting in the whole ground floor of the cafe being flooded (they were sweeping water out as we arrived), and whilst the water had receded some way the paths around the ponds were still 3 foot under water.

We had our tea/cake etc on the upper floor and then went to leave.. Yet another puncture!

On the way back I broke off from the group to head home the only way I knew, whilst some of the group continued on to lunch, and some of the group went their ways home. Only half a mile after breaking away from the group I came across a section of the road that was completely flooded.

Looking at the signs on the side of the road I estimated it to only be around 6 to 8 inches deep - Instead of taking a very long detour requiring lots of map reading I decided to plow through the flood water, which turned out to be closer to a foot deep. My feet got very wet! (But at least I don't have to clean my shoes..)

Anyway, I'm off to re-pack my bottom bracket with grease now.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I took advantage of the gap between weather systems to nip out and get a ride in for the first time in a week.

It was one of my regular routes (I had to play it safe as I didn't know how long it would stay dry) so headed down to Shrewsbury and into the Quarry. The river was high, but not as high as I'd expected after all that rain - we seem to have got away lightly this time.
Even so I could only use the higher parts of the riverside paths which meant a diversion to the Abbey Foregate and Castlefields areas of town.

Once away from the river I was back onto the route along the old canal, through Uffington, Atcham, Condover and home. Near Condover I took another small detour to see how high the ford at Boreton is. The answer is very - I hope no foolish people try driving through it.

After viewing the ford I noticed I couldn't see the Long Mynd anymore so the run home was quite a quick one (by my standards) and I got back just a couple of minutes before the rain started. Lucky me.

Today's route was exactly 20 miles door to door and done at an average of 11.9 mph.

As usual a few views from the trip:

The cycle underpass at Meole Brace.

The water is just lapping the beer garden at the Boathouse Inn.

Approaching the English Bridge. This is as far as I go on the towpath this time.

Plenty full at the weir.

Boreton Ford. Deep today, but I know it can get much deeper than this.

Edit: I forgot to say - loads of riders out today. I haven't seen so many since the alleged summer and they were mostly very friendly (apart from one who looked me up and down, then blanked me).

 

[Lee_M]

48 miles, had a nob and his mate in an old fiesta try to knock me off because I was stopping him getting in front (by sitting at a red traffic light!)

Lots of riders out today but all those club rides seem to be made up on people who cant be arsed to say hello!

All the individuals responded to my 'hi' but all those in the club rides obviously see themselves as superior

 

[gbb]

Oh boy...its windy here but dryish, and i wonder if we're the lucky ones..
24mph winds, set out for just an hour, but my fitness is in freefall so it seemed brutal. Took a sidewind route nut met up with a guy who advised me the road was flooded a little way up so i turned back and went for a bit more headwind ...and gave up after another few miles . just got to keep plugging away

Although there's been plenty of rain here, the base of hills have water cascading off them into ditches, low lying fields are flooded, low parts of the roads are wet, but its nothing compared to what people are seeing in the SW.