Your ride today.... (part 1)

[HovR]

A nice 46 mile club ride with 2300ft climbing after the previous two club road rides had been cancelled due to snow.

It was beautifully sunny, despite the BBC's prediction of heavy rain. It was quite windy with some strong gusts but everyone was just glad to be back out on the bikes rather than in the garage on a turbo! Despite the head winds I still managed to beat my personal record on the two climbs by a decent amount.

The descents were rather 'interesting' as the previous nights heavy rain had washed lots of fine gravel on to the road and some sections of road surface had deteriorated a bit due to the icy weather that has (hopefully) just passed.

On the way back I managed 4th place on a popular segment (100+ riders), which I was really pleased with. Thing is I didn't even notice how fast I was going, apparently a 25mph average. Definitely nothing to do with tails winds though..

A few miles before getting home I found a mountain biker with a flat tire pushing his bike, so I offered him the use of my Topeak Road Morph pump which got his tires up to pressure when the lesser pumps he had borrowed wouldn't, which he was glad about! It turns out he had been to the exact same destination as me, but via tow paths rather than the road.

All in all a great day cycling - Hopefully 2013 continues this way!

 

[potsy]

Mistook a rider for a well known forum member until I said, hi mate, he turned around and it wasn't who I thought it was. Same bike, you know how it is.

Who did you think it was?

 

[Hacienda71]

Who did you think it was?

Fossy. Red fixed Wills Wheels bike with black guards on, similar build as well. Pulled up next to him at some temporary traffic lights. As soon as he turned round realised my mistake.

 

[potsy]

Fossy. Red fixed Wills Wheels bike with black guards on, similar build as well. Pulled up next to him at some temporary traffic lights. As soon as he turned round realised my mistake.

Maybe someone's nicked his bike?

 

[Hacienda71]

Maybe someone's nicked his bike?

Nah, it had mud on it.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

56 miles on the fixed today, lovely to be out on the bike on a Sunday morning after 2 Sundays off, scenic Route to the Garden Store opposite Charlecote House in Hampton Lucy and a scenic way home, was fun but that stiff westerly breeze made it hard work in places, flat out doing 14-15mph into it, did part of the ride home with one of the club groups, when I got the wind behind me towards the end of the ride I was spinning up around 23mph, the legs were tired by them otherwise I could have spun up around 25mph, a very hard but enjoyable morning out.

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=495810

 

[Andrew_Culture]

We planned an informal 100 mile forum ride for today. But how did we do! Salve your suspense here - http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/soggy-sunny-sunday-wind.122675/

 

[derrick]

A 20 miler today on the Trek Hybrid. Harlow to Waltham Abbey, then after getting a couple of bits in Lidl came home via High Beech and Epping. Travelling along the Crooked Mile road there was a short area of flooding right across the road. Even with mudguards my feet got soaked, as did the remainder of me when some pillock in a car overtook me at speed through the flood causing a high wave of water. Fortunately I had tights on and a waterproof jacket. The tights dried in minutes, but my feet were soaked and so cold they hurt. I thought I would get some new socks in Waltham Abbey but could find nowhere who sold them so I had to put up with cold wet feet until I got home. I was glad to get to High Beech and get a cup of hot tea and a lump of bread pudding. There were a lot of cyclists at the hut. The ride home was uneventual apart from a perfect overtake by a bus from a company I had previously contacted to complain about their drivers and overtaking. I intend to email the company today with a word of praise for the driver. All in all a nice ride in the sunshine, only spoiled by my icy cold feet. It struck me when I go near home I should have taken my socks off and put my feet in nappy sacks of which I have plenty in my panniers then put my socks back on. I don't know if that would have helped?

That crooked mile is a dodgy old road, i will avoid it if i possibly can,

 

[HLaB]

A bit blowy today but nice to have a ride in the warm, although I think it was a little too warm for me a good, 65 miles with the club round Oakham.

OT Garmin TC says my max was 38.8mph, STRAVA says the same but RWGPS says it was 39.7mph and Garmin Connect says it was 44.4mph

 

[lulubel]

Haven't you heard of wind coming from an againsterly direction?

I hadn't heard that before, but it's a very good expression. I experienced that on my ride today, but it was worth it for this:

 

[Standoff]

32 miles in the dark. Hoped wind would have eased a bit but it was still blowy.
Cheap light proved to be totally waterproof and the hope mount is great, big improvement over the o rings!

I don't think I've ever looked forward to spring do much!

 

[vernon]

Twenty seven miles in West and North Yorkshire and County Durham. I had been aiming to do around seventy miles but my legs refused to co-operate and I ended up bailing out in Northallerton.

Spotted a potential pie source in Northallerton in addition to Lewis and Coopers the inflated price purveyors of all things tasty.

I will return when the pie shop's open.

 

[craigwend]

Just a brisk 15 - the terrain could have not been more different today , no snow!!!! - (well tiny bits at the edges of the odd field)
just lots of meltwater - mrs craigwend did a 20 miler, after and discovered my route to work is flooded...

Felt like HArmstrung on the way out, 'withsterly' wind/EPO assisted
On the way back with the 'againsterly' wind it felt like HArmstrung in a wind/WADA caught out

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I didn't get out over the weekend because of the weather conditions (ice everywhere saturday, wind and frequent heavy showers sunday) so took advantage of a gap in the weather this morning.

I did the Condover, Atcham, Uffington, Shrewsbury route and had a slow start as the wind was against me. After Condover it was giving a boost though which was nice.

The river is out again at Atcham but only causing minor flooding at the moment and on the trail from Uffington to Shrewsbury there is still ice, which I wasn't expecting.

It was 19 miles today at 11.94mph average.

Rising water at Atcham.

The flood barriers have gone up in Shrewsbury.

 

[Stu Smith]

27 mile this morning at a pretty good pace for me 16.1.Wind seemed to be against me all round my loop which made me work harder to keep the pace up..The highlight of my ride was riding passed my place of employment and not having to turn into the gates,did give the security guard a wave . Looking at Tuesday's weather forcast for Lancashire if I'm out for 7am I'll keep dry and won't be blown around as much..sounds like a plan to me..