Your ride today.... (part 1)

[coffeejo]

A much shorter ride than I originally intended (18 instead of 40) but still managed to continue the pattern of new-to-me roads. One of which I won't be doing again - a very steep descent down to a junction with a very busy main road. Oddly enough, ended up with the same average and top speeds as yesterday. And no photos from me either as (a) it was too cold to stop and (b) it's just dull and grey out there.

 

[Matthew_T]

A cold one today. Computer says -2.

Had a nice ride nonetheless. Tried pushing myself up a segment but only managed my 3rd best time. I wasnt trying hard and the cold was getting me so my averages were a little bit low today.
Had one guy overtake me on a blind left turn with no chance of avoiding anything coming the other direction (lucky for him). Had a silly woman drive right across my path at some cross roads. And had one guy do the most pointless MGIF manouvre at a set of lights where I was stuck behind traffic.

In all not much really happened but I am might cold! Nice hot shower now.

 

[Lee_M]

snowing this morning in London, but facebook friend just said "rule 5" so off i went.

met a friend in Pitsea, checked out the qoroz ti bike in velo virtuoso in Hadleigh, mcdonalds refuel then back home via Rayleigh, Billericay, Brentwood etc.

very very cold but pleased that the detour forced on me by Garmin meant I did 110k instead of the planned 100, so my longest ride ever

 

[compo]

Reflecting on another thread whilst riding this morning I think I will invent polystyrene socks. It was snowing when I left home and bloomin' cold. My tiny size 12 feet were frozen and I could hardly feel my toes. I rode the lanes between Harlow and Writtle, via Fyfield, Willingale, and Roxwell. It was my intention to visit the tea rooms at Writtle College but there was a big sign instructing cyclists to use bike stands some distance from the tea rooms. As I wasn't carrying a lock I decided not to bother. Total miles for the morning a pleasing 41 miles with no issues and no real problems with the actual cycling.

 

[derrick]

No ride today suffering the worst hang over ever.

 

[HLaB]

I went to bed with a bit of a tickly throat and feared the worse; half the office had been coughing and spluttering and I'd coughed a few times (a barking cough ). So I decided to forego the early club ride but still woke early and felt good, so went out for a wee low tempo ride on the fix myself. Thankfully I never coughed once when I was out, I did momentarily on return but it was a dry cough and quickly relented

Oh and the new Bamboo Base Layer performed well

 

[Peteaud]

Yesterday morning, a friend and I ventured out into the sunshine to test a new-to-us coffee stop, Barleymow's Farm Shop near Chard, as recommended by Peteaud of this parish. As part of my "training" for the Exmoor Beauty in April, I'd decided on a hilly route, completely ignoring the friendly canal paths and gentle undulations to the north of Chard in favour of something far more challenging via the Blackdowns.

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Blagdon Hill, one of several gateways into the Blackdowns, was ok. Tough, but ok and having survived the first climb of the day, we pushed aside all thoughts of the ones to come and just enjoyed the simple pleasure of riding our bikes in the warmth of the late winter sunshine as we made our way across the upland plateau before dropping down into Upottery.

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Turning left, we crossed the River Otter and tried to ignore the second hill looming above us. All memories of conquering Blagdon vanished as my legs screamed and my lungs burned. I resisted the urge to get off and walk, but did stop several times to let my muscles regroup. To add insult to injury, the last section of the hill was met with a warning sign for the junction with the busy A303. One hundred yards left, all of them pointing up towards the sky. You couldn't even see the tarmac of the main road from the sign's location! I lurched my way up there, inspired by the promise of a chance to stop. However, almost as soon I put one foot down, the traffic eased and we had no option but to cross then and there. Why does that never happen at other times?!

The rest of the ride between there and Barleymow's is a bit of a blur. Swooping down country lanes, past busy farms and lazy livestock, all making the most of this dry spell before the cold sets in later in the week, crossing over the River Yarty and then up, up, up, to the other side of the valley, collapsing at the top and soaking in the view, marvelling at how small the bottom of the valley appeared from our vantage point.

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One last push and we were greeted with a large and friendly sign for our destination:
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The restaurant was packed so we sat outside, devouring the delicious food and laughing at the look on our waitress's face when she asked how far we'd come.

Wisely avoiding the agony of Combe St Nicholas (a pretty village but surrounded by ridiculously steep hills on all sides), we instead headed up the A30 for a mile or so before turning off to take the comparatively gentler road back up into the Blackdowns, waving at the village far below us as we took on the last handful of spikes in the road before collecting our reward: the descent down into the village of Staple Fitzpaine. And at 38mph, it was indeed a fine prize. We cruised back into Taunton, recuperated with tea and a wonderfully hot shower and then headed to the cinema for a late afternoon showing of Les Mis. Powered by a picknmix-induced sugar rush, I then made my way home under a blanket of stars and the gleaming light of the moon, tired but happy.

Sorry i missed this in the week.

It looks a great day and the sun being out must have been a bonus. I hope you found Barleymows ok.

It is a stunning part of the country and i love the pics.

Well done.

 

[Saluki]

First ride for about 6 weeks and I nearly died of exhaustion!! I am shattered. The 'my tracks' app on my phone tells lies. It says that I have ridden 4km when the route (one I have ridden often) is 13.33km so I figure that the phone lost sight of the satellites for a bit. Anyway, I rode it in around 47 minutes.
My app tells me that I stopped and stayed still 6 times so I know that it's lying as I only actually stopped twice, both times for a good few seconds at road junctions that decided to be busy when I arrived at them.

I took the Defy out for the first time since before Xmas. I am not too sure which of us was most shocked at riding down the road.
Planning a short ride around the Themelthorpe Loop tomorrow on the MTB with the OH, unless it snows and then I shall stay in with hot chocolate and marshmallows instead.

 

[Glow worm]

Just a 4 miler today to the next village (Bottisham) and back. It's a beautiful lane though spoilt by the enormous amount of litter chucked out of car windows. So every now and then I pick as much up as I can when I can no longer bear the sight of it.

It's been a couple of months since my last effort and my, was there a lot of rubbish out there. As well as the usual take away crap, highlights included a couple of bottles of 'trucker's Tizer', a very unsavoury pile of latex gloves, a spot where someone had dumped about 8 empty Carlsberg cans and most bizzarely a very dead wild rabbit, tightly wrapped in a plastic bag.

All the fag packets I collected had a big notice on them saying 'smoking kills' and I began to wish it would do so rather more quickly to be honest! All in all 2 very full bin liners of rubbish, so I hope it will stay clear for a while now. I had to leave one bag behind a hedge as I could only manage one on my handlebars going home, so will go back tomorrow to pick it up, on my way hopefully to a more enjoyable ride!

 

[GrasB]

For the first time ever I had to call for a recovery! I managed to rip a glove wide open on a bottle holder, took about 90 seconds for the side of my hand to become numb with cold. Even with my hand tucked into my jacket I still managed to get a touch of frost nip on one finger in the 5 min or so it took to get to the nearest cafe.

 

[arranandy]

10km then the bike died!! Bearings in rear wheel collapsed!! Had to phone the wife to come and rescue me. She eventually did after much whinging

 

[matthat]

I managed a steady urban 13 miles on mtb!! It felt wrong going out looking for hills but that's part of the current requirements for training for this summers c2c!

 

[Billy Adam]

snowing this morning in London, but facebook friend just said "rule 5" so off i went.

met a friend in Pitsea, checked out the qoroz ti bike in velo virtuoso in Hadleigh, mcdonalds refuel then back home via Rayleigh, Billericay, Brentwood etc.

very very cold but pleased that the detour forced on me by Garmin meant I did 110k instead of the planned 100, so my longest ride ever

Rule 9 applies then.

 

[vernon]

Seventy two miles from Wetherby to Market Weighton and back on a pie prospecting mission. The first hour's riding was in light snowfall until I reached York. Identified butcher's premises in Dunnington and Wilberfoss, both were closed which saved me from myself as I'd eaten out every night from Monday to Thursday. Just outside Pocklington on the A1079, the verges had large drifts of snowdrops -spring is coming.

Coming back from Market Weighton, I turned off the A1079 and pedalled through Everingham, Melbourne and Elvington where I spotted a Nimrod aircraft at the Yorkshire Air Museum. In fact Elvington had a plethora of things of visual interest including a dead stoat in the gutter.

Memorial to French air crews Elvington

Hurricane gate guardian at Elvington

Nimrod at Elvington

The remainder of the ride back was uneventful.

 

[coffeejo]

Sorry i missed this in the week.

It looks a great day and the sun being out must have been a bonus. I hope you found Barleymows ok.

It is a stunning part of the country and i love the pics.

Well done.

Barleymow's was . My friend says she taking t'other bike with panniers when we take the cycle group there in April. Five weeks to bribe her to carry stuff back for me, as well. Thanks for the recommendation.