Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Matthew_T]

Very misty and damp ride today. Thought I would have loads of SMIDSY's and bad driving but nothing at all.

Was waiting at a set of traffic lights and a ped comes up to me and stands right infront. Asks if I have a camera and I say yes. But he still just stands there. His friend then comes up and stands next to him. The lights then change and I have to physically ride around them as they just wouldnt budge. I looked behind me and they just walked bad to the side of the road stopping a car from moving off.
I was then waiting at another set of lights and two other peds ask if I have a camera on my head. I said yes and they cheered. I then directed them to Youtube.

All in all nothing much happened.

 

[thegravestoneman]

forgot to mention 2 things

1. Done over 100 miles this week, 1st time this time round.

2. Saw my reflection in a shop window and a bald old codger on a bike looked back at me. Seems I am 47 now and not the 20 years old I feel when I am on my bike, so I just ordered a cap off ebay to cover my shame and to keep deluding myself.

 

[compo]

Did a 31 mile circuit this morning. It was a bit chilly and a bit windy but dry and not unpleasant. It was a fairly hilly route but the hills are definitely getting easier as I ride more and lose weight.

 

[Kies]

Did a 13 mile fast loop this afternoon as the sun was going down. started off warm,but finished cold. Still glad i got a ride in after work :-)

 

[RWright]

I did my normal 10 mile evening ride after I got home from work. Forgot to start my Garmin, again, so I lost of couple of more miles on my mileage totals.

I decided to stop at the grocery store and pick up a few things rather than drive back and get them. Saw a little boy about 4 or 5 years old throw up in the store. Unfortunately for the kid he was with his dad rather than his mother. His dad just stood there looking and saying are you ok, are you ok, while the kid is standing there embarrassed and bawling because he had puked all over the floor and on his shirt. Mothers are much better in crisis situations and better prepared for them.

I did find out I can carry a gallon of milk, a loaf of whole wheat bread, a pound of sliced turkey breast, a pound of provolone cheese, a small jar of cherry preserves and small size container of pimento cheese in two of those plastic grocery bags they give you (double bagged for the bike ride) one on each handlebar grip and make it home without crashing. I will probably not be doing that again, I just got a rack for my other bike and am going to make it my shopping bike.

Just another uneventful ride, cool enough that I had to wear full finger gloves but not too cold.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Another night ride, circuits along the sea front. According to the car temperature indicator, it was 7 deg cel when I started and 5 deg cel when I finished. The wind wasn't as strong as my last ride there and there were very few people about....awesome ride again. Managed 14 mph average speed inc breaks...really chuffed as I wasn't really pushing it.

I saw a fox run in front of me, I wasn't expecting that on the seafront, I didn't know foxes lived near the sea.

Every time I ride the refurbished promenade at Blackpool I notice something different or new. Last night I was mesmerised by the the huge 'darts (?)', which are about 30 ft tall at a guess...they really bend and sway in the wind.

76 miles again, I think I might do 4 circuits for this months 100 mile challenge.

 

[Poacher]

A ride yesterday around the Vale of Belvoir and beyond with an ex-colleague.
Crossing the Trent at Gunthorpe bridge on the way to the rendezvous.

Furry friendly beasts.

A poignant gravestone noticed while waiting at the appointed meeting place.

Nodding donkeys near Long Clawson.

This gate is what makes Ironstone Lane a gated road; reminded me of a scene from Withnail and I.

Great day for a ride, only marred by a rear wheel puncture and a broken gearside spoke - a reminder to lose weight and improve my wheel building skills!

 

[G3CWI]

First ride out since Monday's accident. Just a couple of miles on the newly refurbished commuter bike to check out my engineering work. Big improvements:

replaced ball bearings in front hub, regreased
new rear wheel
new cassette
new chain
new cables
fixed squeaking suspension
deep clean, lube and grease.

Cost me a small fortune - but the bike rides like new.

Accident has left me with sore shoulder - but nothing more serious.

May start the commute next week...

 

[BigonaBianchi]

40 mile loop ...new head cam packed up...pilot error most likely...bit windy, drizzle, bit of a heart in mouth moment on roundabout with old dear who seemed to lose control of the car...had to bang on her bonnet to wake her up...lovely downhill...not so lovely dual carriageway....warmer than of late....right..hot tea and a sarny methinks...no wait..hot shower first

 

[Old Plodder]

I actually got out on my bike today; I said I would start again in March & I managed to keep to my promise.
Only 20 miles, half of it against a 20 mph wind up a long drag.
So as we were passing a garden centre a coffee was required.
Someone ahead of us in the queue said something about chips, so we had to have some.
Weather was chilly damp, my calves were burning & my groin area wasn't too happy either.
After a couple of hours back at home, now just a little tired.

 

[nickyboy]

Wasn't planning on going out today but I am in correspondence with Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council about a pothole big enough to fall into so I decided on a quick ride out to photograph it.
Wouldn't you know, I got there and found it had been patched. On one hand, good news, on the other hand I want them to pay for a busted front wheel and somehow it feels like the timing of the repair will make this less likely

For those interested in such matters, 4 x strava PBs. Mainly due to it being such a short run, about 9 miles, but still 1,000ft of climbing

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

seems that the calm on the roads of late has ended. Not long into my ride, I was nearly T boned. saved by a young teenage son yelling at his dad - left it at that. Then pedestrians walking out on me: got to yell at them, too late for me to do anything to avoid an accident when they just randomly stepped off the pavement without so much as a glance. Let a car out at a junction which surprised the living daylights of the woman! Almost made it to my destination without further incident until a certain approach to a mini-roundabout. One of those that as a cyclist you think, why the hell would anyone turn left at it... apparently no-one had informed me that I was after I was overtaken and cut up on said approach despite indicating right... Journey back was not much better, 2 drivers attempted the car door manoeuver on me, both got yelled at simply to prevent me having to swerve (I am always out about 1-1.5m from these cars but one of these cars was a VW EOS and I know from my mothers that the doors open a very long way.) Another driver got a loud "cyclist" warning, stopped at the side of an uphill where there is enough room for cyclists to be safely overtaken even with oncoming vehicles (just very wide there), he was rummaging around on the backseat, standing at a partial open door and just as I got level with the boot, turned around to exit...
From there a car turning right across my path flashed some drivers to let them out of the side road... thankfully everyone else stayed put and waited for me to get through - I centre of the lane that junction because of the road surface and previous issues there.
Shall be glad to be off the road and on the mountain bike tomorrow... it might just be safer off-road

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Another solo (30mi) ride today. I need to find a reliable buddy

Weekly total up to 120mi (to increase) niggles are disappearing and I've just hung my event calendar on the door with at least 1 per month highlighted as far as September.

 

[ColinJ]

seems that the calm on the roads of late has ended ...
[long list of near misses]

Blimey - I'm glad that you somehow got back in one piece!

I have had a couple of rides like that in the past. Normally, I encounter just the odd idiot but I did one 20 mile ride in which 5 drivers and pedestrians seriously p***ed me off!

The one that annoyed me most was a man walking towards me with his wife and kids on the right hand side of the road. He knew that I was heading in his direction but decided that he had a right to step out in front of me and try to force me to do an emergency stop. I know that he was aware of me because his children were trying to pull him back onto the pavement and were crying out "Daddy, daddy - watch out - bike!" but he just ignored them and persisted.

His wife pulled the kids back onto the pavement but he continued across the road directly into my path, giving me the evil eye - How dare I cycle down that road when he wanted to cross it in front of me!

There was no way that I was going to stop in that situation. I wasn't going to risk skidding and crashing, or going over the handlebars because some idiot had decided to assert his right to rush across an imaginary pedestrian crossing in fast-moving traffic.

It wasn't safe to go in front of him or behind him because I didn't know which way he was going to jump, but jump he definitely would. I aimed straight at him, out of the saddle and sprinting at over 30 mph. He left it until the last second and then jumped forwards out of the way, hurling abuse at me.

Absolute bloody cretinous fool ... (Him, that is! )

 

[coffeejo]

Exchanged friendly waves with three guys on road bikes this afternoon heading in the opposite direction to me and couldn't help but overhear the teeniest snippet of their conversation:

...that should be criminal...

The imagination boggles. Or at least mine did for the remaining 20 miles of my ride.