Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Hip Priest]

Took my guards off the other week because IT IS SPRINGTIME and I looked like a cyclocrosser when I got home.

 

[skudupnorth]

67 Miles for me today with 400bhp to Delamere Forrest. Nice rides through the lanes although it was incredibly muddy. Stopped at the Cafe at Delamere and was presented with a hot chocolate that had some architectural merit. Then had a bacon butty (with salad of course) then headed back at a briskish pace. Was amused to see 400bhp was completely covered in crap (I did have guards on) after drafting me for a few miles .
Got home got of the bike looked at it and decided a full wash down was required, prior to anything else. Oh apart from taking a picture of said muck for Potsy. View attachment 20494 View attachment 20495 View attachment 20496 View attachment 20497

Bloody hell,did you go through the forest aswell !

 

[G3CWI]

Used the rainy start to the day here to put on my new wheels and tyres. Then I installed the long overdue brake shims. A few transparent frame protector patches followed by which time the rain had stopped. To test everything out I decided on a run up to the Cat and Fiddle. The road was wet and not great but I was pleased to knock 7 minutes off my previous PB - something must be getting better. Buoyed up with this success, my trip suffered a bit of mission creep and instead of returning home I diverted via the A54. More diversions resulted in a pot of tea and a slice of fudge cake at Blaze Farm. This was my first visit and I can only blame Hacienda71 as his photos tempted me - is he on commission? As they were cheaper than a pint at the Cat (my other option) I was pretty chuffed.

More diversions followed (snow still across the road in some places) and I rolled up at home some two hours later. What a fun ride! 23 miles, 2400ft ascent.

 

[Hacienda71]

Used the rainy start to the day here to put on my new wheels and tyres. Then I installed the long overdue brake shims. A few transparent frame protector patches followed by which time the rain had stopped. To test everything out I decided on a run up to the Cat and Fiddle. The road was wet and not great but I was pleased to knock 7 minutes off my previous PB - something must be getting better. Buoyed up with this success, my trip suffered a bit of mission creep and instead of returning home I diverted via the A54. More diversions resulted in a pot of tea and a slice of fudge cake at Blaze Farm. This was my first visit and I can only blame Hacienda71 as his photos tempted me - is he on commission? As they were cheaper than a pint at the Cat (my other option) I was pretty chuffed.

More diversions followed (snow still across the road in some places) and I rolled up at home some two hours later. What a fun ride! 23 miles, 2400ft ascent.

A lot cheaper than Delamere which was £7:20 for a hot chocolate and a bacon barm.

By the way did you come back past the Cragg Inn? Great scenery around there.

 

[Hacienda71]

Bloody hell,did you go through the forest aswell !

Not quite although 400bhp did add one or two interesting bits to the route, which strictly would not be described as roads.

 

[skudupnorth]

Not quite although 400bhp did add one or two interesting bits to the route, which strictly would not be described as roads.

He does seem to go the scenic route sometimes I'm over at Delamere in a couple of weeks helping out with the Forest School .......makes a change from cutting the trees down !

 

[Hacienda71]

He does seem to go the scenic route sometimes I'm over at Delamere in a couple of weeks helping out with the Forest School .......makes a change from cutting the trees down !

Take your MTB and blast the trails in your lunch hour.

 

[arranandy]

Absolutely grim 58 miles round the Douglas this morning with some boys from the club. Snowing quite heavily at points. Hands and feet were frozen by the time I got home. At least this time next week I'll be heading to Majorca for a week of cycling in the sun

 

[G3CWI]

A lot cheaper than Delamere which was £7:20 for a hot chocolate and a bacon barm.

By the way did you come back past the Cragg Inn? Great scenery around there.

Not this time. Headed back via Langley with short unintentional trip round Macc Forest. I really must try to concentrate but as a male, pedalling and steering at the same time already maxes out my multitasking capabilities.

 

[HLaB]

To my surprise it was actually dry for the PCC Early Birds Ride (well for the first 25 miles ). I felt surprisingly good (leg wise) and when I ended up on the front for 20 or so miles; half of it sb into 33mph gusts not surprisingly nobody volunteered to come to the front but that's also cause the strongest riders weren't there. It started to bucket though when I finally got of the front, maybe I should have stayed in front
I'm a wee bit worried I felt that good though, because the last time that happened I was floored by a 24h bug the next day!

 

[flatflr]

Just 16 miles today, but happy with that after yesterdays 32 mile ride. Glad I ignored a friends advice (who works for the met office and is now an ex friend) and went out early and didn't wait until after 14:00!

 

[HLaB]

Just 16 miles today, but happy with that after yesterdays 32 mile ride. Glad I ignored a friends advice (who works for the met office and is now an ex friend) and went out early and didn't wait until after 14:00!

IIRC it was dry here till about 10am, bucketed for an hour and stayed dry (even got warm) till 3:30pm and then bucketed again; the met forecast said itd rain all day till 3pm!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Just started fuggin snowing...

 

[G3CWI]

Cold run on the hybrid with a mate; from Macc to Leek picking up the old railway line north of Rudyard. Cold (did I mention that?) and very very muddy. Back via Cloudside and then the canal. 31 miles, 3400ft ascent (I thought canals and railway lines were flat...). Pleased to catch and overtake roadie on the way home - nearly had two but one peeled off down a side road. Sipping piping hot cappuccino now.

 

[Rezillo]

Up to a couple of years ago, I used to regularly see a barn owl hunting over the fields on one part of my route, near Worlingworth. On one occasion, it perched on a telegraph pole support wire by the side of the road, so I stopped and we had a stare-out, which ended about a millisecond before I snapped empty space with my phone.After that, nothing - I assumed it was dead or had moved to new territory.

Today, it or a successor was back right in front of me at the same spot - flying along a few metres above the centre of the road with me matching it in hot pursuit for about 200m. They are really a glorious sight when flying low. The seemingly effortless flight is also deceptively fast, as I found out.

To follow up on this, not only did I see him/her again today at the same spot but five miles away, another barn owl flew right across in front of me, so close I had to brake to avoid hitting it. I watched it fly round for a while but it didn't come back near me.

The other one at Worlingworth (now known as Barney) was hunting across a meadow and I watched it sweep and occasionally tumble down for about ten minutes. It then sat photogenically on a fence post 200m away

I only had a rubbish phone camera but here are a couple of distant shots of Barney: