Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Rickshaw Phil]

I did my longest ride for about 2 months today. The route was Condover, Longnor, round the back of Leebotwood, over Folly Bank (866ft ASL) to Cardington and back via Hughley, Harley, Acton Burnell and Condover again.

The ride went pretty well. I think I've finally found the sweet spot with the saddle as it was reasonably comfortable for this distance (and should hopefully improve with use).

There were just 2 small incidents; an unnecessary close pass just over a mile from home (the following driver made up for it though with a really wide pass) and a coach which passed me trailing a plume of white smoke and a stink of burning plastics. I wonder how much further he got before it failed?

Edit: Where was everyone today? I only passed 7 cyclists on the whole trip.

Todays mileage was 32.9 with an average speed of 13.4mph.

Looking up at Caer Caradoc from the climb up to Folly Bank.

Being stared down by a sheep.

A great display of daffs on the road to Gretton.

 

[Phil485]

Made it to Benson and back, which is always a bonus. Really interesting to see the airfield again, but no flying activity.
74.9 miles at 18.2 mph. My new bike is evil, it just wants you to push harder.

 

[Peteaud]

Finally got Mrs Aud out of the house and on the bike.

She has not been out much of late so a lazy 17.5 mile bimble around the lanes was enough for her.

This bit of road will never have cars on again, and hasn,t had any for a number of years.

Mrs Aud in the grounds of Dillington House.

Dillington grounds

By the Cider Farm

By Perrys Cider Farm, Dowlish

By the bridge / ford at Dowlish Wake.


Lovely day, nothing fast and no strava segment bashing, just a nice pootle around some of Somersets countryside, with my wife, enjoying her company and the sunshine.

 

[GrasB]

Did a charity ride today, really well organized http://app.strava.com/activities/52443095#

The Motley crew

Someone seems a little out of place!

 

[kedab]

flip flop boy who's just got out of the audi?

 

[Venod]

A clockwise loop from home this morning, I set of with the wind behind me I usually like to head into the wind & get blown home, past Fairburn Ings & onto Ledsham past The Chequers Inn http://thechequersinn.com/ This fine old pub used to be closed Sundays the Lady of the manor instigated this, she was unhappy with her employees over indulgence in the ales of old England on the Sabbath.
Its uphill out of Ledsham I past a lady struggling with the hill she was bright red & obviously over dressed, it was quite warm.
Under the old A1 then over the new A1 before passing Squires Cafe, a Mecca for motorcyclist near & far, it used to be in the Village of Sherburn & people still refer to it as Sherburn coffee bar, they got a lot of stick from the locals in Sherburn with all the noise from the bikes, so it was a good news all round when the moved down the road into bigger premises an old pub. http://www.squires-cafe.co.uk/about_us/index.asp



I turned left in Sherburn & went through Saxton before passing Towton Battlefield http://www.towton.org.uk/ I then turned right down Raw Lane to Ulleskelf, Rhyther & Cawood if you like a steak the Rythre Arms at Rhyther is the Pub for you http://rythrearms.co.uk/aboutrythrearms/

From Cawood it was back into the wind turning into a bit more of a struggle from West Haddlesey heading west, a group caught me, looked like a parent with 2 teenagers & an older guy at the back, I latched on for a bit of shelter, turns out the older guy at the back had latched onto the 3 in front, the parent at the front was doing a fine stint into the wind & it certainly helped keep my average up above 17mph for the ride.

Route
http://www.bikemap.net/route/210377...-1.1626436450196&zoom=12&maptype=opencyclemap

 

[ianrauk]

113 miles with rb58 of this parish.
A very quick country side ramble to Whitstable for a full English at the Waterfront Cafe overlooking the sea.

A little chilly starting out at 6.30 this morning, but the sun was shining so soon warmed up. Went through a Kent village called Offham, which has a Quintain

Reported in medieval times for use in jousting. It is reputed to be the last English Quintain in it's original position. A supposedly Roman invention which was poular in Elizabethan times as a means of testing the agility of horsemen.

The weather stayed nice and sunny all day, with a slight chill in the air to cool things down. Though early afternoon it did feel much warmer.

So, 10th Century of the year. And 6th weekend century in a row.

 

[mrandmrspoves]

I haven't been cycling at all since January this year due to my deteriorating shoulder problem which meant that even riding my Linear recumbent was too painful.
Last week I picked up a reasonably priced early (Crystal Engineering) Trice recumbent Trike - which I can easily ride one handed.
First trip out in the week was a modest 15 miles - but very pleasant.
Today we managed a 30 mile loop out to Downham Market. Speed was not dramatic at 12.6mph - but after virtually no cycling for 3 months I was really pleased with this. Best of all No shoulder pain at all!

Now the big decision is should I venture out on the Trice again tomorrow (and will my legs still be moving in the morning!) or should I spend the day re-roofing the garden shed?
I suspect that my lovely wife's influence will mean it's the latter!

 

[Old Plodder]

Used to ride past that quintain quite often, happy days.

 

[kedab]

very pretty pics - who knew the sky over britain could be so blue eh?! i had begun to think it was going to stay a mid to darkening grey for all eternity.

 

[XRHYSX]

Ten miles down to Faversham with 2.5yr old son on the Weeride and 8yr old daughter on the half bike, spent an hour in the swimming pool then the Ten miles back home

14miles early doors tomorrow with all the family little and often is the way we like it

 

[Glow worm]

A nice idle 21 miler here across the flatlands. As well as cycling, I'm a bit of a birder too, so being able to combine both is always brilliant for me, and today was a corker. So apologies for banging on about birds below!

Headed out along a few tracks and bridleways to Upware. This is near the River Cam.

Looking the other way towards the chalk ridge behind Newmarket, with a beatiful red flowering bush for good measure!

Beyond Upware is a fairly remote nature reserve called Kingfisher Bridge. Not much about today, although I did notice how the hedgerows are suddenly full of singing whitethroat and blackcap. Someone's put this hide up in a pretty non-descript field, quite why is anyone's guess.

Further on, the fields of yellow and green are enough to fill the hearts of us Norwich City fans with joy (cos let's face it, the football isn't doing it). In the background is Soham Church and in the foreground a tractor busy about to poison the bees spray the crops.

The ash does seem to be out before the oak in these parts (doom- it means we're in for a soak) this year. One of my quiet byways has many ash trees along the route.

Many of my rides tend to take in Wicken Fen- mainly because I can escape cars completely along the cycle paths and tracks. Although it was quite busy near the entrance. I sat at a bench for a cuppa and heard my first cuckoo of the year. Peering at a small pool with the binoculars, I spotted two avocets- my favourite bird of all- combining exquisite beauty and elegance- it was a real joy to see them there (I have only ever seen them before on the Norfolk coast).

Things were about to get even better, becasue as I got to the village of Reach, there was a turtle dove sat on a wire. I haven't seen them for two summers, so it was brilliant that they seem to be back. This is a bird species that is more than likely to be extinct by the 2050's. Below, this would win the 'crap photo of the year award' but it was the best I could get with a phone camera. The turtle dove is on the left, much smaller than the two pigeons.

Then on towards home where I bored Mrs G rigid about birds and cycling etc. Off to Reach Fair tomorrow - I may be able to persuade her to cycle there with me, a rare occurence indeed!

 

[Hacienda71]

46 miles for me over The Cat and Fiddle to Buxton and back via Dove Holes Chapel and Whaley. I had set myself a target of going under 30 minutes for the seven mile climb from the town centre. which I did with 5 seconds to spare. which was a minute and 5 improvement on my previous best time. Also put me in the top 100 riders out of over 1100 on Strava on the official 6.5 mile hill climb. Pleased with that, and all in all not a bad ride. Bit of a cross wind at times going up The Cat and a nasty headwind for the last 6 or 7 miles home but good weather, lots of cyclists out most of whom waved or said high even the mtbers, definintely more comradary in the hills.
Got home and swmbo suggested a bike ride with the kids which was nice Pleased with my 6 year old daughter who managed 6.6 miles around Manchester airport and Styal.

 

[kedab]

lovely pics and descriptions you were riding around my neck of the woods - i had no idea you could see soham church from such a long way out!

 

[deadpool7]

15.5 miles in 1:02. along the paved canal. The first half was incredibly windy for the desert so it was a bit rough. Made great time on the way back though and was going faster than ever; got up to 26 MPH for a really good stretch. Came across a woman on her bike who said "goodness!", lol.

Did a bunch of bike maintenance this weekend and had my bike tuned up at my LBS last week. Also, readjusted my handlebars as they came loose a while back and I didn't take much care in adjusting them properly. Looks like all my work paid off with how great of a ride I had. Now, time to start working on upping my mileage.