Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Steve Malkin]

I have no idea what happened on the ride home, but somehow I have managed to knock +6 mins of my personal best for that route. previously it has taken me 1hr 30 mins 34 seconds being my PB. Today it was 1:24:34 giving me an average speed over 15mph (which is unheard of for me!).

I went out for a spin after work round one of my favourite loops and It was unusually quick for me today too, 18.2mph average over nearly 25 miles, I'm usually a couple of mph slower than that. I put it down to the temperature being a bit cooler and the wind being nice and light, everything just felt 'right' tonight somehow.

http://www.strava.com/activities/80034782

 

[oldfatfool]

couple of rides to add after sunday and le alpe
mon ;; croix de fer and glandon
tues ; lauterat and galibier
wed; la sarenne

day off tomorrrow hew:

 

[Archeress]

I headed out after work to do something that I hadn't done in ages, which was to ride around the town that I reside in, Shrewsbury. I headed out along Whitchurch Rd and then through Castlefields and then alongside the River Severn on the towpath, passing the very sad sight of seeing the luxury riverside apartments that are being built on the former site of where my beloved Shrewsbury Town Football Club used to play (Gay Meadow). Mind you, after last nights 4-1 thrashing in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy against Oldham, they are not so beloved to me today!! This site used to have a covenant on it that stated it could only be used for leisure purposes. That seems to have conveniently been forgotten.

I continued into the Quarry Park and it was very pleasant in the lovely warm and there were a few cyclists about, including one young lad who was out with his sister and fancied racing me as I overtook him........I won !! There have been a number of irate letters in the local rag recently, from pedestrians, who have been moaning about cyclists speeding through the Quarry and almost knocking them over. I really do wonder how this is the case, as the traffic free road really is wider than most 2 lane Main Roads!! Some people really do just have nothing better to do than moan. Life is too short, get over it!!

I then dismounted to walk over Porthill Bridge, passing the very nice Boathouse Inn, which looked very inviting for a pint on their beer terrace overlooking the river, but I resisted and carried on into Porthill and then out onto Roman Road and through Copthorne estate, towards where I work at the Hospital. I then doubled back around Crowmeole Lane and down towards Meole Brace, out onto the cycle path. I had to navigate around a car that had decided a cycle lane also doubles as somewhere to park their car and I arrived in Meole Brace, navigating around a car that had broken down blocking the junction near Upper Road.

I then proceeded along Oteley Road, passing the new (well since 2007 anyway) home of Shrewsbury Town Football Club. It is a typical soulless out of town ground, that are becoming the norm these days. It doesn't have anywhere near the atmosphere of the previous ground, but it is comfortable and much safer and I suppose those things have to come first these days.

The Greenhous Meadow

View attachment 28789

I continued along Oteley Road and turned left into Sutton Farm estate and then took the cycleway along the old track bed through to Reabrook. I then headed along Bage Way, Telford Way and back along Whitchurch Road.

The one thing I discovered was that cycling in the town is nowhere near as much fun as being out in the countryside. There are too many stops and starts to gain any real momentum, too many pedestrians walking in the cycle lanes who won't get out of the way and the noise of constant traffic and the exhaust fumes are very off putting. I have recently been thinking of cycling to work, but I have decided definitely against it now, as cycling is an enjoyment to me and I think if I join the commuter cyclists through town every day it will become a chore and not an enjoyment any more.

The legs felt a bit heavy today, perhaps too much sitting down at work! I am hoping to get a 40 miler in with @Rickshaw Phil this weekend, although the weather looks like it is going to do it's best to put pay to that .

11.72 miles, avg speed 11.4 mph

Thank you for the post. It reminded me of my childhood. I moved away from there to Devon in 1983, after my father had lost his job in Telford and then found a new one in Exeter. From November '82 to May '83 we would walk along the river from near the Rolls Royce plant into the station every other Sunday as we saw my father off on the train back to Exeter. Can't quite remember if we passed the Gay Meadow, but I think we did. I also remember gathering in the Quarry for St Georges Day parades through the town to the castle.

Hugs
Archeress x

 

[DonnaHegarty]

Quite chuffed with my midweek ride tonight. Finally decided to brave the notorious Crow Road up over the Campsie hills and amazingly I done it! Have to say the first part of the hill is the steepest and tries to kill you off early on just at the golf course but then the gradient calms down slightly and feels like a breeze after the steep start. It then just goes on for rather a long time. However that is it now done, even if it was rather slowly. Now I have a benchmark I can work on improving my speed each time. Coming back down was great fun and the high of having climbed the hill put some turbo speed into the cycle back through Torrance to the car.

 

[TheDoctor]

23 miles with the local CTC on a Wednesday Night Ride to the Pub (WNRttP).
Came back in a state of mild refreshment

 

[Moda]

Was at full tilt going down Archway road when a black Ferrari past so close I swear the wing mirror scrapped me...... scary!

 

[robjh]

Beautiful warm evening yesterday. I left work early and rode from Coventry over to the Lickey Hills in south Birmingham and caught the sunset there. My first time there, and I loved the views south to the Malverns, and north across the whole West Midlands metropolis. As the sun went down I put on a long-sleeve jersey but as soon as I had dropped back down into the town I was sweating buckets and took it off again. Finished with an exhiliarating high-speed ride into central Brum on the A38, a samosa stop in Sparkbrook's balti triangle, and a final sprint in the dark down the A41 to Solihull and home. Still warm at 10pm and I sat outside for a bit.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Final ride before the tour starts. no drama's thankfully, just the morning chores done (into town to collect a zip, back to local post office & on to chemist to ensure I have enough meds for the tour)... only issue was hedge cuttings and spent over a mile playing dodge with them and whilst the Schwalbe Durano pluses stand up very well to most things, hawthorn thorns are not one of those things they resist well! Hope I don't have a fairy visit to the road bike whilst I am away - would be a pain to come home to a flat! 20.3km in a hour. http://www.strava.com/activities/80209974.

 

[Toeclip]

Once the fog lifted this morning I went out for a short ride of 12 miles , but it was my first outing for 3 days having spent 24 hours in my local hospital having my annual (every 2 years) M.O.T.

 

[coffeejo]

Yesterday afternoon, I headed down into Devon for a 48 mile ride in the sun. I went through the lanes to Wellington then headed for Culmstock, where I stopped for a cold drink and to refill my water bottle (drank 3 by the time I got home ), then made my way through the Culm Valley to Hemyock. Luckily I'd remembered to bring my hill legs as it's a long haul up to the top of the Blackdowns. Once up on the ridge, I headed east(ish) to the hill above Staple Fitzpaine where I got my reward for all that climbing - a smooth descent with a top speed of 40.2mph, which I was pretty chuffed about as I'm still trying to get my confidence back after a rear wheel wobble early in the summer on a 40+mph descent.

Apologies, by the way, to the two blokes I saw on one hill who were attacking the climb as I took it easy on the descent at 30mph. Thanks for smiling and not swearing.

The sweetcorn is coming along nicely - forests of it everywhere at the moment.

The River Culm

The Culm Valley

The Blackdown Hills, somewhere on the top ridge between Corfe Hill and Staple Hill.

Nearly home - the foothills of the Quantocks

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Nice ride out today in the essex countryside but sweating buckets when i got home as it was hot at 30c.

http://www.strava.com/activities/80238856

 

[Seamab]

Quite chuffed with my midweek ride tonight. Finally decided to brave the notorious Crow Road up over the Campsie hills and amazingly I done it! Have to say the first part of the hill is the steepest and tries to kill you off early on just at the golf course but then the gradient calms down slightly and feels like a breeze after the steep start. It then just goes on for rather a long time. However that is it now done, even if it was rather slowly. Now I have a benchmark I can work on improving my speed each time. Coming back down was great fun and the high of having climbed the hill put some turbo speed into the cycle back through Torrance to the car.

Congratulations! It is a nice steady climb up the Crow Rd and i think the road surface is descent for a fun descent. I've only been up there once this year coming up the opposite way from Fintry (road pothole central!) and enjoyed going down to Lennoxtown.
Next on your list then is the "Tak me Doon"?

 

[Chris1983]

Quite chuffed with my midweek ride tonight. Finally decided to brave the notorious Crow Road up over the Campsie hills and amazingly I done it! Have to say the first part of the hill is the steepest and tries to kill you off early on just at the golf course but then the gradient calms down slightly and feels like a breeze after the steep start. It then just goes on for rather a long time. However that is it now done, even if it was rather slowly. Now I have a benchmark I can work on improving my speed each time. Coming back down was great fun and the high of having climbed the hill put some turbo speed into the cycle back through Torrance to the car.

Thats a good climb...I've driven that road a couple of times and more so Tak-Ma-Doon Road as I spent a lot of time working on the Westfield Industrial estate until a year ago when I changed jobs and I used to take the mountain bike with me some weeks and ride a few laps of Carron Valley of an evening...i was always tempted to ride up the Tak-Ma-Doon road but somehow found it easier to throw the MTB in the car and drive up

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Well today I decided to set off and see what all the fuss is about at Balcombe down here in Sussex, something to do with ‘fracking’…which apparently is a baaaaaaad thing, but im ignorant of the process. Anyway…I got as far as the Amsterdam at shoreham before a bloody great lorry decided to try and kill me with a seriously close punishment pass just as I was joining the roundabout…typical that my camera is at hedcamz atm to get some new firmware added…drivers like that should get a lifetime ban, period.

Ok…so things could only get better and they did…weather was wonderful and the wind was in my favour…blimey…I got the cuckfield and stopped at the co op for monster energy at just £1 a tin! I’m becoming an expert of the pricing of these things…Esso are the biggest rip off merchants so far at over £2 a tin….anyway moving on…I headed up toward balcombe…erm….but then the ride changed direction as the police woman posted at the turn to balcombe refused all traffic as well as bikes access…bit of a police overreaction imho to throw a blanket no go zone around the place for several miles. So I decided not to argue the toss with the strong arm of the law and turned around deciding to just ride and see what happened…I ended up in Hawards heath…then I thought, right, got to do something new today….



so I headed up and over saddlescombe farm and devils dyke hill from poynings. It’s supposed to be a killer climb and at moments I was looking for the non exisitant granny ring, but over I went no problem.

I rode the next bit up to the pub at the top of the dyke, where I was flagged down by a guy asking if I was the bloke who rode across America from the club ride the other week. A good chat was had, he was on his lunch break from brighton and rides to the top of the dyke and back every day this time before going back to work!

All in all a lovely day out again in West, and East Sussex J

 

[Seamab]

After my more or less rest day yesterday i set out on my TT loop past Balado and Kinross. Legs felt surprisingly good so i battered round (edit: paced myself superbly) and finally got over the 20mph avg (20.1mph no less!) over the 27 mile circuit.
Time to retire now i'm ahead...