Hacienda71
Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
- Location
- Wilmslow, Cheshire
Your ride today.... (part 1)
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
- Status
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
- Location
- Glasgow
Just a quick very wet 10 miler with the girls this morning, riding out again in a moment, to work this time 
@TheLondonCyclist if you that are "the" London cyclist don't know where to cycle in London, what hope is there for the rest of us?
@TheLondonCyclist if you that are "the" London cyclist don't know where to cycle in London, what hope is there for the rest of us?
TheLondonCyclist
Guest
I've cycled all over London, running out of places to find. Maybe you guys know of secret routes :PJust a quick very wet 10 miler with the girls this morning, riding out again in a moment, to work this time
@TheLondonCyclist if you that are "the" London cyclist don't know where to cycle in London, what hope is there for the rest of us?
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
Just the over to my parents to help my mum out whilst my step-father is recovering from his 3rd hip replacement op (to the same hip inside 10 months! He had the op on Tuesday and thankfully my mother is a lot less stressed than she was then.
The journey out was pretty uneventful except for a nice sunrise which I took from the bedroom window with a just in case I don't get anything else thought and then some really nice light later on when I stopped on the back lanes just this side of the M6 to take some shots of the skyline and clouds. I'm afraid the sunrise pales in comparison to the rest of the pictures but... Oh and did I say how difficult this morning was? Made worse by the fact my OH had cycled to work leaving the car at home and I had the dull aches to every limb that said if I don't do exercise I'm going to get very stiff, but 45 miles for a commute to my mum's could be too much, so I could take the car but... oh did I ache this morning...
Sunrise....
then 3 shots of the light in on the horizon - this was all I could do with it - I was seriously wishing I had my big camera handy and some graduated neutral density filters around, but these were the results... Oh and I have left the OE'ed sun in on one of the shots because I think it seems to help show what I was seeing...
I just love the pattern in the clouds in this picture!
Coming home was slight more 'interesting' than it usually is, in that someone decided I needed watering for 2 hours (thanks for that!), me dropping another comuuter who had come alongside me at a queue of vehicles with the 'are you going to undertake them, you're blocking my undertaking them' approach - err no, not a single one of them knew I was there and my life (in the rain and dark) is more important to me than that... and then he latched on to my back for a while - where he disappeared to is another matter entirely, because there was a canal on one side and nothing but industrial wasteland on the other and nowhere to turn off, but after 10 mins he was nowhere to be seen and hadn't overtaken me. Then there was an interesting 'discussion' with a 4x4 driver in Middlewich that resulted in him apologizing to me! He pulled out on me along a section that I know vehicles just can't get passed me on (too fast, and road too narrow so I middle lane it due to seriously poor road surface at the edge) leaving me looking at the small print of his registration plate despite him starting the manoeuvre when I was probably 50m away. A hand gesture (well it was the entire arm) got his attention and he suddenly realised exactly how close we had come to meeting... so he apologised which rather surprised me to be honest! After that the result of the journey home just continued with the 2 hour 'watering' and I got home to my OH having cooked our evening meal!
Out - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337509 35.3km
Home - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337508 33.6 km
The journey out was pretty uneventful except for a nice sunrise which I took from the bedroom window with a just in case I don't get anything else thought and then some really nice light later on when I stopped on the back lanes just this side of the M6 to take some shots of the skyline and clouds. I'm afraid the sunrise pales in comparison to the rest of the pictures but... Oh and did I say how difficult this morning was? Made worse by the fact my OH had cycled to work leaving the car at home and I had the dull aches to every limb that said if I don't do exercise I'm going to get very stiff, but 45 miles for a commute to my mum's could be too much, so I could take the car but... oh did I ache this morning...
Sunrise....
then 3 shots of the light in on the horizon - this was all I could do with it - I was seriously wishing I had my big camera handy and some graduated neutral density filters around, but these were the results... Oh and I have left the OE'ed sun in on one of the shots because I think it seems to help show what I was seeing...
I just love the pattern in the clouds in this picture!
Coming home was slight more 'interesting' than it usually is, in that someone decided I needed watering for 2 hours (thanks for that!), me dropping another comuuter who had come alongside me at a queue of vehicles with the 'are you going to undertake them, you're blocking my undertaking them' approach - err no, not a single one of them knew I was there and my life (in the rain and dark) is more important to me than that... and then he latched on to my back for a while - where he disappeared to is another matter entirely, because there was a canal on one side and nothing but industrial wasteland on the other and nowhere to turn off, but after 10 mins he was nowhere to be seen and hadn't overtaken me. Then there was an interesting 'discussion' with a 4x4 driver in Middlewich that resulted in him apologizing to me! He pulled out on me along a section that I know vehicles just can't get passed me on (too fast, and road too narrow so I middle lane it due to seriously poor road surface at the edge) leaving me looking at the small print of his registration plate despite him starting the manoeuvre when I was probably 50m away. A hand gesture (well it was the entire arm) got his attention and he suddenly realised exactly how close we had come to meeting... so he apologised which rather surprised me to be honest! After that the result of the journey home just continued with the 2 hour 'watering' and I got home to my OH having cooked our evening meal!
Out - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337509 35.3km
Home - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337508 33.6 km
TheLondonCyclist
Guest
wowJust the over to my parents to help my mum out whilst my step-father is recovering from his 3rd hip replacement op (to the same hip inside 10 months! He had the op on Tuesday and thankfully my mother is a lot less stressed than she was then.
The journey out was pretty uneventful except for a nice sunrise which I took from the bedroom window with a just in case I don't get anything else thought and then some really nice light later on when I stopped on the back lanes just this side of the M6 to take some shots of the skyline and clouds. I'm afraid the sunrise pales in comparison to the rest of the pictures but... Oh and did I say how difficult this morning was? Made worse by the fact my OH had cycled to work leaving the car at home and I had the dull aches to every limb that said if I don't do exercise I'm going to get very stiff, but 45 miles for a commute to my mum's could be too much, so I could take the car but... oh did I ache this morning...
View attachment 36013
Sunrise....
then 3 shots of the light in on the horizon - this was all I could do with it - I was seriously wishing I had my big camera handy and some graduated neutral density filters around, but these were the results... Oh and I have left the OE'ed sun in on one of the shots because I think it seems to help show what I was seeing...
View attachment 36014
View attachment 36015
View attachment 36016
I just love the pattern in the clouds in this picture!
Coming home was slight more 'interesting' than it usually is, in that someone decided I needed watering for 2 hours (thanks for that!), me dropping another comuuter who had come alongside me at a queue of vehicles with the 'are you going to undertake them, you're blocking my undertaking them' approach - err no, not a single one of them knew I was there and my life (in the rain and dark) is more important to me than that... and then he latched on to my back for a while - where he disappeared to is another matter entirely, because there was a canal on one side and nothing but industrial wasteland on the other and nowhere to turn off, but after 10 mins he was nowhere to be seen and hadn't overtaken me. Then there was an interesting 'discussion' with a 4x4 driver in Middlewich that resulted in him apologizing to me! He pulled out on me along a section that I know vehicles just can't get passed me on (too fast, and road too narrow so I middle lane it due to seriously poor road surface at the edge) leaving me looking at the small print of his registration plate despite him starting the manoeuvre when I was probably 50m away. A hand gesture (well it was the entire arm) got his attention and he suddenly realised exactly how close we had come to meeting... so he apologised which rather surprised me to be honest! After that the result of the journey home just continued with the 2 hour 'watering' and I got home to my OH having cooked our evening meal!
Out - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337509 35.3km
Home - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337508 33.6 km
- Location
- Glasgow
Just the over to my parents to help my mum out whilst my step-father is recovering from his 3rd hip replacement op (to the same hip inside 10 months! He had the op on Tuesday and thankfully my mother is a lot less stressed than she was then.
The journey out was pretty uneventful except for a nice sunrise which I took from the bedroom window with a just in case I don't get anything else thought and then some really nice light later on when I stopped on the back lanes just this side of the M6 to take some shots of the skyline and clouds. I'm afraid the sunrise pales in comparison to the rest of the pictures but... Oh and did I say how difficult this morning was? Made worse by the fact my OH had cycled to work leaving the car at home and I had the dull aches to every limb that said if I don't do exercise I'm going to get very stiff, but 45 miles for a commute to my mum's could be too much, so I could take the car but... oh did I ache this morning...
View attachment 36013
Sunrise....
then 3 shots of the light in on the horizon - this was all I could do with it - I was seriously wishing I had my big camera handy and some graduated neutral density filters around, but these were the results... Oh and I have left the OE'ed sun in on one of the shots because I think it seems to help show what I was seeing...
View attachment 36014
View attachment 36015
View attachment 36016
I just love the pattern in the clouds in this picture!
Coming home was slight more 'interesting' than it usually is, in that someone decided I needed watering for 2 hours (thanks for that!), me dropping another comuuter who had come alongside me at a queue of vehicles with the 'are you going to undertake them, you're blocking my undertaking them' approach - err no, not a single one of them knew I was there and my life (in the rain and dark) is more important to me than that... and then he latched on to my back for a while - where he disappeared to is another matter entirely, because there was a canal on one side and nothing but industrial wasteland on the other and nowhere to turn off, but after 10 mins he was nowhere to be seen and hadn't overtaken me. Then there was an interesting 'discussion' with a 4x4 driver in Middlewich that resulted in him apologizing to me! He pulled out on me along a section that I know vehicles just can't get passed me on (too fast, and road too narrow so I middle lane it due to seriously poor road surface at the edge) leaving me looking at the small print of his registration plate despite him starting the manoeuvre when I was probably 50m away. A hand gesture (well it was the entire arm) got his attention and he suddenly realised exactly how close we had come to meeting... so he apologised which rather surprised me to be honest! After that the result of the journey home just continued with the 2 hour 'watering' and I got home to my OH having cooked our evening meal!
Out - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337509 35.3km
Home - http://www.strava.com/activities/105337508 33.6 km
He he, SatNav, mere mortals like us stay off the bike when they feel a bit stiff, you go ride 45 miles.
Chapeau!
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
The thought of sitting in a car for 45 mins each way filled me with enough dread to get over the stiffness (it was that or spending an extra 2 hours at my mums! But seriously I have found that if I am stiff in the morning, the best thing I can do is to go and take some exercise! It helps considerably, but I will own up and confess: it was only 43 miles yesterdayHe he, SatNav, mere mortals like us stay off the bike when they feel a bit stiff, you go ride 45 miles.
Chapeau!
....
Dangermouse
MousePower
Like the photos Satnav, love silhouettes
Dangermouse
MousePower
Well we got up early(ish) for a Saturday after deciding to explore the cycle paths around Scunthorpe a little bit better than yesterday.........and take some photos this time.
We couldn't hang around as the temp was reading 6.1f on the Garmin but the wind chill was bitingly cold, luckily there wasn't any frost or ice about this morning.
So off we went and who decided to go up a hill called Cemetery hill...........it aint called cemetery hill for nothing, its only half a mille long but you need to be a goat to climb it, it gets so steep that nearly every pedal strok spins the rear wheel, it was too dodgy for Eileens knee so she had no choice but to walk half way up, which was a good call as I only just made it up, Eileen has just worked out the gradient of this short but brutal climb 24.2degree climb
Anyway on to some pics and a little commentary.
Here we are just admiring how nice Scunthorpe can actually look if you use the cycle paths instead of the roads, as you can see it is also lit all the length of the routes.
The track is well kept and very clean.
There are bridges crossing the busy roads but some roads are normal green crossings which most drivers tend to ignore, but today we found some decent motorists who actually gave way to us.
This is the view overlooking the infamous Westcliff estate made famous by CH4s Skint.
Yet another bridge with Eileen ready to throw something heavy at me if I didn't keep stopping for photos...haha
All the bridges have CCTV and even some of the routes have it, but you can see from the photos just how well this cycle route is kept.........kudos to N Lincs council for looking after it so well.
Eileen even found a new friend.
Heres me looking cool as..........not......
Even I made a little friend, lovely little (well large actually) Jack Russell and only 2 years old
We couldn't hang around as the temp was reading 6.1f on the Garmin but the wind chill was bitingly cold, luckily there wasn't any frost or ice about this morning.
So off we went and who decided to go up a hill called Cemetery hill...........it aint called cemetery hill for nothing, its only half a mille long but you need to be a goat to climb it, it gets so steep that nearly every pedal strok spins the rear wheel, it was too dodgy for Eileens knee so she had no choice but to walk half way up, which was a good call as I only just made it up, Eileen has just worked out the gradient of this short but brutal climb 24.2degree climb
Anyway on to some pics and a little commentary.
Here we are just admiring how nice Scunthorpe can actually look if you use the cycle paths instead of the roads, as you can see it is also lit all the length of the routes.
The track is well kept and very clean.
There are bridges crossing the busy roads but some roads are normal green crossings which most drivers tend to ignore, but today we found some decent motorists who actually gave way to us.
This is the view overlooking the infamous Westcliff estate made famous by CH4s Skint.
Yet another bridge with Eileen ready to throw something heavy at me if I didn't keep stopping for photos...haha
All the bridges have CCTV and even some of the routes have it, but you can see from the photos just how well this cycle route is kept.........kudos to N Lincs council for looking after it so well.
Eileen even found a new friend.
Heres me looking cool as..........not......
Even I made a little friend, lovely little (well large actually) Jack Russell and only 2 years old
Last edited:
400bhp
Guru
63 miles this morning to Otterspool with @FrankW . The forecast was cold but sunny and dry. Oh, how wrong was Mr Forecast.
Just about to leave the house and I hear some shuffling noises outside the back door. Turns out it was hail. Went and got the Aldi showerproof jacket. Glad I did - rain most of the way, meaning I couldn't see as I was going through Warrington (didn't miss anything
). The wind was fierce too.
Then about 3 miles to go the hail came back, enough to be stinging on the face.
So glad to get to the cafe and have a hot coffee and a full English
A nice tailwind on the way back with about 50/50 showers/dry. Gawd, how bad is Warrington for cycling
Back home, bike cleaned, me cleaned and some hot soup inside me. I like rides like that, makes you feel great afterwards.
Great ride & great company.
Just about to leave the house and I hear some shuffling noises outside the back door. Turns out it was hail.
Went and got the Aldi showerproof jacket. Glad I did - rain most of the way, meaning I couldn't see as I was going through Warrington (didn't miss anything). The wind was fierce too.Then about 3 miles to go the hail came back, enough to be stinging on the face.
So glad to get to the cafe and have a hot coffee and a full English
A nice tailwind on the way back with about 50/50 showers/dry. Gawd, how bad is Warrington for cycling
Back home, bike cleaned, me cleaned and some hot soup inside me. I like rides like that, makes you feel great afterwards.
Great ride & great company.
mooseracer
Guru
- Location
- Nr Bristol
Sunshine
and very little wind meant I 'gave in' and took the new bike out to get filthy on a great 30 miler. Had to walk the last mile mind as the puncture fairy came to visit 
but still a lovely day to be out on the bike.
and very little wind meant I 'gave in' and took the new bike out to get filthy on a great 30 miler. Had to walk the last mile mind as the puncture fairy came to visit but still a lovely day to be out on the bike.
I christened the new Timberline MTB today. I went out on a novice level MTB ride with the club and it was led by a qualified MTB instructor. Some of the ridle paths were filthy wet, with mud and puddles deep enough I got wet feet in the puddles whilst still peddling and not from the spray back either. The leader reckoned that if we were able to ride through mud like that then we'd be okay with anything. Also learnt how to bunny hop the bike too as I am a complete MTB novice. Nice and warm, bright sunshine, beers at a stop half way round, great day. The only strange thing was the dozen or so tandems that cycled past the pub we were enjoying a drink outside. Found out when I got home I got a few Strava QOM's too.
http://www.strava.com/activities/105520967
http://www.strava.com/activities/105520967
OP
OP
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
31 miles, my furthest of 2014 
..and probably further than I did In 2013 
.
fairly uneventful, saw a large buzzard at exactly the same place i saw the red kite a couple weeks ago. Just sat there in a tree, watched him for a minute, really quite a large beak on him, then off he went.
TBH, the last 5 miles were 5 miles too many. Out of shape, couldnt wait to get home, very heavy legs.
But, good mileage, a good start to 2014.
..and probably further than I did In 2013 .fairly uneventful, saw a large buzzard at exactly the same place i saw the red kite a couple weeks ago. Just sat there in a tree, watched him for a minute, really quite a large beak on him, then off he went.
TBH, the last 5 miles were 5 miles too many. Out of shape, couldnt wait to get home, very heavy legs.
But, good mileage, a good start to 2014.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Two and a bit hours of fixed gear bliss under completely clear blue skies in Sussex and Surrey. Put one lost Surrey roadman back on track . Roads were wet and still lots of standing water and only two nobber drivers one of whom thoroughly deserved the finger he got. 45km at 19.something kph.
Really lovely solo ride.
Really lovely solo ride.
- Status
