Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Alex H]

Lots of but still a bit (4° in the barn) so a gentle trip to St Cyr. Stopped at the war memorial for a banana

About 50 names for the 1st War and only 2 for the 2nd A couple of additions at the bottom for Indochina (2) and Algeria (1)

I was just enjoying the peace and tranquillity on the way back (it was lunchtime, so no traffic ) when 2 of these appeared - playing 'scare the carp out of the peasants'

 

[compo]

What a superb morning. Lovely and warm and virtually no wind. A gentle ride on the mountain bike down to Epping Forest's High Beech via Epping Green. As I am using the MTB as mainly a road riding bike I recently took off the knobbly tyres and fitted some slicks, so what did I do this morning? I came off the road and went through the forest for a couple of miles! Only along the tracks though so no real rough stuff. Totalled just over 22 miles.

 

[Peteaud]

My day off today and seeing as the sun was out and i needed to clear the head and get some thought time i decided to do a 28 mile loop of the local villages.

Heading north from Chard i took the scenic route past the cider farm at Dowlish Wake and up through Seavington St Micheal, which if you came down the A303 20 years ago you would have driven through.

Crossing the new A303 bypass and onto the start of the levels and all the small villages.

Turning back south it was still a case of wet roads and the cold started to bite as the sun disappeared behind clouds.

all in all, 28 miles of peace and thoughts to myself in the watery spring sun.

 

[welsh dragon]

My day off today and seeing as the sun was out and i needed to clear the head and get some thought time i decided to do a 28 mile loop of the local villages.

Heading north from Chard i took the scenic route past the cider farm at Dowlish Wake and up through Seavington St Micheal, which if you came down the A303 20 years ago you would have driven through.

Crossing the new A303 bypass and onto the start of the levels and all the small villages.

Turning back south it was still a case of wet roads and the cold started to bite as the sun disappeared behind clouds.

all in all, 28 miles of peace and thoughts to myself in the watery spring sun.

Lovely as always peteaud. Thanks

 

[Stu Plows]

Rode in to work today, thought it would be a great idea to go out at lunch as the Ribble was fixed… Little did I know it wasn’t, I discovered this after approx 2 miles… I decided to persevere and continue to loop my ride and that the problem would hold off for the remaining 6 miles back to the office however, I wouldn’t do the planned 15.

Yeah so that plan did me well, about 0.2 of a mile from the office, SNAP!, quick release gone, bike slowed off and that was it, game over.

I wondered why it was so hard to pedal and why I couldn’t get any speed! I’d changed the bottom bracket as thought the problem noise was coming from the BB, just goes to show how wrong I was. For the first 6 miles today, it was fine, then 2 miles in at lunch it was back. Gonna have to go back to square one and make sure all is set up properly

Could have been a lot worse.

 

[ColinJ]

SNAP!, quick release gone, bike slowed off and that was it, game over.

I wondered why it was so hard to pedal and why I couldn’t get any speed! I’d changed the bottom bracket as thought the problem noise was coming from the BB, just goes to show how wrong I was. For the first 6 miles today, it was fine, then 2 miles in at lunch it was back. Gonna have to go back to square one and make sure all is set up properly

Could have been a lot worse.

Yikes - the stuff of cyclists' nightmares!

I am glad you are ok!

 

[Dangermouse]

Very lucky it wasn't worse Stu

 

[coffeejo]

Rode in to work today, thought it would be a great idea to go out at lunch as the Ribble was fixed… Little did I know it wasn’t, I discovered this after approx 2 miles… I decided to persevere and continue to loop my ride and that the problem would hold off for the remaining 6 miles back to the office however, I wouldn’t do the planned 15.

Yeah so that plan did me well, about 0.2 of a mile from the office, SNAP!, quick release gone, bike slowed off and that was it, game over.

I wondered why it was so hard to pedal and why I couldn’t get any speed! I’d changed the bottom bracket as thought the problem noise was coming from the BB, just goes to show how wrong I was. For the first 6 miles today, it was fine, then 2 miles in at lunch it was back. Gonna have to go back to square one and make sure all is set up properly

Could have been a lot worse.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Tough ride today. Didn't get any sleep last night what with my asthma playing up badly for some unknown reason and my OH also not sleeping well for another unknown reason... so I was sorely tempted to use the car to get over to my parents' home but didn't because I needed the bike at my step-father's to fettle some 4mm thick washers from some nylon using his lathe (under supervision...). I wanted to use the other water bottle cage on my bike, but can't drop the height of it because the front derailleur band is in the way and currently it only takes 500ml water bottles. With the new washers which have stepped the cage out passed the band, I can now put 850ml bottles in the cage - tis the little things in life you know...

So a sold and overcast start to the day and ended up that way as well, but there was some sunshine in between as I got closer to my parents' home. A mixed day of fantastic passes (including 5 stars to an Asda lorry driver along the 1/2 mile section of the A54 I have to cycle through Middlewich) and a couple of really lousy ones. One I got that annoyed with I lost it and gestured at him (white BMW driver) and tbh I think the driver of the vehicle behind him (black BMW) wasn't that impressed with the manoeuvre either (tis either that or they decided that I wasn't worth getting anywhere near mind you given how closely the white BMW driver passed it was probably the former - he almost failed to actually overtake me!) now if only I could take the average of the 2 and they would have had it spot on .

Came across loads more trees & flowers now starting to flower including cherry trees, goat willow (yellow), and some witch hazel as well... Oh and I also saw some lapwings displaying in a farmers field - a great site to see and hear!

On the way home my bike picked up a squeak... a really annoying squeak that appears to be related to my rear derailleur and its on-going problems... My bike and I will be having words tomorrow.

http://www.strava.com/activities/117993667

 

[F70100]

My longest ride to date today; 66 miles in Suffolk via Woolpit, Eye, Framlingham, Debenham, Stowmarket. I guess that's my first (metric) century. Somewhat past my best now and sorry there are no photos.

 

[PRob]

First ride out after a month off.... and the moral of the story... a decent breakfast before hand would of been a good idea!! http://app.strava.com/activities/117977783

 

[PeteXXX]

Nice bit of messing around today.
I rode over to a friends house in town centre then up to Duston to drink tea for half an hour before the four of us headed to Harleston Firs for a muck about in the woods there. There's loads of trails been built, plus lots of 'off piste' tracks to follow.

Me with a bit of front wheel lift going on...

The weather was great but some of the trails were thick mud. They're going to take ages to dry out I think.

Still, plenty of fun to be had there...

It didn't go to plan all of the time though..

I managed to get my front wheel one side of that stick and the rear wheel on t'other side...... It was only going to end one way

Due to the slippery conditions, we all had a few problems staying upright at times, but as the speed was quite slow in the dodgy bits, no one was in danger of getting hurt.

31 miles ridden with about half a dozen of them in The Firs.
Crackin' fun if you like this sort of riding!

http://app.strava.com/activities/117954185

 

[coffeejo]

I had the option of going out for a ride with a friend yesterday along some undulating country lanes overlooking the Levels but instead opted for the hills (again) to see how fast I could go down one long stretch, something I've been wondering since last autumn. The answer is ... not very fast, only 34mph thanks to a badly-maintained surface, those horrible yellow "slow down" strips of paint across the cracked tarmac right before a corner and an awkwardly-placed drain cover right after it.

Ho hum.

(Not my best effort but I do like this view of the Quantocks from their foothills.)

It wasn't all bad - although cloudy, the day stayed dry and I discovered a new-to-me coffee stop. What's that? A warm chocolate brownie with clotted cream? Well, ok, if you insist.........

 

[Old Plodder]

Clotted cream & it isn't even Summer..........no wonder you need to go & ride some hills!

 

[coffeejo]

Clotted cream & it isn't even Summer..........no wonder you need to go & ride some hills!