Your ride today.... (part 1)

[Paul.G.]

First day on Mallorca so it was a fairly easy route - 96km of rolling countryside. Sunshine, blue skies but quite a stiff wind at parts. Lunch stop at Sineu then back to the hotel for a post ride ride refreshment


Wind had dropped by this point so I decided to take another short spin up to Puerto Pollensa



Great first day, I hope the rest of the week is the same

I'm so jeleous

 

[cosmicbike]

Quick pedal with my lad this morning, short and sweet. Ambled down Monks Walk which runs alongside Thorpe Park. Little fella on a bike in the distance is my boy, was going quicker than I thought..

This led us through the Laleham golf club, then back round the same route to home, catching the thrill seekers.

8.5 miles, and a happy lad.

 

[jayonabike]

A cracking ride today.
I met up with @toptom on the way to the train station where a few minutes later @CharlieB turned up and soon after on the train from Euston were @ianrauk & @topcat1
We had a couple of miles going through Hemel town to Piccotts End where we picked up a lane that took us out into the countryside. The next 10 miles were rolling country lanes and before long we were going uphill up to Dunstable Downs with great views of Bedfordshire and a fast rolling road with a great descent, I managed 41.8 mph without really trying!
The arm warmers were off, and the sun was really warming up.
Cycling through the villages of Tottenhoe and Slapton we then went under the bridge which was the site of the Great Train Robbery and up into Mentmore where a pair of Red kites where flying around looking for lunch, then onto Wing and Stewkley. At this point my Garmin thought that as it was such a glorious day for cycling and we should be out more, so it decided to lose the route and I missed a turning which meant we added a few extra miles before getting back on track.
By now the headwind was fairly strong but not that bad that the ride was a hard slog. We had a few more rolling miles on B roads and a hill to climb up into Cublington where we turned right and the headwind became a tailwind and with a slight descent for several miles it was a fast ride to the coffee stop. Coffee, cake, sausage rolls, pasties and even salad stuff were eaten sitting outside in the sunshine and once refueled we headed off through Tring where Charlie peeled off towards home. The rest of us carried onto the village of Aldbury. Up a fairly steep hill and we were cycling through the Ashridge National Trust estate, through Little Gaddesden then down hill on shockingly bad tarmac.
A slight incline and we were in Potten End, with only a few more fast miles back to the train station.
Ian and Dave left for the train back to London and Tom and myself cycled home. I was a mile or so from home with 74 miles on the Garmin but wanted to carry on for a bit so I headed off toward St.Albans to make it an 80 mile ride. Back through the lanes to Hemel and I was home with 82 miles on the clock.
I cleaned the bike off and had a hot bath, while my wonderful wife cooked a roast pork dinner which I have just eaten. I've poured myself a large whisky and will probably be asleep on the sofa within the hour!

 

[ianrauk]

Thanks @jayonabike . I love riding up in your neck of the woods. Beds, Bucks and Herts has some cracking cycle riding routes. Roll on the 200k in a couple of weeks as I really want to see more.

102 miles for the day (The ride and cycling from home to Euston Station and back). 7th Century ride of the year and 3rd March weekend in a row Century ride.

A few pics from the ride.
Can you spot @CharlieB 's fags?

Our glorious leader for the day - Jay

@toptom

@topcat1

First hill of the day

Topcat1 - The keeper of the bikes, Standing guard..Here he stood, for 40 minutes, not moving a muscle, daring anyone to approach the bikes. Looking after our steeds whilst the rest of us filled our faces with food, cake, teas and coffees (he didn't really)

Slapton Village Church (Frank Bruno's lives in Slapton apparently). The colour of the stone really made it shine in the sun.

As well as spotting a couple of Redkites on the the wing, we also spotted a couple of other non engined flying machines rising on the thermals.

The route for the day

The sun shone, there was blue sky. And St Pauls Cathedral looked stunning in the late afternoon sunshine.

 

[HonestMan1910]

23 miles this morning through Hopetoun Estate and a view of the new Forth Crossing in construction

 

[Pat "5mph"]

@Justiffa sorry to read about your injury, GWS!
@ianrauk and @Rickshaw Phil fab pictures, thanks for sharing. @topcat1 's lycraed bits did not escape my attention
My ride today, just a very sedated 30 something miler on the hefty single speed Mrs.D, leading a beginners ride, going for a few errands, searching for a hidden bike cog in the park: if found, the price is a track pump worth £ 60. Did not manage to find it

 

[topcat1]

you did not i cant hear you @Pat "5mph"

besides @theclaud has got dibs

 

[Pat "5mph"]

you did not i cant hear you @Pat "5mph"

besides @theclaud has got dibs

'ts cool, I'll just stick with @User 's lycraed posterior

 

[Justiffa]

GWS!

Tq..will do

 

[Justiffa]

@Justiffa sorry to read about your injury, GWS!
@ianrauk and @Rickshaw Phil fab pictures, thanks for sharing. @topcat1 's lycraed bits did not escape my attention
My ride today, just a very sedated 30 something miler on the hefty single speed Mrs.D, leading a beginners ride, going for a few errands, searching for a hidden bike cog in the park: if found, the price is a track pump worth £ 60. Did not manage to find it

Thx Pat

 

[Spartak]

Yesterday morning joined my club ride for a ride over the Severn bridge & back ( I had to be back by 11 ! )

Great ride in glorious conditions, lots of cyclists out enjoying the spring sunshine

http://www.strava.com/activities/121116154

 

[Spartak]

First day on Mallorca so it was a fairly easy route - 96km of rolling countryside. Sunshine, blue skies but quite a stiff wind at parts. Lunch stop at Sineu then back to the hotel for a post ride ride refreshment


Wind had dropped by this point so I decided to take another short spin up to Puerto Pollensa



Great first day, I hope the rest of the week is the same

Keep the posts coming Arranandy .... I'm flying out to Mallorca next week

 

[booze and cake]

Ah the Burway, I've only cycled it once, and that was down thankfully. What a great road. In fact *rummage rummage* I recorded it and put it on youtube, fast forward to 2 mins 30 secs for the beginning of the descent, and hold onto you hats.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96liGiKKfuk


Apols for the lame dialogue I was too busy enjoying myself.

And heal up fast Justiffa, your injury made me go weak at the knees.

Sorry to hear about the tendon @Justiffa. I hope it heals swiftly.


It's another day of beautiful here, even if the wind is a bit on the cold side, so I decided to head for the hills and do another Long Mynd ride. (This being a good chance to test how the climbing ability has changed with the new gearing). The route was the same as the last time I went out there - the usual way to Church Stretton then through Little Stretton, Minton, Hamperley, up to the Gliding Club, across the top to Pole Bank and back down to Church Stretton via the Burway before heading home.

I started off with a fleece on but was able to put that away at Ryton, where another rider stopped to do the same thing and we chatted. He was rather surprised that I planned to ride the Long Mynd on the knockabout bike complete with panniers. I in turn was surprised that it was his first ride of the year (but was too polite to say so).

The ride into Stretton was slowed slightly by the wind (nothing unusual there due to the way the wind flows around the hills) and I could feel the muscles a bit on this section after the last two rides.

Once in Church Stretton there were loads of other cyclists about - mostly mountain bikers to start, but as I headed towards Little Stretton there were far more roadies coming the other way. Spotting that most had race numbers I concluded that it must be a sportive or an audax. I've had a look on the Audax UK site and can't see any events in this area - anyone know what event it was? (Edit: A bit more searching suggests it was The Shropshire Devil sportive. Anyone on here ride it?)

I was going against the flow of the sportive riders as far as Hamperley where I turned to climb up Nut Batch. Here I discovered two things; firstly the new gearing is great - the small change to a 26 tooth small ring with the 12-32 cassette gives me exactly the gearing I'd hoped for. Secondly I'd made a bit of a fuelling error. I usually have a drink and a cake at my first stop when riding this route, but today I only had the drink. This meant I was running out of energy a bit and the climb was quite a slog - just as well I've got those nice low gears to fall back on. I stopped at a spot with a view for a bite of lunch, but it didn't really help with the rest of the climb and I was glad when I finally wound my way to the top of this bit.

I needed to put on extra layers once out of the shelter of the trees as being approx 900 feet higher than Church Stretton there is a noticeable temperature difference up here even without the wind chill. Fortunately though, the wind was going my way so I was helped along to Pole Bank.

After leaving Pole Bank and rejoining the tarmac at Shooting Box I started to pass riders with race numbers - yes, I'd caught up with the same sportive ride again and I was headed down the Burway while they were coming up.

With the wind behind me I was able to leave Church Stretton at a brisker pace than I'd arrived and after a pit stop to fix an annoying creak (rear wheel skewer needed tightening slightly) made better time on the way back - catching and passing 5 other cyclists on the way.

36.2 miles today and I just managed to get over 11mph average.

View attachment 40046
Apologies for the funny angle - Smoke over the Long Mynd. It looks as though there has been a fairly big heather fire on the neighbouring Stiperstones.

View attachment 40047
Church Stretton

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Brookside Cottage at Little Stretton.

View attachment 40049
At Priors Holt - another location that has made it into literature, this time as Witchend from Malcolm Saville's childrens books. I'm headed off on the road to the left at this point

View attachment 40050
Really clear views from the top of the climb today.

View attachment 40051
Gliders waiting their turn for launch...........

View attachment 40052
.........a hang glider pilot has beaten them to it though

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Have a guess which way the wind usually blows up here.

View attachment 40054
At the summit.

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A few of the riders on the event struggle up the Burway.

 

[Justiffa]

Sorry to hear about the tendon @Justiffa. I hope it heals swiftly.

Thx phil, i hope so too

 

[Justiffa]

@Justiffa Best wishes and take care of it. It will take time and it's hard. I did mine first time around as a teenager and it was not fun.!

Thx SatNav, hope to get over this as soon as i can and be back on my 2 wheels riding up a storm hehehe