Your ride today.... (part 1)

[BSRU]

A very early two hour 50km ride this morning, back home by 7.
First hour was hard, basically 20km into the strong wind with lots of climbing.
Turned off to go up an almost cat 3 5km climb but now the wind was a tailwind, lovely view behind as I went up the hill, a misty morning with a red sun rising over the countryside.
Last 30km in an hour even with the 5km climb, shame it had to come to an end.
Roll on the warmer lighter early mornings.

 

[Brightski]

Nice sunny ride this morning 21 miles @17.8 avg

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Today was my first ride with the club in a long time, I think 6 months. I'm a bit sore as I hadn't done a 50 miler for so long, definitely more training is required. I also had a newish saddle, never done more than 20 miles on it before.
The winter months were a time to forget for me. I lacked motivation to go out riding and I felt tired all the time. Eventually I was diagnosed with diabetes 7 weeks ago and since then things are looking better. I've lost over a stone and the energy levels are coming back . Now, I'm cycling regularly again and I'm considering a challenging tour. I will need some serious training but I'm happy to do so. In the meantime time I will just ride and do some learning on touring, probably do 2 days tour over the summer.
I certainly picked a good to make a comeback it's lovely out there.

 

[Dave 123]

Eeeeeuuuurrrgggggghhhh....!
When is this bloody headwind going to go? I went from Hardwick out to Graveley . It was here after 12 miles that mamil bladder struck! Then it was over to Buckden, via great Paxton and the Offords, crossing the Great Ouse along the way. At the A1 roundabout I didn't have to unclipped which was a good result. I skirted Grafham water and said a quick hello to a bloke on a lovely burgundy Mercian. The winds had been okish up until now, some bits not too bad, but others a bit testing. I turned to Great Staughton and was hammered all the way back home, the only respite was in St Neots town centre! but traffic was the main issue there. I made it to Abbotsley where I had to stop at the church for some divine intervention and flapjack. The flapjack worked so I'm still agnostic!
I then joined my regular route at the Gransdens. There is a lovely bit of fast road where I can get 30+ mph and hold it...... Today I momentarily hit 18!
So the last 25 miles of the 50 were a killer, but I was out on the lovely sunshine, knees and elbows on show, so in all it was great!

 

[babytiger]

Well DM said he had a decent ride for us today and it was.I thoroughly enjoyed it and its the longest i've ridden on a bike.I never ever thought I would be able to ride this far ,let alone even ride again after my 2 major knee ops.
Today's ride was just over 50miles in glorious sunshine but on the way back we did have a head wind which did slow us down a bit but in all fantastic riding .I'm now going to do a few more weeks of 20 milers and see if I can go for a 100 miler soon.

 

[Dangermouse]

Well DM said he had a decent ride for us today and it was.I thoroughly enjoyed it and its the longest i've ridden on a bike.I never ever thought I would be able to ride this far ,let alone even ride again after my 2 major knee ops.
Today's ride was just over 50miles in glorious sunshine but on the way back we did have a head wind which did slow us down a bit but in all fantastic riding .I'm now going to do a few more weeks of 20 milers and see if I can go for a 100 miler soon.

Yep it was a good one, both sides of the Trent plus a few miles added by moi.......chuffing in yer face wind on the return, as usual but still a very nice ride out with the missus, bring on the century.

 

[Brightski]

Eeeeeuuuurrrgggggghhhh....!
When is this bloody headwind going to go? I went from Hardwick out to Graveley . It was here after 12 miles that mamil bladder struck! Then it was over to Buckden, via great Paxton and the Offords, crossing the Great Ouse along the way. At the A1 roundabout I didn't have to unclipped which was a good result. I skirted Grafham water and said a quick hello to a bloke on a lovely burgundy Mercian. The winds had been okish up until now, some bits not too bad, but others a bit testing. I turned to Great Staughton and was hammered all the way back home, the only respite was in St Neots town centre! but traffic was the main issue there. I made it to Abbotsley where I had to stop at the church for some divine intervention and flapjack. The flapjack worked so I'm still agnostic!
I then joined my regular route at the Gransdens. There is a lovely bit of fast road where I can get 30+ mph and hold it...... Today I momentarily hit 18!
So the last 25 miles of the 50 were a killer, but I was out on the lovely sunshine, knees and elbows on show, so in all it was great!

You're on my roads Dave

 

[PaulB]

Tell you what today's ride brought home to me; that age is starting to bite! I know we're supposed to hand over the keys to our offspring but I've always fought against that inevitability but today put it in to perspective. I'm giving my son 23 years but he's never beaten me running before (and I confidently predict that will apply many years from now as well) and I even beat him at all three of the stages (2 runs and one bike race) at the Helwith Bridge duathlon last October but today, I simply couldn't stay with him on the hills and he was doing what I USED to do when I first went riding with him; waiting at the tops! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/469412962 I expect that will become a regular feature now!

 

[Dave 123]

You're on my roads Dave

What, the wrong side of the A1? It was nice other than the draught!

 

[Peteaud]

With the mother in law springing a long weekend visit on us, Mrs Aud took her to Exeter shopping. This meant i could go and play

Decided that as the weather was meant to be nice i would do a circular route around Taunton and dipping into the Quantocks.

From Chard i went on the old Railway line before heading to Taunton Race course, then criss crossing the M5 (going past the Taunton Deane services back door), then heading north through Bradford on Tone, picking up NCN 3 through Bishops Hull.

Skirting the outskirts of Taunton i found myself heading north again and into the Quantock hills.

Finally heading east brought me to Hestercombe, where i began the homeward leg,

Stopping at Procters Farm for a Danish and a coffee (poor service and poor danish as well so i wont bother with them again) i picked up what is the Somerset and Dorset Air Ambulance C2C route.

At 41 miles i hit the hill i really try to avoid, the 12% Rock Hill. I was sure that i would fail to climb it in one go (again) but through gritted teeth i did it, so was really pleased with that. Heading home across the moors and Ilton my peace was shattered by loads of traffic, then i noticed the afor mentioned air ambulance, the main A358 was shut and all the traffic was being diverted. This in turn filled the local back road with the usual f.wits, most of whom had no idea as to where they were!

Really happy with the ride today, my 1st 1/2 imperial century of the year at 53.5 miles (86 Km), and with 2400ft of climbing not to shabby on that side of things.

Hazy sun across the hills

Taunton Racecourse

M5

Just a few yards from the M5 is this back road.

At The Worlds End.

Into The Quantock Hills

Worst coffee stop in the world. Why did they cut the danish into 4 and i had to wait 15 mins. oh and £5.10

Bike, Coffee and Cake

A downhill bit at last

Route

 

[LarryDuff]

A very wet 30 miles tjis morning. Fairly miserable but still better than being at work.

 

[gavgav]

With my cycling partner @Rickshaw Phil up in the wilds of the north on @ColinJ's forum ride, I headed out on my own to enjoy the Spring . The forecast was for a strong easterly wind and so I wasn't sure what clothing to wear, but went for shorts for the 1st time this year and 2 layers on top, which proved perfect!

I headed out of Shrewsbury on the usual route to Uffington, and then continued along the "rat run" to Atcham, with the noticeable gusty headwind making it hard going at times. I stopped on Atcham bridge to take my top layer off, as it was lovely and warm, and couldn't fit it in my rack pack, due to a bag of crisps being full of air. Only one thing for it, eat them !

I took the opportunity to take a couple of photo's of the, now much lower than last time I was here, River Severn.

I continued up the Chilton Farm lane and crossed over the A458 and up to the crossroads where I turned left and headed for Cantlop. I was passed by Knobhead Number 1 on the ride along here, with a close pass from a Silver Golf, on possibly the straightest and widest road on my whole ride.......It was then onto Pitchford, with the wind proving a real issue along here again, at times a headwind and at times a side wind and strengthening all the time.

Looking towards the Wrekin from Pitchford.

I then headed up to Acton Burnell, which is a pretty village that is home to Concord College, one of the leading boarding schools in the country and especially popular with foreign students http://www.concordcollegeuk.com/

Acton Burnell

It was then onto Frodesley and yet more headwinds and then Longnor, where I was finally turning away from the wind for a while

Looking towards the Lawley and Caradoc

I turned right out of Longnor, towards Ryton and the wind was at it's strongest for the 1st section of this part, gusting to around 30mph according to the Met Office and I was starting to flag a bit and so stopped for lunch to refuel. I needed my top layer back on as it was quite chilly stood in the wind, but I soon removed it after continuing on to Ryton and then past the RSPCA centre to Stapleton, where I paid a visit to my Mum and Dad for a couple of hours.

Some of you will know that my mum is currently battling Burkitt Lymphoma and she has had some complications recently which have made her very ill. We brought her back from the QE Hospital in Birmingham on Thursday, as she no longer wants to continue with the intensive chemo regime and so her care is being transferred back to Shrewsbury. It's pretty heart-wrenching to see her like she is at the moment, but she chatted to me for a bit which was nice.

I headed back out into the wind and re-traced my steps past the RSPCA centre, with a brief chat with another chap out for a ride, as we tried to cross the A49. He commented on how bad the wind was and then left me for dead as he zoomed off into it

It was harder work than normal getting to Condover and then back to Atcham, but I was playing roulette with various pheasants and grouse who seemed to be out in force, which was funny. They all did the usual thing of running out into the road, panicking, sticking their neck out and running round in a circle before going back into the hedge .

I got back onto the rat run to Uffington and encountered knobheads 2 and 3 at the same time, again on a wide straight road . The 1st was a white Peugeot mini van who wanted to get past me before a Jag coming the other way and so gave me very little room, closely followed by a red van who gave me plenty of room, but almost wiped the Jag out instead! Why can't people just wait and be patient these days? They would have been delayed for all of 10 seconds if they had!!

The wind was now behind me and so I made good progress back home from here, including my fastest return on the Strava segment along the old canal path at Pimley, which I cycle down on most of my rides.

31.92 miles
11.8 mph avg (Again affected by the flipping wind! When will it ever abate?)
908 ft of climbing

 

[Louch]

http://www.strava.com/activities/124949379

YTD average is about 50 miles per ride, today the first 15-20 where horrific in the wind, never quite managed to get it on my back, then picked a shorter ride home as the legs where gone from struggling into it.

 

[Glow worm]

Lovely day here in the flatlands, so went off on a 27 mile bimble.

First to a place called Horningsea, a small place north of Cambridge. There's a garden centre there and a bike shop on the same site. That's two of my hobbies in one place catered for - only need an off-licence for the hat trick!

Then off across the river up to Waterbeach on the riverside path. From there, along a very long 'Long Drove' heading north.

It did go on a bit.

Then a bit more riverside cycling along a path up to the A1123, on which I crossed back over the River Cam and headed immediately left up the bridleway to a nature reserve called 'Kingfisher Bridge'. The track is a new one to me and very pleasant too. All our droves and bridlepaths are dying out nicely now.

At Kingfisher Bridge I had hoped to see the first sand martins of Spring. Some have been spotted already, but I was unlucky - no sign. 4 marsh harriers made up for it though. Our first swallow seems to come back to my village on the first saturday in April every year, so I only have a week to wait to see summer migrants!

Kingfsher Bridge has two hides and a bench atop a 'hill', It must be 70 feet above the rest of the land, so at such lofty altitude I was surprised not to see snow! (Ely Cathedral is a tiny blip on the horizon in the middle of the pic below)

It was too nice to be stuck in a hide. So I sat on the bench admiring the view with a cuppa in hand.

Then off home via Wicken Fen, which looked busy, so I avoided the visitors centre. Had a chat further along with another local cyclist who writes this blog.

The konik ponies at Wicken were in fine form.

A great day to be out, and the brisk easterly didn't seem to bother me at all - my ambling pace probably helps. I don't really know what Strava is, but kind of assume it's something to do with going a bit quick. I can confidently say I won't be troubling the good folks at Strava any time soon!

 

[welsh dragon]

Lovely day here in the flatlands, so went off on a 27 mile bimble.

First to a place called Horningsea, a small place north of Cambridge. There's a garden centre there and a bike shop on the same site. That's two of my hobbies in one place catered for - only need an off-licence for the hat trick!

Then off across the river up to Waterbeach on the riverside path. From there, along a very long 'Long Drove' heading north.

View attachment 41071

It did go on a bit.

Then a bit more riveside cycling along a path up to the A1123, on which I crossed back over the River Cam and headed immediately left up the bridleway to a nature reserve called 'Kingfisher Bridge'. The track is a new one to me and very pleasant too. All our droves and bridlepaths are dying out nicely now.

View attachment 41072

At Kingfisher Bridge I had hoped to see the first sand martins of Spring. Some have been spotted already, but I was unlucky - no sign. 4 marsh harriers made up for it though. Our first swallow seems to come back to my village on the first saturday in April every year, so I only have a week to wait to see summer migrants!

Kingfsher Bridge has two hides and a bench atop a 'hill', It must be 70 feet above the rest of the land, so at such lofty altitude I was surprised not to see snow! (Ely Cathedral is a tiny blip on the horizon in the middle of the pic below)

View attachment 41073

It was too nice to be stuck in a hide. So I sat on the bench admiring the view with a cuppa in hand.

Then off home via Wicken Fen, which looked busy, so I avoided the visitors centre. Had a chat further along with another local cyclist who writes this blog.

The konik ponies at Wicken were in fine form.

View attachment 41074

A great day to be out, and the brisk easterly didn't seem to bother me at all - my ambling pace probably helps. I don't really know what Strava is, but kind of assume it's something to do with going a bit quick. I can confidently say I won't be troubling the good folks at Strava any time soon!

Nice photos. Thanks