Its supposed to be very accurate over a short period but I set the Garmin site so it corrects it. Generally over a long ride it can be 600ft or more out. Uncorrected that ride was 1434ft, corrected 2670ft (by garmin using maping).
Yes - as forecast, the wind really picked up after you left. At times, I could hear it roaring through leafless trees, even over the sound of my TV!
. Hope someone does the same to him - see how he likes it.
(This was naturally as far from home as I could possibly be on this route 
) Time to break out the rain cape.
Just back from a ride that was possibly a bit misguided.
With the forecast showing a band of rain, sleet and possibly snow coming in between 3 and 4pm I thought I'd get a trip in before it arrived. The chosen route was out to Longnor and Acton Burnell then across to Cressage, past Wroxeter, up to Upton Magna and back through the centre of Shrewsbury.
Well..... that was the plan at least.
The trip out to Longnor was against the wind, which slowed me down by a few mph, and through lanes full of puddles and mud from the downpours last night. As usual though once I turned towards Acton Burnell I had a fast wind assisted run for about 3 miles. By choosing my route I was able to keep the speed up by taking the flatter way through Acton Pigott to Cound Moor. Next stop was Cressage where I got hooted at by a motorist for the first time in ages. 18mph was clearly too slow for his liking, but also too fast for him to pass easily on that road
I was now on my way to Wroxeter, but as I reached the hamlet of Dryton I felt a few spots of rain and I could see the weather I was hoping to outrun was turning up much faster than I'd anticipated.
By the time I reached Wroxeter the rain was coming down heavily and had brought some squally winds with it. I took the decision to take a shorter route home and headed for the main road to Atcham. This was busier than I'd hoped and some of the passes were closer than I'd have liked with the wind wanting to shove me into the middle of the road from time to time, but I got there and was able to head for the lanes to Condover before taking the shortest way back home (another bit of main road). Again, most people were giving less room than I'd like - especially a red Audi (would be wouldn't it?) who I took great delight in filtering past a bit further down the road when he was stuck in a queue.
27.1 miles at 11.8mph average. I thought it was going to be a lot slower than that as I seemed to be crawling along once the weather turned nasty.
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On the way to Condover with the earlier sunshine being shoved out of the way by some threatening looking cloud. We've got loads of time though.
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The ford near Cound Moor. Looks nice and innocent from the approach, but don't be fooled - it's more than hub deep. I'm using the bridge.
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Just a quick pause before joining the Buildwas - Wroxeter road. The Wrekin is the backdrop.
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A nice pastoral scene at Upper Dryton. Just one small problem - there should be hills in the background.
This is a full hour earlier than I expected the rain. Time to put on the cape and remember rule 9.
You might be lucky. The forecast reckons dry through the daylight hours tomorrow. Windy though. (If you trust it that is
)
It was certainly correct for Sunday and yesterday - much debris in the roads on the way home last night. Tuesday was not too bad though. Back after dark tomorrow, so expecting to get wet on the home ride (again). Going out at first light (in theory, practice might be a different matter - might even manage a dawn shot!) and hoping to get away without panniers tomorrow (I get the car for Saturday's trip 5 * 45-50 milesYou might be lucky. The forecast reckons dry through the daylight hours tomorrow. Windy though. (If you trust it that is
, so thought I might just abandon everything at my parents' for the night!). Just have to remember the bar of soap that needs to go with me! My mother only has scented soap and it kills my asthma!
The altitude reading on my GPS is pretty good as long as I make sure that I have a good lock on 4 or more satellites before setting off. The device needs 3 satellites to give an accurate position, but it needs a 4th one to calculate the altitude. I live at an altitude of about 105m and it shows readings anywhere from about 70m to 140m until it gets that 4th satellite lock. (There is a page which can be selected to show the state of satellite signal acquisition.) When it is ready to go, my elevation is usually displayed as being between 103m and 107m.
I made the mistake of thinking it was ok to cycle through a ford once and crashed. It had underwater moss-covered cobbles with wheel-rim-sized gaps between them. The ford is shown here and the water was a lot deeper when I was there. The ford is in a steep-sided dip so I went into it quickly hoping to maintain some momentum up the other side.
This one has cobbles too and there was a hole where some have been swept away. My sister fell in the brook because of it last time I took her out that way.
At least you have a footbridge to walk the bike over. The stepping stones in my example are a bit dodgy if you have Look cleats on your shoes!This one has cobbles too and there was a hole where some have been swept away. My sister fell in the brook because of it last time I took her out that way.
Don't know whether it's been fixed (probably not) which is another reason for not risking it.
