Your ride today....

[Heltor Chasca]

A little jaunt into Wales from Somerset. 150km. 50% of the route had a head wind, but a nice little shove homeward. Lovely day for it.

 

[Jenkins]

As any route inland from home is north or northwest for me and, with a very stiff north/northwesterly breeze being forecast, the planned ride to the far side of Ipswich was cancelled and I went for a mixed on/off road 17 mile ride on the MTB down to Felixstowe Ferry, back into town to get a couple of cards for birthdays this month, down to the seafront where the Sunday market was packing up early due to lack of trade and then on to the Port viewing area where the wind was coming straight down the River Orwell and bringing the first drops of rain. As a result of the conditions, I didn't stay long and managed to get home just as the first proper shower hit.

 

[derrick]

After spending Saturday evening at our club do, I needed to clear my head Sunday morning, so a mate and myself set out to do a 40 mile blow the cobwebs away ride. Was a bit chilly and windy but a lovely dry ride, Ended up back at our local for brunch and a couple of beers, then home for a shower and a nap. What a great weekend,
https://www.strava.com/activities/1272139324

Also did a bit of hill climb training on Saturday morning.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1270477370

 

[iandg]

Got myself moving after a few coffees and kicked Rosie (one of our dogs) out of bed. Cold northerly wind today. Got wet on the muddy trails and then when I turned into the northerly blast from the arctic I just froze. Chilblains in my shins when I got home. An hour and a half-ish done on the local mtb trails then home to coffee and Huevos Rancheros (eggs baked in Heinz Mexican beans). All revealed in the relive video.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1271813680

 

[PeteXXX]

Once home from w*rk at 01:30 ish, I set my alarm for 06:45 for an early morning ride. Sure enough, on the dot of 08:35, I woke up
Not to be deterred, I ate my porage and headed on for a shorter ride than planned!
Out towards Moulton, the lanes were a bit busy,, due to the weekend closure on the A43, but nothing too bad. In the village itself, there were loads on people assembling for a Remembrance Sunday parade, but I got through before the village was closed down. I would have stayed, but I was heading to the town centre parade.

I was a bit late to get a decent view of the initial ceremony, but bagged a prime spot for the march past in front of the Guildhall.

And an armed guard on my bike, that I'd hoiked over the Christmas tree fence, was most welcome (note: no faces shown for ID purposes!)

Once the silence had been observer, and the march past was gone, I needed to head home as No. 1 daughter was popping over at 13:00.

I did have a few minutes to spare to ride around St Andrews hospital grounds though ( a bit tresspassy, but, hey ho ..)

Back home on 20 miles in lovely sunny weather, but with a chilly wind blowing quite strongly.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1272196240

 

[Jon George]

Bagged another point in the 50km challenge this morning (the sunny weather made me too good an offer. )

Practically an identical route I did about a week ago (a meander North of Ipswich), only this time I saw a pair of raptors doing their thing near Gosbeck, rather than the solitary bird I saw then. At this rate, I'll be seeing flocks of the darn things soon.

This House-On-A-Hill near Coddenham.

 

[Old jon]

Well cold this morning, and I almost decided not to go out. But after yet another week off the bike, the vet told me the pain in my toe was gout, it seemed a good idea to go and ride.

The Ellis Briggs today, gears for these weary legs, and point the bike in the general direction of Wetherby. Not that I quite reached Wetherby, today it was relegated to a point of the compass. To start with, Holbeck and its newest attraction, the Water Wings. Good job its not a bus route. Negotiate those and head out to Hunslet and the road to Crown Point Bridge, followed by the traffic snarl towards Regent Street after which things quieten all the way up Roundhay Road to the clock at Oakwood. Poor legs, and Boot Hill is the next climb. No thoughts of rushing this one, find a low gear and twiddle all the way up. This had the unexpected benefit of warming up my fingers. Until this point I had been considering a shorter route, but. On to the pub and turn left for Shadwell, Whin Moor Lane ( I think ) and Gateland Lane after it are pretty exposed and breezy at the warmest of times. Anyway, turn left on the High Street and head for Slaid Hill, where a right turn takes the road towards Wike.



What is the collective noun for golf courses? This stretch of road deserves the noun, whatever it is. East Keswick next, and aye, I know it is uphill. But it keeps my fingers warm, see? And my legs tired. Drop to the A 659 and turn right for Collingham and the temptation to turn left to cross Linton Bridge and ride through the village to Wetherby. That, in these temperatures, was too far. So, to the A 58, left and then right onto Jewitt Lane and some more climbing. Vague tyre tracks, could be another eight or a dozen bikes had been ridden up there, maybe yesterday. By the time Compton Lane is reached lungs and legs need the more or less flat riding that follows, all the way to Thorner. And realisation happens, I still have Sandhills to climb. Ah well, get on with it. Really, not all that bad. So, Skeltons Lane and Red Hall Lane back to the A 58, that really satisfying descent ( after riding up it earlier ) of Boot Hill and back home via Oakwood and the squiggle around the edge of Leeds centre. Crossing the river again, at the same bridge, and the first spots of rain were felt. A very short shower to end 29.2 miles of riding and, despite my grumbles, only 1246 feet of climbing. Grinning still.

A map. Garmin little thingies are marvellous.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Out for a good leg stretch today on a variation of a route I've done a couple of times recently, to Acton Burnell, Cardington, Cressage Walcot, Upton Magna, Shrewsbury and home.

It was frosty again overnight so I waited for the ice to clear (not too long this time) and headed out with my winter layers on. There was practically no wind which should have been good for getting on well but as often happens in the cold weather I found it much more of an effort.

There was very little traffic around while I was out so no incidents to report. I did pass a few people out walking and there were a few cyclists out on the second half of the ride.

I changed the route at the end compared to the last couple of times and headed along the old canal path (rough and very muddy), along the riverside to Castlefields Bridge (met a family group with a friendly dog) then into Abbey Foregate and along Belle Vue to home.

45 miles this time (well, 44.99 but I'm claiming it ) at 13.2 mph average. Harder work than it should have been today.

Acton Burnell

On the old Roman road near Leebotwood.

Oops. Someone has had a bit of a moment on the road to Cardington.

A pause to have my lunch.

The Wrekin - the colours looked better in real life than they've come out in the photo.

This is more like it. A beech hedge at Downton.

 

[johnnyb47]

Its been a relatively warm day today so a bike ride was a must tonight.
It was pitch black outside as I got the out through the front door of my Mr Ben style house and was greeted by the sight of a group of mountain bikers heading towards the wilderness of the welsh mountains.
I wasn't feel that energetic tonight, so I headed off in the other direction where the roads are more forgiving. It turned out to be quite an eventful ride. I saw loads of roadies out in force with some really impressive lights on there bikes. None where offensively dazzling though and virtually everybody said hello whilst gasping for a breath. One roadie came past the opposite way about 7 miles from home and was shocked to see that he had no front or rear lights working on his bike. The roads were pitch black too. Further on as I came round a corner a drama suddenly unfolded. There was cars strewn all over the road with there hazards flashing ,and when I got closer I spotted a giant hole in the hedge with a car in the field. The driver was nowhere to be seen but it must of only recently happened ,as the bonnet was still warm to the touch from the heat of the engine. I unclipped my bike light to look around the area but there was no sign of the driver. The police soon arrived to the scene..
21 miles tonight and was thoroughly enjoyable and somewhat eventful :-) :-)

 

[Old jon]

I am black lacquered! Thirty miles and maybe an inch ( 25.4 mm for the metrified ) more, and I do feel tired. Yep, my own silly fault for riding a bike all that distance. Good fun though, and the weather was quite a bit warmer than Monday. Dry too. Lets tell you how it happened.

Time to ride the fixed again, just so I do not forget how. Sensible would have been a route out south and east of where I live. Plenty of roads around that way, a lot of countryside to enjoy looking at, all that good stuff. I have never been that sort of sensible, so off to Otley, north and west from where I am sitting. This has the canal towpath as an easy start, the bit I use is surfaced nicely, apart from the below bridge cobbles, and only has a couple of lock rises to slow me down. Leave the towpath at Viaduct Road, cross the river and enjoy Cardigan Road all the way up to Headingley. And up again to the Ring Road at Lawnswood. Straight on, though I was tempted to turn right and ride past the church and dam at Adel, I resisted. The A 660 all the way to the Dyneley Arms and turn right to descend Pool Bank. With some trepidation, the last descent of this hill on the fixed resulted in an involuntary unclipping of my left foot. Interesting! No drama this time around, turn left at the bottom to head for Otley along the A 659.



The place in the video once was a paper mill, if memory serves. It is now a huggin of different businesses, one of which seems to be a brewery. I will check sometime. A couple of left turns in Otley and the A 660 unwinds uphill and in front. Back to the Dyneley Arms, a brisk ride through Bramhope and I did it. Turned left at the roundabout, I did. The other end of the bit passing the dam and church at Adel. It is a bit of a climb to Arthington Road, turn right and the downhill is welcome. A short climb after the dam, a ride past the posh houses turn right and there is the Otley Road again. Left, more downhill to Headingley, then Kirkstall and a return to the towpath. Office Lock and leave the towpath, Water Lane and its newly sprouted wings and Hunslet and home. Another good ride.

A map, I have a number of strangely similar ones . . .

And, for once, the elevation profile, courtesy of my little Garmin. The bit that looks like falling off a cliff is Pool Bank.

 

[BoldonLad]

We did our "regular" coastal loop today, just under 20 miles.

By "we" I mean, myself, Mrs BoldonLad and eldest daughter. You may be pleased to hear, eldest daughter is a recent recruit to cycling, she was riding Mrs BoldonLad's "old" bicycle. Only previous out was one of our 10 mile loops about ten days ago.

Mrs BoldonLad takes no prisoners, no concessioners for a "beginner", or, the inferior bicycle, usual pace, no waiting, no quarter given!

I did treat then to coffee and cake at the 15 miles mark.

It remains to be seen if we have a new "recruit" or not.

Wednesday 15th November 2017

• BoldonLad
• 15 Nov 2017

 

[Spartak]

Nice ride today from North East Bristol down to Portishead crossing 3 totally different bridges. Firstly Peros bridge at the harbourside then the Clifton Suspension bridge and on the way back the M5 bridge at Avonmouth ( it has a cycle lane).

Whilst in Portishead I stopped at the Wetherspoons for some breakfast......

..... and very nice it was.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Mists lay about as I set off. Jules H was in place at the Powick meet spot even tho' I rolled up early. We took the standard run out to Martley then the dodge around to Ockeridge to line us up for Camp Lane and the ride around Woodbury Hill. The Teme valley was on show below but the Clee Hills were still shrouded in cloud. A Chinook flew below us in the valley. At Abberley we visited the Norman church http://churches.abberley.co.uk/st-michael-s What a little gem! Now we ran along the lane to emerge at Dunley for the gentle downhill ramp into Stourport. Our favourite cafe is now on winter schedule so we took to the Windlass cafe down at the canal basin.

Refreshed we dived into the sandy lanes. Something has changed in these lanes as there isn't any sand being washed onto the tarmac anymore. Just as well really. For a change we took to a loop which should avoid the really muddy section on the way into Holt Fleet. We emerged as predicted onto the main road to cross the Severn and climb away for the lanes to Ockeridge and Wichenford. Now we looped to Broadheath and the standard run back via Hawthorn Lane. Great relaxed outing today with a mixture of climbs and flat. Leaves have fallen leaving bare trees but there is still plenty of autumnal colour about. 60 smiles

 

[Donger]

Glorious autumn day. 20 mile bimble down to Frampton and back. Passed another clubmate on the way back. Ride spoilt a bit by the thought of a fox hunt going on somewhere nearby. (All the ghoulish hangers-on were parking along the lanes trying to get a sight of an animal being tormented). Worse still, mobile phone technology was being used to direct the hunt. Why not go the whole hog and use radar or deploy drones? Oh, well. each to their own.

 

[Aravis]

My first day back on the bike after a heavy cold which started within hours of my "century a month" ride on Nov 1st. Since I'm trying for two imperial centuries a month this year I decided just to go for it, with a route that would allow me to cut it short at various points along the way, and to miss out the big climb if it really seemed unwise. None of this was necessary, but the legs were complaining in the last quarter.

I'd been toying with the idea of riding a brontosaurus-shaped elevation profile, and since I wanted to put it one big climb today, it was a good time to do it. Here's the route and profile (anticlockwise around both loops):

These online route-planning tools have a lot to answer for.

Apart from some early mist, it was about as perfect a day as you could hope for in mid November. At my first "gateway stop", just when I was wondering if the mist was going hang around all day, I gave my glasses a clean and everything was a lot clearer. I've a feeling I've been there before.

I put in some diversions off the A38 which I hadn't been along before, to Ripple and Kinnersley. They'll be repeated. Worcester at about 9am was a trial, but I found a nice route northwards to Ombersley avoiding the main roads.

Still quite a bit of mist here, but when I started again the skies cleared and the sun came out for the descent to Holt Fleet, breathtaking as always.

After negotiating Worcester again, this time on the western bank of the river, I headed for the big climb up to West Malvern, having carefully arranged for the summit to be at my half-way point. Earlier in the day I thought there was no chance of seeing any Welsh mountains. Not the best, but I was more than happy with this view:

After cautiously descenting through the centre of Malvern, there were some imposing views back to where I'd been:

I proceeded southwards along familiar roads before taking the lovely little road through Forthampton and Chaceley, which I've by-passed dozens of times but strangely never used before. Another feeding stop, and a moment to photograph this impressive avenue and yet more autumn colours:

After this the weather started to deteriorate, becoming quite gloomy with a little light rain. And the roads were frequently absolutely filthy, so progress was often very slow and cautious. But I stayed upright and had enough left to enjoy the final dash along the A48.