Your ride today....

[i hate hills]

Short 2 mile ride to the shops and get electricity on my key meter . Thats on the bike 3 days in a row for me , thats like wow for what i've managed lately and the chocolate right kneecap seems to be holding up .

 

[Jon George]

A 50k standard loop out to Coddenham and a return via some lanes north of Ipswich. It was a tad foggy ....

This at Coddenham.

And the primroses are now in full bloom. (A large bumblebee made herself known as I took this near Gosbeck.)

 

[galaxy]

i am very impressed with Karon`s second bike trip in two day`s and more so as today`s was a lot more lumpier 43 miles shildon toft hill first coffee stop at the A68 café ...then on to Hamsterley, woodland....then things when a bit strange lol ended up not where I thought I was still worked out good as we had to come through Staindrop and food was needed ...then back via Hilton Bolam and Heighington then down to the navy club for a well earned pint ... https://www.strava.com/activities/1497115764
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Used to cycle those roads well bqck in the mid 80s. Lived in Sunderland and Parents had a Caravan in Wolsingham. Would cycle to caravan om a Friday night and spend the weekend cycling in the dales.

 

[Katherine]

I also stopped and started the strava, because I tried some strava writing, though I cheated because I didn't join them up. I made an S and 2 C's for the initials of our club.
I am trying to make a picture using the screen shot but it's not as easy as how I imagined it in my head!

And here is the finished collage :

 

[cosmicbike]

And here is the finished collage :

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I sense a new game coming on

 

[cosmicbike]

On nights tonight, and still needed to get 2 of my 3 challenge rides for April done. Thankfully the imperial century was done on the 1st, so today was the turn of the metric half. Given it's school holidays I didn't want to be out too long, so a fast and flat ride out through Staines to Eton, looping back over Staines Bridge before out to Shepperton and back, a nice figure of 8 ride. Roads are terrible, and the puddles huge. Still, 51km done at an average of 16.8mph (or 16.5mph depending on whether you believe the Garmin or Strava), the whole trip done in 5 minutes less than 2 hours. Worn out now.
The Mavic Cosmic Elites have gone back on the Van Nic now, and the rotational noise has gone, which I think was a loose cassette. Really enjoying this bike

 

[Roadhump]

On nights tonight, and still needed to get 2 of my 3 challenge rides for April done. Thankfully the imperial century was done on the 1st, so today was the turn of the metric half. Given it's school holidays I didn't want to be out too long, so a fast and flat ride out through Staines to Eton, looping back over Staines Bridge before out to Shepperton and back, a nice figure of 8 ride. Roads are terrible, and the puddles huge. Still, 51km done at an average of 16.8mph (or 16.5mph depending on whether you believe the Garmin or Strava), the whole trip done in 5 minutes less than 2 hours. Worn out now.
The Mavic Cosmic Elites have gone back on the Van Nic now, and the rotational noise has gone, which I think was a loose cassette. Really enjoying this bike

Which shows the slower? I used to only use MapMyRide which would always tally with my bike computer, give or take the odd 1/10th of an mph. Then my mate persuaded me to start using Strava, which I did, but my average speed on that is always about 0.5 slower than my computer. I then started using Strava and MMR together, MMR and my computer still tally very closely but Strava is still slower by about the same difference. I thought perhaps it wasn't auto-paused but it is.

 

[Stonechat]

On nights tonight, and still needed to get 2 of my 3 challenge rides for April done. Thankfully the imperial century was done on the 1st, so today was the turn of the metric half. Given it's school holidays I didn't want to be out too long, so a fast and flat ride out through Staines to Eton, looping back over Staines Bridge before out to Shepperton and back, a nice figure of 8 ride. Roads are terrible, and the puddles huge. Still, 51km done at an average of 16.8mph (or 16.5mph depending on whether you believe the Garmin or Strava), the whole trip done in 5 minutes less than 2 hours. Worn out now.
The Mavic Cosmic Elites have gone back on the Van Nic now, and the rotational noise has gone, which I think was a loose cassette. Really enjoying this bike

I generally believe the Garmin, it gives faster speed slightly ;-)

 

[cosmicbike]

Which shows the slower? I used to only use MapMyRide which would always tally with my bike computer, give or take the odd 1/10th of an mph. Then my mate persuaded me to start using Strava, which I did, but my average speed on that is always about 0.5 slower than my computer. I then started using Strava and MMR together, MMR and my computer still tally very closely but Strava is still slower by about the same difference. I thought perhaps it wasn't auto-paused but it is.

Strava is always slower, generally removes 0.2 to 0.3 mph from my average speed. Distance is always as displayed on the Garmin. I use speed/cadence sensors, and it makes no difference if I allow the Garmin to calculate the wheel size, or if I enter it manually.

I generally believe the Garmin, it gives faster speed slightly ;-)

Me too, make me feel better, but in the back of my mind I know I'll loose a bit when I upload the ride so I push a bit harder, was shattered when I got back this morning

 

[gavgav]

Finally up at the caravan, for the first trip of the year, after the previous planned trips had to be cancelled due to the snow.

Headed out, this afternoon, for the first of what I hope will be a few rides between now and Sunday. Rain had been through, whilst travelling up this morning, which left very grey skies and a keen Easterly wind, which was hard going to cycle into.

I set out onto the main road to Barmouth, which was horrid today, due to all of the holiday traffic, who gave me lots of room, but 3 times almost wiped out cars coming the other way, with horns blasting and gestures. The human race has no patience these days.

I was glad to drop down to the seafront, at Barmouth and along to the Harbour, then up and over Barmouth Bridge and out onto the road to Fairbourne, which was a bit quieter and better behaved traffic.

I turned into Fairbourne, which was like a ghost town, as usual, but I cycled along the front and saw the small steam train, from the Fairbourne Light Railway, puffing along. That highlighted how strong the Easterly was, as the steam was horizontally blowing towards the sea!

I continued to the car park at the end, with a view up the Mawddach Estuary. Unfortunately there was transit with its engine running, for the five minutes I was there and polluting the air. Goodness knows why they felt the need to keep it running for that long.

Railway Tunnel

I re-traced my steps back to the Bridge and saw the Arriva Train rattling across, before I dropped back down into Barmouth.

I headed back along the front, and was almost wiped out by a daft bat in a Vauxhall, who came storming past a parked car, onto my side of the road, forcing me into the harbour entry road, which luckily was there!

Bit of an achievement, as I climbed back up from the seafront to the road, as I conquered the extremely steep path for the first time without getting off and pushing

I then had to brave the main road back to Talybont, which this time had close passes from idiots and then, when just about to turn left into the beach road, 2 dicks in boy racer cars came storming alongside me and across in front of me as I turned in. It was a good job I was turning left, otherwise I would have t-boned them

22.1 miles at 12.0 mph avg. nice to be back on the bike, up here, but could have done without all the idiots on the road

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I'm in Cockermouth to visit my mother. So it was out by Papcastle of Roman fort fame and over Broughton Moor for Maryport where my mother now resides. I'd forgotten just how lumpy the lanes are in this part of the world. I had a bit of a tour around Maryport looking for a garage to repair my broken car. I had no luck but Mrs 26 found one at Brigham.

My return went along the old promenade and cycle path. What an extremely strong headwind it was alongside the coast. My pace was below 10mph!! Turning inland helped but it was never easy. I went by Hayton which confused me a little but I was soon on more familiar ground after Oughterside. Tough ride was this. The upramps just seemed to get harder and harder so I was glad to get back in one piece. 27 smiles

 

[Roadhump]

Yesterday's ride: I was out at 8.00 am and went from Southport over to Burscough, through Hoscar and onto Mawdesley, then Rufford. I was going to cut through a small housing estate in Rufford to get to Mere Lane and Cross Meanygate before heading up to Mere Brow, but there is quite a lot of agricultural traffic along those lovely country lanes which makes the roads wet and muddy, and having spent a couple of hours cleaning my white bike the day before, I decided to stick to the main road through Holmeswood and up to Mere Brow. once there, I went over the A565 Tarleton bypass into Moss Hey Lane and then into Tarleton via Legh Lane and Gorse Lane.

There is a convenient public loo in Tarleton which I needed badly, before heading down to Hesketh Bank and then taking Shore Road which takes a nice straight line for about 4 miles down to Banks. Having gone through Banks I took the Coast Road down to the other end of Southport and home.

A couple of posters have commented on the strong wind yesterday, which according to the BBC was a north easterly here, and should have been a rather light 8 to 9 mph, but they always seem to underestimate it, so add 5 or 6 mph to that. In my case though, it was more of a help than a hindrance because for the 10 miles or so from Hesketh Bank to home it was right behind me so I had an easy ride home.

38 miles in 2 hours 19 minutes at an average of 16.3 according to MapMyRide and my computer, or 15.9 with Strava, so I'm going with MMR and the computer

 

[Noodle Legs]

That’s April’s 50km done, 3 days after arriving home from the carnage that was Las Vegas and still fuelled by endless chicken wings and beer! A last minute decision to join the Thursday social with some friends and lads from work ultimately kept me in the challenge! Couldn’t make the start with the guys due to time constraints however the proposed route ended up passing through a point around 3 miles from home and so I agreed to meet them there. That 3 miles ended up being nearly 8 to try and compensate for the lost miles, and I was a tad early so I stopped to take photos and reflect on how only 4 days earlier I was basking in 30 degree heat and how now I was having a real argument with myself convincing myself it really was April, such was the thickness of the fog and the cold temperatures!

I eventually met up with the lads and off we went through some nice little local back lanes albeit in thickish fog and heavier than usual traffic. As the miles wore on and the roads opened up it struck me that the headwind seemed relentless no matter which direction we seemed to take but regardless managed to maintain an decent pace throughout. A road closure forced a change of plan to the route but a little local knowledge enabled us to keep it fast and flat. The prize at the end as always on these rides was the nice pint of peroni happily slurped as we reflected on the ride.

34 smiles today.

 

[Old jon]

Hmm, N+1 happened this morning, and the first ride on N+1 happened this afternoon. A few little bits to adjust both before and after, the first little bit being the brakes! It was not dealer ineptitude ( I do like that word ) but the fact that here in Brazil they put the front brake lever on the left hand and the rear on the right. No thanks. So here I am in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina state, which is a long way south on the map of Brazil and I am here for a while. So it seemed sense to buy a bike. The large local dealer is Decathlon, I have been around the shop and it does not inspire me much. Other retailers are smaller, less choice and so on. One this morning was pushing the repeat maintenance customers he has. I did wonder . . .

Anyway, by happenstance, I saw a Caloi this morning. Locally made ( in Brazil, anyway ) aluminium frame and forks and very retro looking. But it is my size. And it rides well now the brakes are where my hands can find them. There are the usual bits and bats to learn, gearchange on the stem with ( sort of ) friction levers. It steers quicker than my other bikes, and maybe the bars need lifting a few millimetres. Oh, and the saddle. I might treat me to Brooks number three.

It would be difficult to tell from the pictures, I live on top of a hill. Steep. The local attitude to hills is casual, some of the access roads to houses are steep indeed, 20 % is rather common. Anyway, I left the apartment and had a choice of two descents. Sort of scary on a new bike, but it went fine. A bit of squiggling around and I reached Beira Mar, which translates as sea shore. Accurately. I rode along this cycle track around the beach to a bridge that reminds me of the Forth rail bridge but is called Ponte Hercilio Luz, after a local someone. I turned around there, need to spend some time looking at maps and just exploring too. When I reached the bottom of the hill to home, my legs wimped right out. I had to walk. So a relatively flat 8.8 miles in a sea breeze and a temperature of 30 degrees. Still fun, even in that heat.

Sorry, I forgot the map.

 

[cosmicbike]

Hmm, N+1 happened this morning, and the first ride on N+1 happened this afternoon. A few little bits to adjust both before and after, the first little bit being the brakes! It was not dealer ineptitude ( I do like that word ) but the fact that here in Brazil they put the front brake lever on the left hand and the rear on the right. No thanks. So here I am in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina state, which is a long way south on the map of Brazil and I am here for a while. So it seemed sense to buy a bike. The large local dealer is Decathlon, I have been around the shop and it does not inspire me much. Other retailers are smaller, less choice and so on. One this morning was pushing the repeat maintenance customers he has. I did wonder . . .

Anyway, by happenstance, I saw a Caloi this morning. Locally made ( in Brazil, anyway ) aluminium frame and forks and very retro looking. But it is my size. And it rides well now the brakes are where my hands can find them. There are the usual bits and bats to learn, gearchange on the stem with ( sort of ) friction levers. It steers quicker than my other bikes, and maybe the bars need lifting a few millimetres. Oh, and the saddle. I might treat me to Brooks number three.

It would be difficult to tell from the pictures, I live on top of a hill. Steep. The local attitude to hills is casual, some of the access roads to houses are steep indeed, 20 % is rather common. Anyway, I left the apartment and had a choice of two descents. Sort of scary on a new bike, but it went fine. A bit of squiggling around and I reached Beira Mar, which translates as sea shore. Accurately. I rode along this cycle track around the beach to a bridge that reminds me of the Forth rail bridge but is called Ponte Hercilio Luz, after a local someone. I turned around there, need to spend some time looking at maps and just exploring too. When I reached the bottom of the hill to home, my legs wimped right out. I had to walk. So a relatively flat 8.8 miles in a sea breeze and a temperature of 30 degrees. Still fun, even in that heat.
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Sorry, I forgot the map.

Nice looking machine, haven't seen suicide levers since my old Raleigh Team Banana!