Your ride today....

[Spiderweb]

I don’t usually post my regular work Commute on here but I managed the 6.7miles with an average speed of 19mph which for a habitual pootler is not bad

 

[jongooligan]

With a brassy sun glaring down through a soupily thick atmosphere Mrs. jg announced that the planned tandem ride was cancelled - she had other things to do. Can't say I blame her.
But with thunderstorms forecast here for the next couple of days I was determined to get out while it was still dry. The forecast also brought to mind that some of the tracks which are currently rideable would become impassable for who knows how long after a deluge so it was an easy decision to ride an old favourite route.

Off then along Flat Rat Lane (so named by our kids when we lived nearby and it was still a through route, notable for the number of traffic flattened rats).
Flat Rat Lane

On to Waldridge and a descent past the site of the old club into Cong Burn Woods. This is one of the tracks that will become impassable after rain as it's deeply sheltered from both wind and sun. It's a lovely ride today though until the peace was shattered by a Jay trying to raid a Blackbirds nest. Not hopeful that the Blackbird chicks would survive but they were still arguing about it as I rode away so maybe the parents had managed to drive off the Jay.
Back onto the road at Pelton Fell with a swing uphill to Craghead. It's a fairly gradual climb but by the time I'd got to the high point of Wagtail lane I was sweating conkers so was happy to stop at the junction with Old West Ousterley Road to have a drink and take a picture.

Old West Ousterley Road

I've tried to find why this old track is here. It must have some significance to have such a grand name but all I can guess is that it was in use when this area was nobbut pits. Anyway, it's an exciting descent on a road bike that crosses a golf course near the bottom and comes out in South Moor.
From there the steep ascent up Quaking Houses bank (always wondered who'd buy a house at Quaking Houses) brought me to the bridleway to Burnhope Pond. This is another straight line screamer on a road bike if you have the bottle for the occasional fist sized rock or patch of sand, either of which will turn your front wheel lob deggy. I took it easy and concentrated on avoiding all such obstacles.

Burnhope Bridleway

I climbed over the stile at the other end to have a look at the pond. There were Blue Darter (I think) dragonfly about the place and three handsome Shelduck on the water. It's a lovely, peaceful spot.

Back to the road and the ever so familiar descent through Holmside and I was home having covered just 15 miles at a measly 11mph. But what a fifteen miles they were. Mrs jg missed herself.

 

[Vantage]

Not the worst day I've ever had but certainly not the best.
After a long night of not really being able to sleep I pondered the idea of taking the bike out again to see how I got on. Route plotted and lycra donned I was out the door for about 10.30am into calm weather.
Through Bamber Bridge and again up Longshaw Ford Road. I got maybe 30 feet up and got off to walk...lifeless legs again. By the time I reached the top said legs were in agony. Colliers Row Road was tackled next and I soon reached the Village of Belmont where I turned right onto Egerton Road. Some nob in a van tested my brakes as he pulled out from the industrial estate. A final short climb up to Stones Bank Road and a rest and a pic.

Following that I turned left onto what I now know is Witton Weavers Way. Through the gate and lots of bumpiness ahead.
As I stopped and got off the bike to push it through the second gate, my eyes started losing focus and the world got momentarily darker and I ended up leaning on the fence to steady myself. It wasn't going. So I sat on a boulder to wait it out. A trail to my right is now on my waiting to be explored list.

Feeling better I set off again and was making ok progress. The bike wasn't snaking about too much despite the loose gravel and rocks and dodging sheep s**t balls was honing my bike handling skills. Not that they helped me much.
By about the 8 mile marker I was nearing the end of the byway and cruising along pretty confidently when the front wheel found itself in a rut. A momentary unplanned tug on the bar soon had the tyre scraping the sides.
"OH S**T!"
Ever so gracefully as one does, I watched in slow motion as the bike went down along with me landing on my front, hands stretched out to break the fall and finally came to a rest after rolling onto my back. The phone!!
Back onto my front and got up. Phone was ok. Phew!
A look over the bike revealed only a knocked bottle cage as the Pendle took most of the impact. Which is where the camera was...in the left pocket. Och! The buckle had hit the screen and cracked it but other than that it worked ok. I put the camera on the saddle while I checked myself over. Sore little finger and a bit of leaking from my left knee. Aspirin makes blood clotting take a while. As I moved the bike to set off again I suddenly remembered the camera. Too late. It had slipped off and bounced its way down the frame onto the ground. FFS! A quick check and it was still working.
What is it with me and falling off the bike these days???

I took my time on the last bit then lifted the bike over the gate to take Crookfield Road to Belmont Road.
Cycling along here I could feel the bike rattling me to death so I stopped to let some air out and have a drink. I think it'll take a while to find the sweet spot between rolling resistance and comfort on these tyres.
I coasted through Belmont and climbed up past the San Marino restaurant and could literally feel the chain grinding the sand from the trail earlier. Looks like another wash is due.
Bearing left I climbed Scout Lane in it's entirety in the middle ring. What on earth is going on??? That never happens!
Home via Colliers Row Road, down Longshaw Ford Road with a bare minimum of braking which was jolly good fun , Bamber Bridge and then the estate.
Burnt my burger while washing the bike. Perfect.
15.3 miles averaging 14.5mph? Really? Gonna have to fit the old cyclo computer to see how accurate these avg's are. I know for a fact I'm not that quick.

 

[cosmicbike]

@Vantage you get a like for the ride, not the falling off..

 

[cosmicbike]

A new month has dawned, and that means 3 new challenge rides need to be done. After working nights I was somewhat not in the mood, but the kids being out of the house left me a couple of hours, so I figured I'd get the half century ride done.
Out to Hampton and back, via Sandown Park racecourse on the way, and Walton High Street on the return. A cracking pace for me right up until the miles of queueing metal boxes into Walton slowed me down, filtering that lot at speed was not for me.
Home all hot and sweaty, special tablet taken to lift the leg pain, on 33.33 miles in 1hr 59 minutes, 16.8mph average.
1 challenge ride done, 2 to go

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Not the worst day I've ever had but certainly not the best.
After a long night of not really being able to sleep I pondered the idea of taking the bike out again to see how I got on. Route plotted and lycra donned I was out the door for about 10.30am into calm weather.
Through Bamber Bridge and again up Longshaw Ford Road. I got maybe 30 feet up and got off to walk...lifeless legs again. By the time I reached the top said legs were in agony. Colliers Row Road was tackled next and I soon reached the Village of Belmont where I turned right onto Egerton Road. Some nob in a van tested my brakes as he pulled out from the industrial estate. A final short climb up to Stones Bank Road and a rest and a pic.

View attachment 412138

Following that I turned left onto what I now know is Witton Weavers Way. Through the gate and lots of bumpiness ahead.
As I stopped and got off the bike to push it through the second gate, my eyes started losing focus and the world got momentarily darker and I ended up leaning on the fence to steady myself. It wasn't going. So I sat on a boulder to wait it out. A trail to my right is now on my waiting to be explored list.

View attachment 412150

Feeling better I set off again and was making ok progress. The bike wasn't snaking about too much despite the loose gravel and rocks and dodging sheep s**t balls was honing my bike handling skills. Not that they helped me much.
By about the 8 mile marker I was nearing the end of the byway and cruising along pretty confidently when the front wheel found itself in a rut. A momentary unplanned tug on the bar soon had the tyre scraping the sides.
"OH S**T!"
Ever so gracefully as one does, I watched in slow motion as the bike went down along with me landing on my front, hands stretched out to break the fall and finally came to a rest after rolling onto my back. The phone!!
Back onto my front and got up. Phone was ok. Phew!
A look over the bike revealed only a knocked bottle cage as the Pendle took most of the impact. Which is where the camera was...in the left pocket. Och! The buckle had hit the screen and cracked it but other than that it worked ok. I put the camera on the saddle while I checked myself over. Sore little finger and a bit of leaking from my left knee. Aspirin makes blood clotting take a while. As I moved the bike to set off again I suddenly remembered the camera. Too late. It had slipped off and bounced its way down the frame onto the ground. FFS! A quick check and it was still working.
What is it with me and falling off the bike these days???

View attachment 412142

View attachment 412144

I took my time on the last bit then lifted the bike over the gate to take Crookfield Road to Belmont Road.
Cycling along here I could feel the bike rattling me to death so I stopped to let some air out and have a drink. I think it'll take a while to find the sweet spot between rolling resistance and comfort on these tyres.
I coasted through Belmont and climbed up past the San Marino restaurant and could literally feel the chain grinding the sand from the trail earlier. Looks like another wash is due.
Bearing left I climbed Scout Lane in it's entirety in the middle ring. What on earth is going on??? That never happens!
Home via Colliers Row Road, down Longshaw Ford Road with a bare minimum of braking which was jolly good fun , Bamber Bridge and then the estate.
Burnt my burger while washing the bike. Perfect.
15.3 miles averaging 14.5mph? Really? Gonna have to fit the old cyclo computer to see how accurate these avg's are. I know for a fact I'm not that quick.

Another like for the ride rather than for falling off or damaging the camera. Apart from that it sounds like this bike is working well for you.

 

[gbb]

A shade under 29 miles this evening at a shade under 16mph average...my best for maybe 5 years. Lots of bikes out tonight getting a few miles in for the Tour of Cambridge tomorrow and Sunday which gave me something to chase ...or at least try to keep up with .
Excellent conditions, brilliant ride only marred by two cases of disrespect by drivers one BMW that I'm sure deliberately came too close on a R/A and tried to intimidate me...i just held my line ....and one Audi A5 that just didn'
Give respectful room as it overtook in traffic. A quick stare as I passed it stopped at the inevitable T/Ls and she gave me more room as she overtook for the second time.

Brilliant ride

 

[Spiderweb]

Another extended home commute this afternoon. I really felt I was cycling on empty, I’m currently on a bit of a diet and think I consumed far too few calories during the day. 34.8 miles with an average of 15.2mph.

 

[derrick]

Another great ride today. Out to Cambridge again today, Lunch at the Copper Kettle. nice bit of grub, stopped for a beer halfway back needed to cool down a bit, it was a bit muggy, The pub was the Chequers, really friendly bar staff, offered to fill our bottles with ice and water, was a really nice gesture, normally have to ask, we will be stopping there again, carried on back to our local for a few more beers and bangers and mash, a good day out.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1610124565

 

[Chappy]

Discovered a new farm shop/café on today's ride. Flapjacks were really good. I have driven past this place many times and not thought to stop. I think more of my rides will be taking me this way from now on.

 

[13 rider]

After fetching my newly rebuilt wheel (new rim) from the Lbs and dropping off the commuters rear wheel ( new freehub required ) I seem to be keeping them in business at the moment .new tyre fitted to new rim and new brake blocks fitted and adjusted it's time for a test ride .
Time for an early 50km banker for the half century challenge . Set off on my standard 50km loop out to St Bernards Abbey . Through Newtown Linford and up the first climb which is proving to be hard work bit of a headwind but seems much harder than normal grovelled up on to a bit of descent and still struggling . Stop to check the bike and discoverd my carefully adjusted brakes were really dragging no wonder if felt hard work That's better back to normal effort up to the Abbey and the quick descent down Swannimote rd round the back of Shepshed and on to the Beacon hill for a really quick descent 43 mph so the speed sign flashed . Quorn to Rothley and on to Rothley station where I was met by the sight of 30 ww2 Germans soliders good job I knew about the ww2 weekend on the heritage line . Bit of traffic to negotiate around the station which was very busy . On to home 32.1 miles at 16.4 mph .So 1 challenge done 2 to go

 

[NorthernDave]

Out just after 6:30 this morning on the Giant and headed west towards Otley in an attempt to avoid the forecast rain.
It was very grey, almost foggy with the humidity and still warm despite the hour.
It's essentially a repeat of the ride I did last Saturday, so it was the usual combination of roads and villages to Slaid Hill lights, where the traffic lights aren't detecting bikes again. Another cyclists was at the opposite side of the lights and when it became obvious they weren't going to change we both set off with a knowing shrug of the shoulders.
Down to Alwoodley gates and the climb to King Lane, before the drop down Kings Road and the climb through Bramhope before the long descent into Otley.
Just before the bridge over the Wharfe, I turned into the delightfully named Tittybottle Park for a couple of pics of the very still river:

Back on the bike and over the river, where after a quick break for a Snickers, it was the slog up Farnley Lane just as it started to rain.
To be fair, it wasn't a downpour but it was enough to get you wet. With the temperature I just carried on - no way was I stopping to put on my waterproof jacket today.
Eventually the up turned to down and the reward for all the effort was the long descent down to the bridge over the River Washburn, where I met the motorised muppet of the day. It's a single track hump backed bridge and I knew there was a car approaching behind me so I took the lane over the bridge - which was greeted by a beeping horn. Quite how he thought he was going to get past on the bridge I do not know...funnily enough once we were over the bridge and onto Leathley Lane he gave me an exemplary pass, so I really don't know what that was all about...
Along the valley bottom to the Harrogate Road, back over the Wharfe into Pool and back along the other side of the valley to Otley.
From there it was up all the way to the Dynley Arms as the rain backed right off to just a few spits and spots. A rare thing happened today as I overtook someone on the two mile climb - yes, he was on a mountain bike, but they all count don't they?
From there, it's a nice descent down through Bramhope and I retraced the outbound route as far as Wike Ridge Lane, where I added the long loop via the fringes of Scarcroft to the bottom end of Shadwell, then the climb onto the A58, which I stayed on all the way to Red Hall Lane, then Coal Road and local roads down to home.

35.18 miles (56.61km) in 2h 38m at an average of 13.3mph with 1,686ft climbed

Enjoyed that, despite the rain - it was warm if nothing else. It's also the ride banked nice and early in the month for the Half Century Challenge and it takes me over 1,000 miles on the Giant
Lots of cyclists out, as you might expect and being an early ride the roads were fairly quiet, although Otley Road remains close pass central.

And to end, the map:

 

[Noodle Legs]

Well done @NorthernDave for hitting the 1000 on the giant, big miles and an even bigger effort.

On the subject of efforts, mine today was a pre-planned (four counties, if you will) ride out through the lanes of Leics, Derbys, Staffs and Warks with one of the fellow members of the self proclaimed “Saga CC”.

We met up at the brand new Starbucks in Ashby and as we sat having a coffee and me showing off my new bike I observed that also on the new park there was, I kid you not, a Drive Thru Greggs!!

Once I’d got my head around that dangerous prospect, we set off on our way. The plan was to go at a reasonable pace as we wanted to try and get back before the forecasted rain. There was not much climbing planned-comparatively speaking- around 2,000 ft or so and as I knew most of the lanes on the route I could mentally prepare for the climbs.

The first couple of hours flew by as we navigated our way through NW Leics and S Derbys and as we got into rural Staffs we rode up the lanes of Hoar Cross, which is exactly where I was working on Thursday just gone and we stopped briefly to admire my handiwork! Then the first real climb followed-albeit a short one- and Will observed I hadn’t dropped out of the big ring at all up to this point and that he was struggling to keep up! It should be noted that this is quite the thing because on my Cube I couldn’t even hold his wheel on the flat let alone on a hill!!

As we began our final approach towards the cafe stop there was one more steepish hill to negotiate before the flats into Fradley Junction which came immediately after a left turn and I powered up it leaving matey to spin his way up puffing and panting!

Had a good half hour at Fradley cafe taking some photos of the canal boats as well as the bikes/each other as we devoured our bacon roll and cake combos. It was also a good opportunity to check in on a couple of other self proclaimed “Saga CCers” progress on their Fast n Flat (and torrentially wet) sportive up north.

Once we set off again all satiated and happy it was more of the same rolling lanes along which we agreed to “go steady” which lasted until we got to N Warwickshire and then it was catch up as I stopped at a junction at No Man’s Heath only for matey boy to ride straight out of it without looking! I eventually caught him as we approached the M42 junction near Measham and promptly b0ll0cked him for breaking our agreement! As we got into Measham my garmin was beeping low battery at me because it had been picking up matey boys radar thingy and drained the battery (although he denies this) and I then made the conscious decision to peel off towards home at this point being only 7 miles away. We said our goodbyes and off I went. Had one last hill to negotiate and it was plain sailing back to Coalville where it had obviously rained but had stopped by the time I got there.

So all in all, a DRY 72 miles in 4h 10, averaging 17.3mph.

I’ve a feeling that after today’s antics tonight’s anniversary meal with Mrs D won’t touch the sides!

‭https://www.strava.com/activities/1611912127


Check out A Wright good ride out! on Relive! https://www.relive.cc/view/1611912127

 

[lazybloke]

I quite liked the look of "some wedding pics" recently, so I dragged the kids out to Windsor Great Park today for an explore. Managed 5 miles or so before the cacophony of "my legs are tired" got too much, but it was lovely cycling.

Nice destination. Will go again.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

There was some method in the early route madness. I was hoping to meet my GV friends who were riding up from the Forest but timings were fluid. So I rode over to Upton with Steve E and Sara P to meet the other Saturday Crew attendees in Upton. Rich B, Jules H, John G and Rob A were waiting. I headed out through the school with them and at Queenhill Steve E turned for home early. I got a call saying my Forest friends were coming up from Tirley. So the two groups would meet near Forthampton. Which we did. So I turned around and lead my friends to Upton where they had planned to have refreshments. The Stables did the necessary.

The GV peloton : Ken P, Martyn HW, Fred C, Andy G, Colin J, Paul W and Gordon J. I lead them by Hillend and Birtsmorton for Pendock where Leader Ken knew the roads again. Bromsberrow took us to Tillers Green and Kempley. In Newent we paused for bottle refills as the weather was quite warm. Then it was down to Huntley, Blaisdon and Flaxley before the climb known in GV circles as "The Widow Maker". Needless to say I took my time. The Littledean House Hotel was the destination and a pint of beer our reward. After wives Barb and Claire turned up our chats continued but time was getting on. Time to say my good byes.

I retraced to Flaxley then on for Northwood Green. The weather was superb and I should have been getting some assistance from a brisk breeze that had sprung up. Intermittently I was but not as much as I thought I deserved. Nevertheless I crossed the main road at Birdwood and headed for Tibberton aiming for the Hams at Ashleworth. My legs began to ask what was going on as I'd now ridden more miles than I had in 2018. But I told them to "shut up". They sort of did but each up slope was more noticeable now. The Rampings lead me to Tunnel Hill where I took my standard run by Hanley Swan. I realised I'd be 4 miles short of a significant round number so I took an extra loop to Callow End, where my legs were struggling for sure, to bring me home with an imperial century and a bit. First one of 2018 so pretty pleased especially as it was unplanned and I haven't trained for it either. 103 smiles on this one