Your ride today....

[delb0y]

A Tale of Two Rides:

(1)Towards the end of last Sunday's club ride we had a little bit of an incident at some temporary traffic lights in the village of Longney.

Yes, I snuck through those lights on red on Saturday and had an evil look from a young girl in a Ford Fiesta, even though I was way over amongst the traffic cones so there was more than enough room for both of us. I guess some folks' lives are so good that they have nothing else to worry about but other people making headway on the road when they shouldn't be.

 

[Vantage]

Been getting pummeled by fatigue all week so the bike has barely moved but I took a short ride over to Moss Bank Park this morning with Tara.
It was going ok ish despite Tara darting left and right and we were making nice progress through the estate. We were going down the quiet little lane to the park at some 12mph or so and I checked the rear view mirror for traffic. Nothing there. At this point Tara decided to stop dead in her tracks to have a poop. By the time my eyes returned to the road in front it was too late and the bike was suddenly yanked to the left but finished on it's right side and I was thrown to the ground like a sack of spuds.
OW! That hurt! My right elbow has a couple grazes but other than that I'm ok. The bike got away with a light scratch on the tip of the front brake lever. I could've jammed that poop bag down her throat!
We set off again down the hill and turned into the park which was pretty busy for a week day. I let Tara off her lead once we on the grass and she shot off like a missile with me following her.
Tara is a 'friendly' doggy and likes to meet people and other doggies but she can a little too lively for some. I often have to keep her restrained and when not, am constantly on guard ready to call her back when she spots a target for tummy rubs. There was lots of that today.
We crossed over the lane to another field where she felt the need to go and be best buddies with a much smaller dog being walked by its owner. Tara bolts over and the lady panics. Scoops up her little dog and literally starts screaming in horror! I've never seen anything like it. As I was chasing after Tara and calling her back this woman was dancing about screaming and shouting me to "Stop that dog!"
Back on her lead, I apologised and explained that Tara was just a big sack of fluffy cuddles which didn't seem to impress the lady. She said nothing at all.
Tara and I made way around the outskirts of the field and I couldn't help but have a giggle at the ridiculousness of it. Granted she doesn't know Tara the way I do but I still think the lady went a bit over the top with her antics.
Back into the main park area, a bit of a climb, through a wooded bit and a slow pootle home through the estate.
Tara has pretty much slept all afternoon and I've been dipping in and out of sleep too.
2.3 miles and I'm shattered.

 

[pjd57]

Another of those daft days when I had nothing planned.
Mrs asked me to drop a few small items she was selling off to different people in different parts of the city.

Trip to Halfords at Bishopbriggs was a waste of time.
Few miles to Partick to tell Mrs delivery run was done.

52 miles spread over the city and the day.

 

[Noodle Legs]

So after a month or so hiatus, the self proclaimed “Saga CC” boys (well 5/6 of us anyway) reunited for a spin through the lanes of South Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Dales. I’d like to say this was easy or steady or whatever other non difficult connotation you can think of but I’d be lying! After meeting up at Willington we set off on our way in the hot early evening sun. I’ve not had the best month of riding due to other commitments and in the early stages it showed. Whilst the others decided to do a few “sprintervals” I had nothing to give and was quickly behind, but they eventually realised I was struggling and held back so I could catch up. The elevation was around 1400ft and while this was no mountain stage, the early effort by me would suggest it was! Or at least that’s how it felt! I was hot and dehydrated and just had nothing to give but we made a pub stop at 17/18 miles and realised then I was still averaging 17mph on what was mainly climbing. After nailing my water I had a pint and a chat with some locals and we were soon back on our way. “It’s all down hill from here,” Martin said..... but he neglected to mention the first 4 or 5 miles took in another few hundred ft of elevation beforehand! The water and fruity cider I rammed down my scrawny little throat seemed to pay dividends as I regained my lost mojo and really picked up the pace on the way back to Willington. Once at Hatton with 5 or 6 to go and the “downhills” out of the way it was dead flat and we really picked it up along these parts, including a 23+average for the “Hatton-Hilton mile”, a dead flat mile long stretch of road where I’m willing to bet many a thrash fest has taken place! We stuck to the main road around Hilton again averaging 20+ for this section until we approached a manually operated level crossing which was down and blind on approach and were it not for some quick reactions would’ve resulted in us toppling over like a domino rally!

Luckily we managed to avoid any incident here other than a little verbal exchange with some impatient tool in a lorry and we soon picked it up for the final few miles back to the start where another pint of fruity cider was consumed.

38.7 big ones in 2h 5m averaging 18.5mph.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1713974559

 

[pjd57]

@User9609 , great pictures, and the roads look even better. Can you throw in a few names of towns or villages ?

 

[postman]

REIVER the saddle the saddle,i have sent you one of these in the post.

 

[postman]

I have just worked out my mileage per coffee it is only 8.5 miles per mug.I must do better.Anyway a lovely slow meandering 17 miles today,just great.Two sessions on the turbo this week,17 miles out today,and a little tootle to Otley early tomorrow,life is grand.

 

[Threevok]

My ride today ? very smokey

 

[postman]

My ride today ? very smokey

South Wales to London..

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Only my second ride of the week this morning due to other things getting in the way. One of my usual loops: Condover, Upton Magna, Walcot, Cressage, Acton Burnell, Longnor, Condover and home.

I took the Galaxy and in the calm, and not too warm conditions got on at a good pace. My timing was also fairly good this time as I was down the lanes during the school rush so missed the worst of it. Today is the last day of term for the local schools so mornings will be quieter for a few weeks.

Very little to report this time as it was all pleasantly uneventful with a highlight being the sight of a buzzard soaring on warm updraughts over the fields near Cressage.

35.3 miles at 16.1 mph average.

Just the one snapshot this time taken at a drink stop near Uppington.

 

[Nomadski]

[QUOTE 5319328, member: 9609"]more borders roads - . View attachment 420132 View attachment 420133 View attachment 420134 View attachment 420135 View attachment 420136 View attachment 420137 View attachment 420138 View attachment 420139 View attachment 420140 [/QUOTE]

Dayum that road looks beautiful. Where is that?

 

[TigerT]

The weather here in Zürich is looking stormy for the weekend, so I took advantage of it being quiet at work and took the day off.

I decided to extend a ride I've done previously by adding a new bit in the middle. So I started off heading out on Route 5 from Zürich to Winterthur. I've been meaning to try this out since getting my new bike. it has a long 19% decent with tight corners - A big adventure on rim brakes, requiring holding on quite tight so I wanted to try out the discs. It was a lot easier, needing a lot less pressure on the levers. Still not a fan of that hill though!

Normally after this I'd cut straight into the Töss valley at this point, but for the new part of the ride, instead I headed into the city centre and stopped for a coffee. Route 5 can be a bit confusing at this point because it takes 2 different routes, so it was a bit interesting working out my way through Winterthur. I made one wrong turn on the way out but soon corrected that. Finally I got back to the point where the two parts merge. It was getting warm by this point, my Garmin was reading 36 degrees, so I headed off into the woods down the other leg of route 5 to get some shade. I found a nice spot by the river to cool down for a while before setting of back onto the plan.

And there it went wrong! They are resurfacing a huge section of cycle path 5 and 53 and it was closed. (It'll be worth it, the part they've already done is fantastic). Unusually for Switzerland, there wasn't a well signposted diversion so I spent a while riding round randomly trying to find a route that worked. It was still hot and I was getting slightly annoyed by now. Finally I saw a sign for a town in the right general direction and eventually this got me to Route 41 for the last significant uphill part of the ride. This climbs up to Hittnau and then there is a nice run down the other side into Pfaffikon. Here I just headed to the Railway station, there is a small supermarket with some tables where you can eat what you've bought, so after a nice Cheese, Sausage and Pasta salad with a large iced coffee. Back on the bike

This last part I've done lots of times so its a straight forward run back through Wetzikon, Uster and Greifensee to get back into Zürich. Still hot but now the weekends storms were starting to blow in so I had a headwind to contend with. That slowed me down a bit and there was no hurry, so I just got my head down to get home.

Great way to spend a day off, just over 103 kms - Now following my normal post ride routine of eating everything in sight whilst drifting off to sleep.


Stopping on the way out of Winterthur to fill up the Water Battles

Hiding from the sun in the woods

Out along the Töss Valley just before getting a bit lost!

And the map.

 

[Donger]

REIVER the saddle the saddle,i have sent you one of these in the post. View attachment 420184

..... and I'd send him some bar tape if I knew where he lived.

 

[Mr Celine]

My last day on holiday and the sun had gone in at lunchtime so I took the opportunity for a last french ride.
I followed quiet local roads down to Belley then joined the Rhone cycleway.

By now the clouds were disappearing and it was getting hot. I followed the cycleway northwards. What would sustrans have done when faced with this obstacle?

I doubt they would blast a short tunnel for a segregated cycle track.
A long straight stretch is then followed until the pretty village of Chanaz.

Then back to a proper road across the Rhone and back chez nous before I melted completely in the heat.
The map etc.

 

[Stonechat]

Went out for a ride today, wanted to do a couple of hours without any too hard hills

Stuck to Windsor Great Park and Looped around
In at Bishopsgate, through the Deer Park out again at Cranbourne Gate, down the road to Ascot Gate, in the Park again and up, joining the above road just after the Deer Park, and out again at Crabourne Gate, Down to Blacknest Gate, I had intended to take a particular road but found it was closed. Much of the park's roads have been 'resurface'with loose chippings, Takes some of the enjoyment out of the Park.
Anyway eventually went Down Wick Lane and Wick Road and home via Prune Hill downwards

32.08 miles at 16.7 mph with 1243 feet climbed. Despite that speed it was not all out so I am clearly faster than before

https://www.strava.com/activities/1714990415