Your ride today....

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I was a bit late setting off as I waited for a heavy shower to pass. Having got underway I got caught in a deluge and was soaked. Could have been worse as I'd picked the mudguard bike and had packed a jacket. Eventually the downpour stopped and the sun made an appearance. I began to dry out but the roads I pedalled hadn't been wet at all. So much for good luck. Nevertheless I was pleased to have made the effort. All good. 48 smiles

 

[Vantage]

Social group outing again today, although I wasn't very sociable, as usual.
I left home about 9.35 ish and headed straight for the diabetic centre. About 10 of us left there at 10am and rode through Bolton center, along the bike trail and stopped at the garden centre in Radcliffe for brews. Muggins here was sat on his own feeling that to plonk my arse amongst the others uninvited would be rude. I really hate that about me.
Two cups of tea later and after 'liking' a few posts on CC on my phone we departed and returned to Bolton without incident except for one taxi driver who felt the need to rev his engine as we waited to get onto a small roundabout. Home for around 12.30 I think...wasn't looking.

Mid afternoon the Amazon delivery guy turned up with my cheapo Walkydog copy and that was soon clamped onto the seatpost. The other end was wrapped around Tara's neck and I set off out again to try it out.
Through the estate and into Moss Bank Park and even when muttly decided to stop dead in the middle of the road for a crap I remained in control unlike last time
I'd fixed the camera onto the bars and facing backwards to record Tara's first outing with it and I'd even remembered to fit the memory card this time. It wasn't until we got home and looked at the footage that my cockup was noticed. Yep, it was upside down and didn't quite frame Tara running along. We did get a different perspective of my leg and foot going round and round though.

Later in early evening Erin asked if we could go on a ride again. Course we could!
Same trip as the dog trip and lots of chatter. We ended up walking up the little lane again as we were both tired by this point. She's been getting her bike out alot recently to go riding with her friends There's hope for the kid yet

18 miles today averaging 8.5mph.

View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/26448746

 

[Glow worm]

A nice 70 miler here today from Newmarket to St Johns Wood in London.

After passing the Cambridge suburbs like Shelford and the like, I headed up the hill from Ickleton into Essex

A bit of a slog over lumpy Essex and into Herts through the Pelhams.

At Much Hadham I gambled on a bridleway or two instead of a B road. Quite hard work with gates and the like but at least car free.

And further along there were a couple more gates (and styles) which were a bit tricky.

On into the Lea Valley. I thought it would be easy but it’s not really. Lots of missing waymarking. And blimey the route faffs about messing about on one side or the other or at one point sending you needlessly up a 200 ft hill, which after 50 or so miles is not the best.

Back on the flat and then on into Tottenham/ London - bonkers drivers, but I made my destination in one piece.

 

[welsh dragon]

27 miles for me today. I did the Mach loop making 18 miles then added another smaller loop to make 27 miles. Perfect weather with just a slight breeze.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

All around the Wrekin today, literally, as I made up for missing out on a ride yesterday due to circumstances beyond my control.

I started off on one of my regular routes as I went to Cressage the long way (via Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell) then climbed up through Eaton Constantine but took a right rather than left at Woodgreen and headed along the edge of The Wrekin, up to Little Wenlock, down Spout Lane to Neves Castle, crossed over my earlier path at Rushton and headed for Donnington, Wroxeter, Atcham, Cross Houses and home via Allfield and Lyth Hill.

The long warm summer continues and it was very pleasant out with light winds today. The main road was fairly quiet at the start but the lanes were busier than usual with farm traffic as the harvest is gathered in.

I was using the knockabout bike which felt quite an effort to ride up the climbs after getting used to the other bikes lately. Having said that though I managed the climb up the edge of the Wrekin without having to drop into low range and was pleased to see that the steepest section has been resurfaced fairly recently (it had got to the point of being dangerous to cycle down).

The descent of Spout Lane is usually fun and the only traffic I had to share it with was the postman and a couple of walkers.

After passing through Donnington I had a couple of main road sections which also weren't too busy and the drivers were courteous, then it was onto more lanes that again were busier than expected. I chose to cut through Allfield then headed for Lyth Hill as I spend less time on the A49 that way which I'm glad I did as that road turned out to be really busy and I had to wait ages to get across.

38.3 miles at 13.4 mph average.

Near Acton Burnell looking towards the Wrekin.

A few miles of riding later and I'm up alongside the hill looking up to the summit and the television transmitter.

Starting the climb through the woods round the edge.

View of the Wrekin from the summit of the climb.

En route to Donnington (not the Telford one).

The view from Charlton Hill.

A bit further along and the view from Donnington.

 

[Noodle Legs]

Today’s ride I shall entitle “Timed That Right”

Squeezed another 50k challenge ride and bagged another point for the cause, originally today would have been part 7 of my “Gentle with Gemma” sessions but a last minute WhatsApp message to say she couldn’t get put paid to that- in all honesty I could’ve kissed her when she sent that as I didn’t fancy a slow lumpy slog around the Charnwood hills but rather doing my pace along some new and familiar lanes.

I plotted a route very quickly as I’d been thinking about where I was gonna go all day (whilst hoping Gemma would bail!) I quickly and easily loaded it onto the new wahoo (so much easier than my Garmin) and off I went apprehensively in the warm but much cooler weather than recent and accompanying dark grey skies.

Mrs D was waiting in for the online big shop to be delivered and so it was like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard when I left which meant the usual pre-ride banana gave way to a handful of jelly beans instead!

The first ten miles or so to Twycross are quite well ridden roads by me and I was able to put the hammer down a bit up to there and a little beyond as there was not a breath of wind but I then tailed off a little bit for the next few miles through new lanes probably due to a combination of fatigue and the fact that my ass and adductor muscles were thrashing me.

The last four or five miles through Pinwall and Sheepy Magna up to the A444 junction at Wellsborough were consequently a bit of a slog due to the discomfort I was experiencing but I was very grateful for the minute-or-so’s break at this junction as this gave my muscles a well earned rest!

Once crossed over I continued up and out of Wellsborough towards the familiar turf that is Market Bosworth and any discomfort in the legs had now totally subsided thanks to waiting at the previous junction. I felt fairly fresh and the legs felt pretty good as I made the climb into Bosworth town centre, although I had to stop two thirds up because some dizzy woman in a fiesta decided to wait to overtake a parked car which, quite frankly, you could have got a jumbo jet around and there still would have been ample room for oncoming traffic.....

...ahem, I digress! From “Bozzie” it was up and out back through familiar territory taking in Carlton and Nailstone where I had another little break waiting to cross the A447 and this seemed to loosen my legs up nicely for the last few miles back home.

I noticed with 2-3 miles left to go that the skies were getting darker and I could see the rain coming down in the distance and so I started to give it some beans.

I made it home dry and-I kid you not- the SECOND I put the key into the lock of the garage down came the rain with quite some gusto! Talk about perfect timing!! My dog Oscar wasn’t impressed however as his impending walkies were delayed!!!

32.8 miles in 1:49.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1760975124

https://www.strava.com/activities/1760975124

 

[Katherine]

Coast to Coast the Cornish way!
A 43 mile loop around the far south west.

Going out through Newlyn.

Newlyn harbour

Cornish countryside, on the way to St Buryan

Wonderful spicy avocado cake at the Apple Tree cafe near Sennen

First view (today) of the sea on the North Coast

I stopped to fill up my empty water bottle with blackberries.

It was so lovely to ride up and down this coastal road. I think the view must be unbeatable. 18 miles of it in wonderful sunshine though quite windy.

The thought of this 'ice cream in a field' kept me going up some of the really steep bits. Worth it. (lemon curd flavour - wow)

You think that the worst of the hills are over when you see this. A wonderful descent to enjoy.

Ancient standing stones on the road back from the north coast near St Ives back to the south coast near Penzance.

To be continued ...

 

[Katherine]

And on the same road, one of the several old mines I passed.

Last Cornish bike ride until next year. Lots of memories to savour.
So many different views today. Ponies on the beach at Marazion, fishing boats in the harbour at Newlyn, ancient standing stones, old Cornish hedgerows, fields of new bales waiting to be collected, quiet lanes, moorland, cliffs, an owl, several kestrels, cattle on the road near Zennor, an adder (when I stopped for a photo of the view, I saw one in the undergrowth by my feet!) wayside stalls of local produce with an honesty box, farms, villages of stone cottages.

 

[Leaway2]

View attachment 423468 View attachment 423469 Dropped a bag of sheeps wool off at a friends house this evening for her to use in crafty type things. Strapped the bag to the fixie and dragged number two daughter along across the trails that were once proud Coal mines in our area and onto the canal to my friends house 3 miles away. It was far better than jumping in the car and we had fun exploring...... or getting lost with style !

Thought you had had an airbag activation.

 

[skudupnorth]

Thought you had had an airbag activation.

Use it to push the mini me !

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The forecast didn't look great this morning so I've been out early to get some miles in and test out the retensioned back wheel on the Raleigh.

The route was a standard one: Condover, Atcham (and through Attingham Park), Upton Magna, Walcot, Cressage, Acton Burnell, Longnor, Condover again and home. On setting out the weather was pretty nice with lots of sunshine, although it was a little cooler than lately, but a bank of cloud to the west was a reminder not to dally.

Very little to report on the ride itself. The roads were nice and quiet and the drivers well behaved. The wind was a bit annoying in the middle section of the ride but helped nicely at the start and finish.

On the way back from Longnor I could see the cloud to the west darkening as I rode so it became a race against the weather which for once I did win, getting back just minutes before the rain started.

35.1 miles at 15.4 mph average. The wheel has had a pretty good test with some rough roads on the way round and the seven cattle grids in Attingham Park.

Edit to add: Jotting down my mileages later I realised this ride takes me over 4,000 miles for the year to date.

Some blue sky and sunshine to start off with........

............ but it became a race against the incoming rain towards the end of the ride.

 

[Katherine]

And on the same road, one of the several old mines I passed.
View attachment 423670

Last Cornish bike ride until next year. Lots of memories to savour.
So many different views today. Ponies on the beach at Marazion, fishing boats in the harbour at Newlyn, ancient standing stones, old Cornish hedgerows, fields of new bales waiting to be collected, quiet lanes, moorland, cliffs, an owl, several kestrels, cattle on the road near Zennor, an adder (when I stopped for a photo of the view, I saw one in the undergrowth by my feet!) wayside stalls of local produce with an honesty box, farms, villages of stone cottages.

I have worked out (looked it up) how to do a screenshot.

 

[skudupnorth]

Love Cornwall, we stay just outside Penzance every year,hope to be back for our second visit this year in October

 

[welsh dragon]

Coast to Coast the Cornish way!
A 43 mile loop around the far south west.

Going out through Newlyn.

View attachment 423654
Newlyn harbour
View attachment 423655
Cornish countryside, on the way to St Buryan
View attachment 423656
Wonderful spicy avocado cake at the Apple Tree cafe near Sennen
View attachment 423657
First view (today) of the sea on the North Coast
View attachment 423658
I stopped to fill up my empty water bottle with blackberries.
View attachment 423659
It was so lovely to ride up and down this coastal road. I think the view must be unbeatable. 18 miles of it in wonderful sunshine though quite windy.
View attachment 423660
The thought of this 'ice cream in a field' kept me going up some of the really steep bits. Worth it. (lemon curd flavour - wow)
View attachment 423661
You think that the worst of the hills are over when you see this. A wonderful descent to enjoy.
View attachment 423662
Ancient standing stones on the road back from the north coast near St Ives back to the south coast near Penzance.
View attachment 423663

To be continued ...

When i was out yesterday there was a roadie who had stopped by the side of road to pick blackberries. Clearly he was eating them as he went along.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Time for some hills. With heavy thundery showers about I kept my fingers crossed. I started with a standard run out to turn at Mousehole Bridge and climb the Suckley Hills. Next I took the steep slope of Suckley Knowle and then the longer ramp for Linley Green. Workmen were digging a trench as I turned for Fernie Bank but they stopped work to see me safely through. The next steep was at Whitbourne and this was followed by a long ramp to Clifton-on-Teme. Now on the tops the wind was very noticeable as I headed for the steep one away from the hollow carved by the Sapey Brook. I lost some height from Wolferlow but had to regain it and some more on the tough hill at Kyre. The wind was now helping a little and over the way I could see one of those localised storms I was hoping to avoid. I lost some more height through Thornbury but had to deal with a couple of steep ones on the way to Bromyard. The Frome valley is quite lumpy with one nasty steep one before I climbed out of the valley on a 2 mile ramp. I just had the descent into the Leigh Brook valley with its steep ups before the usual run back from Leigh Sinton. I'd had a good ride out in the hills and enjoyed some wonderful scenery too. And I'd avoided getting wet. 53 smiles