Your ride today....

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C R

Guru
Location
Worcester
Been a bad 2 weeks. Mum had a Diabetic Hypo in her sleep. Ended up with brain Damage. Last weekend we had to agree for Critical care to be removed. On Saturday she peacefully passed away. So been arranging funeral and sorting her belongings. So today needed a bike ride.
Sorry to read about this. Hope your ride helped.
 

Fonze

Totally obsessive , cool by nature
Location
Bradwell
Been a bad 2 weeks. Mum had a Diabetic Hypo in her sleep. Ended up with brain Damage. Last weekend we had to agree for Critical care to be removed. On Saturday she peacefully passed away. So been arranging funeral and sorting her belongings. So today needed a bike ride.

Sad news, I'm sorry for your loss ..
 

Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
Been a bad 2 weeks. Mum had a Diabetic Hypo in her sleep. Ended up with brain Damage. Last weekend we had to agree for Critical care to be removed. On Saturday she peacefully passed away. So been arranging funeral and sorting her belongings. So today needed a bike ride.
I'm so sorry to hear about this and wish you and your family all the best at such a difficult time.
 

Fonze

Totally obsessive , cool by nature
Location
Bradwell
30 km today, day off tomorrow need to rest legs a bit .
Enjoy some treats I think worked hard this week so deserve a nice Latte & Cake in my favourite cafe Number 33 in Norwich ..
Been a great week so far and thoroughly enjoyed my cycling again, back on Saturday so do some running now ..


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TigerT

Veteran
Location
Zürich
Last Weekday of my holidays today and no motivation to do anything. But the sun was shining and due to being away I haven't cycled in over 2 weeks. So time for a Coffee and Cake ride!

I decided to try a new route. I'm a bit bored with my normal coffee and cake ride and it lacks opportunities for extensions. So today I thought I'd try out a new route. I've done bits of Route 45 from Zürich to Winterthur before, but never the complete route. After a false start, when I discovered my Garmins latest fault is that since the latest firmware update it doesn't charge (fixed by a hard reset), I set out with my old Garmin which recently decided to work again (don't know why, the screen was corrupted and it wouldn't get satellite - nothing resolved it then I tried it one last time before binning it and everything worked)!

Route 45 is an easy one to follow and heads out through Schwamendingen, Stettbach and Dubendorf before climbing up into the woods and emerging in Effretikon. From there it's a fairly simple run along the roads into Winterthur. I enjoyed it - Enough hills to be challenging but still be enjoyable. So I headed into the City Centre to find a Starbucks for s large Coffee and a Slice of Banana Bread.

Winterthur bills itself to be Switzerlands Cycling city. Bikes are certainly very popular there. They are everywhere and it's impossible to find space to park despite there being bike racks everywhere you look. BUT, I have to say, it also has some of the most confusing signage I've ever seen. The same cycle route 45 is signposted in 2 different directions at one stage. They both end up in the same place, but you don't know that unless you stop and look at the map. I picked the correct one as one of them heads over some gravel and I was trying to avoid that today.

After relaxing for a while and looking at the map for options, I decided I'd head back the same way. The sun was out and due to a strong headwind, I wasn't going to be hurrying. The journey back was fairly slow and uneventful.

I think there is a good possibility I'll be doing this ride more often. It has long quiet road sections, very few Gravel paths (just through the woods and half of that is being resurfaced (still gravel but compacted quite hard) and one longish climb in each direction.... And of course a convenient half way stop for Coffee and Cake. There are also numerous options for extensions to explore.

Here are a couple of photos

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Heading through the woods, obviously quite focussed on something, but I can't remember what!
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Mandatory Coffee and cake stop. As Starbucks goes, this one is pretty nice, it has lots of outdoor seating and a large outdoor seating area on the roof, excellent just for watching the world go by!
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Obligatory shot of the bike shown here admiring a temporary art installation at Stettbach.
 
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Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
I haven't been out for a couple of days so tried to beat the weather this morning. Route was Condover, Acton Burnell, Folly Bank, Cardington, Kenley, Acton Burnell again and retrace my steps to home.

I set out in cool, sunny but rather breezy conditions and got along fairly well at the start despite the wind. Things slowed down a bit after turning towards it at Cantlop then after Acton Burnell slowed to more of a plod as I was now going directly against the wind which often seems to get stronger as you get close to the Stretton hills.

The climb up Folly Bank was okay but I knew I'd have the wind helping once over the other side of the hill, which it did, leading to some quite fun riding.:smile: The pothole on the crossroads by Longville is still untouched which is annoying.

As I headed along the road towards Church Preen School I could see that there was a lot of cloud to the west so I decided not to do the longer route I'd originally had in mind. At Kenley it looked possible I'd get back before the rain arrived but by the time I reached Acton Burnell again I knew that it was just coming in too fast so I took the opportunity to don waterproofs before it actually started and it turned out to be not a moment too soon.

The trip back was a mix of crosswind and headwind which had become quite squally with the arrival of the rain, reducing my speed to 7mph at one point while fighting against it. It felt like skipping straight from summer to a winter storm and I find that my waterproofs need to be retreated.

Getting back I went to put the bike away and (with excellent comedic timing) as I carried it through the doorway the sound of heavy rain on the roof stopped as though a tap had been turned off.:rolleyes:

30.8 miles, the last seven of which were very wet and windy, at 13.3 mph average.

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Quick drink stop on my way south. The Lawley as the backdrop.

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Looking towards Caer Caradoc on the way up the Folly Bank climb.

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Bit of a pothole at the Longville crossroads. A dangerous one this as it's at an angle across the middle of the junction and just on the line a fast cyclist or a motorcyclist would want to take.

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On the way to Kenley. Where did the blue sky go?

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A couple of miles from Acton Burnell, looking at Sham Castle in the distance and some impressively threatening cloud.
 
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Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
@Rickshaw Phil

You certainly put the miles on that Hawk Trakatak. :smile: I know you've upgraded it, but it proves you don't need to spend £hundreds to get out there.
You haven't seen how much all the upgrades have cost.:whistle:

It's done pretty well really considering. It's also been fun and I've learned a lot from using it to try out different combinations of parts.:thumbsup:
 
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