Your ride today....

[C R]

I completed the Imperial Century a Month challenge again yesterday. December's never easy, but a day that was completely dry and absolutely calm did help a bit. Unfortunately I couldn't start until almost 9am so there was always going to be some darkness.

View attachment 441485

Running aniclockwise meant I was on the A38 for the first bit, a good thing as there was no evidence of gritting despite the widespread frost. Tewkesbury is by far the best place I know for checking your reflection in the shop windows. In the morning sunshine the Avon at Eckington bridge was very high and stunningly glassy.

Approaching Stratford, the road at Welford south of the river was completely blocked by roadworks. Not even a pedestrian could get through, so I abandoned my plan to ride into the town on the old railway. In Stratford I rode past Holy Trinity Church, a member of the Greater Churches Network. A good photo opportunity was elusive, and I didn't want to hang around. But it was one of my main objectives, so here it is:

View attachment 441487

There's a good route out of town towards Wilmcote and Alcester past Anne Hathaway's Cottage. I'd vaguely assumed this was something of a music-hall joke, a small nondescript cottage famous only for its former occupant, and so another photo opportunity? In the event, it looked more like a theme park and it was far from clear which building was actually "it", so I moved on.

Heading eastwards from Stratford one of the nice features is the way the hills continually come in and out of view. They can look completely different from day to day; yesterday the views had a remarkable quality. The morning sunshine had gone but a light mist remained in the Severn Valley and the hills themselves - first the Shropshire hills, later the Malverns - appeared to be floating in the air. Eventually the chance came which I'd been waiting for:

View attachment 441488

The roadworks on the river crossing road at Upton are pretty awkward, but I was able to slot in front of a big lorry that had no chance of keeping up with even me when the lights finally changed. Absolutely terrifying was the final approach to Gloucester coinciding with peak traffic in the dark, so I was very relieved to get home, 103.16 miles and job done.

Great route, @Aravis, where was that last image taken, Wadborough, by any chance?

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I also completed the Imperial Century Challenge yesterday which turned out to be a much tougher ride than expected.

I toyed with several route ideas but decided in the end to keep it simple and do roughly the reverse of the route I rode last month as I know where I'm going and it's relatively flat. Starting off with a little extra mileage the route was: main road to Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Cressage, Eaton Constantine, Walcot, Rodington Heath, High Ercall, Cold Hatton, Eaton Upon Tern, Ollerton, Heathcote, Old Colehurst, Market Drayton, Longford, Longslow, Calverhall, Ightfield, Prees, Whixall, Welshampton, Coptiveney, Ellesmere, Gobowen, Oswestry, Maesbury, Maesbrook, Melverley, Prince's Oak, Halfway House, Westbury, Edge, Shorthill, Exfords Green and back via Lyth Hill.

I was on the road at seven and there was a frost on the cars which was a slight worry as there had been rain yesterday. There didn't seem to be ice on the ground though so I proceeded with caution knowing that there would be a lot of ungritted roads coming up. There was a bit more traffic on the main roads than I was expecting (some of them not very patient) and a reasonable amount on the lanes too as folk headed off early for work.

As the sun came up you could see more of the frost on the grass which looked nice, then at Cressage there was mist lingering around the river. I took it gently on the climb up through Eaton Constantine wanting to keep the legs as fresh as possible for later on, then enjoyed the downhill along Bluebell Lane. There is a lot of easy terrain from Walcot onwards so I was geting on quite comfortably. At Ollerton I decided to go a different way which gave a change of views.

At Market Drayton I took a shorter route round town which meant riding through housing estates rather than the more picturesque town centre. The roads in the town are still dreadful, although a short stretch on this route has been resurfaced since I was last here, emphasising how rough the rest has got.

I'd had plenty of sunshine on the ride so far and it had warmed up enough to change to fingerless gloves but this wasn't to last as around Drayton a bank of cloud had rolled in and with it a very cold, damp feel to the air meaning that by my elevenses stop at Longslow I needed the full finger gloves back on and I couldn't stop for very long before starting to feel chilled. The only extra layers I had to put on were my waterproofs but I didn't want to use these unless essential knowing I'd boil-in-the-bag, so I just have to put up with it.

At Prees I got held up briefly by a goods train going through, then by Welshampton I was starting to find the hills needed a bit of effort. I stopped for my lunch by The Mere at Ellesmere where I chatted with a couple out for a walk who said "Just in one day?!!" in response to telling them where I was going.

Getting going after this stop, the legs didn't really want to know until I'd gone about a mile and weren't that happy about the lumpy bit on the way to Gobowen. I knew things were wrong though near to Oswestry Hill Fort where I had to stop and rest briefly on a hill that I'd usually get over easily by standing on the pedals. Taking a rest by the fort probably would have been a good idea but it wasn't far off school kicking-out time so I decided I wanted to be through town before the traffic got bad. While riding through town one of my front lights started making a bid for freedom (can't have clipped in properly) but fortunately I spotted it wobbling before it actually fell off. Less than a mile after this I was getting up some good speed on the downhill heading out of town when both legs suddenly cramped up, which was extremely painful. Being on a downhill I was able to coast but keep turning the pedals slowly until the pain subsided a bit. When I did stop I almost fell down as the legs just buckled under me.

I was at around the 80 mile mark here and to abandon the ride so near the end and have to try again another day was not a pleasant thought. I decided to press on very slowly and see what I could manage, which led to the cramp coming back on the next climb at Woolston. After another rest, drink and banana near Osbaston I decided to keep moving as much as I could and things did ease a bit. I was going very slow but made it to Melverley and by going even slower and in a lower gear made it up to Coedwy, then by dropping down to my granny gear crawled up the climb at Prince's Oak.

It was fully dark by the time I reached Westbury which made things interesting along the fast straight there, in rush hour traffic. Mostly it was fine but there was one guy in a beemer who overtook me on double white lines with another car coming the other way - pillock!

I was glad to get off this road and onto the lane to Edge where I had another bout of cramp and needed to stop for a bit. By now I was only about 8 miles from home and 3 from getting the century so stubbornness really kicked in and got me moving again. The granny gear got used a couple more times but did mean I got back without further stops.

105.52 miles at 12 mph moving average this time. 10 hours and 45 minutes though overall which is my slowest century for some time. Just glad to have made it and glad I didn't opt for the hillier routes I was thinking of doing.

Strangely the legs don't feel that bad today.

Near Longnor before dawn.

The sun comes up over a frosty landscape near Cressage.

Only about a mile from the last picture it's quite atmospheric at Cressage Bridge.

Ollerton.

Calverhall. Who turned off the sunshine? (The photo is actually a bit of a cheat as this isn't the road I came up).

At Ellesmere someone thinks I ought to be sharing my lunch.

Oswestry. Looking at the former Cambrian Railway works.

The Original Ball pub at Ball. After the first bout of cramp so I almost fell down when getting off the bike.

Near Melverley, It looks a lot lighter in the picture than it seemed at the time.

 

[cosmicbike]

I also completed the Imperial Century Challenge yesterday which turned out to be a much tougher ride than expected.

I toyed with several route ideas but decided in the end to keep it simple and do roughly the reverse of the route I rode last month as I know where I'm going and it's relatively flat. Starting off with a little extra mileage the route was: main road to Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Cressage, Eaton Constantine, Walcot, Rodington Heath, High Ercall, Cold Hatton, Eaton Upon Tern, Ollerton, Heathcote, Old Colehurst, Market Drayton, Longford, Longslow, Calverhall, Ightfield, Prees, Whixall, Welshampton, Coptiveney, Ellesmere, Gobowen, Oswestry, Maesbury, Maesbrook, Melverley, Prince's Oak, Halfway House, Westbury, Edge, Shorthill, Exfords Green and back via Lyth Hill.

I was on the road at seven and there was a frost on the cars which was a slight worry as there had been rain yesterday. There didn't seem to be ice on the ground though so I proceeded with caution knowing that there would be a lot of ungritted roads coming up. There was a bit more traffic on the main roads than I was expecting (some of them not very patient) and a reasonable amount on the lanes too as folk headed off early for work.

As the sun came up you could see more of the frost on the grass which looked nice, then at Cressage there was mist lingering around the river. I took it gently on the climb up through Eaton Constantine wanting to keep the legs as fresh as possible for later on, then enjoyed the downhill along Bluebell Lane. There is a lot of easy terrain from Walcot onwards so I was geting on quite comfortably. At Ollerton I decided to go a different way which gave a change of views.

At Market Drayton I took a shorter route round town which meant riding through housing estates rather than the more picturesque town centre. The roads in the town are still dreadful, although a short stretch on this route has been resurfaced since I was last here, emphasising how rough the rest has got.

I'd had plenty of sunshine on the ride so far and it had warmed up enough to change to fingerless gloves but this wasn't to last as around Drayton a bank of cloud had rolled in and with it a very cold, damp feel to the air meaning that by my elevenses stop at Longslow I needed the full finger gloves back on and I couldn't stop for very long before starting to feel chilled. The only extra layers I had to put on were my waterproofs but I didn't want to use these unless essential knowing I'd boil-in-the-bag, so I just have to put up with it.

At Prees I got held up briefly by a goods train going through, then by Welshampton I was starting to find the hills needed a bit of effort. I stopped for my lunch by The Mere at Ellesmere where I chatted with a couple out for a walk who said "Just in one day?!!" in response to telling them where I was going.

Getting going after this stop, the legs didn't really want to know until I'd gone about a mile and weren't that happy about the lumpy bit on the way to Gobowen. I knew things were wrong though near to Oswestry Hill Fort where I had to stop and rest briefly on a hill that I'd usually get over easily by standing on the pedals. Taking a rest by the fort probably would have been a good idea but it wasn't far off school kicking-out time so I decided I wanted to be through town before the traffic got bad. While riding through town one of my front lights started making a bid for freedom (can't have clipped in properly) but fortunately I spotted it wobbling before it actually fell off. Less than a mile after this I was getting up some good speed on the downhill heading out of town when both legs suddenly cramped up, which was extremely painful. Being on a downhill I was able to coast but keep turning the pedals slowly until the pain subsided a bit. When I did stop I almost fell down as the legs just buckled under me.

I was at around the 80 mile mark here and to abandon the ride so near the end and have to try again another day was not a pleasant thought. I decided to press on very slowly and see what I could manage, which led to the cramp coming back on the next climb at Woolston. After another rest, drink and banana near Osbaston I decided to keep moving as much as I could and things did ease a bit. I was going very slow but made it to Melverley and by going even slower and in a lower gear made it up to Coedwy, then by dropping down to my granny gear crawled up the climb at Prince's Oak.

It was fully dark by the time I reached Westbury which made things interesting along the fast straight there, in rush hour traffic. Mostly it was fine but there was one guy in a beemer who overtook me on double white lines with another car coming the other way - pillock!

I was glad to get off this road and onto the lane to Edge where I had another bout of cramp and needed to stop for a bit. By now I was only about 8 miles from home and 3 from getting the century so stubbornness really kicked in and got me moving again. The granny gear got used a couple more times but did mean I got back without further stops.

105.52 miles at 12 mph moving average this time. 10 hours and 45 minutes though overall which is my slowest century for some time. Just glad to have made it and glad I didn't opt for the hillier routes I was thinking of doing.

Strangely the legs don't feel that bad today.

View attachment 441538
Near Longnor before dawn.

View attachment 441539
The sun comes up over a frosty landscape near Cressage.

View attachment 441540
Only about a mile from the last picture it's quite atmospheric at Cressage Bridge.

View attachment 441541
Ollerton.

View attachment 441542
Calverhall. Who turned off the sunshine? (The photo is actually a bit of a cheat as this isn't the road I came up).

View attachment 441543
At Ellesmere someone thinks I ought to be sharing my lunch.

View attachment 441544
Oswestry. Looking at the former Cambrian Railway works.

View attachment 441545
The Original Ball pub at Ball. After the first bout of cramp so I almost feel down when getting off the bike.

View attachment 441546

Near Melverley, It looks a lot lighter in the picture than it seemed at the time.

Well done

 

[Aravis]

Great route, @Aravis, where was that last image taken, Wadborough, by any chance?

Exactly right, about 8 miles from the hills. I expect you know the very gate!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Well done

Thanks.

 

[gavgav]

I also completed the Imperial Century Challenge yesterday which turned out to be a much tougher ride than expected.

I toyed with several route ideas but decided in the end to keep it simple and do roughly the reverse of the route I rode last month as I know where I'm going and it's relatively flat. Starting off with a little extra mileage the route was: main road to Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Cressage, Eaton Constantine, Walcot, Rodington Heath, High Ercall, Cold Hatton, Eaton Upon Tern, Ollerton, Heathcote, Old Colehurst, Market Drayton, Longford, Longslow, Calverhall, Ightfield, Prees, Whixall, Welshampton, Coptiveney, Ellesmere, Gobowen, Oswestry, Maesbury, Maesbrook, Melverley, Prince's Oak, Halfway House, Westbury, Edge, Shorthill, Exfords Green and back via Lyth Hill.

I was on the road at seven and there was a frost on the cars which was a slight worry as there had been rain yesterday. There didn't seem to be ice on the ground though so I proceeded with caution knowing that there would be a lot of ungritted roads coming up. There was a bit more traffic on the main roads than I was expecting (some of them not very patient) and a reasonable amount on the lanes too as folk headed off early for work.

As the sun came up you could see more of the frost on the grass which looked nice, then at Cressage there was mist lingering around the river. I took it gently on the climb up through Eaton Constantine wanting to keep the legs as fresh as possible for later on, then enjoyed the downhill along Bluebell Lane. There is a lot of easy terrain from Walcot onwards so I was geting on quite comfortably. At Ollerton I decided to go a different way which gave a change of views.

At Market Drayton I took a shorter route round town which meant riding through housing estates rather than the more picturesque town centre. The roads in the town are still dreadful, although a short stretch on this route has been resurfaced since I was last here, emphasising how rough the rest has got.

I'd had plenty of sunshine on the ride so far and it had warmed up enough to change to fingerless gloves but this wasn't to last as around Drayton a bank of cloud had rolled in and with it a very cold, damp feel to the air meaning that by my elevenses stop at Longslow I needed the full finger gloves back on and I couldn't stop for very long before starting to feel chilled. The only extra layers I had to put on were my waterproofs but I didn't want to use these unless essential knowing I'd boil-in-the-bag, so I just have to put up with it.

At Prees I got held up briefly by a goods train going through, then by Welshampton I was starting to find the hills needed a bit of effort. I stopped for my lunch by The Mere at Ellesmere where I chatted with a couple out for a walk who said "Just in one day?!!" in response to telling them where I was going.

Getting going after this stop, the legs didn't really want to know until I'd gone about a mile and weren't that happy about the lumpy bit on the way to Gobowen. I knew things were wrong though near to Oswestry Hill Fort where I had to stop and rest briefly on a hill that I'd usually get over easily by standing on the pedals. Taking a rest by the fort probably would have been a good idea but it wasn't far off school kicking-out time so I decided I wanted to be through town before the traffic got bad. While riding through town one of my front lights started making a bid for freedom (can't have clipped in properly) but fortunately I spotted it wobbling before it actually fell off. Less than a mile after this I was getting up some good speed on the downhill heading out of town when both legs suddenly cramped up, which was extremely painful. Being on a downhill I was able to coast but keep turning the pedals slowly until the pain subsided a bit. When I did stop I almost fell down as the legs just buckled under me.

I was at around the 80 mile mark here and to abandon the ride so near the end and have to try again another day was not a pleasant thought. I decided to press on very slowly and see what I could manage, which led to the cramp coming back on the next climb at Woolston. After another rest, drink and banana near Osbaston I decided to keep moving as much as I could and things did ease a bit. I was going very slow but made it to Melverley and by going even slower and in a lower gear made it up to Coedwy, then by dropping down to my granny gear crawled up the climb at Prince's Oak.

It was fully dark by the time I reached Westbury which made things interesting along the fast straight there, in rush hour traffic. Mostly it was fine but there was one guy in a beemer who overtook me on double white lines with another car coming the other way - pillock!

I was glad to get off this road and onto the lane to Edge where I had another bout of cramp and needed to stop for a bit. By now I was only about 8 miles from home and 3 from getting the century so stubbornness really kicked in and got me moving again. The granny gear got used a couple more times but did mean I got back without further stops.

105.52 miles at 12 mph moving average this time. 10 hours and 45 minutes though overall which is my slowest century for some time. Just glad to have made it and glad I didn't opt for the hillier routes I was thinking of doing.

Strangely the legs don't feel that bad today.

View attachment 441538
Near Longnor before dawn.

View attachment 441539
The sun comes up over a frosty landscape near Cressage.

View attachment 441540
Only about a mile from the last picture it's quite atmospheric at Cressage Bridge.

View attachment 441541
Ollerton.

View attachment 441542
Calverhall. Who turned off the sunshine? (The photo is actually a bit of a cheat as this isn't the road I came up).

View attachment 441543
At Ellesmere someone thinks I ought to be sharing my lunch.

View attachment 441544
Oswestry. Looking at the former Cambrian Railway works.

View attachment 441545
The Original Ball pub at Ball. After the first bout of cramp so I almost feel down when getting off the bike.

View attachment 441546

Near Melverley, It looks a lot lighter in the picture than it seemed at the time.

Well done for perseverance and completing the challenge for another year. No mean feat!!

 

[C R]

Exactly right, about 8 miles from the hills. I expect you know the very gate!

I do indeed. The lunchtime circuit I cycle when working from home goes past that gate. I think I may have posted a similar view at some point. It is a great place to take a rest and just enjoy the view of the Malverns.

I have been thinking of trying a loop up to Stratford, and your route has given me some ideas.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Dry.

As we were forecast rain, definitely, certainly and abundantly, this was quite a nice surprise.

Now I've said that it'll piddle it down this afternoon, just you wait and see.

 

[galaxy]

Last night was amazing after the day we had. Had a ride round Leominster and through the park. Got some fish n chips n went home

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Went out to run some errands on the bike this morning. I managed to complete one before the sky went black. And I had forgotten my lights

 

[nickyboy]

I thought I would post (somewhat belatedly), last Sunday's ride

I'm in a little WhatsApp group of cyclists but it's noticeable as the weather gets colder and wetter, the cry-off excuses get louder. Only Wayne and me out in some light drizzle. Forecast was for it to improve (we'll see)

Route was Glossop - Marple - Poynton - Macclesfield - Bollington - Blaze Hill - Disley - Marple - Glossop

Plan was a fairly rolling outbound into the headwind, then a hilly return with hopefully a tailwind. All fairly uneventful out to Macc...the rain stopped and it was mild enough. Decent December conditions. Around the backs and then café in Bollington. Now Bollington is a bit posh and the café prices reflect this. But only one café open on a Sunday morning (by the canal) and it was rammed. I couldn't resist the frittata. Can't believe what arrived. It was massive

I managed to see it off though

Then Blaze Hill, the biggest climb of the ride. It's sort of steep....then shallow.....then steep again. Then lots of up and down back to Disley and then Marple. We got passed by an eMTBer......we kept catching him on the flatter stuff but he glided away effortlessly up the hills

One more climb our of Marple Bridge. By then I was really feeling knackered. It wasn't too hard a ride....was it the frittata lying heavily? It certainly felt like it. Wayne only had scrambled egg on toast and he was fine. Left me for dust up the hill. Back home and proper tired (and wet....it rained and rained on the way home despite the dry forecast). 52 miles with 4,500ft of climbing. Definitely enough

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A quick run on one of my local loops today: Lyth Hill, Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Cound Moor, Harnage, Cound, Pitchford, Cantlop, Condover and back the short way up the main road.

I kept it short not knowing what the legs would be like after Tuesday but they were fine and I got on at a good pace. I had a fairly brisk headwind on the way to Longnor but it didn't feel too bad to ride into, however when I turned towards Acton Burnell and had it behind me I was able to fairly scoot along (20 mph on the flat)

Other vehicles were notable by their absence on the lanes which suits me nicely - I probably only saw about five in the middle ten miles.

At Cantlop I had to turn back towards the wind for a little while then while entering Condover was overtaken in a bit of a silly place (although they did give me plenty of room to be fair). Just around the corner I found the car stuck because they'd pulled up too close behind another motorist who'd pulled up too close behind a parked car while waiting for another vehicle to come the other way and couldn't swing round without backing up a bit. While they sorted that out among themselves I nipped past.

I had the wind behind me for the blast up the main road towards home which is always a nice way to finish off. There was a recovery vehicle parked en-route which was picking up the rather battered remains of a VW Golf. From what I could see it had been on its roof at some point so I expect that will be a write off. Nothing on the local paper's website about it so I'm assuming nobody was badly hurt.

23.9 miles this trip at 13.8 mph average. Enjoyed that and felt buzzing with energy at the end of it.

No photos this time as too busy .

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

I been busy riding...

Yesterday was an intervals day.. but in between them I managed to take a few pics.

3×20 minutes at tempo pace with 5 minutes rest in between…

1st 20, pee, drink and photo stop.

2nd 20 and during the 5 min rest I spotted this… Normally I come down really fast here.

3rd and final 20… Pee again, eat, drink and photo..

After those series I had to do some stupid unders and overs and normally I get all confused with them.
Was like 7 min under and 1 over… another 6 and 1… 5 min rest, 3 times.

1st? Who knows..!!!

After that one there were no more pics and I headed home doing the intervals..

Strava says : https://www.strava.com/activities/2002954416

To finish a group passed me before town on country roads without saying Hola or anything… Disrespectful..! Chased them.. Jumped on their climber wheel… Dropped him before town… That will teach them not to say hi to the fat guy…

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

No training planned so it was a social ride with the guys.. Chilly morning to start.. Like 11 C so we decided to head up the hills from the go..

Almost immediately I noticed the clouds underneath us.. That was a first for me.

We were not that high up but the clouds were low enough for us to get above them rally quick

We then reached the next time over and the views were breathtaking for me..

This is more likely the best shot of the morning.. At least to me.

Happy faces before we headed down from the mountain town.

Coming down was tricky.. Wet, foggy and fast.. Well the fast part not much for me but still took it really easy..

Strava said: https://www.strava.com/activities/2004597503

And we still have Saturday and Sunday to come..!

 

[8mph]

25 miles around the Wiltshire lanes, no jacket needed and a tailwind home, lovely.