Your ride today....

[DCBassman]

So there I was, glad that my op was in late Feb when the weather was *bound* to be lousy.
Now here I am, arm in a sling for 6 weeks and off the bike at least 12, and it's freakin' gorgeous out there.

 

[Spartak]

Nice ride this morning in the 'spring' sunshine, thru the villages of Compton Dando & Hunstrete before breakfast in Keynsham then thru the Golden Valley to Doynton.

 

[skudupnorth]

Just a cheeky local one before everyone woke up and required Dad taxi. Started off down the Leeds/Liverpool canal from Astley and headed towards Monton to join the NCN55 back home via the guided busway. It was nice to have a bit more of an explore instead of rushing to get to work and the weather was fantastic

 

[Spiderweb]

Hopped on to the Tricross at lunch time, pretty breezy but 12 degrees, beautiful day.
27.2 miles in total with an average of 14.6 mph and I managed to get a Strava Cup! 7th overall on one short 19 second down hill section which I’m really pleased with as I never get top ten cups. Lovely ride.

 

[postman]

Postman did his ride 26ish miles Otley in nice sunny conditions except the first 40 mins,cool and grey.But on 50 mins and in Otley at my fave cafe,the sun was out.It stayed out the one hour and five mins i drank my two lattes.I was not fast,but i did not struggle either.I did not use the phone to track myself or put the computer on the bars,i just cycled.I had lunch in the park after buying a pie at Weegmans in honour of Vernon,i took photos and had a slow but steady ride out of Otley,without stopping,very good that,i was passed by the entire Valley Striders Cyle Club,who gave me a greating.i took on Otley road in the big chain ring and finishec up at Costa for a final latte,and sat in the sunshine watching various students in some fantastic fancy dress.Where i needed energy i had it.a wonderful ride out,i am very pleased,now i have two holidays to come so my next rise will be flat and going out the otherside of Leeds to Long Marston where i know of another fine cafe with a lovely outside seating area,cycling is wonderful.Plus the tyres which were a Xmas pressie,Marathon Greenguard 25c larger than my other,they just floated over the road,glided and rolled superbly no drag and great tread,a wonderful buy.

 

[Cavalol]

Apol's for dreadful/lazy picture of route on my computer.

My first ride on this new (to me) bike, first road bike ride of 2019 and first road bike ride in a while. Nobody's going to be worried about me nabbing KOM, but absolutely chuffed with 3 PBs on 3 of my four favourite 'hills' Absolutely stunning weather, coat in my bag just in case, but didn't need it.

 

[theloafer]

well our first ride of the year weather played ball as the forecast misty at the start but once the sun fought its way through it was very warm, had no set route in mind as I did not wish to put Karon under any pressure as her first ride I could tell she was feeling a little apprehensive ..lol
slowly picked our way through back lanes to the https://www.stockton.gov.uk/wynyardwoodlandpark great coffee +cake at the old station café ..loads of cyclist already out then a long the old railway path.was very busy with family's out with lots of young kids cycling also (great to see), turned off then headed to Sedgefield -the to fishburn-ferryhill -Chilton to see an old work buddy .. then back home so karon could catch the rugby .. 31 miles.... a nice leg warmer ready for tomorrow

 

[Dave 123]

@DCBassman once you’re healed the weather will be great, it never rains in Devon.....

 

[EltonFrog]

Postman did his ride 26ish miles Otley in nice sunny conditions except the first 40 mins,cool and grey.But on 50 mins and in Otley at my fave cafe,the sun was out.It stayed out the one hour and five mins i drank my two lattes.I was not fast,but i did not struggle either.I did not use the phone to track myself or put the computer on the bars,i just cycled.I had lunch in the park after buying a pie at Weegmans in honour of Vernon,i took photos and had a slow but steady ride out of Otley,without stopping,very good that,i was passed by the entire Valley Striders Cyle Club,who gave me a greating.i took on Otley road in the big chain ring and finishec up at Costa for a final latte,and sat in the sunshine watching various students in some fantastic fancy dress.Where i needed energy i had it.a wonderful ride out,i am very pleased,now i have two holidays to come so my next rise will be flat and going out the otherside of Leeds to Long Marston where i know of another fine cafe with a lovely outside seating area,cycling is wonderful.Plus the tyres which were a Xmas pressie,Marathon Greenguard 25c larger than my other,they just floated over the road,glided and rolled superbly no drag and great tread,a wonderful buy.

Nice one postie.

 

[NorthernDave]

I'd arranged to meet a mate for todays ride, to take advantage of the "warmer than Spain BBQ weather".
It was foggy and 2.0 °C when we set off...still, at least we were out.
We'd sort of planned to do an imperial half, which would have been my first of the year, but more on that later.

Up Coal Road onto Skeltons Lane and then the long descent into Thorner, followed by the sharp climb up Milner Lane onto the ridge and along between the hedgerows wondering if I should have put two pairs of socks on.
Into Rigton Green, finding a large cock in the road (and several hens) so avoided them and onto Bramham Lane for the quietest of quiet country lanes, where we raced a rabbit as it ran along the verge.
At the junction with Jewitt Lane I got out of the saddle for the short climb just as Tim shouted "I've got a flat"...
So stopped and off with his rear wheel. Neither of us could find the cause of the puncture but the tube was definitely deflated, so after checking the tyre again it was on with a new one. He's never used a CO2 canister before, which probably explains why he vented it's entire contents into the air rather than his newly fitted inner tube. I lent him my Lezyne pump and we were soon back under way.
Thanks to the two cyclists who asked if we were OK / had everything we needed as they passed. Not so much to the one who purposefully looked the other way and stared at the hedge.
Onwards through the dip towards Bramham, skirting the village and heading out on Toulston Lane, then Garnett Lane across the A659 and then the A64 and into a surprisingly stiff headwind. That's odd - foggy and a headwind..?
Anyhow, down the hill and through Stutton and then the climb up the A162 before taking Raw Lane towards Ulleskelf.
We're both riding the York-Leeds-York Sportive in a couple of weeks, which will be along here. Into Ulleskelf and back out again and carrying on east towards Ryther, still battling against the wind.
Through the village and towards Cawood, passing a group of about 20 cyclists heading the other way, before it was time for a break and refreshments and into Mrs B's Lakeside Cafe at Cawood for some sustenance.
Turns out we'd timed it right as the large group we'd passed a few minutes earlier had just left there.

(Yes, you're right I should have asked for the bacon well done, but it tasted nice enough).
Anyway, fed and watered it was back out to the bikes.

Due to the wind and the enforced pause earlier in the ride Tim was getting short on time, so we abandoned plans for an imperial half and headed back towards civilisation.
What had been a head wind on the way out was now a cross wind , but we were soon back in Ryther and then on the quiet lane through the countryside and then around the perimeter of Leeds East Airport and into Church Fenton as the long promised sun finally came through.
Through there and then on the dead straight road to Barkston Ash, the long way round into Saxton and out again past Linda's Bench before dropping down onto Copley Lane for the run up to Lotherton Gates
Down the hill into Aberford, before the ups and downs of Cattle Lane took us to Barwick, then more up towards Scholes before the descent into the village and down Leeds Road, before local roads up to home.

39.28 miles (63.21 km) in 3h 9m at an average of 12.7 mph with 1,686 ft climbed and an average temperature of 7.2°C

My longest ride of the year to date, but blimey it was hard work at times, especially into that unexpected wind and I really felt it on the last few (uphill) miles.
I really do need to make more effort to regain some fitness though as I'd normally have done the extra mile or so to get 40 miles in, but really didn't have it in me today.
It's another point for the half century challenge too, so all good in the grand scheme of things.
Lots of cyclists out too, although I suspect most of them were also slightly disappointed by the weather.

And to end, the map:

 

[Arjimlad]

An easy ten miles on the ring road and B2B to get my daughter back on her bike. Nice lunch at the Bird in Hand at Saltford too.

 

[derrick]

Nice and easy morning ride, Stopped about halfway for a beer in Fyfield, it was to nice not to. sitting in the pub garden with the sun on our backs.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2169307736

 

[arranandy]

Great day down in Belgium doing my own personal Ronde van Vlaanderen. Drove down the 130km from where I am in the Netherlands to Oudenaarde and was on the bike for just after 10. A slight false start - I had left my bottle and gels in the car - so about turn after about 3km so it was about 10.30 before I was properly on the road. I had uploaded the RVV Red Route to my Garmin but its also very well signposted.
What a ride. Hardly a flat bit of road in that area and a succession of short, sharp, steep climbs - some cobbled and some not. The climb up the Muur of Geraadsbergen was particularly brutal as I didn't realise it was a cobbled climb all the way up through the town. Then there's the Bosberg, the Kapellemuur and numerous other un-named climbs, the kick in the teeth is the Eikenberg - 1.25km cobbled climb when you have about 110km in the legs.
Anyway I survived and it was a cracking day out. Started out about 6C but was 16C when I finished. Sunshine all the way and not much wind.
Now back in my apartment chilling with a couple of beers

Me on the Muur van Geraadsbergen (thanks the nice Belgian man for taking the photo)

Muur

• arranandy
• 23 Feb 2019

Strava
https://www.strava.com/activities/2169949054/segments/54730554740

 

[Mike_P]

Road bike again, Penny Pot Lane westwards with large sections chalked for patching, struck me it must be simpler to resurface the whole lot, would be nice not have to drop a gear or two to cope with the rough surface. South at the end on the B6451 up Norwood Edge followed by a very chilly decent , Glad I opted for the bib shorts and full length leg extenders. Near the bottom turned off onto a narrow gated road.

This was with some trepidation as some road maps clearly chevron marked a hill and as it moved into view I was in full expectation that Shanks’ Pony was going to be called into action.

Pedal power won out however, as it did on the next climb was despite being hindered by a gate at the foot

Once on the level one of the local residents eyed me with contempt.

Two more gates had to be navigated, why do they always have different latches / holding methods. Joined the B6161 south and east to the A658 then continued east to Castley alongside the River Wharf.

Then climbing back northwards and then east up Wescoe Hill to descend down to Weeton and onto Dunkeswick for a brief northerly dash on the A61 turning off and passing through a very noisy environment due to an isolated house having its burglar alarms going off at full volume en route to the climb into Kirkby Overblow

North out of village down initially and then back upwards to the A658 and a north-easterly dash to Rudding Lane where the TLs at the bridge went green as I got to them but the TTLs at the top of the following bank went red. North west briefly on the A661 then followed a cycle path and, largely, various back streets to gain access to the Starbeck branch of NCN67

Along Bilton Lane and then the A59 back homewards. 31.08 miles, 2052ft climbed, avg 12.1 mph

 

[Jenkins]

I needed to go to the local Evans Cycles at Martlesham this afternoon to pick up an item I'd ordered. It's only eight miles straight up effectively, but on an afternoon like tiday, where's the fun in that? Using my Giant flatbar, I did it in a really leisurely 27.5 miles...
https://www.strava.com/activities/2169886659
The return leg was only 12 miles thanks to having a backpack loaded with squash & beer having spent the £5 Evans delivery charge saving at the Tesco next door .