Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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Dave 123
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire alps
A tandem ride today. Wind dictated that we’d end up at Waresley Garden Centre, but we went a different way.
Down through Knapwell and it’s dog rose filled hedges and then on toward Connington. Here a pair of Bullfinch nearly flew up my nose. Seconds later a Whitethroat sang from a telegraph wire.
Then it was on to Hilton
From Graveley we had a good dose of headwind.
Then we saw a ravaged hedge. My entomologist brother suspects Lackey moth larvae....
Over the A428 and this couple of donkeys spotted that pair of donkeys
Down to Abbotsley, along through the lanes to Waresley. A Red kite flew over, eyeing my cake I presume.
On yesterday’s ride along by Hayley Wood I saw lots of yellow rattle, so today we stopped for a look
Sawfly on buttercup
Vetch and a wretch
An as yet unidentified orchid
Then we set off for home.
Coming past the Wysing Arts Centre we had a car behind us, I looked at my Garmin, 25mph.... we normally go a bit quicker through here...
BANG!!!
I realised it was a blowout, but it took a second for the air to disappear from the tube.... it was the front tyre. The whole front end was snaking and slithering all over the shop. I couldn’t tell which way it was going next. I did think we were coming off a couple of times! Eventually we came to a halt. Luckily the car stopped behind us. They asked if we were ok. Then they gave Jo a lift home to get the car. So not the end to the ride we had been expecting. Exciting though!
Just a small hole then.....
Luckily Durano plus seem to be half price at present! We’ve bought 2.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2417442674
Down through Knapwell and it’s dog rose filled hedges and then on toward Connington. Here a pair of Bullfinch nearly flew up my nose. Seconds later a Whitethroat sang from a telegraph wire.
Then it was on to Hilton
From Graveley we had a good dose of headwind.
Then we saw a ravaged hedge. My entomologist brother suspects Lackey moth larvae....
Over the A428 and this couple of donkeys spotted that pair of donkeys
Down to Abbotsley, along through the lanes to Waresley. A Red kite flew over, eyeing my cake I presume.
On yesterday’s ride along by Hayley Wood I saw lots of yellow rattle, so today we stopped for a look
Sawfly on buttercup
Vetch and a wretch
An as yet unidentified orchid
Then we set off for home.
Coming past the Wysing Arts Centre we had a car behind us, I looked at my Garmin, 25mph.... we normally go a bit quicker through here...
BANG!!!
I realised it was a blowout, but it took a second for the air to disappear from the tube.... it was the front tyre. The whole front end was snaking and slithering all over the shop. I couldn’t tell which way it was going next. I did think we were coming off a couple of times! Eventually we came to a halt. Luckily the car stopped behind us. They asked if we were ok. Then they gave Jo a lift home to get the car. So not the end to the ride we had been expecting. Exciting though!
Just a small hole then.....
Luckily Durano plus seem to be half price at present! We’ve bought 2.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2417442674
That's some deflation event
. You did well to stay upright
Spiderweb
Not So Special One
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Fitted some new 38mm tyres to the Tricross for a lunch ride, lovely mild day and at 55psi the new tyres felt comfy like an armchair but noticeably slower.
37 miles with an average speed of 14.1 mph.
Shearwater Missile
Veteran
Most birds tend to escape from movement into hedgerows etc but pied wagtails are quite keen on coming into a road (quiet one of course). I can`t think of what else they would have been, possibly a wheatear but not exactly to your description, sorry.
Shearwater Missile
Veteran
As they say " Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun " and so I did today. To be honest though it was`nt that sunny but it was 25 degrees and felt humid to me. I did my usual route to Brettenham via Buxhall and back. I digress a little as yesterday I went out at 9.00 (far more sensible) and I heeded to the notices that said "Road Closed", this was by the Shepherd and Dog pub at Onehouse. So with that in mind I went on my own little detour and actually went a few miles further. As I`d told Mrs Missile what time I`d be back I thought that I would`nt go back on my detour route but instead ignore the road closed signs. To say I was a bit miffed was an understatement. On a section of road that was closed about 1mile there was something in the road on one side for about 10 feet !
I must say that I have been caught out by these road closed signs before and usually ignore them but because I know that the women`s tour will be on this road on the 10th June I assumed that they are resurfacing the road as there is quite a bad section by Stowmarket Golf Club, perhaps they will, after all the road was closed on 28th May for 11 days for improvements. They must have the snail crew on the job !!
I was back at 12.50 having done 22.5 miles at 18.2mph average and boy was I hot when I stopped, thats when the aircon on the bike gets switched off so to speak. Should be fresher tomorrow but day off from cycling tomorrow.
I must say that I have been caught out by these road closed signs before and usually ignore them but because I know that the women`s tour will be on this road on the 10th June I assumed that they are resurfacing the road as there is quite a bad section by Stowmarket Golf Club, perhaps they will, after all the road was closed on 28th May for 11 days for improvements. They must have the snail crew on the job !!
I was back at 12.50 having done 22.5 miles at 18.2mph average and boy was I hot when I stopped, thats when the aircon on the bike gets switched off so to speak. Should be fresher tomorrow but day off from cycling tomorrow.
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NorthernDave
Never used Über Member
- Location
- The real Northern Powerhouse
Apologies - here's yesterdays ride today.
With a longer ride planned for tomorrow (which is now today), and just an hour or so to spare, it was just a shortish local ride to keep the legs turning and get out into the countryside.
A familiar route, but one that does the job. Up Coal Road, then Skeltons Lane and the descent down Sandhills into Thorner.
Through there and the bike steers itself onto Milner Lane and the inevitable climb up the hill, which is rewarded by the run along the ridge between the hedges past Hetchell Woods and eventually to East Rigton, then Rigton Green.
At this point it seems right to mention the ridiculous amount of little flying things that were about yesterday and after dodging them valiantly, the inevitable happened and I swallowed one as I started the climb up Compton Lane.
No problem, spit it out, swill from the water bottle and done - but no, this little critter was hanging on for dear life, so much so that I had to stop and briefly wondered if I was about to cough a lung up.
Anyway, the positive from this is that I'd now stopped at a slightly different spot to where I'd normally take 5 minutes, so I decided to take a couple of pics while I got my breath back...
Back on the bike and mouth firmly closed (well, as much as is possible when cycling up hill) it was along the lane, eventually dropping down onto Jewitt Lane where a sharp right takes you up the rise and then onto the long gradual descent all the way to Bramham Lane.
Up the sharp little hill onto Holme Farm Lane, along to the junction and then retraced my outbound route back into Thorner.
Out of Thorner up Carr Lane to the A58, a quick scoot along there and up onto Coal Road, before local roads down to home.
15.03 miles (24.18 km) in 1h 13m at an average of 12.3 mph with 682 ft climbed
Wildlife apart, a nice little ride that got me out and put a few miles under the wheels. Lots of cyclists out and about as you'd expect, and only one or two motorised morons to contend with.
And to end, the map:
With a longer ride planned for tomorrow (which is now today), and just an hour or so to spare, it was just a shortish local ride to keep the legs turning and get out into the countryside.
A familiar route, but one that does the job. Up Coal Road, then Skeltons Lane and the descent down Sandhills into Thorner.
Through there and the bike steers itself onto Milner Lane and the inevitable climb up the hill, which is rewarded by the run along the ridge between the hedges past Hetchell Woods and eventually to East Rigton, then Rigton Green.
At this point it seems right to mention the ridiculous amount of little flying things that were about yesterday and after dodging them valiantly, the inevitable happened and I swallowed one as I started the climb up Compton Lane.
No problem, spit it out, swill from the water bottle and done - but no, this little critter was hanging on for dear life, so much so that I had to stop and briefly wondered if I was about to cough a lung up.
Anyway, the positive from this is that I'd now stopped at a slightly different spot to where I'd normally take 5 minutes, so I decided to take a couple of pics while I got my breath back...
Back on the bike and mouth firmly closed (well, as much as is possible when cycling up hill) it was along the lane, eventually dropping down onto Jewitt Lane where a sharp right takes you up the rise and then onto the long gradual descent all the way to Bramham Lane.
Up the sharp little hill onto Holme Farm Lane, along to the junction and then retraced my outbound route back into Thorner.
Out of Thorner up Carr Lane to the A58, a quick scoot along there and up onto Coal Road, before local roads down to home.
15.03 miles (24.18 km) in 1h 13m at an average of 12.3 mph with 682 ft climbed
Wildlife apart, a nice little ride that got me out and put a few miles under the wheels. Lots of cyclists out and about as you'd expect, and only one or two motorised morons to contend with.
And to end, the map:
Last edited:
NorthernDave
Never used Über Member
- Location
- The real Northern Powerhouse
Right, now for today's ride today 
With the ITU World Triathlon Series in town next week, I maintained the tradition of riding the cycle route with a handful of lads who'll be doing it for real next weekend. It's a 36.2 km route, so with an extended ride there and home again it was also an opportunity to get the June ride sorted for the Half Century Challenge.
On the Giant, primarily because I still haven't got the Pro Carbon out yet, and up Coal Road and onto Red Hall Lane.
Went to turn right onto the A58 and totally messed up clipping back in but stayed upright and got myself underway, but something felt wrong.
I carried on past the Wellington pub and turned left onto Whin Moor Lane and something definitely felt not quite right, then I realised my knees were far too high up - the seat post must have moved! So I stopped in a field entrance and sorted that out - it's carbon and fortunately it had just slipped and not broken / sheared. A couple of other cyclists slowed down to make sure I was OK as they passed while I was sorting it (thanks) and I was soon back underway.
Into Shadwell and the ascent up to Slaid Hill lights, before turning left and the long, if slightly bumpy, descent down to the Ring Road, then once the traffic lights had changed the climb up Park Lane past the expensive houses.
Left onto Street Lane, which soon becomes Princes Avenue as it passes the park and the left and left again just before Oakwood Clock onto Park Avenue and down into the park itself where we were meeting.
As usual I was the first there, although my slight mechanical mishap meant I was only a couple of minutes early so I quickly grabbed a couple of pics overlooking the lake:
Back up to the car park as the others arrived, followed by the usual amount of near Olympic standard faffery while they got themselves ready and we were finally underway.
We headed up the Carriage Drive to the 'official' start of the cycle route by the Mansion, but about half way up found our way blocked by Tom Kerridge and his Pub in the Park event...
so retraced our route back to the car park and cycled along side the grass velodrome and up the hill through the park to get to Street Lane.
The route then heads along Street Lane, across Moortown Corner and then down Scott Hall Road to the roundabout on Stainbeck Lane, then loops back up to Street Lane and continues out to Stonegate Road for the descent into Meanwood.
I've got to admit I was huffing and puffing a bit on this first climb, but came into my own on the long descent
where my superior bike handling skills and fearlessness / stupidity overcame any athletic advantage the others might have had...possibly
Left at the traffic lights at Grove Road and down and then up to the lights on Otley Road, where the route reverses and return to the park.
That long descent now becomes a slog of a climb back up to Street Lane and I really was having to work far harder than I'd have liked, but eventually the top was reached and then it's a straightish run along Street Lane and onto a very busy Mansion Lane.
A quick pause there and off to do it all again, and while it was never easy it didn't seem quite so hard the second time round although it was no fun on the steepest climbs in still, muggy conditions.
Back to where we'd started and after more faffery packing up, it was ice creams all round before I bade my farewells and headed for home.
Out of the park along the lower section of the Carriage Drive, through the 'spare' gates and onto Wetherby Road.
Caught the lights at green and then straight up (literally) Boggart Hill Drive and Ramshead Hill through Seacroft, heading for the Ring Road before taking to local roads down to home.
33.5 miles (53.91 km) in a moving time of 2h 55m at an average speed of 11.5 mph with 2,017 ft of climbing and an average temperature of 18.6°C
Glad I stuck with it, and that gets the Half Century ride in the bag nice and early this month. More proof, if it were needed, that I need to sort my fitness out though as it was harder work today than it needed to be.
Loads of cyclists out and about and it looked like a lot were also on sighting rides ahead of next weekends event.
And to end, the map:
With the ITU World Triathlon Series in town next week, I maintained the tradition of riding the cycle route with a handful of lads who'll be doing it for real next weekend. It's a 36.2 km route, so with an extended ride there and home again it was also an opportunity to get the June ride sorted for the Half Century Challenge.
On the Giant, primarily because I still haven't got the Pro Carbon out yet
, and up Coal Road and onto Red Hall Lane.Went to turn right onto the A58 and totally messed up clipping back in but stayed upright and got myself underway, but something felt wrong.
I carried on past the Wellington pub and turned left onto Whin Moor Lane and something definitely felt not quite right, then I realised my knees were far too high up - the seat post must have moved! So I stopped in a field entrance and sorted that out - it's carbon and fortunately it had just slipped and not broken / sheared. A couple of other cyclists slowed down to make sure I was OK as they passed while I was sorting it (thanks) and I was soon back underway.
Into Shadwell and the ascent up to Slaid Hill lights, before turning left and the long, if slightly bumpy, descent down to the Ring Road, then once the traffic lights had changed the climb up Park Lane past the expensive houses.
Left onto Street Lane, which soon becomes Princes Avenue as it passes the park and the left and left again just before Oakwood Clock onto Park Avenue and down into the park itself where we were meeting.
As usual I was the first there, although my slight mechanical mishap meant I was only a couple of minutes early so I quickly grabbed a couple of pics overlooking the lake:
Back up to the car park as the others arrived, followed by the usual amount of near Olympic standard faffery while they got themselves ready and we were finally underway.
We headed up the Carriage Drive to the 'official' start of the cycle route by the Mansion, but about half way up found our way blocked by Tom Kerridge and his Pub in the Park event...
so retraced our route back to the car park and cycled along side the grass velodrome and up the hill through the park to get to Street Lane.The route then heads along Street Lane, across Moortown Corner and then down Scott Hall Road to the roundabout on Stainbeck Lane, then loops back up to Street Lane and continues out to Stonegate Road for the descent into Meanwood.
I've got to admit I was huffing and puffing a bit on this first climb, but came into my own on the long descent
where my superior bike handling skills and fearlessness / stupidity overcame any athletic advantage the others might have had...possiblyLeft at the traffic lights at Grove Road and down and then up to the lights on Otley Road, where the route reverses and return to the park.
That long descent now becomes a slog of a climb back up to Street Lane and I really was having to work far harder than I'd have liked, but eventually the top was reached and then it's a straightish run along Street Lane and onto a very busy Mansion Lane.
A quick pause there and off to do it all again, and while it was never easy it didn't seem quite so hard the second time round although it was no fun on the steepest climbs in still, muggy conditions.
Back to where we'd started and after more faffery packing up
, it was ice creams all round before I bade my farewells and headed for home.Out of the park along the lower section of the Carriage Drive, through the 'spare' gates and onto Wetherby Road.
Caught the lights at green and then straight up (literally) Boggart Hill Drive and Ramshead Hill through Seacroft, heading for the Ring Road before taking to local roads down to home.
33.5 miles (53.91 km) in a moving time of 2h 55m at an average speed of 11.5 mph with 2,017 ft of climbing and an average temperature of 18.6°C
Glad I stuck with it, and that gets the Half Century ride in the bag nice and early this month. More proof, if it were needed, that I need to sort my fitness out though as it was harder work today than it needed to be.
Loads of cyclists out and about and it looked like a lot were also on sighting rides ahead of next weekends event.
And to end, the map:
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Made it to Tübingen.
100k: First metric ton of the year
Elder Son accompanied me, for his first 100k ever, and was fantastic.
Details to follow when I can do the speaking in sentences thing.
100k: First metric ton of the year
Elder Son accompanied me, for his first 100k ever, and was fantastic.
Details to follow when I can do the speaking in sentences thing.
pawl
Legendary Member
- Location
- Desford Leicestershire
pawl
Legendary Member
- Location
- Desford Leicestershire
That donkey at the back looks a bit moth eaten
Shearwater Missile
Veteran
I am pretty sure the orchid is a marsh orchid.
Dave 123
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire alps
Dave 123
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire alps
pawl
Legendary Member
- Location
- Desford Leicestershire
I prefer bread crumbs to batter
