Your ride today....

[ColinJ]

I also fancied ice cold water so I put my bottles in the fridge last night. Good to have a change of routine sometimes...Well maybe not. Rode off this morning for the start, 35km down the road. AND FORGOT MY BLINKIN’ BOTTLES!

I did that once so I make sure that I don't do it again! I have got into the habit of putting an empty bottle next to my bike after putting the full ones in the fridge. When I get the bike out the next day, the empty bottle reminds me to go to the fridge for the others.

When on my bike I carry my stuff in a small backpack. For yesterday's HOT sunny ride I had frozen a 500 mL bottle of water and carried that for a mid-ride top-up. By the time I came to use it, the ice had melted but the water was still nice and cold.

 

[Donger]

It was mercifully cooler today than yesterday, but still nice, fine weather. Great for our club ride out to a coffee stop at Thistledown Farm (between Nympsfield and Forest Green). Some lovely scenic cycling between Coaley and Uley before the monster climb (about 1.5 miles of 8-12%) up Crawley Hill. That nearly did for me today, but I just about made it up in one go. Very glad to get to the coffee stop. On the way back we hung a left to follow the edge of the valley instead of descending all the way into Nailsworth and hitting the main road. Arrived home with a scabby knee after starting my ride with a slow motion flop at the traffic lights when my chain jammed unexpectedly. Not my finest moment on a bike, but always happy to entertain other road users. A few of us stopped off for a pint in the beer garden of the Barn Owl on the Kingsway estate at the end, watching people being hurled around on the funfair. A nice end to another enjoyable ride.
Cheers, Donger.

 

[NorthernDave]

A shorter ride today, time limited again.

So, a variation on a local route that's been done goodness knows how many times before.
Coal Road and Skeltons Lane, a sprint along the A58 and the Whin Moor Lane to Shadwell. At this point I seemed to have had the wind in my face all ride, despite several changes of direction.
In fact it was one of those odd weather days - a stiff, swirling breeze, but the second you found shelter from it the temperature and humidity shot up.
Anyway, once in Shadwell the twisty but quick descent of Main Street, before the stiff little climb back up to the A58.
Across there and onto Carr Lane for the mainly downhill run into Thorner. I say mainly downhill, but that sharp climb up through the S-bends keeps your legs engaged.
Into the village and out again on Milner Lane for the inevitable climb up the hill and then along between the hedges, still getting buffeted by that breeze.
After much huffing and puffing, I'd finally found my rhythm, so decided to loop round via Rigton Green and the deserted Bramham Lane. I noticed a noise coming from the bike on here, so when I climbed back up onto Holme Farm Lane, I stopped for a couple of pics and to check the bike over:

Unable to find any fault with the bike, I got on my way but the noise was still present.
Anyway, back along Milner Lane, down the hill into Thorner and I stopped again by the Mexborough Arms to investigate some more.
The spoke reflector on the rear wheel had come slightly loose, so I refitted it and that seemed to sort things, but during the climb up Carr Lane the noise reappeared (and the reflector was now securely in place) so goodness knows.
After Carr Lane it was another sprint along the A58, up Coal Road and then local roads down to home, without further incident other than being unable to use the bike lanes at the traffic calming chicanes due to cars being parked in them...

15.8 miles (25.42 km) in 1h 23m at an average of 11.4 mph with just 652ft climbed.

The sun came out as I got home and it was simply too hot to do anything with the bike, so I thought I'd check it over later after it cooled down a bit. However the wind has now picked up to the point I daren't risk putting the bike on the stand in the garden (it's already blown next doors umbrella over), so I'll look it over one night this week after work and give the drivetrain a full mickle.

For some reason, the ride isn't showing in Garmin Connect on the PC although it is there on the version on my phone, so I guess today is just one of those days.

And to end, the map:

 

[theloafer]

over slept so planned 70 mile was cancelled lol (think karon was glad) so just a short trip to barny for coffee and a pork sandwich...... then on to eppleby café for coffee and cake ....then back to aycliffe and a pint in the navy club :-) 44miles just to get karon ready for the darlo 70 next sunday https://www.strava.com/activities/2492

 

[Glow worm]

Still enjoying my stopover in Zoutelande, south- west Netherlands (about 8 miles west of Vlissingen) on my slow meander from Dieppe to the Hook. My wife has joined me here for the weekend and we've been enjoying the beach and the lovely town here.

Today a 5 miler through the woods and around the town. This is the beach here. The sea is a lovely temperature too. Spent much of yesterday in it.

Near the woods a field of what we think are delphiniums.

And the award for the most Dutch photo goes to....
(my wife with her hire bike- a sturdy Gazelle)

Tomorrow we head our separate ways and I ride the 60 miles towards the Hook to reluctantly catch tomorrow night's Harwich ferry.

I could happily stay here forever to be honest!

 

[Illaveago]

My nostalgic ride didn't go according to plan today!
It started off well enough when I started to remove some bikes in order to get my Holdsworth Record out .
The tyres were flat, so I pumped them up . If anything was going to disrupt my ride I would have thought it that my 70's tyres would have given way .
I set off. My legs seem very weak as I struggled to get going in the lower chainring. I hadn't noticed it being that bad before.
I got going and set off in the usual direction for Lacock. At Lackham I felt the saddle slip downwards! I assumed that the clamp had slipped and the nose had dropped. I reached down to pull the front back up and found that the front of the saddle came sway in my hand !
Oops!
I wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop me. The rest of the leather saddle was still secured at the back and was resting on the frame at the front, a bit like a hammock . It didn't feel uncomfortable. It was just a lot lower than normal. I pressed on to Reybridge where I normally stop to have a look at what is going on in the river .
I continued my ride over to my brother's at Lacock, sitting as far back in the saddle as I could .
I completed my ride home sitting low on the frame with my legs bent, it felt like I was riding a kiddies bike !
I have removed the saddle. My 50 year old Brooks is now a Snub Nosed version. I'm not sure if it is beyond repair! I will have a think .

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

The e-bike needs new brake pads so I decided to dust off the Tricross and go for a spin. Hadn't realised I've not been out on it since Aug 17! Asked advice on here about any checks I should do and after putting air in the tyres and tightening the back brake - off I toddled! Not a nice day, windy and overcast with heavy showers but I set off in what turned out to be a break in the miserableness. Just a short, mainly flat route to check the bike out but it felt like a sports car compared to the family hatchback that is the e-bike. So responsive, so light, such a grinnable experience when you're zimming along on the flat (albeit with a tail wind). A few little things, a rubbing front mech, slight creak from the bottom bracket but the only real negative was the woeful performance of cantilever rim brakes when you've got used to hydraulic brakes.

Well pleased with that.

My Tricross in all it's simplicity

 

[Andy in Germany]

Oh, dear: I finally manage an imperial century and completely forget to post about it for over a week...

So there I was in a small village in the middle of south Germany looking at a map, and getting excited enough to startle the locals. I am easily amused (I studied Geography, for goodness sake) but there was a good reason for this: really.

Forum members with long memories and an improbably high boredom threshold may remember one new years resolution to ride an imperial century: 100 miles, which translates into metric as 161 kilometres. I hadn’t been getting very far with this: admittedly this year had involved job hunting, exams, and an annoyingly long bout of flu, but on the other hand, it’s been a resolution for five years now.

A previous ride to Tübingen had been a confidence boost because we’d broken the 100km barrier without collapsing, so I hatched a new plan. While on holiday I could ride to Tübingen again, then follow up the gently sloping valley until the next town of Rottenburg, and possibly go and see what was on the other side. Then I’d try a full century a week after.

I completely failed to pack my bag the evening before the ride and as a result ended up wandering about at 5am looking for bottles, maps, food and other bits and pieces. Despite this I managed to leave the house early enough to reach Tübingen (50k / 31 miles) before any self-respecting student had got up, and a good hour before expected.

Rottenburg is about ten kilometres beyond Tübingen and I’d last cycled there a decade earlier. Most people would use a GPS navigator at this point, but being a Luddite I dug a map out of my bag instead. Unfortunately the map in question turned out to be of Freiburg, meaning the map for Tübingen which I had carefully laid on the table last night, was in fact still on the table in our apartment.

This is why you shouldn’t pack at 5am.

Fortunately the valley between Tübingen and Rottenburg is wide and flat, so much so that it’s possible to see Rottenburg in the distance from the edge of Tübingen, so I figured I couldn’t miss it.

Rottenburg started with a rather down at heel industrial estate, but after a while I landed in the old walled city, which had the sort of buildings that would be famous in any other country. Even better I was feeling pretty fit, and the church clock said it was still only eleven in the morning, the time I planned to reach Tübingen. Confidence stirred. So did dormant memories of beautiful rocky gorges and empty cycleways beyond Rottenburg. So what if I was only 60k into a 160k trip and hadn’t got a map. I could do this. Sure I could.

I left the old city, completely missed the turning and came to an abrupt halt in a loading bay for a textile factory.

I couldn’t turn around now, I’d have to admit I’d cycled into a factory and given up. A few hundred metres back towards Rottenburg, I found a lamppost with a sign pointing along the valley and followed same.

I decided I’d just go to the first village. Then I could turn around and come back, no problem. Except that in the first village there was a sign to the next village. And it was only 3 to 5 km away. And then there would be another sign to the next village… you get the idea.

This is how I ended up looking at a map, and finding that Eyach, the village I’d marked as the turning point for an imperial century was three easy kilometres away.
Those 3 kilometres turned into a few more on the main valley road while I skirted a golf club. This is in fact the only vaguely heavily used road I had to follow for the entire route so I probably shouldn’t complain.

Still did though.

After a fast descent a sign directed me onto a cycleway, which then became another factory, then a piece of overgrown singletrack. I was about to give up when suddenly I was back on a road, and there was a descent, and the station at Eyach.

Immediate thought was “I’ve made it”.

Shortly followed by: “I need to get all the way back now”

Fortunately it was mostly downhill. And there was very nearly a tailwind. This was nearly my undoing: I got too excited that I could go fast and nearly clobbered myself climbing the last two hills to our village.

Where the map of Tübingen was still on the table where I’d left it.

Still. 102 miles / 165km is a century. Even if I did it by accident

 

[Dave 123]

Once back from Devon I went out for a quick spin around to Haslingfield.

Though I’d only done 7 miles I stopped for a coffee

The Lime trees are hiding the church....

I then went up Chapel Hill for the first time in ages, then up old Wimpole Hill. I rode the next mile or so with a fella I’d caught at the top of the hill.

Home via Bourn and Toft.

22 miles

https://www.strava.com/activities/2492714928

 

[Old jon]

With yesterday being so warm, a cooler start to this morning really did tell me to go out and ride. So I chose the bike with the gears and rode away, a little later than originally planned. Maybe optimistically would be a better word than originally . . .

In the Graun yesterday was an article about Leeds’ official red light district. I did know about it but had forgotten until the article reminded me. So, as usual, I rode through it this morning. Well, one bit of Holbeck anyway, dunno where the (in) famous bit is. Aim for Crown Point Road, and the bridge at the other end of it. Pass the bus station, turn right and it is mostly gentle uphill to the clock at Oakwood. A following wind seemed to be helping the pedalling. Ride up the A 58, cross the Ring Road and soon after turn right onto Red Hall Lane. Then Skeltons Lane and a left onto Thorner Lane, down Sandhills and into the village. At this point the way out is yet another lane, I chose Carr Lane this morning, which leads back to the A 58. Cross that, down the dip and the Main Street in Shadwell seems to rise almost all the way to Slaid Hill.

Turn right at the lights there and ride to Wike, crossing Wike Ridge on the way. I like this road, so continued along it passing at least two golf courses, one Scout Camp, probably more than one farm and a few houses just to fill the gaps. Then East Keswick appears in front.



From this side it is an uphill village, the final climb out towards the A 659 is quite a heave. But worth it ‘cos after the right turn it is a mostly swift ride down to and through Collingham, and back to the A 58. There are other options but there was some live music to listen to this afternoon. One of the reasons I rarely ride on a Sunday. So yet another right turn to point the bike towards home. For all that I ride it often, there is always something new to see. One odd sight was a bloke sweeping something from the road and onto his ( ? ) driveway, just before the lights at Bardsey / East Rigton. No, I did not try to climb Rigton Bank this time. Further on, after the climb at Scarcroft, I passed the junction with Carr Lane, that I had used earlier and shortly after that saw Red Hall Lane again. Which is good, after this home is downhill. Well, that is what I tell myself. Back over the river, the last few miles to the street, 32 miles and a conundrum. My Garthing, an Edge 25, about as complicated as I want, told me 1683 feet of up but the website said 448 metres. 448 times 3.2808 is 1470. Ah well, it matters little. I enjoyed the ride, must have done, it left me smiling.

Ooops, I didn't notice the spot.

 

[13 rider]

Oh, dear: I finally manage an imperial century and completely forget to post about it for over a week...

View attachment 473344

So there I was in a small village in the middle of south Germany looking at a map, and getting excited enough to startle the locals. I am easily amused (I studied Geography, for goodness sake) but there was a good reason for this: really.

Forum members with long memories and an improbably high boredom threshold may remember one new years resolution to ride an imperial century: 100 miles, which translates into metric as 161 kilometres. I hadn’t been getting very far with this: admittedly this year had involved job hunting, exams, and an annoyingly long bout of flu, but on the other hand, it’s been a resolution for five years now.

View attachment 473345

A previous ride to Tübingen had been a confidence boost because we’d broken the 100km barrier without collapsing, so I hatched a new plan. While on holiday I could ride to Tübingen again, then follow up the gently sloping valley until the next town of Rottenburg, and possibly go and see what was on the other side. Then I’d try a full century a week after.

I completely failed to pack my bag the evening before the ride and as a result ended up wandering about at 5am looking for bottles, maps, food and other bits and pieces. Despite this I managed to leave the house early enough to reach Tübingen (50k / 31 miles) before any self-respecting student had got up, and a good hour before expected.

View attachment 473346

Rottenburg is about ten kilometres beyond Tübingen and I’d last cycled there a decade earlier. Most people would use a GPS navigator at this point, but being a Luddite I dug a map out of my bag instead. Unfortunately the map in question turned out to be of Freiburg, meaning the map for Tübingen which I had carefully laid on the table last night, was in fact still on the table in our apartment.

This is why you shouldn’t pack at 5am.

Fortunately the valley between Tübingen and Rottenburg is wide and flat, so much so that it’s possible to see Rottenburg in the distance from the edge of Tübingen, so I figured I couldn’t miss it.

View attachment 473347

Rottenburg started with a rather down at heel industrial estate, but after a while I landed in the old walled city, which had the sort of buildings that would be famous in any other country. Even better I was feeling pretty fit, and the church clock said it was still only eleven in the morning, the time I planned to reach Tübingen. Confidence stirred. So did dormant memories of beautiful rocky gorges and empty cycleways beyond Rottenburg. So what if I was only 60k into a 160k trip and hadn’t got a map. I could do this. Sure I could.

View attachment 473348

I left the old city, completely missed the turning and came to an abrupt halt in a loading bay for a textile factory.

I couldn’t turn around now, I’d have to admit I’d cycled into a factory and given up. A few hundred metres back towards Rottenburg, I found a lamppost with a sign pointing along the valley and followed same.

I decided I’d just go to the first village. Then I could turn around and come back, no problem. Except that in the first village there was a sign to the next village. And it was only 3 to 5 km away. And then there would be another sign to the next village… you get the idea.

This is how I ended up looking at a map, and finding that Eyach, the village I’d marked as the turning point for an imperial century was three easy kilometres away.
Those 3 kilometres turned into a few more on the main valley road while I skirted a golf club. This is in fact the only vaguely heavily used road I had to follow for the entire route so I probably shouldn’t complain.

Still did though.

After a fast descent a sign directed me onto a cycleway, which then became another factory, then a piece of overgrown singletrack. I was about to give up when suddenly I was back on a road, and there was a descent, and the station at Eyach.

View attachment 473349

Immediate thought was “I’ve made it”.

Shortly followed by: “I need to get all the way back now”

Fortunately it was mostly downhill. And there was very nearly a tailwind. This was nearly my undoing: I got too excited that I could go fast and nearly clobbered myself climbing the last two hills to our village.

View attachment 473350

Where the map of Tübingen was still on the table where I’d left it.

Still. 102 miles / 165km is a century. Even if I did it by accident

Well done that man

 

[Elybazza61]

Out earlyish this morning for a poodle with the better half around Wicken fen,partly to check out potential fruit foraging later.

Nice temps and mostly quiet although was a bit of farm transport about(and one has to say couteous to a fault).

https://www.strava.com/activities/2491847975

Just a few pics

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Steve E had a spare moment so Mrs 26 and I met up with him. Easy ride to Upton with a beer stop on the way back at Hanley Swan. Amazingly little traffic about on such a lovely evening. 15 smiles

 

[AndreaJ]

I decided it was too hot for me yesterday when the car was telling me it was 29c outside so waited until this morning when it was much cooler but windy. Just a variation on a wander around local lanes, I went into Whixall and straight on past Alkington before turning back over the canal towards Fenns Wood and Fenns Bank along the only lovely smooth tarmac lane that Shropshire council seem to have missed in their mission to surface dress all the lovely, smooth lanes meaning they are no longer smooth.Back over the canal and crossed the lane I was originally on to go to Hollinswood, Lower Houses, Coton, Abbeygreen, Waterloo, Edstaston, Ryebank, Highfields, Horton and back home. It was still warm but a bit breezy, lots of cyclists out today including some group rides, a family with one child on a bike, one in the trailer being towed by dad and a labrador running alongside, two chaps on a tandem and a couple of groups with children.21 miles , average speed 16.3mph.

 

[Mike_P]

Cooler so no excuse today - that Cornwall Road climb

Become pretty obvious it was windy (20 mph westerly according to Garmin) so initially tried to cut out the worse of the wind and at the same time avoid TTLs - I ended up in a business park trying to find a way though it but failed, so back in the queue for a set of TTLs. Eventually passed through Beckwithshaw and headed for Norwood, the head wind meant my slowest time up Norwood Lane was easily worsened; reaching the false flat the speed tumbled and the descent down from Little Armscliffe never maxed out the cranks, so decided to use the narrow Watsons Lane which was less exposed. Northbound was a case of coping with the cross wind and as I passed the Sun Inn a Morris Minor pulled in.

East on Penny Pot Lane was somewhat different with the tail wind

It did not last as the road changes from a ENE direction to ESE and a cross tail wind evolved. 16.71 miles 974ft climbed Avg 11.3 MPH