Your ride today....

[Mike_P]

This afternoon I finally got round to taking the ebiked hybrid round the route through, or rather alongside, the Upper Washburn Valley that defeated me on the road bike in terms of having to walk up, in part, two hills.

The intent was to follow the same route but I had completely forgot back in January I was avoiding the possible thorns on the paths in the Country Park outbound. So 26.36 miles with 1898ft of the upwards variety, 1.27 miles and 128ft shorter, with an average speed of 12.9 mph, 0.5 mph faster; I left the motor off for flats, downhills and most false flats and pleased to see the battery was around half full when I got back home.

On the climbs that defeated me on the road bike a speed around 8 mph was typical.

Annoyingly not once, not twice but three times the chain overshot the smallest cog; back home it turned out that the high screw needed substantially more than a quarter turn to remedy the matter – not sure how it had become so loose. Worse, on the final bike upside down to loosen the rear wheel so as to release the chain, I spotted a brake pad lying on the ground – never occurred to me to put spare brake pad retaining clips in the saddle bag; fortunately it was off the front brakes and no severe down hills were left on the ride.

Heading north west on the west side of the Washburn Valley

Further on despite being virtually the back of beyond an overly destination named set of road signs, the more typical one around these parts simply point to Otley, Skipton and Pateley Bridge, possibly with a nearby village as well, so as to completely confuse non-locals trying to find their way to many places including Harrogate.

Heading south east on the Greenhow-Blubberhouses road on the east side of the valley

 

[DRM]

No-one covered the figure with old bed-sheets & dirty clothes?

And the elephants, with a Disc on them?
Hmm, haven't I seen something vaguely like that before

View attachment 475397


I have a look every time I go to Morley
I am told, but can't corroborate the fact, that the Wetherspoons, in the town has a BB memorabilia wall
Anyone know??

There is a large poster on one of the walls that is about Beryl, however the main theme is cinema, as it used to be the old “flea pit” cinema, I had given it a full blast run up Morley Bottoms (yes I know snigger & all that) with a promise of a coffee at Cucina’s, but they were just setting up, so I went a bit further on for some more climbs & had a coffee at home instead, I did notice that one of the benches at the bottom of the pedestrian precinct going up to Morrison’s now sports a Beryl Burton memorial plaque/board type thing.

 

[Mr Celine]

I'm not taking a bike on holiday this year so cycled from home to furrin parts. On the way I crossed the River Teviot at Kalemouth.

Next stop on the border, which at this crossing is completely unmarked. According to the 1:50000 map the border runs down this road, but the 1:25000 map shows the road as in Ingerland and the border running along the verge to the left. They'll never take our telegraph poles! View is looking north.

100m further on the road turns to the right and the border turns left to head in a north westerly direction, marked by the broad uncultivated gap between the two fields. Scotland on the left, England on the right.

At Coldstream the border crossing is well marked.

You wouldn't get much bridge for £6K today.

Looking upstream towards Coldstream -

After a quick stop for refreshments there was just the small matter of a 30 mile run downwind to home. One more stop looking south towards the Cheviot.

Today's map -

63.5 miles @ 15.5 mph, 1078m upwards.

 

[MrBeanz]

Got Gina back out again. 32 miles, warm ride but she did well!

 

[ianrauk]

Yesterday was the CTC Triennial Veterans ride for the over 50's.
Run every three years. It's a fairly sedate 100 miler starting, stopping for elevenses, lunch and afternoon tea at the same place taking in 4 loops of 25 miles.
I did my first run 3 years ago and I was the youngest out of the riders by a fair old margin. Once again, this year I was the youngest. With 2 of the oldest in our group 79 years young. One of whom ( Stuart) used to race in his youth and still had a fair old lick of speed.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable, sociable ride. Even the rain decided to keep away with just a short drizzle which didn't even make the roads wet.

I got my 2nd bar for the badge, Stuart got his 12th bar.

Imperial century#15 for the year. And some future Eddington's in the bag.
Descending Hildenborough so early in the morning I had a go at cracking 50mph. nearly..... but not quite, I got to 49.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Yesterday, we went to Let's Ride Sheffield 2019. Myself, Mat, my son, his son, and a third friend's son (his Dad couldn't be there) riding on the closed-to-all-other-traffic roads of Sheffield. It was a 6.5 km route from Endcliffe Park to the Winter Gardens and back (there was a shorter route too for those that didn't want to go far).

We had a great time. There were lots and lots of people taking part of all ages and abilities. We saw 2 year olds on balance bikes and 80+ on electric bikes. There were unicycles, trikes and tandems. I saw a mother on a Raleigh Chopper and her son on a Raleigh Tomahawk. Hand cycles, recumbents, wheelchair cycles, dutch frames, banana frames and TT bikes. So much to see It was great to see so many cyclists riding on the (usually) car-intensive streets of Sheffield

We had a great time. Sporting our club colours and riding a mix of CX (flat or drop bar) and road bikes, we had a great time (safely) whizzing along the roads and taking in the atmosphere. There were stalls galore in the festival site at Endcliffe Park, but there was no way we were waiting an hour in the queue for food - it cuts into your riding time! A fun time was had riding through the Winter Gardens and catching snatches of the stunt show as we rode by.

The kids in particular did very, very well and left the two of us behind until we had the chance to catch them napping and blasting past with a cheery wave. Then the chase was on and the kids were not giving up. We managed 5 minutes before we let them ride in front (weren't we nice ). What was fantastic was how the kids worked together to make sure all had a good time. My son is nowhere near as confident a cyclist as the other two, but they looked after him by setting a manageable pace and ensuring the three stayed together and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Five laps and 20.8 miles later, we returned to the car park with 10 minutes to spare before they re-opened the roads to motorists. Four hours of fun. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

 

[Old jon]

After a weekend of different sorts of enjoyment, music and drinking mostly, it took quite some time this morning before pedalling just sort of happened. But things improved.

Darkest Holbeck first, to reach Office Lock. Ride along the towpath to Viaduct Road and then up to Headingley, followed by more up to the Ring Road. Shortly after crossing that, pedalling became easier. Mostly because the road levelled off. Three quicker cyclists passed me and turned right towards Adel. I carried on along the A 660 to Bramhope and further along to the Dyneley Arms, where I could not resist the right turn to descend Pool Bank. On the fixed, and indeed the other bike also, I would always like this to be faster, but today this was not to be. Through the village and turn left, this is one of those rides that the bike can do by itself, almost.

Quite a lot of other riders about this morning, I reckon by the time I reached the maypole in Otley the score was well into double figures. A short stop here, eating and drinking, then off to ride up Leeds Road. Two folk on bikes led me past Chevin Cycles, they were riding shiny bikes and I reckoned they would vanish away in front of me in no time at all. Nope, around laundry corner and they were still in sight, and before we reached the roundabout I had to overtake. Apologetically and sweating profusely, but . . .

That’s it with fixed, I have a possible speed range from about eight to twenty six and a bit mph. Anything less than eight uphill just does not work, Leeds Road is above ten in patches but the last half mile will be well below that, a couple of stretches out of the saddle just to keep the cadence up. So, through Bramhope again and turn left at the roundabout to ride up Kings Road to Arthington Road.



More traffic than usual on Church Lane, that is not a lot though. Back to the A 660 for the resurfaced ( surface dressed ) drop to Headingley where a right turn to pass the cricket ground takes me down another hill to Kirkstall. Back on the towpath, which was well populated today. Off the canal, Water Lane to Victoria Bridge where a demonstration was in progress. The diversion was the way I was going, thirty miles of riding needed to be showered off. I rode home. The sight of which brought the usual grin.

And the almost usual map

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Weather's supposed to turn tomorrow so thought I'd have a wee spin on the Tricross. Front derailleur needed adjusted so I adjusted it and made it worse, of course. Not sure if the creaking is from me or the bottom bracket, might try lying on my back and cycling an imaginary bike to check if it's me but not sure if that's scientific. Went on a route out around the fields of Stirling that I hadn't done for a few years - it's astonishing how many new houses have been built. I presume they're getting around green belt planning rules by buying farm buildings, knocking them down and putting their timber frame ranch houses up. What used to be very quiet single track lanes with only cyclists, walkers, horses and the odd tractor now seem to be dominated by big Range Rovers who either charge past you missing by a whisker or sit right on your back wheel for ages until you dismount in exasperation.

Anyway, here's the route -

23 miles at an average of 13 mph and about 1000ft of climbing - including a Cat 4 climb - whatever that is! Quite pleased overall, I think my fitness is slowly coming back and I've now lost 18lbs with my diet - 6lbs to go to reach target.

Obligatory "Your Bike In Front Of A Monument" pic

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I’m up in Wales, at the caravan and got my longest ride of the year, so far, in today. It was a blustery, cloudy, cool and not very summery morning, but I soon warmed up as I headed out and down the main road, to Barmouth. Very busy, as usual at this time of year, but only 1 stupid close pass from a Toyota. The Northerly wind was behind me and so it was a quick, for me, trip and along the promenade, in Barmouth, I set a new Strava segment PB, which puts me 64th out of 1702. That doesn’t happen often for someone slow like me!

It was busy getting out of Barmouth, due to the day trippers arriving, but I climbed up the short distance and then crossed Barmouth Bridge, to begin the lovely section up the Mawddach Trail. It was quite busy along there, today, with walkers and cyclists. They’ve done some patchwork on the section up to The George Hotel, which was much needed and it’s better than the rutted mess it was becoming.

At Dolgellau I took a left and out towards the A470, along said section came an old VW camper can, and from the stench it was leaving in its wake, of burnt brakes or clutch, I’m guessing it had a difficult trip over Dinas Mawddy!

I then started the climbing, up the Ganllwyd valley, high above the Afon Mawddach.
View attachment 475257

It’s an up and down section, to start with, until you reach the Coed y Brenin Forest, where it’s basically uphill in any direction you go! I took the long hard steep climb, that follows the Afon Wen, climbing 700 feet in just over a mile. This was the first time I’d used the Hybrid, in Wales, since @Rickshaw Phil had fitted my new gears. Whilst it was still a slog, they made a difference and I only had to stop once, rather than the 3 or 4 times previously

I was glad to reach the top, though, and then the lovely descent back down the other side of the Afon Wen, towards my lunch stop, at one of my favourite spots in the Forest, Parc y Coeddig.
View attachment 475259 View attachment 475260
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It’s a bit of a climb again, after setting off from here, up towards Llanfacreth, but as I rounded a corner, quite slowly, I came face to face with a deer that was only a couple of feet from me!! It had a startled look for a second or 2, before hurtling down the bank into the forest again. Lovely to see one so close up though.

Once I passed the car park for the Precipice Walk, I reached my favourite part of this ride, the long and fast descent into Dolgellau, with views over towards Cader Idris. I reached a top speed of 39.7mph, into a strong headwind, which shows how good it is

At Dolgellau I took a trip around the one way system, through the town, before pausing at the cricket pitch, to watch the game for 15 minutes or so. 40 for 0 after 10 overs, slow and steady progress.
View attachment 475262

Next it was back down the Mawddach Trail again, towards Barmouth, retracing my steps across the bridge and along the promenade, which was significantly busier now and I had the usual problems of people just stepping out and crossing the road without looking. Also had a pillock in a Land Rover overtake me, whilst I was overtaking a parked car, and there was a car coming the other way, who he forced to brake sharply. I then met him, coming back towards me, on the wrong side of the road and not looking where he was going. He got a gesture from me.

What i’d also found was that wind which helped me earlier on, but was now a horrid headwind and boy was it hard work all the way back for the last 6 miles. I passed a chap who was obviously touring and laden down with panniers galore, and the main road was one long stream of busy fast traffic, so I resorted to the pavement/cycle lane, which isn’t a great surface but personal safety is more important.

Back to the caravan having done 43.9 miles, with 2900 ft of climbing, at a very slow 10.8 mph avg speed.

I'm glad you're getting on well with the new gearing. Reminds me that I still need to fit the guard onto the big ring for you.


Have been offline a few days as busy with family stuff so didn't post my rides from Wednesday evening or Thursday:
Wednesday I got the Galaxy out and headed for Cardington. I couldn't get out until about an hour after I'd wanted to so the idea was that there were lots of options for cutting it short if needed. In the end I did the whole route and got back as it started getting properly dark. Nice quiet roads and the odd bit of wildlife to be spotted, the highlight being hares in two seperate places.

32.4 miles at a pleasing 15.2 mph average (better than expected considering there is a decent hillclimb in the middle).

On my way to Condover towards the end of the ride.

Thursday was a daytime ride but I couldn't be out too long so took to my Longnor, Dudgley, Wilderley, Pulverbatch route. I used the knockabout bike for convenience and was glad that I had as within a few miles it was raining, which I hadn't expected (didn't want the good bikes getting mucky ). It was quite warm out though so the lack of waterproofs was no big deal and it only lasted for a few miles.

There were a few young rabbits about. Over the last couple of summers the ones I've seen have mostly been dead or dying so it looks like the disease causing it has passed.

I took the direct route back from Pulverbatch which is a nice fast sweeping downhill then climbed over Lyth Hill from the Great Lyth side and along the rough track. Apparently there hadn't been any rain at home - just where I was.

25.2 miles for this one at 13.2 mph.

View from near Smethcott..

At the top of Lyth Hill. One of the showers is rolling off into the distance.

I'd hoped that this arty angle would show how rough the path across the top of Lyth Hill is but it makes it look quite smooth instead.

 

[jongooligan]

Calm, sunny days have been a rarity this summer so despite the hangover from yesterday's cricket celebrations I took missen off this morning for a hilly ride.

Started by cutting across the grain to get into the Derwent valley through Burnhopefield where I dropped down to Ebchester to cross the river. A short climb up the other side brings you to the junction with Boundary Lane. Not sure why it's called this but from the junction right up to Kilnpit hill (about 5 miles) I didn't see another vehicle. It's one of my favourite lanes.

The route

Ower the moor, with the first heather flowers showing, to Blanchland for a brew at the White Monk tearooms. When I came out a chap from Cheltenham was admiring my 'ancient' bicycle. Cheeky bugger - I bought it around 20 years ago (I think).

The big climb over to Rookhope was made harder by not being able to use my bottom gear as my chain kept coming off the front chainrings when I went for the smallest gear. Rule 5 applies in these cases and I was soon bombing down the other side and into Weardale.

'Ancient' Ridley Triton

The road on the South side of the valley is much quieter and better surfaced than the main road so I detoured to Daddry Shield and then turned for home. Stopped for a drink in Wolsingham before tackling the climb out of the village and then Viewly Hill from where I kept to the lanes through Quebec and Langley Park.

A wonderful 70 mile ride with 5,000ft of climbing - an excellent hangover cure.

 

[Reynard]

A gentle 10 mile bimble / utility ride to and around Littleport on Wiggy #2, the Chartres.

OMG, the bugs... Those little tickly things that get *everywhere*

Still, it was good to get out.

 

[AndreaJ]

Just 2 short rides this time, could only manage a commute on Saturday as my daughter was having some friends round for a surprise party for one the friends 16th birthday and it was being held at my house !Couldn't (wasn't brave enough) get them up very early on Sunday so just a quick dash on a short loop round the Whixall lanes going into Whixall where I was passed very close on a blind bend by a DPD van who then pulled up 100 metres up the road at the house he was delivering to, then turning over the canal to Fenns Wood, back over the canal to Alkington and on to Hollinswood, Lower Houses, being chased by a pack of spaniels, Coton, Abbeygreen, Waterloo, Edstaston added another loop going up to Poolhead then turning back to Foxholes, past the Falconry Centre to Highfields, Horton and back home. 18.96 miles at average 15.5mph in a bit of a breeze. Daughters turn for the 16th birthday surprise today as her friends took her into Shrewsbury for tea at Zizzi's after their day doing National Citizenship service stuff in Wem so I went for a quick ride this evening, this was a good plan as all the tractors and silage trailers had finished by this time. Started the same way as yesterday into Whixall but carried straight on to Alkington before turning back the opposite way across the canal and Fenns Bank crossing the lane through Whixall to go on to Hollinswood, Lower House, Coton, Waterloo, Edstaston, Ryebank, Creamore and back the same as yesterday past The Moat Shed which looked very busy and home. It was very warm but no breeze today16 miles @ average 16mph therefore taking exactly an hour.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

As I was going to cycle over to my dad`s today (Elmswell) I thought that I`d choose another route, the direct route is only 6.2 miles so usually choose a wayward route. I thought that I`d go via Rattlesden and then Felsham and Gedding. I had`nt cycled Gedding before but I ran it back in 1988 when it was on the Bury 20 run. The road was exactly how it was, going past Gedding Hall, which is the home of a certain Bill Wyman, I thought that I`d name drop ! From Gedding I went on to Drinkstone and there I got a bit confused of which road to take to Woolpit. I was`nt lost, just confused, so took one road and then turned around as I did`nt want o put too many miles in before I got to dad`s. It ended at Elmswell at 17.8. My cycling began again at 2.45 and this time it was my usual route via Wetherden, Haughley and back to Stowmarket. The ride was pretty good, not too much traffic and everyone behaving themselves. Weather was overcast and about 17 degrees perhaps a tad more later. Total ride was 25 miles at 17.7 average. Another day on the Vitus. My Claude Butler is feeling a bit left out !

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I intended to take the short route around the Hills. All was well as I went around the northern end but at Coddington Cross I had my first steering problem. It took me off course. Never mind I could get back by climbing over Wellington Heath from Pegs Farm. No I couldn't as that steering problem took me right and not left. So Munsley it was with a left to take me along the flanks of the Marcles. Again the steering failed and took me up the good climb over to Woolhope Cockshoot where I was forced to turn right over to Canwood. Some semblance of control seemed to return as I rounded by Woolhope. So I climbed to the Marcle Ridge and dropped away to Much Marcle. With full control resumed it was the just the standard run back. Wonder what the steering problem was caused by and will it always lead me astray each time it occurs? 56 smiles (instead of 35).

 

[Spiderweb]

A fabulous evening for a ride from work. Out on the Tricross just after 5pm, 28.1 miles with an average of 15.1 mph.