Your ride today....

[13 rider]

51.12 miles in glorious winter sunshine. Started from Anstey to Mountsorrel to mate number one then to Sileby for mate number two Then set off to normantan on soar .on the way I had my first clipless moment .while changing down for a hill the chain came off and whilst looking down at the chain and slowing down I forgot to upclip and had a slow motion fall on the a lovely soft verge much to mates amusement .after refitting chain it was off again visited the villages of Stanford on soar ,Normanton on soar,Sutton Bonnington,Kingston on Soar,Gotham(still no sign of batman),E leake,Costock, Wysall were mate number one peeled off due to time pressure so me and mate number two pressed on to Willoughby on the wolds and back to Sileby after a quick coffee at mates house time to head home via Cossington,Rothley,Cropston and back to Anstey. Lovly ride in glorious sunshine but a bit chilly

 

[mooseracer]

Beautiful day, loads of cyclists out and a thoroughly enjoyable 80 miles for me. Took it steady and enjoyed the ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/252130476/overview

 

[Glow worm]

A sparkling sunny day here today and almost warm out of the cold wind. For a change I headed east into the 'hills' (pauses for laughter from those of you living near proper hills!) of west Suffolk.

For a change I decided to up my pace a little rather than my usual bimble/ birdwatching effort. Heading up the slope from Six Mile Bottom a few club riders passed the other way- looked like CB5 or some such. Another roadie whooshed past me asking if it was lunch I had in my panniers! I never travel light. He was partly right, aside from lunch, a 4 pint bottle of water, Large binoculars, thermos flask, radio, and other bits and bobs for starters!

West Suffolk is great country, gently rolling hills and surprisingly remote. Cambridgeshire tends to blur into Suffolk somewhat, and often the only way you can tell which county you're in is by looking at the wheelie bins outside the few houses there are.

The above pic is near Cowlinge on the way to Kirtling. It was mostly warm, but heading into the breeze was a different story and out came the gloves. It was one of those winds that barely rustles the leaves, but somehow concentrates itself on slowing down cyclists. Very odd.

35 miles in total in around 2hrs 50 mins. Pretty pacey for me, and a lovely ride, a nice change from my usual Fens adventures.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Rural wheelie bins? How posh. Our farmers burn what will burn, recycle everything else, and bury what little is left.

 

[Basil.B]

After eating a large chicken & ham pie with lots of potatoes and sprouts, I managed a 22 mile loop this afternoon.

 

[Dave 123]

Rural wheelie bins? How posh. Our farmers burn what will burn, recycle everything else, and bury what little is left.

Oh, it's very up market round these parts!

 

[Dave 123]

A sparkling sunny day here today and almost warm out of the cold wind. For a change I headed east into the 'hills' (pauses for laughter from those of you living near proper hills!) of west Suffolk.

For a change I decided to up my pace a little rather than my usual bimble/ birdwatching effort. Heading up the slope from Six Mile Bottom a few club riders passed the other way- looked like CB5 or some such. Another roadie whooshed past me asking if it was lunch I had in my panniers! I never travel light. He was partly right, aside from lunch, a 4 pint bottle of water, Large binoculars, thermos flask, radio, and other bits and bobs for starters!

West Suffolk is great country, gently rolling hills and surprisingly remote. Cambridgeshire tends to blur into Suffolk somewhat, and often the only way you can tell which county you're in is by looking at the wheelie bins outside the few houses there are.

View attachment 79268

The above pic is near Cowlinge on the way to Kirtling. It was mostly warm, but heading into the breeze was a different story and out came the gloves. It was one of those winds that barely rustles the leaves, but somehow concentrates itself on slowing down cyclists. Very odd.

35 miles in total in around 2hrs 50 mins. Pretty pacey for me, and a lovely ride, a nice change from my usual Fens adventures.

It is a great quiet little corner for a ride and as you say, fairly mountainous for round here. There are some pretty nice houses too.

 

[Saluki]

Managed a quick 13 miler today. I managed to motivate hubster enough to get on his bike. I showed him my proposed route on google maps and away we went. We went to Eaton via Bluebell Road then straight over the junction through the village and then along the cyclepath, past the golf club and up the hill to the Holiday Inn on the A140. I had to stop half way up the hill as a family had decided that I was not on a cyclepath at all but on a public footpath, strictly for feet. Very posh types, bloody rude types.

At the top I waited for Hubster, who had also been required to become totally stationary by the rude, posh family (who's kids were on bikes!). We doglegged right then left to Hall road and followed it and turned off through an industrial bit at Bessimer Road, which brought us to Sandy Lane and to the disused railway cyclepath to the City Sainsburys. From there it's a quick spin along All Saint's to Evans.

At Evans, I exchanged my unused, brand new horrible flat pedals (bought for a bike we were selling but the buyer had own pedals) for a Co2 tyre inflating kit and a new lime green bottle cage for the CX. We fitted the new bottle cage there and then and then headed back the way that we'd come. Hubster is not fond of the climb at Marlpit Lane so to avoid that, we retraced out tyre tracks and added 2 miles to the trip. Funny chap, my Hubster.
He was really tired on the way home. I was making about 1 min and 20 seconds a mile on him. Somehow, he was failing to keep up down hill when I wasn't turning a pedal.

Naughty Hubster stayed on the road on Bluebell, on the way back. They cycle path is a bit rough and the road is very smooth. I was on the cyclepath and a bit behind him as I had to wait for a bunch of pedestrians and a family on bikes who were taking up the whole path. I could see the queue of traffic up ahead on the road and I just whizzed past them on the cycle path (I say whizzed, only about 10mph but a whole lot faster than the traffic) only to find, Hubster slogging up the slight rise at about 6mph, on the road, causing the big queue. I bet those car drivers were swearing.
I waited for him at the end of Bluebell and then followed him for 100 yards or so but I really cannot ride at less than 6mph without falling off. My balance is not that good. I said that I'd see him at home and headed off. He had the house key so I did a lap of the estate and then met him as he arrived at the door.

13 miles dead, in a very steady 1:15:35 so moving average was 10.1mph which is shockingly slow.
I'm commuting to work tomorrow so I hope to manage 12mph ave.

 

[RedRider]

Popped out for a loaf and some cat food and ended up cycling right across town for the bread. The cat wasn't that amused but it was a beautiful day to be out and about and pretty interesting.
I was asked to wait whilst they filmed a scene for the new series of Sherlock. There were some actors I didn't recognise getting in and out of a hansom cab.
Caution filming. . .

Overpriced bread from a stall in Primrose Hill saddlebagged and I turn round for homE.
Waiting at lights near Lambeth Bridge a modern, real life Hansom cab driver wound his window at the lights and said I looked like a cyclist and followed up with: 'i coach cyclists.'
Well he had hair so he couldn't be Dave Brailsford and in any case I'm a year or two too old to be spotted so there was no real surprise when his next sentence was: 'Why aren't you wearing a helmet?'
The sun was shining, first gloveless day of the year so a polite conversation about risk later and our ways part.

Nearly home but still time for another traffic light meeting. This time a young lad from Sao Paulo looking for directions to Denmark Hill. I'm going that way so we ride together and he says he's just arrived in London and it's his first day out on a bike here. Seems to be doing okay. The rest of the conversation it's mainly reciting the names of random Brazilian footballers which is as good a way as any to end a Sunday spin.
Forgot the cat food though.

 

[Oldbloke]

2 hours in strong cold winds, not much sun today but significantly better than past few days in positive temperatures at last.

Only managed 48 kms, tried to tag onto a club ride of around 20 complete with team car, this was near the end of my ride so they were soon gone

Sadly missed out on my usual belly-buster pastry as too late for the bakers

 

[Glow worm]

It is a great quiet little corner for a ride and as you say, fairly mountainous for round here. There are some pretty nice houses too.

Was close to 400 feet above sea level at one point. The air did seem a bit thin!

 

[ColinJ]

Well done you lot for getting out in very chilly conditions. We had some sunshine here in the valley earlier, but then it clouded over. I'm sure that it would have been bitterly cold and murky up on the tops and I have done enough freezing rides recently so I stayed indoors in the warm and watched Rohan Dennis tackle the hour record instead!

 

[ColinJ]

Countesthorpe the destination, 55 miles the journey. Got up this morning and looked at the frost on the roads and the ice on the cars and abandoned plans for a ride over to Mapleborough Green instead opting for a later start and a short ride to Countesthorpe. When I left at nine the frost was already fading away, I was expecting the ride from Shilton through Withybrook to Monks Kirby to be icy but the lanes were clear, just the odd frozen puddle to look out for, and every time I rode under a tree I got showered with small ice crystales shed by the tree, carried on through Pailton to Lutterworth, and on through Gillmorton to Peatling Pava then through Peatling Magna to pick up the gated road to the main road to the Garden Centre at Countesthorpe. On the way back I retraced my out wood journey to Gilmorton but instead of turning towards Lutterworth I carried on to the next turn to Ullesthorpe and Claybrook Pava then turned towards Monks Kirby and turned right by the Church in Monks Kirby to pick up the out wood route to take me back into Coventry.

Dave - considering that I lived in Coventry for 21 years, I am always amazed at how many surrounding villages you ride to that I have never heard of! That's probably because I did most of my childhood riding in the Brownshill Green/Corley/Fillongley area but then had my bike stolen as a teenager at the age when I would have started exploring further afield.

 

[nickyboy]

My God it was cold this morning!
Up over Chunal to Glossop. Many thanks to guy on a roadie who asked if I was OK as he passed me, stopped on the way down. I was, I just felt the need to switch my Lezynes to a steady light as I dropped back into the cold fog.
Bypassed Glossop centre then up to Charlesworth and on towards Marple.
Realised the white on my jacket sleeves was ice forming!
The descent to Marple Bridge is quite long. Fingers of my right hand, given I was covering/using brakes, became completely numbed by the cold.
Thankfully, Costa in Marple offered warmth and respite; don't know how I managed to operate my combination lock .
A large Americano and a croissant helped but it took easily ten minutes to get through the pain of rewarming fingers.
Out to High Lane, a short distance on the A6 then a backroads route to New Mills and home to Hayfield.
Reckon it's the coldest I've ridden in so far. Must've been hovering below freezing, but felt colder in the nasty mist.
More coffee, crumpets and a hot bath.
No photos ... too fuppin' cold.
Brilliant ride!

Well done getting out. I took one look at the thick fog and freezing temperatures and stuck the kettle on. What route did you use to bypass Glossop? I suspect you may have cycled past my house

 

[thetribe]

Squeezed in a quick (for me) 10 miles for me today. Was a lovely day (although colder than I realised once I got out on bike) and it was supposed to be the first of our "Cake Stop" rides for myself and my better half, however after a 40th birthday party last night and a roller skating incident (roller disco party) she had to give today's ride a miss. Next week hopefully.

http://www.strava.com/activities/252150555