Your ride today....

[Jon George]

Out for a spin past where the Ed Sheeran gigs have been happening. Everyone going to tonight's event seemed happy - a patrol person even moved aside a cone so I could cycle the closed road.

Followed this by about a 10 mile pootle west of Ipswich. (I don't know what the increase in pothole-related accidents has been in recent years, but I'm finding I'm having to slow down on roads that I know, let alone the ones I haven't travelled for some time.)

This near Jimmy's Farm. (My wife likes pylons. I like railway tracks.)

 

[Mike_P]

The plan for today given the poorly road bike was to take the ebiked hybrid up some more Washburn Valley hills that have either defeated me on the road bike or simply avoided altogether. That was until I looked at the outside thermometer – how hot already! Figured that one water bottle would not be enough – the second water bottle holder being occupied by a tool kit bottle, so quick change of plans to another shopping trip, Then decided a potentially heavy rucksack was going to be pretty unpleasant on the back in this heat for any distance so pannier clipped onto the pannier rack – conveniently I had put a new one on ebiked hybrid the other week as the original in danger of collapsing under the weight of the battery, and the new one has a mid bar on each side ostensibly to give it more strength but ideal for the now somewhat elderly Lidl panniers to clip onto. Carefully negotiated the now week and half old broken glass on the cycletrack pass the Hydro (swimming pool) and up Knapping Hill

Down to The Gardener's Arms on Bilton Lane and up the climb beyond

A clear run down the wall of the Beryl Burton cycleway towards Knaresborough

Went along the Nidd Gorge, Waterside and Abbey Road which was slightly more awkward than normal as my “Lifeline” bell has seemingly come to the end of its life – it worked when I tested it but not when I needed it. Into Lidl where the cycling stuff was as advertised and nothing more, like a bell; the lights seemed to have sold reasonably well and there was a solitary track pump left but it looked like the full length gloves could well be a candidate for a reduced price in the coming weeks. So Halfords was now added as a place to visit – headed towards Knaresborough town centre on the A59 but standing traffic lead to a retreat to Waterside, going down Brewerton Street and Castle Ings Road

Back on the A59 and £5.40 spent in Halfords (BC Discount) on a proper metal bell with a metal lever, either side of a conversation with another ebike owner. Thereafter followed yesterdays route to the Stray and then to Harrogate Town Centre where use was made of a set of bike stands nicely in the shade of the Theatre building, just round the corner from M&S. Avoided the broken glass on the way home by going through the car park instead. 14.5 miles with the ebike whirling its way up 968ft.

 

[Dave 123]

I touched down early in Keyworth for a ride with my brother and sister in law this morning.

Belvoir Castle was the destination. We only saw one Red Kite along the way.
I forgot to press start on my garmin.

40ish miles all told

https://www.strava.com/activities/2652980085

 

[13 rider]

I touched down early in Keyworth for a ride with my brother and sister in law this morning.

Belvoir Castle was the destination. We only saw one Red Kite along the way.
I forgot to press start on my garmin.

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40ish miles all told

https://www.strava.com/activities/2652980085

I cycled through Keyworth yesterday . Did look out for but a day early , some lovely lanes in the vale

 

[iancity]

Seems like everyone has been out enjoying the sun :-)

My contribution...struggled with cramp for the last 15 miles tho :-(

Its up the Northumberland coast btw, as the Strava map doesn't show it below

 

[geocycle]

Lovely day so out to the Dales. First shot is looking north toward Lonsdale. Then rode past Penyghent, headed up hill from Stainforth toward Malham but descended to Halton Gill in Littondale. In all the years of riding up here this was a new road and a new dale. Back via Threshfield, Airton and Settle. Wonderful.

 

[Jenkins]

Out for a spin past where the Ed Sheeran gigs have been happening.

I deliberately avoided that side of Ipswich precisely for that reason and headed north, keeping to the east of Ipswich.

Having been woken early this morning by the bin men doing their thing, I was our of the house by 10am hoping to avoid the worst of the day's heat. I headed roughly straight up (with a few diversions) through Kirton, Newbourne and Waldingfield, then a slight left and right up Beacon Hill and the regular run through Little Bealings to Hasketon and resuming the northerly run through Bredfield and Dallinghoo

Then it was time to head west through Clopton and Otley to Ashbocking before turning south for the run home through Witnesham, Westerfield (where the police were still clearing up from a two vehicle crash earlier in the day), then Rushmere, Bucklesham and back into Kirton and home.
Thanks to the lack of wind and the open countryside it was blisteringly hot, even at that time of the day and I'm glad I took two x 600ml bottles, rather than my usual one x 750ml - I needed both of them!

https://www.strava.com/activities/2652818697
Then in the late afternoon I took the Pickenflick flatbar out for a slow 10 mile loop around Felixstowe and along the seafront - even at 4pm the place was absoltely jammed solid. Not a place to be had at any of the cafes or bars with outside seating, queues at all the ice cream vendors and cars parked wherever there was a space. I was going to stop for a picture for the "your bike in front of some water" thread on the seafront, but you could hardly see the North Sea as there were so many people in it!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Hello all!
Congrats to @Mo1959 on your first 100 miler
I haven't been posting on this thread for ages, not because I haven't been riding, but the rides have been quite mundane, nothing to write on CC about.
Until today, when I decided to join the cycling hub's Bike for Good West ride of the seven lochs loop.
Me and another of the Glasgow Belles on Bikes leader both had tried before to ride this loop, getting lost each time.
Well, after today's 30 meandering miles, only the seagulls (loch gulls??) know where I've been!
the hub, starting point of the ride.
one of the few signs to the route.
The group consisted in 13 plus 4 ride leaders, only me I had a Garmin, so, yes, we took a few wrong turns
First we had to negotiate tortuous glass strewn inner city cycle paths to climb a steep short hill up to the canal for the start of the official lochs route, then we had to cross several of Glasgow's rundown north side housing estates, eventually we got to the first loch, Hogganfield ... and then ... the fun starts in earnest

A picture of Hogganfield, a couple of pictures of swans, a picture of the last loch, Drumpellier, were the only scenic part of the ride, unless you are a rare avian species. that appreciates long, wet grass.

The group at Hogganfield above, Drumpellier country park below.

Were was I? Ah, the fun part begins at the first loch ...
Just as well we were joined by a local wildlife officer, to show us the way.
The path to the next loch turned into a gravel trail, sharp uphills, muddy downhills, rocks, tree roots, you name it, it was there.
Dogs, lots of them, nettles, plenty, gates, branches of the trail with no direction signs.
One of the group fell off.
Loch number two we could not see, it's hidden from the route, loch number three was this:

The building old, disused building in the background used to be a mental health hospital.
To cut a long story short, we got trough another couple of these nature reserves, linked by hilly, busy roads.
Another of the group fell off, her front quick release had come undone due to the bumpy trails.
In conclusion, local peeps, if you had a fancy of finding the seven lochs, don't unless you are a keen mountain biker.
According to the map, we should have passed eight lochs, but we only saw four.
Map - there's a bit missing because I peeled off before we got back to the start:

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2653881180

Mega kudos to one rider on a Pashley with a basket, another on a hire Next Bike, and to the leader, he broke a spoke in the bargain!

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

My rides have been nothing special of late either. I'm enjoying cycling to different football grounds on Saturdays (but why is it so difficult to find out if stadiums have facilities for locking up bikes?).

Being a fair weather cyclist, I love getting out into the hills on the ebike, going up climbs I wouldn't manage on my Tricross. These are the types of road I particularly enjoy, away from white van man and boy racers -

 

[Fiona R]

Realised with a shock last night that today would be my last chance to get a qualifying ride in for the Metric Century-a-Month Challenge for August. Having kept it going for the previous 55 months, I wasn't about to miss out, so I got out early to put in over 12 of what @Cranky Knee Girl would describe as "unethically flat" miles before the start of the club ride, and then tagged on a handful of extra miles after the finish. I'm not at my best in hot, sunny weather, and really started to wilt at about the 50 mile mark. By then we'd done a long climb up the Slad Valley and a short but brutal climb over Painswick Golf Club on our way to the coffee stop at the Rococo Gardens. Came across a couple of friends along the way .... one at the beginning, who was out with the Kingsway Runners, and another who came and joined me at my 60 mile mark while I was sat on the grass down by the Severn at Stonebench gulping down the last of my hot orange squash.

Not a day for photos .... more of a slog really. Glad to have got a 63.6 miler (102.4km) in though, and I'm now suitably (erm) re-hydrated, shall we say. (Found plenty of cold beer in the fridge).

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Mission accomplished . (And no, @welsh dragon, that wasn't me. I don't claim to be omnipresent. He must have been a good looking fella).
Cheers, Donger.

it were a bit hot this weekend, we came up your way round our old haunts after going out to Salisbury Plain, up to Cirencester and across to Nailsworth). The whole 3 day ride was standard lumpy, and we had luggage, but after the steep pulls out of Nailsworth we were very glad of the un ethically flat bit back to Bristol via Berkeley, but managed to route an unknown nasty pull back into Bristol, not the normal way up to Blaise. Just pleased to have survived 325km of heat (over 3 and a bit days) go all of us sweating it out this weekend!

 

[gbb]

My first ride in just over 4 weeks
2 weeks holidays, a week I'll and a week busy....but late this afternoon, a 15 miler on the roadbike no big deal, just nice to be out there.
I was going later when my wifes TV was on. Just as well I didn't, arrived home, cleared the shed, had a little potter round d....and the thunder and lightning hit Pboro, just as I WOULD have been out there.

 

[Spiderweb]

Back to work after the bank holiday with my usual 6.7 mile commute and a 16.2 av mph.
Another fabulous warm day in North Yorkshire so an extended home commute of 28.1 miles with an average of 15.5 mph.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Sunday's Ride

Wild Wales Challenge 2019
My old pal, John B, and I turned up for this epic event again. Different route every year. Always with superb scenery and big climbs. We had an amazing ride with rather warm temperatures. Buzzards, 30% hills at the Gwydir forest, miniature steam traction engines and great camaraderie from all the riders. Just superb. 102 smiles and over 11,000 feet of ascent

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

After Sunday's epic we stopped to see #2 daughter. So it seemed like a good idea to ride home. It's a lovely run with Ludlow about half way and just right for lunch. Sunday had taken a bit out of me so I was quite tired on this one. Glad to get in and rest. 74 smiles

 

[gbb]

View attachment 482182

Back to work after the bank holiday with my usual 6.7 mile commute and a 16.2 av mph.
Another fabulous warm day in North Yorkshire so an extended home commute of 28.1 miles with an average of 15.5 mph.

I love the look of the countryside at this time of the year, harvested fields etc...and yet always rue the fact it heralds the beginning of the end of summer.