Your ride today....

[Denis99]

Out yesterday for first ride on my newly built up Brother Big Bro frameset.

Ride around Afan Windfarm, Blade and cafe stop.

Bit murky, but no rain.

 

[colly]

Sunday morning and a dull dreary looking day. Out on the bicycle and it was a mucky nondescript ride. Nothing of note happened.No one cut me up. I wasn't flashed.
Better than doing stuff at home though and the sun did get out a mile or so from home so I'm happy.

Just under 20 miles with 1300ft of up

View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/42978376

 

[geocycle]

Short day, so short 25 mile ride. Lots of birds out with big flocks of chaffinch, long tailed tits and geese. Nice kingfisher as well. Got up to Jubilee tower above Lancaster, first time for a while so pleased to know the legs still work.

 

[Landsurfer]

Canals and railway lines this morning. Wet and lovely. Passed Medowhell on the way out and they where already closing carparks .... !!!!
Why do people do this ...... spending millions of pounds on "stuff" ?
We buy pressies for the 4 children, but Julie and I have a £20 limit on presents for each other .... lots of fun stuff

Anyway ..... great ride ...... 23.78 miles ......

 

[Old jon]

Almost warm this morning, and it was only gently showering for the first few minutes of riding. By the time I reached Jack Lane the wet had stopped. Oh, and I had realised it was Sunday.

Leave Holbeck and ride to and across Crown Point Bridge, and carry on to Leeds’ version of Regent Street. Not very shiny on a December Sunday morning but quiet enough. The road starts rising after turning off and it seems to keep going up all the way to the Oakwood Clock. And I was feeling it, so much that I stopped for a drink. And a rest, as the memory returned. The first time I ever saw an Ellis Briggs was at this clock, the meeting point for a club run. In 1964. It took me fifty years finally to ride my own Ellis Briggs here. Ah, ride away.

Turn left and head towards the big gates of Roundhay Park. The road still rises, pass the gates and Canal Gardens, traffic becoming busier now, and pedal along Street Lane to Harrogate Road. Turn right here and continue riding up hill. After a while, no more houses. Fields both sides, one final rise and the road heads downhill to the left turn that leads to Eccup Reservoir. Down to the dam wall, ride along there and I am ( now ) sure that the two cyclists travelling the other way were my brother and his wife. If so it is the first time I have seen either of them riding. Still, the road goes on. A bit more up and down leads to the level road to Eccup village.



The one through street leads to a ‘T’ junction. Turn left, away from the New Inn and towards Five Lane Ends and straight across to Church Lane. After crossing Adel Dam and a bit of a hill after that, the church is left behind. Back in the suburbs again, take the right turn to the A660 and turn left on that to head back towards Leeds’ centre. Almost all downhill, to Headingley. More descent to Kirkstall and the canal towpath. All the locks are downhill in this direction but there are a couple of bridges doing short and steep. Just so the legs don’t forget.

Cross the outward journey, turn to the right for the final stretch up to the street where I live. Cold feet, I reckon being clipped in draws some warmth away, all the rest pretty warm. But after twenty two rather good miles I am definitely looking forward to a shower.

A map that does not show 1000 feet of up

 

[Dave 123]

Just a short one on my Spa today. Lots of standing water, a shower, a stiff breeze, sun and a rainbow.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Out collecting Audax Altitude Award points today. Short but lumpy ride with plenty of deep water about. I decreased my tyre pressure today to 62/65psi. Utterly luxurious and was enough to bowl through the odd hidden pothole without bashing the rims. Very sticky in the wet and crud too. Gurt lush my babs.

 

[snorri]

The forecast was good for today but a hard frost made walking risky on iced roads.
Otherwise a beautiful day, blue skies and sunshine with thousands of geese transiting overhead from the seashore to farm fields.
Another day in the garage for the bike.

 

[EltonFrog]

The Fragrant MrsP decided she wanted to do the Christmas shopping today, Waitrose, the nearest one is just over nine miles away. Knowing full well that the traffic would be a ‘mare we decided to cycle to Abingdon, a route that is most on cycle ways or on quiet country roads.

An uneventful ride, the sun was out and it wasn’t that cold, some standing water and damp roads but nothing awful. We stopped had a hot chocolate in Costa then did the shopping, which of course was a right pain. Packed the stuff into four pannier bags then we noticed it.

The Fragrant MrsP’s bike had a puncture. P.I.A. Piece of flint. Anyway once fixed we set off and an hour later we were home.
Just over 19 miles, my watch battery went flat so I didn’t record all the mileage on it.

 

[Mike_P]

Christmas card delivery duty on the Defy this afternoon; as its over a month since it moved I was fearing the worse but the bike was happy to be out on the road for once, having watched the ebiked hybrid come and go on a near daily working day basis. The new cassette seems to have stopped the chain slipping issues

Weather forecast was wrong – overcast with showers, so I played safe and took a full set of waterproofs bar gloves with me although the sun was out and remained so until the end of the ride when clouds started to appear but stayed dry until after I got home – currently wouldn’t be these parts without rain on a Sunday although I suspect the Danish Tourist Board are not happy with Procyclings comments on the UCI Mens Road Race that the weather turned Danish.

Annoyingly on the first downhill had to slow for a turning car. Then for the brief westerly the cycle route or A59 debate. The A59 looked pretty traffic free, that was until I reached it and had a lengthy wait for a gap in traffic. North to Killinghall and then up the A61, albeit for the detour through Ripley village and all those buildings of historic and architectural merit.

The section of the A61 onwards from Ripley has a Strava Segment of “Ripon Road Hell” – definitely not the case today

Decided with the puddles on the road to stay on the A61 as the country lanes through Markington were probably a touch worse and all vehicles were giving nice wide passes; something which remained for the rest of ride. So for the first time tackled the climb at Wormald Green and quickly concluded it looks worse in a car than on a bike, max gradient being 11.4% and did it in a time that is only twice that of Harry Tanfield in this years TdY.

Turned east to Bishop Monkton for the requisite postal duty and, with no one in, took the opportunity for a snack and drink on a bench by the stream through village; it was flowing quickly but a good couple of inches below any flooding occurring.

South to Knaresborough, the lanes were not too puddled and thanks to the Mini driver who slowed to let me avoid the pot holes on a bridge on what was part of the elongated Paracycling route immediately before the UCIs. Then up Beryl Burton; thought I had struggled too much on the steep climb section but turns out I was 5 seconds faster than last time up it. Then home via Bilton Lane and the A59.

21.31 miles 1306ft climbed 13.2 avg mph

 

[Donger]

Club ride time again. A small turnout, but with bikes tinselled up for Christmas. I hung some Christmas bells from my saddle which, in retrospect, was a very bad idea. Annoyed the hell out of all of us, jingling over pot-holed roads all morning. We chose to ride the Intermediates' route out to Berkeley, upping the miles a bit from what I'd expected and stopping for coffees at the Berkeley Tea Rooms. The lanes were muddy, but the morning was sunny and there were some nice views of the Severn. Also came across a massive flock of Canada geese in a stubble field near Berkeley .... probably on a day trip from the Slimbridge reserve nearby.

Bombed it back down the A38 on the way back, turning off for Frampton on Severn and my local lanes for the last 10 miles. Ended up doing 46.5 miles today .... leaving me just 6.2 miles short of my annual 3,000 mile target. I'll need shooting if I don't hit that by the end of the year.

Anyway, if I don't post again before Christmas Day, here's wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and good luck for next year to everyone who chooses to enter one of the monthly challenges for the first time. Go on, give it a go.

Cheers, Donger.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Our club Santa ride today - five rides happening: 3 road rides of varying length, a CX/MTB ride and the Go Ride kids ride; all meeting up at the same café at the same time. 81 of us descended on the poor serving staff, but a little preparation (and consideration) saw us all dealt with quickly. That's 81 of us all fancily dressed in Santa / elf / other Christmas motif and at least half of us wearing mud.

The Go Ride kids ride was our group led by myself with a friend acting as sweeper. 17 of us on the Trans Pennine Trail from Poolsbrook Country Park to Rother Valley Country Park. The only downside was getting up to the café on the new campsite - 100ft of elevation in 0.23 miles at about 20%. We walked it (riding back down after was fun though ).

A great ride with kids aged between 7 and 14 and their parents. The sky was dry, the ground was not. I had three bikes to clean when we got home. It turns out they weren't brown in colour as I thought but a blue and two reds

A good time was had by all and we're looking forward to our New Year's Day ride which, while not getting such a good turnout as the Santa ride, is well-attended. Probably because it starts at 10AM

14 happy and gentle miles at kids pace.

 

[cyberknight]

Just 20 mins on the turbo today still a bit meh so not killing myself

 

[Jenkins]

This morning's wet weather scuppered the plans for today so I was set for a day off the bike until I got a text from my sister - she and my niece were just about to set off for a cup of tea at mum's, did I want to join them? Never one to turn down a free cuppa (and a light lunch as well as it turned out) I added in a bit of shopping on the way out and some Christmas card delivery to my step brother & half brother on the way back for a gentle 10 miles to round out the week.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I need to get one thing clear: this is about a utility ride, okay? it wasn't for anything frivolous or fun, but for serious stuff and errand running. Don't get the idea I was enjoying myself.

Glad we've sorted that out.

We make our own Christmas/New Year cards, and having made a digital copy, I needed to get it printed off. Unfortunately our local printer had closed last year, so I had to go to Esslingen, the local big town. This is a mere 5 km away, but also about 200m downhill.

As usual, I have no pictures of the downhill section, because it squeezes those 200m of altitude into about 1.5 km so I spent it in the usual way of holding onto the brakes to keep the bike under control.

Still, it could be worse. Esslingen is a pretty nice town. It's a bit like York but with a rather larger old city. Right now it has the Christmas market...

And opposite that, the "Medieval Market" which fits well into the old centre. They really go to town on this, as you can see. I'm told it is a major tourist draw. If you're wondering the "Medieval" banners are the city flag. The pink building that looks like wedding cake is the old town hall. A few years ago it was completely restored using largely the same methods as the original coinstruction. The beams are all held in place with wooden pegs.

"Olde Worlde" ambience only slightly marred by electrical trunking crossing the entrance.

The city was independent of the rest of Germany until the early 1800's and they don't let you forget it. If it was anywhere else it would be famous and UNESCO listed.

Motorised traffic is heavily restricted in the old city, but bikes and pedestrians can travel along all the back streets. Bicycles tend not to go too fast because on anything but a full suspension bike those cobbles would loosen your teeth. The stone building on the right is the city library.

I wasn't about to climb up that hill I'd just come down so after cutting through the city, I left via the Wolf's Gate:

(No entry for cars, bicycles allowed)

And back into the 20th century. Well, mostly.

I took a dog leg through a couple of valleys which eventually bring me back to just below our village. This way I climbed most of those 200m gradually, leaving only a relatively short steep section.

The route goes through some villages...

And past the old hunting lodge of the kings of Württemberg before there was a revolution in 1848 and they were booted out.

There is even a road from the "country residence" to the hunting lodge, which is now a traffic free "agricultural road" which brought me to the bottom of the evil hill to the village.

Yeah, it's tough. I wasn't having fun at all...