Your ride today....

[wafter]

Having awaoken uncharacteristically early today I decided to get out ASAP; partially to avoid the mid-day sun as my pasty skin has been scorched enough, partially to maximise my recovery time before another ride tomorrow and partially just for the novelty of being out in the fresh morning air as I'm not a morning person..

Not a lot to report really; skipped breakfast (despite having looked forward to it since last night), donned the shorts and long-sleeved base layer and headed east through town; then through Elsfield, Stanton St-John, Wheatley, Worminghall and Shabbington before turning back west at North Weston, through Tiddington, Wheatley again, Horspath, Cowley and back through town.

The weather was fantastic with hardly a cloud in the clear blue sky and minimal wind. Traffic was (realtively speaking) light and the M40 looked pretty quite on the couple of occasions I crossed it, while as usual I saw a few other cyclists with the typically varying degrees of friendlyness. I think this was the first time I've done a totally on-road ride on the CdF since I didn't want to get lost down the rabbithole exploring, plus riding off-road is usually a lot harder on the legs and all I wanted today was a gentle spin.

Exertion was kept low in the interests of recovery and fat burning; the CdF's 34T cassette making this viable on the ups (the most severe probably being that into Elsfield which tops out at about 10%). Dragging the nearly-perfect discs afforded me some confidence descending the 8% Gidley Way in Horspath; which is dead straight with various speed bumps, potholes and a poorly-sighted junction at the bottom - so far less fun than it could be

The ride ended up at a little over 32.5 miles at 13.2mph, 118bpm (nearly all zones 1&2), 900-1200ft of climbing (depending whether you believe Polar or Strava) and a bit under 1200Kcal burned; 50% of which should have been fat if the Polar figures are to believed.

Upon returning home I rewarded myself with three eggs on hippie "bread" for brunch and am now trying to put out of my mind thoughts of the 100g of dark chocolate stashed in the cupboard..

 

[JPBoothy]

Having awaoken uncharacteristically early today I decided to get out ASAP; partially to avoid the mid-day sun as my pasty skin has been scorched enough, partially to maximise my recovery time before another ride tomorrow and partially just for the novelty of being out in the fresh morning air as I'm not a morning person..

Not a lot to report really; skipped breakfast (despite having looked forward to it since last night), donned the shorts and long-sleeved base layer and headed east through town; then through Elsfield, Stanton St-John, Wheatley, Worminghall and Shabbington before turning back west at North Weston, through Tiddington, Wheatley again, Horspath, Cowley and back through town.

The weather was fantastic with hardly a cloud in the clear blue sky and minimal wind. Traffic was (realtively speaking) light and the M40 looked pretty quite on the couple of occasions I crossed it, while as usual I saw a few other cyclists with the typically varying degrees of friendlyness. I think this was the first time I've done a totally on-road ride on the CdF since I didn't want to get lost down the rabbithole exploring, plus riding off-road is usually a lot harder on the legs and all I wanted today was a gentle spin.

Exertion was kept low in the interests of recovery and fat burning; the CdF's 34T cassette making this viable on the ups (the most severe probably being that into Elsfield which tops out at about 10%). Dragging the nearly-perfect discs afforded me some confidence descending the 8% Gidley Way in Horspath; which is dead straight with various speed bumps, potholes and a poorly-sighted junction at the bottom - so far less fun than it could be

The ride ended up at a little over 32.5 miles at 13.2mph, 118bpm (nearly all zones 1&2), 900-1200ft of climbing (depending whether you believe Polar or Strava) and a bit under 1200Kcal burned; 50% of which should have been fat if the Polar figures are to believed.

Upon returning home I rewarded myself with three eggs on hippie "bread" for brunch and am now trying to put out of my mind thoughts of the 100g of dark chocolate stashed in the cupboard..

Forgive my ignorance but what is Hippie bread? Toast maybe?

 

[wafter]

Forgive my ignorance but what is Hippie bread? Toast maybe?

It's a seed-based "loaf" / bread alternative that's slighlty-bizarrely marketed at Vegans (I guess since that seems to be the "fashionable" dietry choice currently). I eat it because it's lowish-carb, high-protein and gives me something substantial with a carby-feel to eat with my eggs in the morning; since bread is high-carb and doesn't agree with me for various other reasons..

Tbh I could take it or leave it in its normal form, but it's spot-on toasted with a soft-boiled egg on top and a load of coarse sea salt

 

[Old jon]

A cool and calm morning, just the sort of day to ride the fixed out to the flatter bits of country to the east of here. So I did.

Not far enough to find the really flat bits, not even far enough to ride off the map hanging on the wall behind me. But far enough. Ride through Hunslet, then Stourton, and up the hill to John o’ Gaunts so I can enjoy the twiddle down past Woodlesford station. Cross canal and river before the pedal to Garforth via Swillington. An up and down road so far, and I turned right onto the A63 for more up all the way to the top of Garforth Cliff.

Flat now, traffic is light, there are open fields on each side of the road. Peckfield Bar has a couple of buildings, then after the roundabout more fields. The next roundabout is Mickletown to the left, let’s go right instead. As far as the left turn for Sherburn Bends, the B1222. Pedal power is great, it is all I have, and this bit of road is fun. But I want to ride it faster! Ah well. Into Sherburn, perilously close to the edge of the map, and turn left onto Sir John’s Lane.



There were ‘Road Closed’ signs littering the tarmac there. I rode past them, at worst I might have to retrace my wheeltracks. Keep going, the road reaches Coldhill Pond and climbs a bit to Garlic Flats ( thank you, the ordnance survey. I wonder how old that name is?). A rider coming from Saxton reinforced the message of another set of signs just here, so I turned for Saxton. The village did look good in the sunlight this morning. Main Street here turns off left, straight on is Cotchers Lane, and the first left off there is Dam Lane. Ride along that to the B1217 and turn left.

To the gates at Lotherton Hall. A fresh crop (not sorry) of open fields, punctuated by Aberford and Barwick, is to be ridden through before reaching Scholes. Followed by more of similar stuff, then the outskirts of Leeds are reached. Down Boot Hill is interesting without a freewheel, as always, then things calm down. Its time to trek back across Leeds, and its river, and go home. Thirty seven really wonderful miles, a bit shy of two thousand feet of up; no wonder I am smiling.

Maps of the morning

lower and lower

 

[DCBassman]

Another ride down NCN270/27, as per usual...
Decided to go a bit further, and push a little harder, and see what happened!
I went as far as the southern end of the first viaduct after Shaugh Tunnel, aiming to top 20 miles.
21.92 miles, average 10.4 mph (wahey, great for me!), and 1357ft elevation gain.
Traffic: definitely increased. Seemed almost normal at times. More people about generally.
No photos; my little Sony has physically eaten the Memory Stick Pro Duo to Micros-SD adaptor that I use. On return, postie bought me its replacement, so pix possible again.
Another ride planned for tomorrow, but shorter, as have stuff to do afterward...
Edit: I'm nearly a hundred miles in front of last year's records. Spinal surgery easier to come back from than all that shoulder malarkey!

 

[Andy in Germany]

A few kilometres from the new digs is the Kaiserstühl, a small range of volcanic hills in the middle of the wide plain of the Rhine valley. I'd worked out that if I cycle west, across the bottom of the hills to a town called Breisach am Rhein, then follow the river... um..Rhine north, the river would take me past the lumpy bits and I could then come back east to the new base of operations, without climbing more than a few metres. This appealed for obvious reasons.

This is wine growing country: famously it has a Mediterranean climate, so it's perfect for it. Most of the Kaiserstuhl is covered in vineyards. It also has a lot of things like this (Pic 1):

Apparently it's a wine press. I've no idea how they work but it apparently required a donkey. This one is restored as a sort of village monument and would make an excellent cooking/eating point for long distance touring. Hopefully some other villages will have one.

(Pic 2) Most villages are built as a variation on this: high street, generally with a river running down it -even the smallest seems to manage a little stream- a couple of churches and a wine selling cooperative. In this case it's the large building on the left. The are usually really attractive and there's a remarkable variance in design for buildings basically intended to selling lots of bottles.

There's a village every few kilometres (Pic 3). In contrast to the region around Stuttgart the older churches tend to be Catholic. This is the church at Wasenweiler. Notice the hill in the background and flat ground where I'm riding...

Finally after several detours because I'm easily distracted I reached Breisach (Pic 4). This was part of France until 1697, whereupon the French gave it up in a huff and built a "New" Breisach a few kilometres away on the other side of the river. If I rode there I'd manage 100k but the border is still closed with police on the bridge to France. I probably could cross it but they've more important problems than some twit on a bike ride, so I'll stay in Germany for the time being. The church is visible for miles. It's the cathedral of St. Stephen, apparently built in the 11th and 12th century. I'll have a closer look some time.

After a brief detour around the harbour, the Rhine cycleway manages to follow the river for some distance (Pic 5). The last harbour on the Rhine is 70k away from here in Basel, and there's a lot of shipping. The river marks the French-German border so the trees in the distance are in France and the boat is running pretty well on the exact line between the two countries.

Apparently this is European Cycleway #15 riunning from lake Constance to Rotterdam (pic 6). There are information boards like this every few kilometres with local information in several languages, including of course places to eat, sleep and otherwise spend money.

There was a headwind all along the river. I'd checked before I left and the weather forecast said it would be about 7km/h or 4 mph. I've learned nor to trust weather forecasts here.

After leaving the river I could cross back to where I live. This took me through Endingen which I visited a couple of days ago so I knew the way back from here. That's forward planning, that is.

It turns out they have a rather nice city gate (pic 7):

And a pretty town centre (Pic 8):

Now I knew where i was going I was able to speed up and follow the cycleway back along the river to my new home town. I was feeling pretty tired but also rather pleased with myself, which all went to pot when I realised I was definitely no more than 500m from my apartment but I didn't have a clue how to get there:

(Pic 9) Bike waiting patiently while twit owner works out where the heck he is...

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I had a plan this morning which didn't last very long when I couldn't find the enthusiasm to ride those roads again. Pontesbury got mentioned and I thought I might head that way instead. I used the knockabout bike rather than subject the better bikes to the rough track over Lyth Hill and set out.

It's properly warm and sunny out so shorts and t-shirt were the order of the day and I enjoyed just plodding up the hill and over the afore-mentioned track. There were a few people out walking and a couple of cyclists who'd stopped at a bench facing the view and were chatting ( I don't know them so no judgement from me about whether they were from the same household).

The roads over the other side of the hill were fairly quiet until I got onto the road towards Plealey where there was more traffic than I'd usually see on a normal day. No idea why it should be so busy. After Plealey I was following another cyclist. I was quicker but held back as they were getting along quite nicely. They weren't as quick on the next climb at Pontesford though which was also a nice wide bit of road for an overtake.

Lots of people wanting to get into one of the shops in Pontesbury and with each standing well apart the queue stretched down the road almost to the junction where I turned off towards Habberley. As hoped, this road was nice and quiet with just a couple of people walking and a handful of vehicles seen.

Reaching Pulverbatch I decided to extend the ride and headed for Wilderley. Again, it was pretty quiet, although one of the vehicles I met would have to be right at the bottom of a dip where I'd hoped to carry some speed up the other side. Along here another cyclist came the other way - I said "Hi" and he gave me a look like he couldn't quite believe his eyes.

The St Mark's/Hawthorn flies were really out in force along these lanes and were bouncing off my face and body and going down the neck of my shirt. Yuck.

After Wilderley I headed towards Dorrington down the nice descent, which I haven't ridden for a year or two. The wind was at my back so I could get some good speed up on the straight bits before pulling firmly on the brakes for the blind corners. I did meet a few vehicles along here, with the drivers all looking surprised to meet anyone else.

A queue for temporary lights at Dorrington held me up a bit then I enjoyed a tailwind assisted run past Ryton to Condover and home.

A great ride once I'd made myself get out.

21.1 miles at 12.5 mph average

Picturesque looking farm near Pontesbury.

View from the Pulverbatch to Wilderley road. It was quite hazy today.

A little bluebell-filled dingle after Wilderley.

 

[EltonFrog]

Today is a rest day, so just a pootle to the farm shop to get some fruit, and a ride round the pretty village of Blewbury because it was a nice day. Which bike did I take? I hear you ask, why, I took the Dawes Kingpin is my cheery reply. Well, it doesn’t get out much. 4.44 if your imperial miles.

 

[Gunk]

Today is a rest day, so just a pootle to the farm shop to get some fruit, and a ride round the pretty village of Blewbury because it was a nice day. Which bike did I take? I hear you ask, why, I took the Dawes Kingpin is my cheery reply. Well, it doesn’t get out much. 4.44 if your imperial miles. View attachment 520641

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That’s a lovely bike, from a more gentle era.

 

[EltonFrog]

That’s a lovely bike, from a more gentle era.

Yup, fifty two years old that bike, hand built by men who wore brown work coats with pencils in the breast pocket and a roll up behind their ear.

 

[colly]

Thursday afternoon and it's ride o'clock already.

I have new tubless tyres on my bike. The front I was having problems getting the air to stay in. Pump it up..........it goes down. I've tried holding the wheel underwater in the pond...........no bubbles. Come out in the morning and it's down. Again.
I pumped it up again last night..........this morning it was still inflated

So just after 2pm I set off in the warm, brilliant, sunshine. No plan as to where I would go or end up. In fact it was up to East Keswick via Moortown. Then down to and across The Wharfe and Linton:

Excuse the finger.
Then I took the cycle track from the site of the old Wetherby Station up to Spofforth:

The left track is Spofforth the right is Wetherby

In Spofforth is a castle, which has been posted on here before but why let a good pic go to waste huh?

and the cottages over looking the castle:

From there it was a long gentle climb up Haggs Road all the way to Harrogate by pass otherwise known as the A658 and after putting up with a little bit of traffic it was a left down to Kirkby Overblow and a lovely view across Wharfedale:

I had a call from a pal while I was stopped and I found out it was gone 4pm I decided it was time to make tracks homeward seeing as I was cooking dinner tonight.
Down then to Harewood Bridge and up Harewood Bank. That was the plan but the bloody front tyre needed air. Again again.
Then on Harewood Bank.........
Slip, slip, slip. Clunk, clunk, clunk. It sounds to me like a need a new chain. It was a trial getting up, constantly jerking a clunking away.
Get up I eventually did and a quick run past the gates to Harewood House and through Wyke and it was Slaid Hill past the park and home.
A not to shabby, gentle ride in the sun. Never mind the chain and the tyre.

31.7 miles and 2100 ft of up.


View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48416907

 

[Mike_P]

Like too many things today the post homework ride did not go as anticipated. A main problem could have been the new shoes, a pair of yellow Northwave ones bought late last year which are highly ventilated so left in their box for warmer days. There was an initial problem in that although I had fitted SPD mounts to them the cleats were absent – quickly resolved and the ride showed the alignment was spot on, although I did discover that uniquely compared to all other shoes I have the right shoe was not happy interfacing with the pedal when not clipped in.

Typically the blue skies by now had vanished and it was overcast and as the Defy headed up the long Oaker Bank moisture was evident in the air. This was in anticipation of a loop pass Little Armscliffe but turning onto Penny Pot road closure signs appeared further enforced by a no cycling beyond here sign; the road it transpired had been made one way eastbound to cope with the masses making a new “essential journey” to a reopened recycling site.

As a consequence forced towards Hampsthwaite which I was not enthralled by given its recent frequency of visits so once across the A59 turned onto West Lane, although not quite sure what its west of. I had to sneak pass a horse and then made a complete mess of changing gears to cope with the turn off the steeply descending road onto the climbing Hollings Lane which the Defy responded to by throwing its chain off. Once that was sorted out decided to do the longer Nidd Brearton loop and discovered a set of TTLs had sprung up on the A61 in Killinghall, not an usual occurrence there – the village properly holds a record for the frequency of TTLs.

Nearing Nidd the moisture occurred again in greater quantity and I decided to skip the Brearton section and head straight through Nidd again in a new PR. Back through the TTLs and then the wind although light was a noticeable headwind. 13.57 miles @ 13.7mph avg 774ft climbed. And to add to list of things that went awry today no video recorded so no pictures.

 

[Donger]

Great pictures of the Kaiserstuhl, @Andy in Germany. I envy you your new stamping ground. Once all this pandemic business is out of the way you will also have a real treat in store. Take a trip across the river at Breisach and drive a few miles beyond Colmar and you'll have the Alsace Route des Vins to enjoy on daytrips from there. The wine country villages along the edge of the Vosges are simply stunning. Just about all of them are.

I've been doing much more mundane rides around central Gloucestershire. 1.5 hour lockdown rides of about 20 miles each. 138 miles so far in May, being a new weekly record for me ... so heading for a new monthly record on top of last month's new record. I just wish I was able to explore somewhere new like you can.
Cheers, Envious of Gloucester.

 

[Jenkins]

Another day of bright sunshine and nothing else to do, so I set out to complete the 100km per month challenge for May. In the end I effectively did Sundays's ride with a couple of extra bits and a little loop into Felixstowe tacked on to the end to make up the distance. Beautiful warm day, light winds and a little bit hazy on the coast, with more of the same promised for the next couple of days.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3413083459

 

[geocycle]

Cloudy VE Day ride to Arnside. Gorgeous tree tunnels around Walton and Silverdale. Lots of cyclists out today taking advantage of the bank holiday. Despite the clouds it was great to get out and stretch my eyes.