Your ride today....

[Old jon]

There are clouds. There’s blue sky. And a bit of a breeze. All the motivation I need to go for a ride on the geared bike this morning.

And 39 miles with 2090 feet of up later, I am glad I did go for that ride. Nowt spectacular, one of those mornings that just felt so right. Started well, I was a bit concerned that traffic could be bad to ride out of here in what is normally the don’t rush hour. Yep, some bits had extra but not a lot. Holbeck, Hunslet and John o’ Gaunts, past Woodlesford station and on to Garforth before the roads became noticeably busy
.
Ride around the south of Garforth, and up the cliff. Stay on the A63, it is a bit open along here but the breeze was not a bother, just knew it was there. Lots of fields, to either side. Some green, guess that is to be expected, and others bare ploughed earth with quite a few birds seemingly feeding. Turned onto the B1222, over the A1M and past what was once the New Inn, thought about turning the camera on.



And then into Sherburn. To the crossroads and turn left. And alter my plans at the same time. Six more miles to Tadcaster plus the twenty or so more from there to home? Not today. Now that a look at the map has reminded me, there is a shorter way. Stutton is one of those places easily forgotten, but I will remember it next time. Anyway, Barkston Ash next. There was once a laundry of that name, the van that delivered stuff to the school I went to had that written on the sides. Much more interesting to me, it was a Jowett.

On the bike though, turn left to Saxton, ride through in the same direction as last week. Which inevitably takes me to the gates at Lotherton Hall, which are rather difficult to avoid. Still, this lets me find the grooves in the road left by my many journeys around here, which guide me through Aberford, Barwick, and Scholes, almost home. A slight diversion, along Coal Road to ride up Shadwell Main Street, just because I could, then back across the River Aire and to home street, with a smile.

A map, and the bike that I rode round it.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I woke to rain this morning which I hadn't expected. It didn't last long and the roads started to dry quite quickly but it made me have second thoughts about taking the Galaxy out this morning . The Raleigh had a run instead and I set out on the usual Cross Houses, Cound, Harnage, Acton Burnell, Longnor route.

The A49 was a little busier when I set out but the lesser roads were still quiet. On the way to Condover I thought something looked funny about the Land Rover coming towards me - the driver was holding his phone up in front of his face and I think he was engaged in a video call. What a plonker!

Thankfully, once onto the lanes there were few cars and more walkers. After setting out I'd changed my mind about which direction to ride the route in because of the wind direction so was riding into it on the way to Cross Houses but should have it helping later on. The short stretch of the A458 I used was definitely busier this time with more private cars in evidence.

The lanes were almost empty through Cound, Harnage, Cound Moor and on to Acton Burnell. Just two people walking and one van during this stretch. Today's flag at Cound was that of the Royal Engineers. From Acton Burnell to Longnor I had the wind helping a bit. I didn't get pushed up the hill to Frodesley the way I did last time, but did notice it on the descent afterwards.

I turned back towards the wind at Longnor which took the edge off the speed a little. Reaching Ryton I found a blockage, with a lorry delivering in the village and cars waiting either side, but it was easy to take a left and go around. I was expecting at least one of the motorists to follow me but they didn't.

I wanted to be nosy and see how busy it was at Lyth Hill so took a left in Condover and headed to Hunger Hill. By this time the traffic had picked up on the A49 to the extent that it looked pretty much business as usual. I've not missed having to wait at junctions looking for a gap.

Having got up the short, sharp climb I found the lower car park on the hill full, with a couple of cars parked on the road and as I headed over the other side there were more people heading up to the country park. Looks like business as usual there then too.

14 cyclists around today which is always nice to see.

24.9 miles at 14.5 mph average.

A couple of snaps taken at the bridge at Cound Stank.

Looking towards Little Lyth and Lyth Hill.

 

[theloafer]

When we next get a decent breeze from the east I'm looking forward to a self-isolating ride along the Tyne to the coast on NCR72 and back along NCR10!

now this looks very interesting ...for karon and me

 

[13 rider]

12 May. I didn't mean to go so far....

My ear worm today is 'Sixteen Tons'. You know it ?:

You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt..

Only for me it is another hill and not a load of coal that I have to keep loading.

I leave home late - procrastinating and delaying, torn between the need to get on a bike and the fear of the pain and effort that my semi -planned ride will need. I start off on the ride and within a minute have turned off onto an easier road, rather than tackle the 10% of Chapel Hill. Every chapel in Cornwall seems to have been built on top of a steep hill judging from my experiences of riding up any lane called "Chapel Hill'. It may be a religious thing about how suffering is necessary to achieve enlightenment? I seek enlightenment with less effort.

I spin along and my feelings of self disgust at my laziness overcome my self doubt and the bike steers itself back towards my original first destination today - Hayle. The plan is then to go to Marazion, Penzance and across to the north coast at Zennor and home again. It is an 80 mile route with a fair number of hills. Never done that far before.

The first hour goes by easily. Later I realise that the stiff easterly wind that is cooling my legs is also pushing me westwards. The lanes near Redruth pass through old mining villages, still scarred with spoil heaps, patches of unused land too poisoned to grow more than a few straggling gorse bushes, houses that have lacked investment in windows or roofs over many years, green stained rain gutters hanging loose. The NCN route picks an intricate route along back lanes, urban greenways, gravelled mining tracks and hardened bridleways and between small collections of houses. Almost without effort I am beyond Camborne and the last of urban Cornwall and passing through the granite walled village of Baripper. Open countryside again and the air today is crystal clear which explains why it is so cold but it brings the hillsides closer. I pull up the zip on my top and wish I had brought leg warmers.

Some easy hills, easy today with this wind behind me and I am spinning through Hayle. The sea is deep blue under a cerulean sky and the few boats that have been launched this year are sparkling in this champagne light. More traffic today but I can keep up a steady 18-20 mph along the streets here and meet the same cars at every traffic lights. Hayle is the first target and now the front wheel bends itself towards the NCN route to Marazion. I have done this transit several times, between the north coast at Hayle, facing the Atlantic, to the south coast at Marion and the broad sweep of Mounts Bay and the long finger of the Lizard, the first and last sign of England for ships arriving in the Channel. It is a lovely road, not especially hilly with fine views culminating in the sudden appearance of St Michaels Mount.

The bike decides to head east here instead of west to Penzance as originally planned and I have no choice but to go with it. Lunch on the beach then, sitting below a huge granite sea wall that has warmed itself in the sunshine and allows me to regain some body heat.

View attachment 521846

I contemplate rejoining my original plan but I cycled around Zennor and Lands End last week and I fancy some new lanes. And I remember some steep hills around there and don't want to renew their acquaintance. So it is up through Marazion, all closed down, artists studios shuttered and the tempting pictures of ice cream and chips now unobtainable. I follow signs to Porthleven because I have never cycled there and spin along the coast road, rising and falling, with the sea on my right still deep blue. There are a couple of bulk carriers anchored in the Bay awaiting orders. They may be there a while.

Porthleven is as empty as Marazion. The fishing fleet are in the harbour, the fish market closed. Private yachts are still ashore where they will stay until they are allowed to launch.

View attachment 521847

Leaving my seat in the sun I turn up the steep hill out of the village. This is the first big challenge of the day and I can feel the wind playing with me, promising to be worse as I get higher. The road leaves the village but continues to climb. I remain confident it will stop rising soon but each bend reveals another upward kick, each summit reached shows the road continuing upwards.Then suddenly it is over and I plunge down into the green calm of woods in these secret valleys, rattling over a bridge and then up another hill. So it goes on all afternoon. I look at the height gain so far and am astonished to see it is already over 4000 feet and there are still 25 miles to go. This is both further and harder than I thought and I begin to realise that continuing to Lands End may have been an easier option after all.

I am back in the lanes but the views are extensive, green and yellow patched hills, lambs and calves sleeping whilst their parents graze. My legs are hurting and I am now on my second energy gel. No choice, keep spinning.

There is a final steep downhill through old mine workings that takes me into the Bissoe Valley, once the most industrialised part of Britain with mining, smelting and manufacturing but is now just ruins. I know the way from here and I know too that there are less than 800 feet of uphill in the last ten miles. The ride goes on in the afternoon sun, wind holding me up from time to time but close enough to home to feel I can burn all my reserves.

Home again I look at the route on Strava. I have not been especially fast - average times on most sections although correcting for age helps me feel better. I wonder if competitiveness wanes as you age? Some of these older guys are posting amazing times and I just want to beat them. I look at the distance covered and the height gained, both further and higher than I have been before, to see if I feel good about myself. My legs hurt and I am sitting on the sofa too tired to move the cat off my lap to find some food. I have left a trail of electrons across south west Cornwall but have not changed either myself or the world. Longer rides are all in the head, not the legs or lungs.

You climb sixteen hills and what do you get...another day older and oxygen debt.

View attachment 521848

70 Cornish miles and only 5800ft of upness that's practically flat !! . Well done cracking ride

 

[EltonFrog]

I took the MTB out today, again in between other commitments, out up the Lynchway towards Chilton then turn left towards the Ridgeway but keeping to byways and bridleways. I’m very lucky to have all this on my doorstep. 7.12 miles today. A bit windy today.

Someone has put some models at the base of this tree to make it look like a house.

The line of bushes shows roughly were the old railway line was

the playground

 

[kj92]

Afternoon all - since chatting to you, and chatting more with my friend who has aaaalways been into cycling (who is based in Oswestry) I've really started taking to this biking lark.

Today I went for a slightly different route going the other way, West, but knowing there are more hilly attributes to the latter stages. Here's some mediocre photos for you to feast your eyes on, should you want to 😁

31km managed so far this week, so I'll be looking to maybe finish off the rest of the week with some smaller routes to wind down with... but who knows? Could go one way, or could go the other.

Westcliff > Hadleigh > Hadleigh Castle (Phwoah - HILLS) > Westcliff

 

[Mike_P]

Flip, the wind had got up again, the Defy seemed happy going downhilll but it's rider was suffering one of those suffocating wind moments and really wanted to face the other way.
Survived that only to find a very busy A59, possibly due to a slow moving lump of machinery but still far more vehicles than has been the case. Then it quietened down just in time for the right turn.
In Killinghall my unclipping in anticipation of having to stop for traffic on the A61 proved unnecessary but the Defy obviously expected to stop and made sure it did by throwing it's chain off the cassette.
Chain back on and then nearly a clipless moment, the Nidderdale Greenway crossing went against the A61 so I slowed, did not unclip and was then hit by a gust of wind that killed almost all speed. Inched forward almost stationary, I'm sure those lights were deliberately staying on red. The green light finally arrived.
Then the full Brearton loop and back, finally getting some obvious wind assistance on the southerly climb away from Killinghall to a new PR. 12.29 miles @ 14.4mph avg

 

[kj92]

Flip, the wind had got up again, the Defy seemed happy going downhilll but it's rider was suffering one of those suffocating wind moments and really wanted to face the other way.
Survived that only to find a very busy A59, possibly due to a slow moving lump of machinery but still far more vehicles than has been the case. Then it quietened down just in time for the right turn.
In Killinghall my unclipping in anticipation of having to stop for traffic on the A61 proved unnecessary but the Defy obviously expected to stop and made sure it did by throwing it's chain off the cassette.
Chain back on and then nearly a clipless moment, the Nidderdale Greenway crossing went against the A61 so I slowed, did not unclip and was then hit by a gust of wind that killed almost all speed. Inched forward almost stationary, I'm sure those lights were deliberately staying on red. The green light finally arrived.
Then the full Brearton loop and back, finally getting some obvious wind assistance on the southerly climb away from Killinghall to a new PR. 12.29 miles @ 14.4mph avg

I haven't yet got used to that breathtaking wind that hits you... christ!

Well done on the ride!!

 

[footloose crow]

70 Cornish miles and only 5800ft of upness that's practically flat !! . Well done cracking ride

Thank you 13 Rider. As you know you just can't avoid up-ness and then down-ness....followed by more up-ness in Cornwall.

Or Devon. Or most of Wales. Peak and Pennines. Scotland. When the corona lockdown is over we are going cycling in Norfolk.

Every time I say that it is flat in East Anglia someone from Norfolk tells me that they do have hills. There is one near Cromer apparently.

 

[13 rider]

Thank you 13 Rider. As you know you just can't avoid up-ness and then down-ness....followed by more up-ness in Cornwall.

Or Devon. Or most of Wales. Peak and Pennines. Scotland. When the corona lockdown is over we are going cycling in Norfolk.

Every time I say that it is flat in East Anglia someone from Norfolk tells me that they do have hills. There is one near Cromer apparently.

It's quite possible I won't be experiencing the delights of Cornish terrain this year as my Holiday is due to start on July 6th and were not sure enough things pubs cafes etc will be open to make it enjoyable .

 

[Donger]

I was due to have the delights of a Norfolk holiday in July! Flatness will have to wait.

 

[Globalti]

A quick evening spin turned into a good but freezing cold ride. Went out after supper to cheekily ride a walk that Mrs Gti and I do through the valley, along which our house looks in a westerly direction. I fancied trying it on the Roubaix because part of it is a long swooping descent on smooth fields to the brook at the bottom. All "cheeky" as the mountain bikers say but nobody around that late in the day.

So I took a Rennie to prevent indigestion having eaten supper a couple of hours before. Up towards Mellor then right through a farm, down the field, over the brook and up to the Ribchester road. Turned right then sharp left down Lovely Hall Lane taking the gravel path alongside the road, which was nice and swoopy. Right on the A59 and time-trialled a couple of miles east turning up to the Langho roundabouts and on straight ahead up a steep climb, emerging on York Lane. Right again and round Parsonage reservoirs to the Rishton road. Left and then a mile later, left and down through woods to Parsonage reservoir, a bit roooty and lots of gates so I was happy to get onto the gravel access track. The Roubaix is good on gravel but not confidence-inspiring on steep rooty descents. On round to Whalley Nab and back up to the Duke of York pub and thence a fast run back home via the steep descent of Hollowhead Lane. The last few miles were freezing so when I got home in just shorts and a long-sleeve top I was chilled to the bone and needed a hot shower to warm me up.

Amazingly the Bikehike distance exactly matched my Cateye distance of 13.84 miles and Bikehike told me just over 1200 feet climbed. Average speed was only just over 10 mph though!

So that's an itch scratched and now I know: a Roubaix on 28mm road tyres is excellent on firm tracks but not when the going gets rougher.

 

[wafter]

Decided to give cycling a pass yesterday after Tuesday's big effort, while it was windy and I was preoccupied with other things.

Later on I felt more like a bit of a spin in the early evening sun as the wind died down a bit, so rode to the other side of the city and back. Other than a rare smiles-all-round moment from trying to dodge an oncoming pedestrian on the tow path when we both repeatedly went in the same direction, it was pretty grim..

Gloves-and-fleece cold, pretty crappy wind that seemed to be against me for the most part, poor choice of route that involved a lot of "get off and carry" obstacles and unsurprisingly zero energy with plenty of joint, muscle and foot aches thanks to my big effort the day before. Polar says I'll be in "very strained" territory until Saturday, so I might just give it a rest until then..

 

[Globalti]

Yes the improvement in strength and fitness happens during the three days after a big effort.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Woke up feeling more tired than when I went to bed last night. Hate it when that happens. Looking out into a bright sunny morning though enticed me out and I did use the Galaxy this time. Just my usual lockdown route to Longnor, Acton Burnell, Harnage and Cross Houses.

Despite the it's still quite cool out with the air coming from the north so a fleece was needed. Not as busy on the A49 this time and I found more people walking down the lanes today which meant having to slow for them a few times. One family group had loose children and loose dogs milling about which took a few moments to round up. The dad says "My dogs are rubbish".

I got on well to Longnor but turning back towards the (light) wind on the way to Acton Burnell I found I was feeling it in the legs ater the last few rides so didn't have the energy to go whizzing along this stretch like I usually would.

I improved a bit by Harnage and got up the hill here quicker than expected then had a good run down the other side into Cound. it would have been better if the road surface was a bit smoother. Being distracted by an overtaking car in Cound meant that I missed what flag was flying today.

I had a decent run up to the A458, which was quieter than yesterday. I got a nice comment having rung my bell at a couple of walkers near Berrington - the Lion bells I use do have a nice tone and tend to make people smile.

In the last few miles there were more cyclists about and in the end I saw 15 today after spending most of the ride wondering where everyone was. It was a nice quick run back to the A49, which was less busy than roughly the same time yesterday, but the drivers who came past seem to have gone back to allowing less room.

24 miles this time at 15.5 mph average. I actually pulled up at home with it reading just under 24 but I had to make it click over to be exact. Feeling great at the end of the trip - it's just what I needed to perk up.

Absolutely lovely views out over the hills today.