Your ride today....

[theloafer]

did the reverse of last weds ride... minus a short stretch as it was Karon's first bike ride since lockdown. she did really well managed 30 miles so had to call in at her fav coffee stop to get her a scone +jam and of course cream. was really nice to have her along.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3746665740

pics not loading again loads to about 7% then just ends up with a line straight through the file number

 

[Chris S]

I went from Chirk railway station to Llangollen along the canal. I followed Google's route and made a detour along a road to avoid going out to Trevor Basin. What Google didn't seem to have taken into account is that the road has a 12% gradient in places. On the way back I stayed on the canal all the way. It took the same amount of time but was a lot less exhausting.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A quick outing this afternoon on the Raleigh using a regular route: Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Harnage, Cross Houses, Condover and home.

The main roads seem quite busy with motor traffic and there were fewer cyclists about than I'd have expected to see on a nice day. Maybe people going off on day trips in the car instead now that things are opening up a bit more? One of the cars that passed me along the lanes was on Swiss number plates - you don't see that every day.

It seemed a bit breezier than I'd anticipated from the forecast, which was nice for the first few miles but a bit of an effort to work against later on. The flag at Cound had folded back on itself so I couldn't get a good look at it this time - I thought possibly a Scouts one but could be completely wrong. Other than that the trip was nicely uneventful which is always good.

A little over 24 miles this time at 15 mpg average.

I only took a couple of snaps this time at a favourite gateway with a view near the Kingstreet crossroads.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

............

pics not loading again loads to about 7% then just ends up with a line straight through the file number

I'm not sure what is causing that. When it has happened to me it's usually because the wi-fi connection has dropped out at a critical moment.

Are they very large files? The site software automatically compresses downloaded pictures to keep the site from getting overloaded but I'm not sure how big a file it can cope with.

 

[gavgav]

Finally a warmer day, the odd bit of sun as well. We’d arranged a small family catch up, at dad’s and so I rode over, via the longer route.

Out through Betton Abbots, Cantlop, Pitchford, Acton Burnell, Frodesley and Longnor. I’d had the northerly wind behind me and so it had been a quicker ride than normal, up the generally climbing roads. Little black “Thunder” flies were about in droves and they don’t half itch.

Turned into the wind, along the lane towards Ryton, where a small polo match was taking place on one of the fields! Met a girl riding a horse, whilst taking another one for a walk, as well. Good skills!!

I then went through Ryton and Gonsal, before the short very steep bank that leads up to cross the busy A49. Had a long wait for a gap, then went for it and half way across the road, the ruddy chain came off the front ring. Not the place you want to be stranded, halfway across, so quickly demounted and ran the remainder.

Got the chain back on, proceeded up Pump Lane, climbing the hill and the chain comes off again! Was getting rather angry now. There had been no issues earlier in the ride and so I was worried something had broken. Thankfully it was only half a mile further, to dad’s and so gently rode it there.

Checked things out and couldn’t see anything that appeared amiss, with the chain or rings, so did some adjusting to the limit screw and left it at that. Had a nice catch up with Dad, Brother and Nephew, before setting back out, just before 5. Walked the bike down the drive and started to pedal away, guess what, chain off again. Dad offered to give me and the bike a lift back, but I didn’t really want to put him out, so put chain back on again and just decided to avoid bottom gear for the 7 miles home.

Took it fairly steady, through Exfords Green, Annscroft, Hook-a-Gate and Meole Village, where I got to a junction, forgot about not using bottom gear and the same thing happened again, with the chain. Was half tempted to just walk the bike back, for the remaining mile, but put it back on and limped the bike back home.

Did some more adjustments to the limit screw, but I’ve made a sos call to @Rickshaw Phil for his mechanical skills on Monday, to see if he can find anything wrong.

20.9 miles at 13.1mph avg, affected by a slower last 7 miles, from the 14.5 it was at, when I got to Dad’s.

At least there were no moron’s behind the wheel today.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

.............

Turned into the wind, along the lane towards Ryton, where a small polo match was taking place on one of the fields! Met a girl riding a horse, whilst taking another one for a walk, as well. Good skills!!
..............

Drat, I knew there was something I'd forgotten to mention. I passed them too.

I then went through Ryton and Gonsal, before the short very steep bank that leads up to cross the busy A49. Had a long wait for a gap, then went for it and half way across the road, the ruddy chain came off the front ring. Not the place you want to be stranded, halfway across, so quickly demounted and ran the remainder.

Got the chain back on, proceeded up Pump Lane, climbing the hill and the chain comes off again! Was getting rather angry now. There had been no issues earlier in the ride and so I was worried something had broken. Thankfully it was only half a mile further, to dad’s and so gently rode it there.

Checked things out and couldn’t see anything that appeared amiss, with the chain or rings, so did some adjusting to the limit screw and left it at that. Had a nice catch up with Dad, Brother and Nephew, before setting back out, just before 5. Walked the bike down the drive and started to pedal away, guess what, chain off again. Dad offered to give me and the bike a lift back, but I didn’t really want to put him out, so put chain back on again and just decided to avoid bottom gear for the 7 miles home.

Took it fairly stead, through Exfords Green, Annscroft, Hook-a-Gate and Meole Village, where I got to a junction, forgot about not using bottom gear and the same thing happened again, with the chain. Was half tempted to just walk the bike back, for the remaining mile, but put it back on and limped the bike back home.

Did some more adjustments to the limit screw, but I’ve made a sos call to @Rickshaw Phil for his mechanical skills on Monday, to see if he can find anything wrong.

20.9 miles at 13.1mph avg, affected by a slower last 7 miles, from the 14.5 it was at, when I got to Dad’s.

At least there were no moron’s behind the wheel today.

I shall see what I can do. Hopefully it'll be something fairly straightforward.

 

[bluenotebob]

A chilly N wind but sunny with small white clouds. A good day to head north and then come back home pushed by the wind.

Out through Pont Ruelland and Gaël. Onto the V3 (link) towards St Onen-la-Chapelle – I ignored the L turn at the Xrds near le Gretay and carried on straight ahead and up the hill into St Onen. Out the other side, through the centre of St Méen-le-Grand and onto the D125 towards Plumaugat. It was the first time that I’ve been on this road – the surface is a bit patchy but the slopes are gentle enough as I climbed up the hill that overlooks the Rance river. I dropped down quite steeply and then up the other side into Plumaugat. Out on the D19 – in and out of the trees – climbing again but gently – and then finally onto the edge of the escarpment looking down onto Broons. Another steep drop, followed by a gentle climb up to the church in Broons. This is the furthest that I’ve been north when starting from home – it’s only about 40km and I really don’t know why it’s taken me so long to get here. I’ll be back – and I’ll go even further north next time.

Heading for home on the D793 – a fast road with thankfully no large trucks this evening. I decided to leave the D793 at Breil and picked up the D52, heading towards Lanrelas. A brutal climb up after la Deuve left me breathless and I stopped for a long drink from the bidon at the top. A very fast descent into Lanrelas, over the Rance again and then up another long hill. This is the last long hill before I home and I was helped up it by the tail wind. Across the D76 at les Treize Chênes and then down into Trémorel. I stopped to scoff an energy bar – I’ve no idea whether it boosted my energy levels or not, but it tasted good (cranberry).

Onto the quiet back road to Illifaut. Past the church and then W towards Ménéac on the D305. Past la Cotinaie then L down to Ville Jallu, up again, then L through la Corbinais. Home via Kerminy and St Brieuc-de-Mauron.

My second Lunacy Challenge qualifying ride of the year....87.22km in 4.5hours

The centre of St Méen-le-Grand

The church in Broons

My new bike in Trémorel on the way home

 

[DCBassman]

A rare flat one for me today, Lydford to Okehampton and back on NCN27. I'm always a teeny bit wary as I approach Okehampton, as this is where I trashed my shoulder in late 2017. No issues today, plenty busy with cyclists and walkers, though.
Lovely weather for it, and a nice boost in average speed (for me, that is!)

 

[derrick]

A nice ride to Safron Walden today. 6 of of us set of this morning, For three of the group this was going to be there longest ever ride, there previous rides have all been about 40 miles. They rode really well, two of them could have gone further but one struggled towards the end, We all had a Subway and coffee for lunch, Ate it in the park, Had a little wander through the town before heading of home, great day out on the bikes. One visit from the puncture fairey.😄
https://www.strava.com/activities/3746496419

 

[Mike_P]

Finally got a fully working front derailleur on the hybrid so gave it a test ride to Menwith and back along Penny Pot, which meant pretty much a head wind for most of the outbound part of the ride and slow progress up the climbs; albeit actually quite pleasant as the wind in the warm conditions provided a refreshing coolness. The short climb on the A59 was made that more tricky due to a cyclist wheeling his bike along the adjacent footway so I managed to pace my passing to the point of a lay-by.
Approaching the climb from Hampsthwaite to Clapham Green it occurred to me that all too often shows up some defect with a bike

Today was indeed no different but for once it was not chain or gear related – the saddle slipped in the horizontal rather than vertical ! Plodded onto the bench at the top of the climb and found the 6mm Allen key on the multi tool to be no use as there was insufficient clearance for the rest of the multi tool. The hybrid however has Halfords bar end extensions with tools stored within and that Allen key worked fine.
There were very few cyclists about which occurred to me as I was passed at Menwith

That was not the end of the tricks the bike had up its sleeve as nearing the end of the westerly section the dummy water bottle tool kit holder flew out of the holder, and thus retrieved.
Heading south towards the A59 patching of pot holes had taken place meaning no sudden zig zags needed and then beyond the A59 a parked motor cyclist enquired if his mate was parked further back to which I confirmed in the positive, I assume he meant the guy who watering a hedgerow, and indeed a motor bike passed a while latter with a friendly wave.

On Penny Pot I was slightly bemused by a car coming to other way with its hazard lights flashing. The tail wind lead to a reasonably quick time even if passing the isolated recycling centre was a couple of mph slower than I would have expected. Seemed that the one way system when the recycling centre is open had been abandoned. Might need to pay a visit with a stack of scrap metal including a number of gear cables.

15.96 miles @ 13mph avg 978ft climbed

 

[stoatsngroats]

A great afternoon visit to family, for a curry night meal, but taking the bikes was a rare treat today. Mrs SnG said we could cycle the 5 miles or so, so I took a couple of minutes fettling the bikes on the recently bought Crivit maintenance stand purchased a few weeks ago.
With both nicely cleaned and lubed, we set off, and did a short shop for multivits, we continued along to meet up with the family, and a wonderful feed.
Returned after 9 o’clock, with the lights on, and along the prom, up to 15mph for me keeping up with the eBike wife.
A great start to cycling from our new home!

I can confirm that the Crivit stand works well with a mid drive ebike, minus battery, and was stable and secure enough for cleaning and fettling.

 

[Blue Hills]

Not sure if it was @Nick Saddlesore or @Blue Hills I saw pottering around down Theobalds/Clerkenwell road. Didnt see a face as the person had a grey or black hoodie on but i flew past you just before red lion square. Didnt recognise the cyclist but the bike looked familiar as its an old blue vintage bike with a super aero or slammed seating position.

Pannier bag hanging off the right side

Not me today. Don't wear a hoodie during daylight hours. Only blue bike i have had is a dale, now broken down. Nothing aero about my riding position.

 

[13 rider]

A recap of my last week's riding . Thankfully my annual Cornish holiday fell on the first weekend of lockdown easing and living the right side of the Leicester lockdown line found me heading down the M5 . The holiday was nice but certainly not a normal one due to covid rules but the one thing it didn't effect was bike riding . @footloose crow ( get well soon ) had thoughtfully arranged for the council to reinflate all the hills which they appeared to have been a bit over zealous at . Weekly stats 8 rides 178 miles with 16065ft of upness .I stayed at Holywell Bay a one road out village by the sea which means climbing every ride . I looked at my head unit on one ride 0.5 miles in 162ft up and that's every ride . Normally with plenty of climbing with you are rewarding with lovely descending but with the lanes you have to descend carefully and with news of @footloose crow injury reaching me on my first day my descending was even more cautious . I normally ride early heading inland around St Newlyn East to Summercourt but as I was under less pressure to be back for family stuff I was out a tad later than normal so I did have some interesting moments on the lanes coming round a blind bend and meeting a car as more locals were up and about . Did enter into a bit of Strava silliness while there ,cycling seems less popular down there as there are less segments and they are completed by less riders so a bit easier to be in the top ten. I had 3 top tens which were targeted which resulted in 2 Kom's . The third one was a nine minute climb and I missed the Kom by 3 seconds and I had to slow for 4 cars as it appeared to be a commuter rat run to Truro if I had been down for a fortnight I would have returned earlier for a another go . Some of the segments I could physically do them quicker but would mean taking too many risks which isn't worth it . Back on local roads from today

 

[Mike_P]

I can confirm that the Crivit stand works well with a mid drive ebike, minus battery, and was stable and secure enough for cleaning and fettling.

Best to clamp the seat post rather than the top tube to prevent irreparable damage resulting from an overtight clamp.

 

[colly]

I had vague plans for a long hilly one today. A late night, a late up and jobs to do put paid to those plans. Instead it was a short out and back to East Keswick. Nice enough in the sun.
14 miles and 1200 ft.

View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/52345482