Your ride today....

[Supersuperleeds]

A few days off work and for the first couple I've done nothing but watch snooker and cricket on the old gogglebox, so decided I had to get out today.

Left the house before 6 and unlike the weekend it was warm enough to go out without arm warmers and long fingered gloves.

Gentle ride through the city centre and out towards the north. First climb of the day is between Normanton and Stanford, nothing major but enough for me to know I'm going up.

Into Kegworth and on Long Lane, which is a great way to get over the A453 (main road from the west into Nottingham. Workman waves me to stop and tells me I can't get through, he kindly gave me directions for the diversion, which was a good job as the signs were non existent. Diversion brings me back onto Long Lane and I'm passed the closure.

Up to Long Eaton and my route takes me onto the canal (I have a reputation for canal routes ) This one is nicely paved and though it slows the pace it is pleasant to do some miles traffic free. (6.5 miles in total)

Then I have a gentle climb up to Mapperley and down a rather gravelly track to get a Veloviewer square, turn round and straight back up the gravelly track.

I then did some more traffic free roads through Shipley Country Park, cracking little reservoir there, sharp climb up passed it and down the other side. Back onto proper roads for a while before proper off road, public footpaths across the fields for more squares.

Stop and have a chat with a local who looked at me as if i was mad (I am ) and up another blooming climb, the road surface looked like @Drago had been using it for mortar training.

Onto the outskirts of Nottingham and a lot of cycleways used. I don't normally use them, but somehow Nottingham seem to have got most of theirs right, nice and wide and actually go where you want them to go.

Into Arnold and up an absolute evil climb. kicked right up at the end and I'm thinking I ain't getting up this, get six or seven car lengths from the top and have to stop due to the queueing at the traffic lights. They stayed red long enough for me to get my breathe back and I ease up the last bit, fly down the other side to only come across the second road closure that I can't get through, back up the hill (was much easier from this side) and down it again another way, flew down that one

I miss a turn as I head back through Nottingham and can't be bothered to get back on course, so I jump on the A60 knowing eventually I will come back on course. For the next few miles the Garmin is telling me to U-turn, but I ignore it and eventually rejoin my planned route.

Into Ruddington and now back on familiar roads, eventually get to the climb near Wysall, drag myself over it and before long I'm doing the drag from the A46 up to Six Hills Lane, 2 miles of which the majority is up. The reward when you get to the top is Nice Pie cafe stop.

Too early for a sandwich so had to settle for cake, place was rammed. After that7 miles or so downhill but into the wind and I'm in Barrow, head to Leicester, through the city and I'm home. 105.98 miles (should have gone round the block)

https://www.strava.com/activities/3872798772

 

[postman]

Postman was made redundant from house moving duties today.Son's bookcase takes up so much room in car,only two seats were available.One being the driver,so daughter got the chance to go to Manchester.
Postman got a free to do what you like voucher.
Well i chose a ride to my fave place Otley,route 3 this time.Which means going Egg Cup reservoir,past The New Inn pub and down down a fast and steep hill.Wimpy Postman had his brakes on most of the way.At the bottom of Rawden Hill Postman found some sheet had dumped a load of bags in a trench by the side of the road.Why spoil the countryside.Then on through Arthington and The Wharfedale pub closed oh my.Past Blue Barn Feed Warehouse and in to Otley from the back end.
Two lattes from Costa ,then i bought a single whisky glass so i can open my whisky.Six glasses £1-99 from Oxfam.I asked could i pay £2 for one and you keep the rest to sell.
A very good ride,plenty of energy and not feeling tired.25 miles.
But in Headingley i stopped for my final Costa.I went inside and while i was waiting i felt faint and dizzy,i nearly finished up on my knees,i had to hold on to the back of a chair.I sat outside for ages,not daring to stand up.I decided i needed a Subway sarnie,i then made my way home slowly.Very strange finish to a good day out.

 

[Archie_tect]

Furthest for a while today...

Out to Stamfordham, then out to Harlow Hill again on the old Roman Road down past Aydon Castle into Corbridge, along the back road to Hexham- up through the town to the hospital- then east against the increasing wind to Corbridge again but up the hill then back down it to the river to Bywell, then back up the steepest hill I've had to get up since the Ryals nearly to the ridge at Harlow Hill again and home via Stamfordham.

44 miles and over 2500ft of up! Tired out now...

 

[wafter]

Hardly done much in the way of "proper" rides recently. Extended an egg run on the CdF to about 36 miles on Monday and have done some utility / short town jaunts on the old Raleigh shed over the past few days.

Tonight I went out for a mental health ride on the Raleigh and ended up giving it a damned good thrashing all over the city with a great new wave soundtrack. Smashed it back over Port Meadow and it felt great throwing it all over the dusty tracks.. obvious practical shortcomings notwithstanding (crap brakes and clunky downtube-shifted gearing) it makes a great gravel bike and it's nice to be so comfortable on it considering when I first rode it I pretty much elected to sell it straight away...

I stopped at the shop on the way back and and delighted in lashing my excess loaf to the panier with its integral bungees; however I was sad to find they've stretched a bit when I got back

Was a really nice ride though; it was very pleasant out (if a bit humid) the evening fragranced by blackberries and the occasional bonfire. I feel much better for getting out

 

[gavgav]

A muggy, sticky evening ride, after working, with a keen southerly wind making it hard going, as I headed into it through Betton Abbots, Berrington and Cound Stanks. Loads of traffic about on these lanes, for some reason.

Turned towards Pitchford Fork and then a nice speedy return home, with the wind now behind me, through Cantlop and then retracing my steps home, through Betton again. Much less traffic, which was better, as well.

There had been a large black cloud, looming over Shrewsbury, as I headed back towards it and sure enough it started to rain, during the last mile and whilst I was putting the bike away, it tipped it down!

13.07 miles at 13.4mph avg

 

[Jenkins]

I've been wanting to do another ride out to or from Newmarket for a while, however due the restrictions on the use of trains recently, this has been impossible, but now it's been relaxed so plans were made.

I set out this morning up to and through Ipswich and then the back road through Burstall & Aldham coming out on the outskirts of Hadliegh. A thankfully short bit of the main 'A' road and back onto the quieter roads through the picturesque village of Kersey with its ford

down to Boxford and then Edwardstone & Great Waldingfield, round the outskirts of Sudbury and crossing into Essex at Rodbridge Corner over the River Stour.

Up through Foxearth and back into Suffolk at Cavendish, across to Clare and then up to Stradishall via Hundon where the giddy altitide of 385ft was shown on the Garmin - nosebleed territory for this lowlander! The run into Newmarket for the train station from Stradishall was basically follow the 'B' road through Wickhambrook & Lidgate then relax on the long, gentle downhill from Ashley which is just into Cambridgeshire enabling me to claim a three counties ride.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3872901657

 

[Mark pallister]

Perfect day for a spin around the local cycle paths

 

[Dave 123]

Just a sunny Battisborough loop this morning.
steamy and hot out already.
The Yealm was looking lovely

 

[Dark46]

What a ride! Just had a fantastic ride with @Donger around our normal neck of the woods. So a another 31 miles done with plenty to think back on. That's the great thing about getting out and about on your bike, if you go somewhere you have to get back.
@Donger called round about 10ish and realised he hadn't picked up his sunglasses, so we headed back to his place first to pick some up. From there it was to Stonebench, Elmore, Epney and Longley along the side of the River Severn. From here it was to Priding before heading into Milton End and Arlingham. From here it was uphill to Framilode where we turned down alongside the canal towards Splatt Bridge on the far side of Frampton on Severn.
A well named bridge! As I approached the bridge I could see a gate across the pathway so I unclipped thinking I was going to dismount. Well I did but not the way I hoped. I noticed I could go around the gate as there was a mound of earth to the right, where people had ridden and walked around. So I headed for it, I turned right then left as I was parallel with the gate. Well being on road tyres on mud the bike suddenly didn't like it, the next thing I knew I was led on my back head to toe in stingers and brambles!!😂😂😂😂😂🤨🤨
As I was in a ditch and was suspended by the brambles there was nothing for me to push against to get out🤣🤣🤣 I heard a "OMG are you ok are you hurt?" "No" I said "but I need a hand getting out" with that a hand appeared and pulled my out.
Ok I have a few cuts on my legs and right arm but my whole right side is still stinging and vibrating 2 hours later now while I'm led soaking in the bath. As I was led in the stingers my right leg and butt cheek and arm is constantly shaking and my left calf. A completely wierd sensation that I can't say I've ever felt like this before. I'm not planning on doing it again but I quite like it !
I guess I'm wierd but who wants to be normal? What is normal?
Well @Donger missed the whole thing and not one of the 10 or so people waiting at the bridge as there was a bridge swing had their camera out! What's the chances?
@Donger could see the cuts and lumps from the stingers and was trying not to laugh, I said to him laugh it was funny. If I had gone left around the gate I would have been in the canal.
The ride through Frampton was interesting to Saul Junction where we were stopping for refreshments. When I pedalled the stinging stopped but when I stopped pedalling it started again. @Donger bought me a coffee at the stop where I couldn't hold my phone still to take a pic.
From Saul it was back to Epney, Longley and back home. Strangley but probably due to the adrenaline I felt really great on the last 8 miles coming home.
So another tale to tell and great fun and more reasons to get out on a bike than sitting at home in front of the PlayStation and TV.
The first picture is where I landed.

 

[Old jon]

A warm day promised, hot one even. I took the geared bike out, someone had sorted out a route and it is a shame not to ride these things. Fifty three miles and over 2500 feet of up later, it is still a hot day.

The meeting point was Slaid Hill, just far enough from home to make sure everything was working OK, lungs as well as legs. Pedal to Wike and turn left. Then the A61 and a right turn to head to Harewood, where we turned left again, past the Muddy Boots café and onto that pleasant path through the estate. Down the hill to the A659 for the first time today, a right and a left to cross the Wharfe at Harewood Bridge.

Continue towards Harrogate, until the right for Kirkby Overblow and this time travel straight on, no, do not turn left, to go to Sicklinghall. Not many straight roads around here. Wetherby next, a jaunt in the outskirts to find that bike track to Thorp Arch, and from there, making a note of the bridge across the Wharfe, second use of the A659, to Tadcaster.

A refuelling stop here, then off we rode towards Stutton. And I had café legs for the first time in a long time. Soon ridden away though. Around the north of the village, don’t think it was ever visible, over the A64 and on to Bramham via Toulston. Being with company reminds me that there are other ways to ride home. Riding solo I almost always travel through Thorner from here, likely the shorter way. We went through Scarcroft, much more scenic and a bit of extra climbing added.

Back to Slaid Hill, chat and so on, then separate ways. For me, wanting a few more miles, it was Moortown Corner, Oakwood and Roundhay Road towards town, then back across the River Aire. The sight of home always fires up a grin, widened by the rather wonderful ride just finished.

 

[Shropshire65LW]

had a nice ride this morning a circle around my town , accidentally ended my mapping 🙄 so no map today,
took in a few new lanes BUT I think I ended up on private property lol as at the exit there was a sign on that gate will have to check with the OS maps . Took me longer than expected as I was off every few miles taking photos lol , was about10 miles . very quiet around the lanes had a chat with 2 other cyclists up this way from down south enjoying the Shropshire countryside

 

[Donger]

Another nice ride out with @Dark46 today, taking in the usual Severnside villages. When we got to Frampton, the canal bridge was closed, so I suggested turning onto the toe path instead of waiting for a stream of slow moving narrow boats to pass. He was flying, while I was riding rather cautiously, conscious that some of the ruts were so deep my pedals were at risk of clipping the ground and I didn't want to end up in the canal. Just as I got near the next canal bridge, I was aware that @Dark46 was now completely out of sight ...... though I didn't realise that he was literally out of sight, except for a pair of heels sticking out of a ditch full of stinging nettles. Anyway, I think he covered that one quite nicely in his post. Top stunt riding, buddy. I can safely say that in all my 59+ years, I've never seen anyone get quite such a comprehensive, all over stinging. Ouch! Hope the stinging has died down now, buddy. Is it OK for me to laugh yet?

After a nice cafe stop in the garden of the marina cafe at Saul Junction, where I had an ice cream and he had a coffee, we set off back home to complete a 32 miler in sultry conditions. Oddly, every time we stopped to admire a view, we heated up, and every time we got moving, we cooled down again. One of those days where you need to keep moving to provide your own air conditioning.

Cheers, Donger.

 

[Andy in Germany]

It’s 07:30 on a Sunday morning. I’m supposed to be half way to France but instead I’ve overslept and now I’m fretting. I’ve fretted about my toolkit (checked, all there) my pump (checked), the post C-19 border situation (Checked: open apparently) and now I’m randomly fretting about my saddle and if it will suddenly become uncomfortable halfway through the journey. Decide I’m being silly and set off, a cold breeze sets me off worrying that I should have packed an extra fleece.

The village is silent. This is because Germany closes down on a Sunday and only really stirs at midday. The cycleway is inhabited by dog walkers and other early morning cyclists. At a road Island, cross the entrance of an industrial estate; nothing is moving inside.

Up and over he main Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn. Three cars trundle along it. Another cyclist, an older gent on a sit up and beg bike wakes me up with a hearty “Gute Morge” and utterly indecipherable comment in the local dialect. Pass joggers who smile and wave, and a large group of large storks prowling through a freshly cut cornfield. A bird siting in the middle of the road turns out to be a Kestrel eating breakfast. He flies off to an electric pole and scowls.

There are villages every few kilometres; they are built on the same theme of enclosed courtyards with high walls and big gates facing the road. A group of teenagers waiting for a Freiburg bound train chase each other the station platform.


There seem to be more people between villages than in them. A jogger carrying a bunch of wild flowers passes and smiles. I’m winding between willow trees and fields but a hundred metres north the extinct volcano of the Kaiserstühl rears out of the plain, draped in vineyards.

Breisach minster is visible from several kilometres away. Unfortunately at this exact point the cycleway is blocked by a spiderweb of temporary fences and diversion signs to prevent people using about 200m of entirely open road. Of course I follow all the diversion and don’t squeeze through the fence...

On the approach to Breisach the wall of hills turns north and the road crosses a wide open plain. Pass fishermen on the lakes, and increasing numbers of cyclists and joggers. In the last kilometre to Breisach I receive my first “Bonjour”.

Pass the Mother of All Wineries, a massive concrete block that would rival a nuclear power station. Outside is a pickup truck with a sign offering an “Emergency wine delivery service”.

Breisach itself the sort of pretty, old town centre with old walls and a minster which would make it famous in the UK. It is built on a hill, and when the Rhine flooded, which was a lot of the time, it would frequently find itself an Island in the middle of the river. Being the only high point for miles and on a natural boundary it obviously was fought over quite a lot and at various point belonged to most of the local powers. At one point it even belonged to Austria because… reasons.

One of these days I’ll stop making excuses and actually go up that hill to see the view.



Follow a cycleway around the hill to the bridge, tailed by a courier van that ignored the signs and promptly gets stuck. This route comes out above the bridge over the Rhine, and as it comes into view there’s a steady stream of cars and pedestrians in both directions, and not a policeman in sight, so I guess I’m allowed to go to France. The Cycleway goes under the main road and between casinos and cafes in the old customs building and a row of trucks from different countries with their cab curtains drawn, drivers resting ready for tomorrows journey. One has a satellite dish hanging off the mirror.


Then there’s a sign saying “France, 400m” and a short climb to the bridge. The only evidence that we’re changing country is a tiny plaque in the road, about the size of an A5 piece of paper with “F/D“ on it.

The first French road sign I encounter says “Chausee deforrmee” and it isn’t joking. The Chausee is very deformee and to make it worse the sign was right on the first deformee on a downhill section.

Once past this, I’m in France: there are French signs, people speaking French, but really, there’s not a lot of difference: the culture on both sides of the river is largely the same: people are people after all.

After celebrating this universal humanity by fulfilling a universal human need in some trees, follow a sign to “UNESCO Heritage site, Neuf-Brisach”. On the way there’s an irrigation machine doing to the road what I so recently did to a bush but Le scale Grand. It dumps a torrent of water in front of a cyclist whose comment is instantly understandable in any language. After a few minutes waiting for the thing to spray in the direction of the field it is theoretically irrigating there’s quite a group of cyclists at the edge of the damp bit of road, and as soon as it turns we all race across damp section like an ecologically conscious invading horde.

I’ve been riding through the outer fortifications of Neuf-Bresach for a while before I realise. The town was built after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. This brought an end to the Nine Years War between France and just about everyone else, although as was usually the case in Europe at the time, it was basically a ceasefire because everyone had run out of weapons.

Part of the treaty said the French should give up Breisach so they retreated in Le huff magnifique and built Neuf-Brisach a few kilometres away to be much bigger, better and more star shaped. Three hundred years later they are still calling it “New” Brisach. It is a Vauban fortress; a massive construction big enough to contain a town, designed to withstand attacks by the new fangled cannon and with a complex maze of bastions, revetments and trenches to swallow entire battalions without trace. The gates, when I finally found them, were long cuttings through the walls which gave way to a grid of streets centred around a perfect square with a church. This being France on a Sunday, the square was hosting a flea market, and it was packed. I decided not catching any nasty bugs was more important than investigating this piece of French culture and headed west.

The next destination was Wolfganzten, west of Neuf-Brisach and where the cycleway meets the road to Colmar and the Voges mountains, which are a future goal. I find all of these fairly easily, but unfortunately the local farmers had inconsiderately planted maize all around the village, & I couldn’t get a clear image of the Voges, so here’s a picture of the church instead.

This done It was time to return to Neuf-Brisach nd do battle with the traffic in the central square; if France has a 2m passing rule French drivers don’t observe it. At the border all the flags on the bridge are pointing south and stretched by the wind. Decide to scratch plans to ride north around the hills. There’s still a headwind on the other side of Breisach, but I convince myself I’ll be sheltered once I go behind the hills.

I’m wrong.

The bikes have changed: France was full of mountain bikes and heavily travel worn touring bikes laden down with bulging bags. Germans seem to favour town bikes and “trekking” bikes, with the occasional E-bike on massively bulging tyres. There’s always one.

The highlight of the return turns out not to be beavers. Something very beaver like nearly becomes an ex-non beaver when it runs across the road, and I nearly drive into the ditch watching a second. When I see the third I actually have the sense to stop and we watch each other for a bit before he gets bored and wanders into the undergrowth. His tail isn’t the flat beaver tail though and I’m later informed they are Coypu, an invasive species from S. America. “Coypu” being a south American term for “Rat that evolved to look like a beaver so dumb Europeans will think it is cute".

Wriggle back from village to village; pass churches, farms, wine merchants, and a very large gentleman on a tiny purple motor scooter. Cross the Autobahn again and see our local church tower ahead. I ran out of energy a few kilometres back so I persuade my legs to keep going over the last bit with the promise of a late lunch. At the edge of the village I cut through the gap onto my road. There’s a paper in the letterbox and chickens all over the garden.

Time for some toast...

 

[Knightly85]

Today I cycled 31.47 miles (50.6 km) which is the furthest I have cycled so far. Very hard but good preparation for the 55 miles I have to cycle next month in the London to Brighton charity ride

 

[Grant Fondo]

Morning all! Very acceptable blat around Treath Bychan in Anglesey, perfect cycling weather before it gets too toasty. Oh, I don't know, maybe 10-12 miles but who cares when theres a nice beach to bimble around on? Will have to bung piccies up later maybe, they are waiting for 3G in 2030 i believe