Your ride today....

[Jon George]

Out for a bimble to Levington. Suffered a puncture at Kesgrave - no sign of thorn/nail/glass. Can only assume it was a pinch-puncture (I was on my CX with relatively low pressures), but I didn't feel any sort of 'bump' to indicate how it had possibly happened. Baffled.

Still, Suffolk in Spring.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Steve E called me into the team (of lockdown 2) today. Just a little loop was the plan around the northerly end of the Hills and back over The Wyche. Lovely wee social one and the bonus was a better effort on the final climb. 23 smiles

 

[roubaixtuesday]

No pics today as the Peaks remained shrouded in mist for the duration.

I fancied the summer bike what with it being the vernal equinox and all. Just followed my nose with the intention of hills.

A tough 54 miles ensued, feat for those who know the western Peak: Blaze Hill, Lamaload, Hanging gate, Swythamly, Gun Hill and Bosley Cloud. 1400m of climbing in total, and done non-stop as the weather didn't encourage a pause.

Now somewhat weary!

 

[Mike_P]

One of those outings where if it could go wrong it did although contrary to the weather forecast it was sunny. At least the puncture was pre ride, the repaired front slime inner tube almost flat again and on examination not only had the repair failed but there was slime at the joint of the valve so that inner tube found a new home in refuse wheelie bin. Took a couple of attempts to get a new inner tube on right, a 28-35 is nearly a touch on the wide side for a road bikes wheel.

Decided on bib 3/4s with a long sleeve jersey but the first attempt only got a few 100 metres before I decided that the rear mudguard would have to come off at it was not staying in place. Second attempt more successful but no sooner than I joined the westbound A59 than the Wahoo died. Pulled into a layby and activated Strava on the phone. Then via Burley Bank

to Penny Pot where it was plainly noticeable the wind was stronger than forecast as seven of the eight wind turbines at Knabbs Ridge were active. Two ebikes whizzed pass and I decided to forego any more slogging against the wind by turning to Kettlesing Head and along the east side of RAF Menwith Hill in a new PR. Intent to turn along the north side way was thwarted by a road closed sign and whilst Nidderdale looked nice ahead

I turned east, down grade largely freewheeling with tailwind until there was a thud as the sportscam hit the tarmac; another broken mount Took a good few minutes to find it, the white rubber plug on the mount was the give away of where in the verge it was lying. The tailwind then aided a procession of PRs east through and upgrade away from Hampsthwaite. 15.52 miles 922ft climbed,

 

[theloafer]

just an other local steady ride easing the g/f back into it...the first few miles it was not looking good she had a bit of a whinge and i could see see was not enjoying the lovely sunny day. but so glad she stuck with it ,we got to the coffee stop and all was good . saw a beauty of a bike (Bamboo frame) . tried to call in at her fav ice parlour (Archers) but it was chocker so gave it a miss as the lady wanted to be home for the Rugby . just short of 36 miles

Morning Ride | Ride | Strava

 

[DCBassman]

Out on the Scott today, just needed to ride, so loaded up with bars and drink and went. And just kept on going. A big one for me, easily passed the metric half mark, and the average speed was better, too. In fact, the first time I've achieved double-figure averages in a long time.

On the return leg, the chain decided to jump inwards off the small chainring. Sod's law said the quicklink was right in the middle of the jam...
Got it all back together, but climbing out of Clearbrook, there were some not-right-at-all once per chainset revolution noises. As soon as I could I changed off the ring, and all was well. So the chain seems to have survived untwisted. I'm thinking there's some damaged teeth on that ring, and it throws the chain if you change at just the wrong moment. Rats. Will have to look at that, but too tired today.
Colder than it looked, fingerless gloves maybe a tad optimistic...

 

[Jon George]

View attachment 579555

Wow! The tilt on that saddle!

 

[itboffin]

78.54 mi
Distance

4:34:56
Time

17.1 mph
Avg Speed

3,606 ft
Elev Gain

Very tired now 😪

 

[DCBassman]

I'm thinking there's some damaged teeth on that ring, and it throws the chain if you change at just the wrong moment. Rats. Will have to look at that, but too tired today.

But, because like most of us, I'm a bit of an obsessive about my bike, I HAD to have at least a quick look.
Loose centre chainring bolt sticking into the chain line of the small ring. No other apparent damage. Will see if both halves are still there, and tighten them back up. If not, our local LBS is not that good and has been mainly closed since last March, and poor Rockin Bikes at Leg O'Mutton have just been broken into, so no idea yet when they'll be open. I'd like to get it from them, because a) they're an OK place, and b) I'll end up with the right bit, because they are Scott agents.

 

[colly]

A cold but beautiful day. I did some stuff indoors this morning and finished of some work I had and at 3pm minced out the door dressed like a clown in my usual gear for a spell on the bike.

I have had work in for the past 3 weeks or so and I find I need to finish work in hand before I can really enjoy riding. I can stop and go off at anytime of course, that's one of the benefits of being self employed, but I have always felt had to finish before I can enjoy myself, I don't know why but I've always been like that. Business before pleasure.
Apart from a couple of very small jobs I have stepped away from work pretty much for a year and after agreeing to take on something recently I realise now how much I no long want to work. Fortunately, now, I can pick and choose, I no longer 'have' to take on jobs I would rather not.
So anyway rides this past few weeks have been curtailed and restricted to mostly local loops. So there are a number of rides listed.

View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/63401392


View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/63603825


View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/63920592


And today's ride:
Sunny but cold, so gloves on and longs, shorts can wait a week or three. I was on fixed wheel because I have the wheels stripped down on my geared bike waiting for some new wheel bearings.
I went into the wind and out towards Bramhope making for the airport. Not a lot of traffic apart from near the park. Shadwell, The Dexter, and Stairfoot Lane came and went and then down past MoneBros. quarry to make the long gentle climb up through Bramhope to the Harrogate/Bradford road. Left and west into the wind and I could see right across the airport and still a stack of planes parked and waiting for things to get back to normal.
Just before the airport (Leeds /Bradford formerly Yeadon areodrome) is what used to be the Avro aircraft factory. Built as a 'shadow factory' in 1939 it was to make Lancaster bombers for the war effort. 700 or more were built there in what was the largest factory in Europe, some 1,500,000 sq ft. employing 17,500 people. It is still fairly rural around there and Yeadon itself was home to less than 10000 people and so workers were bused in daily from all over West Yorkshire. The buildings were camouflaged by having roofs sloping down to the ground and it was covered in grass in a pattern that matched local field layouts. Pretend hedges and bushes were made from fabric and changed as the seasons changed.

It must have looked like fields from the air because it was never bombed.
The factory is still there now and it still has the sloping roof. I did some work there in a previous incarnation and inside it is huge. If I remember correctly about 10m to the eaves or truss line and another 5m to the roof. I suppose it had to be given that Lancaster bombers weren't exactly dinky.

So after passing the factory the road goes directly under the runway with a seperate tunnel for a footpath and cycle track. Which was nice.
Around the airfield then and down into Horsforth to take the climb up through Cookridge via Tinshill Road to Cooridge Tower. The highest spot in Leeds. Down then through Ireland Wood and across the ring road at Lawnswood. Otley Road in towards the centre but turning down through Meanwood and then back up through Harehills. A quick couple of laps up Easterly Road and it was back indoors to the smell tonights dinner.

27.0 miles and 1920ft or up. Fixed wheel.

View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/64118398

 

[davelincs]

Well after a busy morning , I managed to get out for a couple of hours, milder, so who went out overdressed

 

[davelincs]

This mornings ride, that northerly wind was colder than I expected, but I was warm enough after 8 miles into a head wind

 

[Jon George]

For me, Sunday's are usually a day for bimble rides. I went for ride around Ipswich this morning and it was Dodge The Jay-Walking Pedestrian. Did have to stop and take a pic of this:-

 

[chriswoody]

Whilst technically it is Spring, nobody has thought to tell the weather. Like pretty much every day for the last 5 months, it was 5 degrees and dull grey, a bitterly cold North Westerly wind was reducing the temperature still further. Heading out over the lanes by the Pig farm, the wind was biting and as I crossed the glider school runway, the wind sock gives testament to the wind strength. Just over a kilometre later I dived into the welcome shelter of the forest. The first kilometres are on a narrow track under the close packed trees, the vibrant green moss all around provides evidence of how little sun penetrates down here.

Further North I turn onto wider gravel roads and start to fly along, the tree tops are swaying, but down here there is little wind.

After I'd crossed through the sands of Wildech I turn off onto a forest road, I'd not traversed in a long time. Some of my favourite tracks deeper in the forest have been turned into quagmires by the forestry workers and their logging machinery, so this track would bring me around all of that. Riding through the forests here, you encounter a wide variety of terrain, from narrow muddy single track to wide gravel fire roads. This track is the latter and I'm soon flying along listening to the crunch of gravel under my tires.

After a few kilometres I reach Reberllah, from where I swing back towards home. The track here is wide and progress is swift, despite heading in a South Westerly direction it feels like the wind is at my back and the speed creeps up.

The last kilometres in the forest are fast and fun before I pop back out onto the country roads. There are no hedges here and the country side is gently rolling, so there is no respite from the wind. The cold icy fingers find there way in and I look forward to the hot coffee waiting for me at the end. Finally after 35 kilometres I roll back into the garden and over a warm coffee I feel great for having made the effort to get out, I just wish the weather would buck up, maybe next week we may have some sun.

 

[geocycle]

First post vaccination ride and didn’t want to overdo it. Headed up through limestone country to Arnside and back through Silverdale with a gentle 35 miles and 600m of climbing. Stopped to admire the limestone outcrops and forested pavements. It’s easy to forget that iconic places like Malham would be covered in scrub woodland if it wasn’t for grazing. Here it’s mosses and mixed woodland. Got to Arnside to find the bakery shut but enjoyed a flask and a banana on the pier. Terrified and amused an elderly lady with my impressive banana guard!