Your ride today....

[LeetleGreyCells]

Limited for time this morning, so I didn't join one of the club rides and opted for a solo jaunt to bag another point for the half-century challenge.

First half of the loop is on wonderful country roads, the second half there are a few busy main roads thrown in. No issues as such, just one idiot in a motorhome deciding to overtake me when there's a car coming the other way. The motorhome idiot held course thankfully and didn't pull into me, but received a much deserved long blast of the horn from the oncoming driver. That was about a mile from home.

Lovely morning, albeit a bit nippy when at speed - the breeze still had bite; but it did warm up for the last quarter of the ride. I saw a couple of riders from my club, but didn't recognise them, and lots and lots of other cyclists out and about - only one didn't wave or shout good morning at my greeting.

56 km or nearly 35 mi of wonderful bicycling freedom.

 

[Mike_P]

What a difference this morning, largely sunny with fluffy white clouds. No chances taken and the Defy fitted with strap on/clamp on mud guards and alternate shoes and helmet needed as yesterdays were still damp. Through the Pine Woods again, this time via Ripon Road hill.

Down to Burn Bridge gaining, in contrast to yesterday, the only PR of the ride and then onto the A61 down Swindon Bank to reacquire yesterdays intended route along Swindon Lane to Kirkby Overblow, the fourth ABC character place name of j skipped as being non achievable.

North from the village and it seemed like ages, although actually around a minute, to spot a gap for a right turn onto the A658

Another right turn off brought me to Follifoot.

A staggered crossing of the A661 followed onto the 18 year abandoned section of the B6163; now a bridleway with a gated entrance. Road surface remains in a decent condition but ends abruptly with a gravel path which then narrows and goes upwards with three steps adjacent straight to the edge of the A658. Dismounted and wheeled the bike across the road at an opportune moment. Down the still extant B road to Calcutt, west up and down Forest Moor Road and north on Forest Lane once the level crossing barriers went up and down the steep decent to the Starbeck branch of NCN67

The anti rain devices (aka mudguards) worked fine. 21.51 miles 1519ft climbed 12.4 mph avg

 

[Old jon]

Rain was forecast, it seems, but out there the morning was bright. OK I have a rain jacket, a very cold to wear rain jacket. So I added a couple of layers. Which I removed on my way to Slaid Hill to meet the others.

Off we went, past Alwoodley Gates going to Stairfoot Lane and the way to Adel. And I think the northern edge of Holt Park, on the way to Otley Old Road. And around what I always think of as the back of the airport. Silly, ‘cos that is the entrance we passed this morning. West Carlton to Guiseley, up and down and scenic and sunshiny. Followed by a meander around Menston, of which there is more than I knew.

In search of a bacon butty, we went to Otley next. Success! Except four went to the correct side of the river, the other two, because of me, ate our grub at the other side of the river. Ah well, after rejoining the majority, time to chat a bit and off we all went on the road to Pool. Yup, the good old always there A659. We had already ridden a short stretch of this, on the way to bacon. This time, we ride along it to Arthington.

And the climb up Creskeld Lane to Bramhope, sort of the ridge between the Aire and Wharfe valleys. There are higher bits of this ridge, turn left at the southern end of Bramhope and ride up Kings Road. And then add more up, zag and zig to Eccup, first the village, then the reservoir. The way away from there goes to Harrogate Road, and the group began to ungroup a little. For me, stay on the A61. There is a weekend road closure I have to find my way around for the next four weeks, but it is still downhill all the way home from here.

Except there seemed to be an unusual gradient. It led me to the outside seating area at my favourite pub. Ah well, good job the rain did not happen. Reached my front door a little later than usual, forty five miles in great company, and a bit more than 2500 feet of climbing added to the smile I was wearing.

The garthing must have been muttering away to itself, but produced these . . .

 

[Donger]

A great 50 miler out to Mallards' Pike lake in the Forest of Dean today. Out via the A48 and then up, up and up some more from Blakeney to Soudley ....

.... followed by a descent through Soudley bluebell woods ....

.... and another little climb up past the Dean Heritage Centre to Mallards' Pike for a coffee stop:

On the way back we stopped for a moment's contemplation at Blackpool Bridge, paying our respects to a former club mate who sadly collapsed and died in Soudley Woods, his very favourite place, on a bike ride a few years back.

Half a mile further on we found a nice tribute to Mike at the place where he turned his last pedal:

We climbed our way back out and up to Littledean, Blaisdon and Huntley before hitting the main road for home. I was flagging, having given blood this week and with a twinge of cramp in my right calf, so when we hit the roundabout at Highnam I said my goodbyes and took the slow, plodding route home on the cycle path that led to the Gloucester Western By-pass. A ride of all imaginable weather conditions, this one. Sunny, then cloudy at the start, drizzly then sunny in the Forest of Dean and torrential rain, followed by a brutal hailstorm at the end. When I parked my bike outside my garage, the ground had turned white:

Back home and hosed now. A very enjoyable ride, though a particularly knackering one.
Enjoy your rides everybody. Cheers, Donger.

 

[geocycle]

Forecast was dry this morning and wet this afternoon... so out for a spin in the lanes north of Kirby Lonsdale. First shower hit after 10 miles, then a deluge around lunchtime. i ended up sharing the ginnels of KL with lots of other shelter seekers while munching my flapjack. I decided flapjacks were more weather resistant than sandwiches. Despite the weather had a great 45 mile ride with 800m of climbing up some new roads to me. In fact the amount of grass up the middle of them suggests they were largely unused. Lots of bluebells, cowslips, wild garlic and milk maids lined the lanes. Was limited for pictures by the rain but this one was at a bridge where I was watching a grey wagtail while enjoying a banana stop.

 

[AndreaJ]

Yesterday there was some funny bright orb in the sky, there were patches of blue which hadn't been visible for about a week and it wasn't raining. I must have woken up in some strange alternative reality. Pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming I got the bike out and set off towards Wem with the idea of exploring a lane I hadn't been on before. I made my way through Prees and Whixall turning off towards Waterloo before dropping down the slope into Wem. I had recorded my trip through Wem from this direction on the GoPro last week. However, it had crashed and the footage was gone. I recorded the same section and when I pulled in at the Coop to make sure the footage was OK. However, the GoPro had decided to corrupt the footage again. There must be a secret MI6 device that doesn't like people making video. Never mind it gave me an excuse to go back along Ellesmere Road and record the video for the third time. I must have fooled the secret MI6 video scrambling bug because it was fine this time. There was a long tailback of cars from the station, so I pulled into the car park and waited for the traffic to clear.

There is a short section of a couple of hundred yards along the A49 at Prees Green before turning off into a minor road. There is a 40mph speed limit. Last time I cycled it a truck was coming towards me and some idiot in a Mercedes estate decided to overtake me at much more than 40mph when I was opposite the truck. If I had stuck my elbow out I would have been knocked flying.

At Prees Lower Heath I decided to turn off along a minor road, which I was convinced would go into Prees. I moved to the map page on the Wahoo Elemnt and as far as the Wahoo was concerned the road didn't exist, although other minor roads nearby were clearly mapped. Luckily the lane ended up joining the NCN route, which definitely goes into Prees.

On the homeward leg, the wind was behind most of the way and there were some big puddles, but no floods.

58K and 474m of climbing.

Wem. I should have stopped at the Pastry Box, but not sure if it's open.
View attachment 588851

The lane that doesn't exist.
View attachment 588850


View attachment 588849

The Pastry Box is definitely worth stopping for.

 

[AndreaJ]

Yesterday’s ride was a short ride to collect my car from the garage. A longer route was planned as I don’t really like the road out of Wem, I set off to Loppington and took the longer route to Nonely, Myddle, up the hill and turned to Alderton, over the crossroads at the top of Broughton Bank down the hill to Yorton. Passed by the tiny station and up the hill into Clive where the garage is. Unfortunately it was raining all the way and I had to put my wet, muddy bike in the back of the car.

It was actually dry today and warm enough for short sleeves although my shoes were still a bit damp.Took the same route as yesterday as far as the top of the hill at Myddle where I turned the opposite way down Lower Road to Merrington, Old Woods and turned for Eyton and into Baschurch. The road to Weston Lullingfields is shut hopefully for some long overdue repairs so I took the next lane to Stanwardine which also had a road closed sign part way down, I carried on to see if I could get through. There was no problem getting past and I carried on to Bagley where I turned towards Ellesmere. It looks like the repairs might get all the way down here as there were warnings about road closures, took the turning to Lee past Ellesmere college and through Ellesmere. Up Swan Hill to Coptiviney and Welshampton where it appeared to have been raining, took the turning by the church to Lyneal, down to Northwood and back home. Still got muddy despite most of the lanes being dry but nice to be out in the warm again. 32.3 miles.

The field is full of dandelion seeds, no wonder there are so many in my garden!

 

[ianbarton]

Our Parish Council has bought a quantity of native wild flower seeds from Beebombs These are native wild flower seed balls that should grow into flowers that encourage bees and increase the local wild flower habitat. As a Parish Councillor, I was helping to distribute them to the people who had asked for them. A perfect excuse for a bike ride. After a wet start to the day, the sun came out although it was breezy.

42km and 404 metres ofascent.

First delivery of the day.

MY LBS: Audlem Cyclesport

 

[pawl]

A great 50 miler out to Mallards' Pike lake in the Forest of Dean today. Out via the A48 and then up, up and up some more from Blakeney to Soudley ....
View attachment 589038
.... followed by a descent through Soudley bluebell woods ....
View attachment 589039
.... and another little climb up past the Dean Heritage Centre to Mallards' Pike for a coffee stop:
View attachment 589040
On the way back we stopped for a moment's contemplation at Blackpool Bridge, paying our respects to a former club mate who sadly collapsed and died in Soudley Woods, his very favourite place, on a bike ride a few years back.
View attachment 589045
Half a mile further on we found a nice tribute to Mike at the place where he turned his last pedal:
View attachment 589046
We climbed our way back out and up to Littledean, Blaisdon and Huntley before hitting the main road for home. I was flagging, having given blood this week and with a twinge of cramp in my right calf, so when we hit the roundabout at Highnam I said my goodbyes and took the slow, plodding route home on the cycle path that led to the Gloucester Western By-pass. A ride of all imaginable weather conditions, this one. Sunny, then cloudy at the start, drizzly then sunny in the Forest of Dean and torrential rain, followed by a brutal hailstorm at the end. When I parked my bike outside my garage, the ground had turned white:
View attachment 589047
Back home and hosed now. A very enjoyable ride, though a particularly knackering one.
Enjoy your rides everybody. Cheers, Donger.
[/


Great pictures and lovely sentiment

 

[Andy in Germany]

I went shopping today, and to try and see if the intermittent slip on the pedals would show up again:

The water in the river is high, but I've seen it within a couple of metres of the path, so there's plenty of space left.

Junction of two cycleways.

The way back into the village. The sign says "cyclists dismount". As you can see, I was not on my bike. Therefore I definitely dismounted. I have evidence...

 

[AndreaJ]

Warm and dry was good while it lasted - it was raining again this morning. Set off to find somewhere where it wasn’t raining, started out towards Whixall which was definitely wet, carried on as far as Hollinswood crossroads and turned off to Fenns Bank, back over the swing bridge to Alkington, Coton, Abbeygreen, Waterloo, Edstaston and Highfields. Carried on to Horton then across to Loppington where it wasn’t raining or wet and almost sunny. Went through the village and turned back to English Frankton, Colemere, Lyneal and the same way home through Northwood as yesterday. It wasn’t wet at home either so I obviously should have avoided Whixall. All the recent rain is certainly helping the wild flowers and grass grow on the verges with lots of bluebells about. 28.6 miles and once I left the rain it was a lovely morning.

 

[gavgav]

After cancelling our planned ride on Saturday, due to the monsoons, Paul and I had rearranged for after work today, more in hope than expectation with the forecast of more heavy showers………however, for once the forecast was wrong in our favour and it was a nice sunny day, almost feeling warm in the sun, finally! Still needed trousers and a light jacket on though, so it’s not there yet.

We met at the nearby lights and followed cycle paths up to Heathgates, then along Whitchurch Rd, through Sundorne and out to Uffington along the old canal path.

We then spent the time on the road, between there and Upton Magna, somehow getting onto discussing the TV programme “Minder” and neither of us could remember who played Arthur Daley……So we stopped by the pub in the village, to Google who it was (George Cole of course) It was bugging both of us too much not to find out

We then followed Pelham Rd, where Paul remarked as to whether I’d seen the horrific felling of trees that has happened as part of the canal restoration. I certainly had and it looks awful, as Paul completely agreed.

The rat runs to Atcham and Cross Houses weren’t too bad and then it was onto lanes to Berrington and Betton Abbots, before the short section on the A458.

We parted ways near mine, after I’d waited for Paul to rejoin me, following his chain coming off as we’d turned off at the nearby roundabout. I’d only noticed half way along the next road, when I was talking to Paul and he didn’t answer from behind me……..because he wasn’t there!

15.72 miles at a very leisurely pace, due to a lot of chatting.

 

[Old jon]

Proper riding weather again, a route has been made and there will be company to ride with. Cannot be bad, and a Tuesday too. The route planner has been known to include not-very-well-surfaced roads in routes. I took the Spa today.

The meet point, at Alwoodley Gates, is seven and a half miles from where I live, using the ‘orrible way I chose this morning. First learning experience of the day. Don’t go that way again. So, off we go, west towards the top of Stairfoot Lane. Soon reach the bottom, then through Adel. After that, I am not familiar with the area, but the Old Ball pub was seen, which I think is Horsforth, then pedal along to Rawdon, skirting around Guiseley, to Hawksworth. A bit west of north, the road goes to Burley Woodhead via the Curlew Cafe, munch time.

We did need the fuel, the road has lumps. It was good to see the Cow and Calf, this meant downhill to Ilkley, and a rest for legs and all. Soon through the town, and across the Wharfe to reach the road that runs to the north of the river. For a road that goes downstream there is a surprising number of hills to climb before Weston is reached. Maybe not so surprising, it’s a long way down to Otley from Weston. A short stop in the park there, and out along the Pool Road.

Which was almost busy. But once past Pool things were a lot quieter. Under the viaduct, saw a train crossing it just before we reached there, and then turn right. There is one amongst us who likes climbing Creskeld Lane. I like reaching the top, which is almost the same thing. Leave Bramhope behind, and below, ‘cos Kings Road goes up. A left and right at the top points us towards Eccup village, after that is the road that crosses the dam wall. Ah, bridleway, not road, it seems. Or I am reading the OS map wrong.

Almost forgot, second learning experience. The brand new, first ride out garthing ran out of battery about two hours after I left home. ‘Oh dear!’ is almost what I said. After I left the rest, they were going a different way, all I had to do was the downhill easy bit to cross the the River Aire, which is almost home. Look at and edit today’s route online and add fifteen miles. So, forty five miles and 2677 feet approximately for the day. Well worth a grin. And finding the battery saver bit on the gps, well, you have to be happy, don’t you?

So I pinched someone elses map and stuff . . .

 

[Spiderweb]

It was great to get back to commuting by bike today, quite a nice morning 6.68 miles with an average of 17.4 mph.
Finished an hour early so an extended home commute via Naburn with quite a headwind from Cawood. I had to get home in time for the football kick off (c’mon Leeds!) so peddled harder, not my usual pootle. 27.75 miles with once again an average of 17.4 mph. Fabulous afternoon ride out and Leeds United won😀

 

[gavgav]

An after working ride, with both @Rickshaw Phil and his brother Doug, for our first group ride in what seems like years, rather than months. The lunchtime thunderstorms had blown through on the keen Westerly wind and left a sunny and a times warm evening, but the wind was cooler when riding into it still.

I rode into the wind up to their house and we then set off up Lyth Hill, descending down to the A49, a short wait for a gap in the traffic, to get onto the main road for the very short section, before a nice wind assisted run to Condover.

We then climbed up towards Ryton, but branched off and around through Wheathall, to Condover industrial estate. There were diversion signs all over the place on these lanes, which seemed to me to be sending people round in circles! On the descent from Berriewood we found out why they were there, as there is an overnight closure on the road for 3 days.

The climb up towards Cantlop was nice, as we had the wind behind us again, before we joined the busier road to Betton Abbots. There were 2 very (actually overly) patient drivers who waited behind us whilst climbing the 2 hills, but still didn’t overtake when it flattened out and was clear. They eventually went through after we motioned for them to overtake. Much rather that than impatient morons though

We parted ways near my place and I had 14.84 miles on the clock, at a slow 11 mph avg speed. All the stops and chats didn’t help that!

Good fun to be out as a 3 again