Your ride today....

[DCBassman]

Well, didn't go to pick up the car yesterday. The MOT is going to cost me the thick end of £900. So, went over before breakfast to pick up some bits from the car, round trip 1.68 miles.
Very slippery!
Edit: looks like another utility ride beckons this afternoon. Item I'm selling on Gumtree has a buyer. So a trip to my storage garage, which is relentlessly uphill from here, no matter the route. Not that I don't need the exercise...

 

[Landsurfer]

Extended College run this morning, Connor only had 2 hours of lessons today starting at 0830hrs ...
So ... parked up next to the college and went off for a ride around Sheffield for an hour .... God it was cold ... so very cold ... ice all over the pathways and cycle paths ... i even wore a helmet !!
There is a patch of this urban art stuff between the bus station and the canal basin in the city centre...

I though i would ride into the canal basin but there was black ice all over the cobbles .... it was deadly .. even on foot.

I rode across the city to Hillsborough, following the river Don, and turned off behind the dog track to Coopers bridge, i often fish here but yet again freezing cold this morning with heavy frost on the road ...

I don't like frost on tarmac !!
Possibly the choice of wearing shorts today was also not one of my greatest decisions........

 

[Spiderweb]

A day off work today but had to wait for it to warm up a bit so out on the Hewitt just before 2pm. A short loop of 19.6 miles with an average of 14.2 mph.
My fitness has just disappeared and I look like Barbapapa!

 

[DCBassman]

Another utility ride to sell a chair. Ride to my storage garage around a mile away. Managed to discover an, ahem, short cut. It was, too, once I actually found it. And during the puzzlement of a wrong turn, I managed to lose a ski glove. despite much retracing of steps, I never found it. Rats. The short cut IS shorter, but is very steep. Anyhoo, the way back is ALL downhill or level, so that makes up for it. 2.5 miles, 25 smackeroos for the chair.

 

[cwskas]

It had been 8 days I think since I had been out and I had planned to ride Wed, Thu & Fri this week to try and catch up. All were forecast to be pretty days with tolerable winds, but starting cool before warming in the 50s F / 10s C.

Wednesday turned out a bust. I visited my mother for what I thought would be an hour or so and I would be home in time for a good ride. I got home a little before sunset, had dinner and that was that. So I told my wife that I was going to get out as soon as possible Thursday and try and get my first 100k of the year.

I had already agreed to join 4 friends at a nearby town and do a 30-35 mile ride starting at 930am. Then I would have some lunch and finish the 100k solo. The only problem is they are much faster than me. I have ridden with these friends numerous times and I know the roads and their planned route. They know they don't have to wait on me and are usually quite patient if I drag behind too much. I imagined, I could try to really sprint this first 30 and be able to keep up for the most part.

It was 33 F when I left the house, 44 F when we started the ride and 77 F when I finished the 100k.

I work hard to average 12-13 mph for that distance unless it is quite flat. It wasn't. I normally average around 120bpm heart rate when out by myself.

Over the first 32, I averaged 140 HR with a max of 156! But I still didn't keep up. I ended up averaging 12.5 mph and only stopped at intersections when necessary and only got off the trike once for about 60 seconds. They stopped and waited on me at several points, but the last 10 miles I didn't have any of them in sight. One of them was waiting at the parking lot to make sure I arrived.

I had a snack, some electrolytes, actually stretched out in the back of my van for awhile, then headed out for the solo part. It seemed much more delightful . . . but I still needed to keep a decent pace to get the 100k in before sunset. I averaged 11.3 over the last 30 miles and 11.7 for the whole ride.

When I ride alone I prefer a slower pace and frequent stops to take pictures. I didn't get many yesterday and there were some very pretty views.

But I slept really well last night.







Since I didn't get many pictures here is a fantastic photo another local rider took yesterday not far from where I had to stop for this train to pass.



Willie

 

[Dave 123]

A dry ride!
The zip on my overshoes broke so my toes are now freezing!

Just local lanes and bridle ways really. I frightened a buzzard to death, he was in the middle of the road and in the middle of a dream!

14 miles

https://www.strava.com/activities/6527578086

Bull and Bear

Holbeton church

Almshouses in Holbeton

The famous green gate

A distant sea

 

[bagpuss]

Cold one today.

 

[cwskas]

On Saturday winds were forecast 35 gusting to 45 mph and temps 40-45 F all day, wind chills hovering at 33 degrees. Clear skies though.

​

I decided to get out and see what riding into a headwind that strong was like. One of my often used roads was just right for the task, mostly flat, recently repaved and very smooth. I didn't intend to set any records . . . just enjoy the ride and take pictures.

The first 11.2 miles were into the wind and took 1h39m -- only averaging 6.9 mph. I stopped at a sandwich shop for coffee and a breakfast sandwich, but mostly to warm up a bit. I had to be careful and hang on to the rail walking from the trike to the door which was hard for me to open into the wind.

​

The return trip was much more fun and fast! I stopped a lot making the video & taking pictutes.

​

 

[Spiderweb]

Out on the Hewitt at 12.15pm with David & Suzanne from our village. A shortish loop with some ups out to Thorner.
21.9 miles with an average of 13.1 mph.

 

[geocycle]

Three peaks ride today! Headed out to Ingleton then up the 20% Oddies Lane to the Twistleton Scar road to Chapel Le Dale. Climbed past the still closed Hill Inn and on to the Ribblehead viaduct. The impressive structure had generated a good crowd for a middling January day. Ticked off Ingleborough and Whernside en route. Was still dry and relatively mild so headed down Ribblesdale to the very wonderful Middle Studfold Farm cafe. Ticked the sphinx-like Penyghent on the way to Horton. Passed through Wharf and Austwick, then Keasden And home. 59 miles with 950m of climbing.

pictures are of Twistleton road, Ribblehead and Penyghent.

 

[Mike_P]

Could not get the motivation for a proper ride today so the ebike called into action for its first visit to Sainsburys this year. Outbound via a zig zaggy route including the 17% climb from the Oakdale Golf Club and a set of failed TTLs around holes dug with a clear smell of gas about. The workman did look at me as the ebike whirred its way upwards - I pondered whether an ebike motor could trigger a gas expolsion, thankfully it did not.

The vaccination centre has moved at the showground from one of the exhibition halls to a "Goat Shed" at the foot of the hill! On the return the ebike whirred pass three climbing cyclists on showground hill with a peak gradient of 19%.

9.91 miles with 723ft of elevational gain.

 

[gavgav]

I’d arranged to take my mate Paul on a ride to the Wrekin, as he’d been wanting to head that way for a while and I’d not been for a few years….Unfortunately I received a text from him about 11am, to say he’d injured his toe playing 5-a-side football again, so didn’t want to risk it! I told him he’s too old for these dangerous sports and to stick to cycling instead!

So, I waited for the late morning rain to finish and decided to do the route on my own instead. It was cold out, with a brisker than expected North Westerly wind blowing.

I set off to Betton Abbots, Berrington and Cross Houses, then along the rat run to Atcham, which unfortunately lived up to its name today, with lots of traffic and one plonker in a Passat who overtook me around a blind bend. If they’d have left it about 5 seconds later then there would have been a head on collision.

It was then the old A5, which was extremely busy in both directions and some very close passes which were not appreciated, before I turned off towards Wroxeter. It had been drizzling since Cross Houses and after I turned past Viriconium it absolutely poured down, to the point I was dripping wet and so paused to don my waterproof jacket, with more rain in sight over Church Stretton and Wales……It shortly stopped raining and thankfully didn’t again for the whole ride.

I pressed on to Eyton and Dryton and began the climbing up to Oak, stopping to take the waterproof off again, just north of Eaton Constantine, before the main climbing started.

The Wrekin waiting for me to circle around it

Spout Lane is a proper pull up to Little Wenlock, rising around 400 ft in 2 miles and it had been a few years since I’d been up it, so had forgotten it was quite so steep. Strava tells me it’s over 6 years and I couldn’t quite believe that, where does time go?

I was pretty glad to get to the T junction and it was very muddy going, so the bike and my legs were a mess. The climbing continues, before I finally reached the summit, below the Wrekin, then enjoyed the fast descent into the trees, where the road surface has improved a bit since my last visit, but still isn’t brilliant. I also chuckled at no less than 10 cars, all parked on the double yellow lines, with parking tickets slapped on every window. Why on earth would you risk parking there, in a well known beauty spot where traffic wardens have been cracking down on indiscriminate parking recently?!

I was surprised to find that the Cluddley road has been made one way and also that a nice properly segregated, by concreted in bollards, cycle lane contraflow has been put in place, so I followed that and it was much appreciated in what used to be a dodgy spot for people parking all over the road and just walking into your path.

I turned along Wrekin Course and then onto Uppington, where I was now heading into the wind and it felt really icy. The short section on the old A5 again was much quieter than earlier, before I descended Blue Bell Lane, to Charlton and Walcot, the speed tempered a bit by the headwind.

I paused for a snack on the bridge at Walcot Mill, before turning to Withington, pausing for 2 very large horses to be ridden past me on a narrow section, then Upton Magna. I decided to then follow the lane to Uffington and the old railway path to Pimley, then along Sundorne Road and down the cycle paths to Reabrook and Meole.

A ride that got better as it went along and finished with 31.49 miles on the clock, with 1588 ft of climbing and I dragged the avg speed up to 11.0mph, after the very hilly first half.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I have some catching up to do.

Last Wednesday: As @gavgav has already mentioned Doug and I met up with him for an evening ride. After greetings we set off for a ride through the suburbs of Shrewsbury before heading out of town to Uffington, Upton Magna, Atcham and back via Weeping Cross.

Doug's bikes has had some tweaks recently (a new 90mm stem in place of the original 105mm one and an adjusted saddle) which seemed to suit him quite well so that he was keeping up with Gav fairly easily and putting in such accelerations in the stop-start first half of the ride that I was having to put in an effort to keep up.

It was a pretty enjoyable ride, especially when we go onto the quieter lanes in the second half..... with the exception of that Land Rover Discovery that whizzed past on the way to Atcham, skimming past me pretty close before going slightly wider past Doug and Gav. There was a mist hanging around close to the river and I did think that we might run into fog, but it didn't amount to anything fortunately.

19.4 miles by the time I got back at 11.4 mph average. Given that Doug and Gav were getting along pretty well for much of the ride I was genuinely surprised that the average wasn't higher than that.


Thursday: Having had my enthusiasm rekindled I headed out again in the afternoon (once the morning ice had thawed) for a quick run around my regular Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Harnage loop.

I headed over Lyth Hill at the start which gave some great views in the sunshine. Despite the frosty start it didn't feel too cold for the time of year - not what you'd call warm, but comfortable in the layers I was wearing. I was a bit wary of any remaining ice but there was nothing to be found on my way round to Acton Burnell, not even at the usual ice-pockets beside the Concord College estate.

At Cound Moor I was slightly irked when pulling in to allow a motorist past, only for them to completely ignore my existence, let alone say thanks. Politeness costs nothing my friend.

On the descent from Harnage to Cound (Union Jack flying today) I'd got up to around 25mph when I noticed that the road underneath me was still white over. The first bit of ice I'd found so far and I was doing a silly speed on it on ordinary tyres. Thankfully it was a straight road and the bike handled it fine but I was holding my breath for a bit.

At Cound Stank I decided to head back along the road to Pitchford then Cantlop. I was intending to take the direct route home up the A49 but on reaching Condover it was school kicking out time so I thought the quieter way heading back over Lyth Hill might be a better option this time.

24.6 miles at 12.6 mph average. Enjoyed that one.

Acton Burnell. Sunshine and blue sky - lovely.

View to the Wrekin from the road to Cound Moor. The swans seem quite settled - their winter quarters perhaps?

Looking towards Evenwood. Such a typical Shropshire scene I usually wouldn't think of taking a photo but in the sunshine something appealed to me this time.

At Harnage.

The view from Lyth Hill from the second crossing.

Today: I had intended to do rides on Friday and Saturday afternoons but ended up doing some fettling on other people's bikes instead. Today though, Doug and I had a ride planned to try and up his mileage a bit in preparation for plans next month.

We hadn't expected the rain in the late morning but fortunately it had all but stopped when we set out heading along the A49 to Condover. Doug's was one of the bikes I have been working on so this was a test for what is effectively a new drivetrain. After passing through Condover we paused so that I could check out an odd noise - it seems the new middle chainring isn't quite as compatible with the crankset as hoped but it shouldn't really be an issue in the long run.

Later on Lyon's Lane there was a buzzard atop the hedge looking imperiously at us. We paused in a gateway to let a pickup and trailer overtake - once again, no acknowledgement.

We headed through Berrington and Cross Houses to Atcham, same as Gav has mentioned above - we must only have been a few minutes ahead of him. No issues for Doug and I on this stretch but at Atcham I had someone come uncomfortably close up behind me when we were turning off towards Upton Magna. A couple of overtaking cyclists could have given us a bit more room a mile or so up the road too. I we could practically have rubbed shoulders.

A break for lunch was taken shortly after Upton Magna before continuing to Withington, Walcot and up the gentle climb of Bluebell Lane (not as pretty as it sounds). Our brief foray onto the old A5 was fine and we had the road through Uppington almost to ourselves. I'd be interested to know how much we missed Gav by here too.

On the climb to Rushton we were actually gaining on a mountain biker who had joined the road shortly before us. We weren't intending to race but he kept on checking over his shoulder to see where we were so I suspect he was. It was all academic as he turned off towards Charlton Hill while we were headed for Eaton Constantine then Cressage. The descent into Cressage should have been a good one but today there was a spillage of oil all along the road which made us wary. Doug went at the climb of Shore Lane a bit quick and had to rest part way up - the first sign that he was flagging a little.

Once we got to the top of this climb the going was easier but we now hada headwind so the pace slowed a little. There are a couple of surprisingly tough little climbs on the way to Acton Burnell but then a nice long, gentle descent into the village then on towards Pitchford. Doug did alright on the climb out of the valey here and on the climb to Cantlop but after Condover it was a slowish pace up to the A49. Despite this, Doug had set his sights on getting a metric half-century and was quite happy to do a bit extra to get it. In the event we didn't need it but it's good to know he had the enthusiasm to go that bit further.

31.1 miles at 11.6 mph average. Well done Doug. We'll have you doing centuries before you know it.

A couple of shots from our lunch stop. It looked quite wet towards the Wrekin.

Near Uppington it was brightening up nicely where we were but still looking threatening in the direction we were about to head. Fortunately the rain was headed away from us.

 

[HLaB]

Back in the flat lands today for a ride round Peterborough on the gravel bike for me today ending in the pub. Well almost I still had 7 miles to get home so I did 15. To try and shake some of the mud of my bike. It never worked.

The decisions you make after 3 pint (lol, Im a lightweight)

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Lol, from the profile you can tell when we were east of Peterborough (spoiler, its flat)

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Edit: My mates pics.

 

[AndreaJ]

Another ride with the newly set up group which unfortunately meant an early start to ride to Ellesmere to meet at 8.30 which takes me about half an hour. It was a lovely morning though with mist over the fields and pink sky.
3 of us set off to Duddlestone Heath where we were meeting the other 2. We carried on to St Martins up the only climb of the ride as far as Gobowen. Turned off to Whittington past the castle to West Felton, Rednal then back onto roads I knew to Hordley, Lee and back into Ellesmere and down to the Mere for coffee at the Boathouse.
There were bikes all over the outdoor area with lots of other groups of cyclists there too.
Headed back home via Welshampton and Northwood making it 42 miles altogether.
Another lovely ride with good company on roads I haven’t used before which is a nice change of scenery and we got back just as the rain started.
Meeting point at The Mere.