Your ride today....

[geocycle]

So much for the ‘improving’ weather forecast! Set off in drizzle safe in the knowledge that the BBC said it was going to improve later. Unfortunately the rain just got heavier and I got soaked. Decided that Bowland looked the best bet so went up and over the trough in fine drizzle. Lots of lapwings, curlew, sky larks, buzzards, red kite and a hare kept my mind off the climb. Summitted and then decended into increasingly heavy rain through Whitewell and on to Chipping.

On the way into Chipping I tried to change gear and the rear cable snapped. Of course the spring put the chain on the smallest sprocket which normally is only of ornamental value around here. Contemplated options over a bacon sandwich in Chipping. I could have bailed out but was already soaked and 40km in. I decided to see if I could give myself two useable gears so I pulled the broken cable through and used it to draw the derailleur into the middle of the cassette and tied it off onto a bottle cage. This gave me two gears adjusted using the front derailleur. It worked pretty well, I just adjusted it again to get up the relatively steep hill of Harris End but after that was on flattish territory. Slightly shorter than anticipated with the weather and mechanical but still 45 miles and 1100m of climbing.

Pictureof bike on approach to Trough of Bowland before the rain.

 

[Ian H]

Rode the Old Roads 300 today with friend Chuffy. The weather was kind after a freezing start. I didn't do too badly.

 

[chriswoody]

A nice day out over the Heide and on the few occasions when the sun made an appearance it was actually quite warm. The ride started with the normal few kilometres along the roads and over the glider school. I had to wait a short while as the runway controller was sorting out the cables for the next launches. Once he called me across, it was off and over into the peace of the forest.

The last week's have been incredibly dry and the normally dry soil is now really soft and sandy making progress slow and tough going.

I keep heading north, accompanied at one point by a woodpecker. The trail rises and falls, now for the most part hard gravel and progress is good. I take a break at a clearing where the heather has colonised.

Refreshed I plug on, heading up one of the few hills around here and onto the Teifental. It's strangely quiet up here, whilst not the warmest of days, I was expecting to see more folk around.

It makes for easier riding though without so many people and before long I crash out in the heather for a food break.

The ride is now along the ridge line, the ground soft and powdery, and riven through with tough routes from the heather and Scots pine. The end of the ridge is marked with a short and technical descent into a small sand trap, before an equally technical pull up the other side, all great fun.

From here I turn North again and into a quiet section of forest, aside from the Buzzard swooping around, I'm completely alone. The trail soon goes from wide flowey gravel to a narrow rough single track. The forest has closed in and it's eerily quiet. The trail here is great fun, not too technical, but enough to demand concentration.

Several kilometres later and I'm back onto wide gravel fire roads which sees my speed pick up as I head back towards Reberllah.

Another Buzzard flies past and keeps me company for a few minutes, the woods are alive with the sound of birds and insects, there's still not a soul to be seen out here. This is why I love Gravel biking, kilometres of fast flowing trails with no cars or humans to be seen.

Soon I'm into the last kilometres and then it's onto the quiet roads the lead me the last kilometres into my garden. I'm tired and covered in dust, but a really satisfying 60km ride over some lovely trails.

 

[ianrauk]

And that's May's qualifying ride for the Imperial Century a Month challenge done and dusted. I was out of the door at a silly 6.30am for a ride down to the seaside. Camber Sands in Sussex in fact. And a lovely day it was for cycling too. Not too cold, very little wind and only the tiniest amounts of drizzle later in the ride. Hundreds of cyclists out and about in the Kent and Sussex lanes today.
So, scores on the doors. 120 miles for the day. So a good few future Eddington numbers in the bag. (5 more 115's to get to that number) Imperial century ride #309 over all. Imperial century month #138 in a row.

 

[bluenotebob]

May Day silliness .. a little fëte de velo of my own.

Target 50+km today – but using all five of my bikes, with a minimum of 10km on each.

Here’s how it worked out ..

Ride 1 – on my ‘new’ mountain bike (the Massi Team Elite) – 15.07km cycled in 75 mins. Slow – but I always am when starting – and there was a lot of off-road involved.

Ride 2 – on my road bike (the LaPierre Sensium 300) – 11.38km cycled in 42 mins. So easy and relaxed – it felt like I was having a rest in the comfy chair and someone else was cycling.

Ride 3 – on one of my hybrids (the LaPierre Shaper 200) – 10.21km cycled in 36 mins.

Ride 4 – on my ‘old’ mountain bike (the LaPierre RAID) – 12.35km cycled in exactly an hour.

Ride 5 – on my other hybrid (the LaPierre Urban Shaper) – 15.35km cycled in also exactly an hour.

That added up to 64.36km cycled today in just over 4.5 hours. I enjoyed it and I’ll do it again sometime – and probably make it a bit harder.

All my bikes are off the mark for May and it’s a decent start to the month.

 

[Elybazza61]

Small ride on the new Stayer All Road.

Still ironing out some bits and pieces and nursing the arthritic left knee which has flared up this year but nice to get out on a non-commute ride.

Hopefully longer rides to come.

 

[Spiderweb]

A social ride out this afternoon with pub stops. The group were staying in York overnight so I headed home at the half way point. Lovely ride catching up with friends.
28 miles with an average of 15.2 mph.

Edit-Two photos above were taken at Bolton Percy today, the next photo was taken from Gentleman Jack on TV tonight!

 

[Fredo76]

The Palo Verde and Mesquite trees are flowering in Tucson now.

It was bright out! Nice day on the Rillito bike path.

 

[buzz22]

A perfect autumn day and some free time so my normal 31 km route, my Giant CFR got it's 2nd ride.
Back to my regular pace or thereabouts, 1 hr 5 mins, averaged 28.5 km/h.
I'm looking forward to improving on that a bit if this nice weather holds out.
Top speed was 62km/h and the bike felt rock solid- I can't believe I hadn't tried a carbon framed bike until now!

 

[ianbarton]

Having heard Long Hill is shut to traffic, I headed up there, two tandems taking advantage of the downhill as I powered* up, thence through Buxton to Tideswell via the back lanes. The Peak, all day long, was absolutely resplendent in the Spring sunshine:

I lived in Tideswell for several years. Great location for cycling. However, it's on top of a hill, so the final few miles back home were always something of a slog

 

[ianrauk]

My legs were still itching for rotation after yesterdays 120 mile shenanigans. So I popped out for a few Kent lanes miles with @Trickedem & @rb58 . A nice bimble to meet my partner for lunch, who was working today.
So a nice round number of 60 miles for the day. 180 miles over the two days.
Back on the cycle commute tomorrow.

 

[Spiderweb]

Fuelled by last night’s beer, a quick blast with David & Suzanne from our village.
29.59 miles with an average of 18.2 mph 🍺

 

[Dave 123]

Less than 10 miles in the murky bank holiday weather. There were lots of wildflowers to cheer me on my way!

Where did summer go?

https://www.strava.com/activities/7075816851

 

[DCLane]

This morning we went off to Southwell for the latest iteration of the Belvoir Retro Ride, which moved venue to a starting point at Southwell Garden Centre. Nice café

The move to a different starting point seemed to mean the 'expensive' retro bikes weren't as numerous, with most of the participants turning up on 1970's-1990's machines, plus a few modern ones. There were around 40 starters with son no. 2 on his Carlton Corsa fixie and me on my Harry Quinn (centre of photo next to the organiser )

A nice 27-mile ride around various mostly traffic-free lanes: https://www.strava.com/activities/7075008753

 

[ColinJ]

I decided to see if I could give myself two useable gears so I pulled the broken cable through and used it to draw the derailleur into the middle of the cassette and tied it off onto a bottle cage. This gave me two gears adjusted using the front derailleur. It worked pretty well, I just adjusted it again to get up the relatively steep hill of Harris End but after that was on flattish territory.

It sounds like a nice ride, but...


... I have a rather nightmarish memory of riding a bike bodged like that!