Your ride today....

[gavgav]

I’d got my mate Paul to agree to come out for a ride with me, whilst we were both rather piddled at Oktoberfest in Shrewsbury at the weekend.

Only a short ride was planned, as Paul hasn’t been out on his bike for 2 months, due to injuries and a family bereavement.

The wind was still blowing, but it had calmed down a bit from early afternoon, the sun was shining and it was much warmer than I thought it was going to be. Could probably have got away with shorts.

I set off for the ride up to Paul’s, following mainly cycle paths and got to his, just before 6. We had a quick chat and then set off to Porthill, complete with a daft woman who almost wiped me out, leaving the small roundabout that crosses the Roman Rd. An inch or two isn’t enough room, particularly when you then cut across the front of a cyclist, you idiot!

We crossed Port Hill bridge and then cycled alongside the River Severn, through the Quarry. The Oktoberfest beer tents have gone already and Paul spotted someone he knew, as we approached Kingsland Bridge, which he remarked was the 3rd time he’d seen her in the last 5 days, after not seeing her for 2 years😆

It was busy in the Quarry and along the first part of the towpath section, under the English Bridge and out to Castlefields, where lots were watching the Weir. We followed the roads through the suburbs and then back onto cycle paths from Heathgates to Meole Brace, where we parted ways .

Bang on 10 miles at a leisurely chatting pace of 10.85mph avg

 

[8mph]

Widdecombe - Hameldown Tor - Natsworthy - Hameldown - Widdecombe

One of my favourite training rides. Today I cut out the road section and cycled the bridal path in both directions.

 

[DCBassman]

Widdecombe - Hameldown Tor - Natsworthy - Hameldown - Widdecombe

These are roads that cars notice are steep!

 

[wafter]

Yesterday saw yet another shakedown ride for the Fuji, complete with new bags and saddle. Still needs work but I'm crawling slowly closer to getting it sorted

Having felt a bit rough over the past few days I only popped down the farm shop to get some eggs, but having left disappointed pushed it out as it was another beautiful autumn day, and ended up doing maybe 16 miles. It was hard going but I think most of this was down to the wind and my general ropeyness..

Also spotted some particularly pointy and rugged looking cows while passing a local estate..

Today I yet again went for eggs but only managed five as apparently the chickens are pre-occupied with moulting and less concerned about providing my brunch. Literally just out and back this time as I still don't feel so hot..

As always good to get out although close-passes seem to have been particularly popular recently - considering getting a fapping loud air horn tbh

 

[Dave 123]

24 chilly and sunny miles.
For a change I headed towards Plymouth on the A379. I’m not keen on it but for a change of scenery I did.

Jennycliff was the highlight, with views over to Cornwall.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7929739175

 

[footloose crow]

These back lanes can be more dangerous than they appear

I try to avoid fast B roads and certainly fast (or slow) A roads and in fact any road with traffic. I like the roads with grass up the middle, broken tarmac in places and unexpected bends. It is the unexpected bends - the clue being in the name - that have caused me to reconsider my risk rating for these lanes. Twice today I cycled, not overly quickly, around a bend to be met with the sight of a lane wide tractor and trailer approaching at maximum warp speed. These are not the bucolic Massey Fergusons you see in adverts, small and red with a friendly farmer at the wheel chugging along slowly. These are monsters. Twenty feet tall, huge tyres and very, very big. And going very fast. I could see the tracks they left in the road as they braked. A thick smear of rubber. The smell of locked up wheels. Both times I braked, unclipped and leaned into the hedge all at once in a panic stricken automatic reaction. If I could have climbed the hedge I would have. These machines are lane wide and in Cornwall that means from one granite walled embankment to the other granite walled embankment. Still, as you have probably surmised reading this, I survived. Heart rate a little higher, less rubber on my wheels and some interesting scratches and bruises on my left arm.

This lane has an 'escape verge'!

These back lanes are quiet. In 60km of riding I saw maybe three cars, a couple of pick ups and two tractors. Its the tractors that are the problem. They just don't expect to see a cyclist. Or presumably any other form of vehicle. I spent some time gaming whether it would have been better to have hurled myself between the wheels like a stunt motorcycle in a Hollywood action film. Probably best left as a fantasy.

Apart from those near death experiences I had a lovely ride under blue skies and with no wind. It wasn't even cold. It would have been even more lovely to have had fewer hills but this is Cornwall and that is just what it is like. I had some rides in the Wessex Downs last month which was glorious- well graded uphills and sweeping downhills.

I watched the surfers at Crantock beach for a while and then retraced my outward route, cautiously listening for tractors and slowing for every blind bend which does slow you down as most bends hereabouts are a bit blind, musing on how it always looks different going back the opposite way before realising that I was in fact going back a different way and had gone wrong.

Crantock beach, near Newquay

What a lovely autumn we are having.

Good enough for a balloon ride in fact

 

[Jameshow]

Agreed not nice but you can usually hear them!!

I had one chasing me down when in idiot came the other way far to fast I was able to take to the verge like you and the idiot had rather brown seats after that encounter!🤣🤣🤣

 

[13 rider]

These back lanes can be more dangerous than they appear

I try to avoid fast B roads and certainly fast (or slow) A roads and in fact any road with traffic. I like the roads with grass up the middle, broken tarmac in places and unexpected bends. It is the unexpected bends - the clue being in the name - that have caused me to reconsider my risk rating for these lanes. Twice today I cycled, not overly quickly, around a bend to be met with the sight of a lane wide tractor and trailer approaching at maximum warp speed. These are not the bucolic Massey Fergusons you see in adverts, small and red with a friendly farmer at the wheel chugging along slowly. These are monsters. Twenty feet tall, huge tyres and very, very big. And going very fast. I could see the tracks they left in the road as they braked. A thick smear of rubber. The smell of locked up wheels. Both times I braked, unclipped and leaned into the hedge all at once in a panic stricken automatic reaction. If I could have climbed the hedge I would have. These machines are lane wide and in Cornwall that means from one granite walled embankment to the other granite walled embankment. Still, as you have probably surmised reading this, I survived. Heart rate a little higher, less rubber on my wheels and some interesting scratches and bruises on my left arm.

View attachment 663844
This lane has an 'escape verge'!

These back lanes are quiet. In 60km of riding I saw maybe three cars, a couple of pick ups and two tractors. Its the tractors that are the problem. They just don't expect to see a cyclist. Or presumably any other form of vehicle. I spent some time gaming whether it would have been better to have hurled myself between the wheels like a stunt motorcycle in a Hollywood action film. Probably best left as a fantasy.

Apart from those near death experiences I had a lovely ride under blue skies and with no wind. It wasn't even cold. It would have been even more lovely to have had fewer hills but this is Cornwall and that is just what it is like. I had some rides in the Wessex Downs last month which was glorious- well graded uphills and sweeping downhills.

I watched the surfers at Crantock beach for a while and then retraced my outward route, cautiously listening for tractors and slowing for every blind bend which does slow you down as most bends hereabouts are a bit blind, musing on how it always looks different going back the opposite way before realising that I was in fact going back a different way and had gone wrong.

View attachment 663843
Crantock beach, near Newquay

What a lovely autumn we are having.

View attachment 663842

View attachment 663841
Good enough for a balloon ride in fact

View attachment 663840

Glad you survived the lanes
Did you pop into the Bowgie for a quick one to steady your nerves . Never tire of the view ,mine you the food and pub in general is not what it was

 

[footloose crow]

Glad you survived the lanes
Did you pop into the Bowgie for a quick one to steady your nerves . Never tire of the view ,mine you the food and pub in general is not what it was

I didn't pop in. The clientele were rather well dressed and I was also on my own. Doubly conspicuous, so I gave in to social anxiety and went home! Not a surfers hangout anymore.

 

[gavgav]

I awoke to a stunning sunny morning, without a cloud in the sky and so made the most of it to get my Half Century Challenge ride bagged for the month. It was chilly out, to begin with, so a base layer was dug out of the draw for the first time since the Spring.

I left the house at 8am and was surprised at how much traffic was already on the road, this busy a rush hour for a Saturday morning was unusual.

I headed to Betton Abbots and Berrington, then Atcham, Upton Magna and up the climbs via East Haughmond and Ebury Hill, to Bings Heath.

Next was the lane to Poynton, with one loon flying along the lane and not intending on slowing down at all, then onto Roden and Rodington.

I encountered a lady riding a horse and taking another for a walk alongside, on the road to Longden on Tern, with a friendly greeting from her and then had a short section on the main road, before joining the lane to Isombridge and Walcot. There has been a lot of rain in Shropshire this week, so it was very muddy, wet and indeed flooded in places along there, as it’s prone to it.

I’d turned into the wind now and so it was a slow plod to Withington and back to Upton Magna, where I turned and joined the lane to Uffington. I overtook another cyclist on the short section to the old canal path, complete with a fag in her hand smoking away as she rode.

The old canal path was a little tricky with wet leaf mulch, but the air was now warming up and I could have done without the base layer really.

I crossed Sundorne Rd and went up to Whitchurch Rd, following the cycle paths to Heathgates and then down to Reabrook and Meole Brace.

I arrived home with 33.98 miles on the clock, at 12.1mph avg speed.

Thoroughly enjoyed that

 

[geocycle]

Unusual ride for me. I normally head north to the lakes, north east to the Dales or south east to Bowland. Today I decided to head Into the unexplored quadrant of the Fylde, where gradients are rare but winds usually uphill. Out into the wind through Scorton and Garstang then along roads known only to Cycle.travel before emerging out onto the Ribble estuary at Lytham. Lytham is one of those places that has drawn the wealth from the surrounding towns into a graceful and comfortable retirement. Just off the high street is Apex cycleworks, a lovely place with a cafe which does a fine line in flat whites and avocado toast. Powered by strong coffee and a strong wind I got home in very good time. 111 km or 69 miles with just 622m of climbing. A good chunk of the climbing was immediately after leaving home on discovering that I’d left my water bottle at home And had to repeat the hill!

picture is of the Ribble Estuary.

 

[bluenotebob]

Another sunny October day – and another gentle ride up and down the V3 Voie Verte. I stopped short of the Nantes-to-Brest canal today .. lots of cyclists, joggers and dog-walkers out on the Voie Verte (I reckon I said “bonjour” about 400 times) and it would have been heaving on the canal towpath… so I turned round at l'Hôpital Bézon. 53km in a shade over 3 hours.

A couple cycling on the Voie Verte near l'Hôpital Bézon (no sign of any autumn colours yet)

The Voie Verte near Kermagero

A butterfly enjoying the sunshine

 

[Jameshow]

Over to Hebden bridge as promised. Very windy on way up col du oxenhope. And a pedal down to HB. Chance meeting with an old friend in oxenhope. Coffee in HB.

 

[cyberknight]

65 miles in total to the kabin at tywcross, just one other rider an he had already done a ride yesterday so i pulled all the way and he bought at the cake stop as a thankyou

 

[wafter]

Today marked the first proper shopping trip on the Fuji and probably my longest utility ride 😊


I'd convinced myself that I needed salad for tomorrow's packed lunch and that in the local Co-Op has usually tuned to soup before the best-before date, so off to the "local" Sainsbury's I went.

While an undoubtedly mundane task for the more seasoned utility riders amongst us, this was largely uncharted territory for me.

The ride out was fantastic - warm sun and the significant wind at my back. Upon arrival I remembered I'd forgotten the cable for the lock so had to make do with the D-lock alone; which I'd stuck in one of the pannier bags.

It was novel to not have to remove my rucksack to get out the lock, being on-balance less hassle to get it out of the pannier bag (one clip, shoulder strap out of its retainer and unfurl the bag). However it would have been quicker still had the lock been mounted on the bike - the most appropriate way it seems being to lash it flat to the top of the rack.. so I'd say that's something to look at "moving forward" (were I a middle-management-jargon-dickhead).

Into the shop and I followed one of my mother's unusually practical suggestions of slinging the bags in a trolley to avoid having to carry everything. This worked nicely, however having just got off the bike the trolley handled like a hippo on rollerskates with chronic understeer. Being a single, frequent shopper I've not used a trolley for a while and can't say it was a great experience; although probably still better than having to carry everything.

I was relieved to make it to the opposite end of the shop where I could see my bike still lashed to the bike rack through the window, but the queue for the staffed till in this area was huge so I bid it farewell and hurried back towards the self-checkout area. Once scanned and paid for everything was loaded into the bags whilst still in the trolley, then it was out to the bike, bags and computer back on, lock off and away I went.

While the bike is no super-expensive, high-end offering the trip was still laced with anxiety that it'd get nicked.. personally I think Sainsbury's should install CCTV at the bike racks and live-stream it to monitors around the store - surely something that all customers would welcome...?

All-up I'd got an additional 8-ish kg on the back (2kg of bags, 6kg of essential sustainance including vodka and ice cream) but other than feeling a bit more damped over bumps the bike felt much the same to ride.

As expected more toil was had on the way back; riding loaded against the wind and with an absence of sun for a lot of it.. but it was fine.

I did stop en-route to check out a free Raleigh MTB in one of the estates - it was a late one and I thought it could have been something interesting like an M-Trax, however on closer inspection it turned out to be a somewhat tatty example of a fairly basic-spec bike - Altus components and a silly, you-want-it-because-you're-thirteen name like "Exasperator" or similar. If anyone in North Oxfordshire is bothered drop me a PM and I'll tell you where it is

All in all a great ride - everyone I met was sound (perhaps manifesting a subconscious gratitude that the weather's still tolerable / actually bloody fantastic) while I feel smug on so many levels - for just getting out, for using the bike for a practical task / that used as the excuse to buy it in the first place, and for and not using the car; saving a little wear, a little pollution and about three quid in fuel (which paid for the ice cream 😄 ).

18.5 very practical and pleasant miles at 13mph and 139bpm for around 950kcal burnt