Your ride today....

[cyberknight]

went for a club ride and i was down for the faster group but the leader had planned a long ride which in itself wasn't a problem but i wanted to be back home earlier than that ride would have let me as it would have been over 70 miles door to door so the only other option was a slower paced group .
Went with them and even after a couple of miles i realized i had made a mistake as they were that slow it was hard to ride so slow and my hands and feet were suffering with the cold as i wasn't riding hard enough to keep warm so i let them know i was turning off .
13 miles in total and i made the right choice as my feet were so cold i have been back 30 mins and they are only just getting feeling back .

 

[Andy in Germany]

Yesterdays ride with the Xtracycle to visit family. This mostly involves me and the Xtracycle siting on trains, but it's handy to have it for the few kilometres between station and apartment at each end.

Xtracycle being used because Beautiful Daughter's birthday present was being carried as well. There are advantages to working in a bike shop...

On this subject, I'm considering taking my wheel jig back with me...

 

[Spiderweb]

Out on the Dolan this morning with David, Andrea & Fiona for a steady ride out to Birkin cafe. A bit nippy out. 28 miles with a 16 mph average.
No photos taken so a pic of my dog in hat instead.

 

[Mike_P]

Saturday and a rare sighting of the sun, thickest bib longs on and, after a fight with the overshoes, headed out on the Defy for a lumpy ride starting out westward up Penny Pot. The wind must have been stronger than it seemed as all the wind turbines were active.
The crossing of the A59 whilst heading north on the B6451 took some time; when a gap appeared in one direction their was a constant flow in the other.
A peleton headed east as I went went west on Menwith Hill Road and two more cyclists were climbing Day Lane as I descended to the north – that was cold but soon countered by the upwards stretches of Diary Lane to Dacre where I took a snack break looking at dark clouds to the north.
A few spots of rain occurred as I descended to Dacre Banks, not as cold, up the short steep bank into Summerbridge, once again not really living up to its name, and adjacent to the north west on the B6165 the second word ABC of New York encased in the stone work of a very enclosed from the weather bus stop shelter.

Back through Summerbridge and along the B6165 to another second word Y, Burnt Yates which I had previously used for the 4th letter ABC. Another snack break, where a concerned local enquired if I was warm enough – expained the longs were suitable for sub zero temperatures.
Down the bank through Bedlam to Ripley and home via the A61 to Killinghall B6161 and a fast downgrade stretch of the A59.
22.82 miles 1677ft climbed @ 12.4mph avg

 

[ianrauk]

Another month, another 100 miler. Another year and another gold star.
Out the door at silly o'clock 6am to dark, drizzly, cold weather. I did a variation of last weeks route down to Ashford in Kent to a the cafe utilised by the Friday Night Ride in September. A real gem of a place. A full veggie English and a decaf latte. Thats me living on the edge.
The route is one I can literally do with my eyes shut I have done it so many times. So it was an easy enough ride, despite the drizzle and cold. The drizzle only lasted half an hour, but the cold stayed cold for the whole ride. There was no need to rush so I just plodded along, staying just on the warm side of cold.
So, scores on the doors.
100.01 miles for the day.
Imperial century #16 for the year
Imperial century month #145 in a row
Imperial century #320 over all
And gold star number 12.

 

[chriswoody]

A typical December day in Northern Germany, temperatures of zero degrees and steel grey skies, I wrapped up and headed out on the Kona. Time was short, so I headed west through the forest, hugging the banks of the river.

The air was numbingly cold and it took a while to warm up, there were no other cyclists around, but a few hardy souls were having a pre lunch stroll. After a few kilometres on gravel roads, I turned off onto a small forest track that serves as a cut through, the marsh to the right is often alive with the noise of wildlife in summer, but now there's no sound to be heard. The pollarded willow hangs over the track and keeps me from straying into the boggy ground.

My attention is caught by a fungus on the nearby tree, a Red-Belted Conk, a sign of a tree in poor health, but providing a strange splash of colour in the gloom.

I ride on, first through a meandering path between the spruce, then onto wider rougher trails. At times I reflect how nice it would be to have the wide tires and suspension of my hardtail as the deeply rutted ground bucks me around.

The forest soon gives to way more native species like Oak and Birch for a while and I'm riding on a carpet of old leaves, the cold air preventing their decay for a while. Then the regimented ranks of a Spruce plantation appear, the tightly packed trunks marching off into the gloom.

Onwards and through the hamlet of Stedden, I stop at the horse paddocks under the trees for a quick break. One particular inquisitive horse comes over to say hello and see if I have some spare food.

From here I'm over the river at the water works and swing back East. The route here is much faster, the ground under my wheels is hard packed gravel and wide, I'm soon pushing along at a fair old clip and enjoying myself. Another quick break at the side of a small lake, the cold air meaning my stops are short and brief and then its back into the saddle to warm up.

As I enter the last kilometres into the forest a large wooden sign captures my attention. Deutsche Bahn are wanted to build a new high speed rail line heading North, rather than upgrading the existing line, they want to build a whole new track. The proposed route cuts through the heart of the forests here and many of my favourtite routes will be bisected by this line. Some locals who are fervently opposed to the proposed route have been erecting signs all along the proposed route as a protest and it is quite worrying to see where it will be going.

I head on towards home and the last kilometres pass easily by. I roll into the back garden after a brief, but enjoyable 22km's. Time to warm up with a hot coffee and some lebkuchen.

 

[geocycle]

Cold and raw sums it up. A cold easterly looked set to have me pinned against the west coast, if not the sofa, but needed to clear my head after an evening with friends. Elected on a tour de Staveley with a big loop around Kendal. I rashly chose an anti-clockwise route thinking it would help me unwind and ended up bearing the brunt of the wind on the way out. Cycle.travel took me on some unexplored single track roads with views westward to the south lakes hills. Lunch was in the bakery/brewery at Staveley before a return via Lyth valley in the gathering gloom. Was very glad of my lights today. 104 km or 64 miles with 1265 m of climbing.

Not good for pictures but a couple below from the hills east of Kendal.

 

[HLaB]

A bit of a 'School Boy Error ’ on today’s ride from me. I met some mates in Elton I turned up too early as usual.

From there we headed mainly off road towards a cafe in Brigstock.

I had a minor slip on a wooden bridge. I thought nothing of it really as it wasn’t even enough for any bruising etc. A few seconds later I noticed the tyre wasn’t hard. So I stopped and pumped it up and assumed tubeless had done its job. The flat tyre was maybe what had caused me to slide. However a minute later it was soft again. It was freezing, so this time I used my CO2 cannister. The bit of the core that the core cap screws into was broken (was it the fall or the CO2 🤔). I hoped it would hold but had a spare tube if it didn’t. You guessed it, it didn’t 👎With it being freezing and my mates feeling it, I swapped the tube in ASAP. All good I did another gravel sector after that then doh I realised I hadn’t closed the clutch. Then a minute later I realised my ‘School Boy Error’ I had forgotten to sweep the inside of the tyre. My two mates who had tubes only had mtb tubes and I needed a 700cc. My other two mates on 700cc gravel bikes didn’t carry a spare and a third had left 5mins earlier. I tried a Park patch but it was just too slimy for it. So I went to try another, double doh it was the last one 👎👎
I had resigned my to getting to civilisation and calling a taxi.
When I did I walked my bike to a local (Weldon) shop and asked for a taxi. They said they could call me one but after a chat with another customer advised me I would be better to try the bus which would be arriving in 5mins first before spending £70+ on a taxi. I took their advice and walked to the bus stop nearby.
As I was waiting a bloke who was in the garden opposite and who had seen me walk by twice and then stand at the bus stop asked me what was wrong. When I explained he offered to let me patch it at his place, he had a kit. When we got round the back of his and he opened his garage I seen that he had a few bikes. He then thought it would be better to offer me a tube. He didn’t know what type a 700cc was but when I explained that it was the same diameter as a road bike one he rummaged around and found one. I swapped it in and headed back on road to Oundle (I probably could have took a short cut but I reckoned it probably wasn’t advisable with a road tube in a 40mm tyre). It held fine though and just when I was approaching Fotheringhay I spotted what looked like my mates so I put in a bit of an effort to catch them. The Brigstock cafe was shut and they had stopped instead in one in Oundle. They only live just up the road in Nassington but it was good to let them know I was able to get home 👍 I also thought they’d stop in Fotheringhay for a drink, they usually do, but today all they could think about which was probably a good idea, was a warm shower 👍👍

 

[a.twiddler]

Perhaps you should have put this in the thread titled "What's so great about Presta Valves", too!

 

[Chislenko]

An easy 25 miler this morning. Pretty cold on the face but the rest of the body ok.

The weather app "lied," about the wind direction again! No cafe to report.

About a mile from home a massive truck from Slovenia had attempted to come through our village and was stuck causing a bit of a jam for those in metal boxes.

I hold my hands up, I broke the rules and cycled along the pavement to get past the blockage!

I can only assume he was looking for the Toyota plant at Deeside and his sat nav had taken him wrong. His truck was liveried "Automotive Parts. Slovenia -Veles (Wales).

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Tuesday: I had a couple of hours free in the afternoon so headed off to do one of my regular routes to Wilderley and Pulverbatch. I headed round clockwise this time so headed through Condover, Longnor and Hollyhurst to start. I was a little annoyed at a guy who gave a close pass on the short stretch of the A49, but the drivers following him all gave loads of room. I saw another cyclist coming the other way while en route to Condover but after that the only sign of other riders was tracks on the muddy road surfaces until much later in the trip. After Hollyhurst I spotted a couple of walkers setting out on a footpath across a field - it was pretty muddy and looked hard going to me.

Having reached Dudgeley the climbing starts as usual. The lane here was a bit busier than I'm used to but that still only amounts to four vehicles that I needed to pull in for. I was riding against the wind but it was so light I hardly noticed it.

I needed to pull in for a handful of vehicles on the climb to Smethcott too - one of those was a large tractor with trailer and I was really glad to find a gateway to duck into as it filled the lane from hedge to hedge.

At Smethcott I thought I'd take the lane to Picklescott - more climbing but this lane was quiet apart from a couple of walkers. At the village there is a bit more climbing before a view over the Shropshire plain and the start of my descent. I paused here to put on an extra layer and my full finger gloves, knowing that it would be cold on the descent, especially as sunset wasn't far off. I had the whole of this lane to myself and only saw a couple of vehicles on the way to Wilderley. The road has been resurfaced outside the farm which is very welcome as it had been in a pretty bad state.

Reaching Pulverbatch, I headed for Longden. This is a nice flowing descent (mostly) but in the cold air I wasn't particularly quick. I decided to stick with this road a little longer and carried on to Annscroft then turned off to climb Lyth Hill from this side and use the rough track across the top to head for home.

26.7 miles at 11.8 mph average.

Looking in the direction of Church Stretton as I make my way to Dudgeley.

Another view from the same spot.

The sun breaks through as I head towards Leebotwood.

At Picklescott the sun is about to drop behind the hills. Official sunset is still 40 minutes away at this point.

On my descent of Pease Lane.

Crossing Lyth Hill

-------------------------------------------

Yesterday: I was able to get out and do something a bit longer this time. I opted for a not too hilly regular route to Cressage and Walcot. For the first few miles I was following the same route to Condover, Ryton and Longnor, apart from a detour at Ryton to avoid a tractor that was hedgecutting - but I ran through fresh cuttings on the other road anyway. It was sunnier but a bit colder which seemed to have put off my fellow cyclists as I didn't see anyone all ride - I did see more horse riders than usual instead. Pausing at the crossroads at Longnor I thought there must be someone out as there were tyre tracks..... until I realised they were my own from the previous day.

It was a left at this junction this time, heading for Acton Burnell. Progress didn't seem especially quick with the cold air and a slight headwind. I took my usual road to Cound Moor then carried on along Shore Lane to Cressage where I found the main road unusually quiet (no complaints from me about that). It was a steady climb up through Eaton Constantine heading for Uppington. The old A5 wasn't busy either for the short section I use before descending along Bluebell Lane. After Walcot I turned for Withington and straight towards the low sun which I'd be riding into a lot of the rest of the ride.

At Berwick Wharf the road past the Attingham Estate was as busy as I'd expect it to be for the time of day but everyone behaved fine towards me. Thankfully the driver who overtook on a blind corner on the way to Cross Houses didn't meet anyone coming the other way .

The last few miles were very familiar territory to Berrington, along Lyons Lane and back to Condover, which I reached to find road closure signs being put up. I had a decent run up to the A49 (the one driver could have been a bit more polite on the way), getting back just when I'd expected as the sun set.

34.5 miles at 13.1 mph average.

Headed along Shore Lane to Cressage.

On the climb through Eaton Constantine. The light on this scene looked better in real life.

The Wrekin viewed from near Rushton.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Woke up to a little snow, so out for a play on the MTB. It's not the best area for it, but there's a few lanes that can be stitched together.

First, round the airport runway - judging by the lack of noise the inch or so of snow had shut it.

Then off around Alderley Edge. Came across a rather nasty car crash where the lane goes over the bypass - three or four cars involved including a Tesla missing a wheel.

I've got my spiked winter tyres on, so ice is no problem at all, though it turns out they're a bit sketchy on cobbles.

As I approach home on the way back, the snow is traditionally British: not much of it, and turning to slush.

43km, took me nearly three hours!

 

[geocycle]

@roubaixtuesday well done for getting out. Not been out since Wednesday and the coming week looks tricky with ice. Looks like you’ve a lot of snow and noted the airport was closed.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

@roubaixtuesday well done for getting out. Not been out since Wednesday and the coming week looks tricky with ice. Looks like you’ve a lot of snow and noted the airport was closed.

Yeah, I was very surprised they shut the airport, there really wasn't that much snow.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Yeah, I was very surprised they shut the airport, there really wasn't that much snow.

It only takes 0.001mm of snow to cause chaos anywhere south of Leeds.