Wednesday: I had an unexpected couple of hours free on a fabulous morning so decided to make the best of it. The Hawk was easy to get out and my regular Acton Burnell route was favourite to get the most miles in the time available.
It was a proper summer morning for once - warm but fresh feeling and not much in the way of wind. The morning rush was underway when I set out so the A49 was quite busy but I was lucky enough to catch a gap in the traffic and got out onto the main road with barely a pause. It was good that everyone seemed quite well behaved this time.
I met the odd vehicle on the lanes to Longnor, Acton Burnell and Cound Moor but generally it was nice and quiet and with the lack of wind the riding was quite nice and relaxed. I didn't feel like I was pushing the bike particularly hard so the average speed at the end was a pleasant surprise, especially as I decided to go for a change of route towards the end, heading from Cound to Pitchford then to Weeping Cross and Meole. I know that Pulley Lane near the end of the ride is not a road I can keep up a good average speed on.
24.6 miles at 14.3 mph average. 1229 feet of climbing. Great to get out and a nice way to start the day.
Across the playing field to Concord College.
A couple of views on the way to Harnage.
At Harnage.
-------------------------------------------------
Today: After fitting shorter 165mm cranks on the Raleigh, and liking them, I wanted to make the same modification on my Dawes Galaxy. I've had the parts for a couple of weeks or so and had the chance to fit them yesterday so got out for its first proper test today.
I'd have liked to try longer ride but thought that a repeat of Wednesday's route would be good as none of it is too far from home if anything went wrong. The bike felt pretty good from the off but after about a mile and a half I felt that the saddle could do with adjusting so paused to move it forwards a few mm. That worked and I made decent progress into a brisk headwind ( 14 gusting to 22 according to the met office) though Condover, Ryton and Longnor. Passing the school in Longnor a group was waiting to cross with a couple of teachers stood in the road - they did stand aside to let me through before the children crossed.
After the crossroads I picked up a tailwind and had a good run to Frodesley and Acton Burnell, only marred by getting held up by a couple of vehicles. The wind kept on helping to Cound Moor (got held up by a chap walking his dog - him one side of the road and the dog the other) where I enjoyed a good run along the long straight. Perhaps pushing hard at the warmest part of the day on the warmest day of the year so far wasn't the best idea and by the time I climbed to Harnage I was feeling it a bit. The descent to Cound was quite fun though. Flag of the day was the St George's Cross - unchanged from when I came through on Wednesday.
I did almost change my mind about the route at Cound Stank but a large tractor coming along the road made me decide to stick with it and head for Pitchford, Cantlop and Betton. It's quite undulating going this way but the plus side is there were some good speeds recorded on the downhill bits, particularly as I had the wind helping.
At Weeping Cross I had a long wait to join the main road and it would have been even longer if not for a polite Tesla driver who let me out ointo traffic. I picked up a headwind again at Meole Brace and it is also a climb from here to home so I lost a lot off my average speed in the last mile or so. Strava seems determined to take more off than my speedometer though, which is annoying.
24.6 miles at 15.7 mph average. 1228 feet of climbing recorded (at least
that's reasonably consistent). 36.8 mph top speed.
Nice to get out as always. The new cranks feel good and I'm looking forward to getting in some more miles with them. I'm not entirely sure I've got saddle height/reach right just yet - I'll get there though.
No photos from this one.
