The_Weekend_Report_Guy
Pablo's Cycling Tours
- Location
- Coín, Málaga
I didn't ride (yet) today... But we walked to school with my youngest son... is like 1 mile. Or maybe I should say we hiked to school?
Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Ha ha - I had the same thing happen to me on Corfu. I found a perfect new road and started riding down it to see where it went. Round a bend it went, and then it reverted to mud and olive trees!
I could not find a decent map of the island. A shopkeeper was trying to sell me a copy of the same crappy map that I already owned. There was a problem with the language barrier - I do not speak Greek and his English was dodgy. He said "What wrong with map?". We were in an ancient village with an ancient road passing through it. I stabbed my finger at the appropriate spot on the map which just showed a blob of green - "Where is the road and where is the village?" He pointed up and down the road!
Crandoggler
Senior Member
Braved the cold and wet roads this morning. Was greeted by a lovely bit of morning sun, which warmed the cockles when I was in it long enough.
Other than that, it was bloody freezing and my cotton t shirt did wonders as a poor excuse for a proper base layer.
Must buy arm warmers from Aldi on Friday.
https://www.strava.com/activities/398361375
Other than that, it was bloody freezing and my cotton t shirt did wonders as a poor excuse for a proper base layer.
Must buy arm warmers from Aldi on Friday.
https://www.strava.com/activities/398361375
I could not believe it at all! From a point on the main road above Trachypedoulou, I noticed a good quality road in the distance and dropping down in the direction of the towns of Nata and Choletria that I was headed towards. I rode over to the top of this new road and it had a large tourist sign at the junction indicating it was indeed linked to the towns below so with little in the way of uncertainty, I rode down this very good quality road with a central white line and white line edges. I was very happy to not encounter another vehicle of any sort so thought I've got this all to myself. After a distance of almost four miles and a drop of 1,100 feet, the road abruptly stopped with no warning at all! So back up the 1,100 feet and four miles back to the sign I wished I taken more caution when I encountered.Ha ha - I had the same thing happen to me on Corfu. I found a perfect new road and started riding down it to see where it went. Round a bend it went, and then it reverted to mud and olive trees!
I could not find a decent map of the island. A shopkeeper was trying to sell me a copy of the same crappy map that I already owned. There was a problem with the language barrier - I do not speak Greek and his English was dodgy. He said "What wrong with map?". We were in an ancient village with an ancient road passing through it. I stabbed my finger at the appropriate spot on the map which just showed a blob of green - "Where is the road and where is the village?" He pointed up and down the road!
mooseracer
Guru
- Location
- Nr Bristol
No rain today. Just a very strong wind. Headed out with an 80 miler in mind with the possibility of extending it to a century. That wind and a puncture at 65 miles put paid to thoughts of a 100 so ended up with 80 miles for the day.
Easily my longest, and hilliest ride since doing my hip in Feb. Happy.
https://www.strava.com/activities/398526607/
Easily my longest, and hilliest ride since doing my hip in Feb. Happy.
https://www.strava.com/activities/398526607/
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Good stuff everyone ^^^^
Got out for 17.97 miles at 13.23 mph av' (slow) and 1322' ascent with max' grade of 15.2% (*loody steep as far as I'm concerned).
Head was good, lungs were good and legs came good after about 5 miles.
Re slow av' speed. I decided to follow a bridleway for about 2/3rds mile. This was STUPID! Started out as nice and gravelly and off I whizzed. It then turned wet and grassy - cue some minor wheel spinning. And then...splosh; 8-9" of soft sticky mud for about 100 yards. Had to get off and walk/push bike - bike now looks like it has been standing next to a cow with diarrhea, my shoes are looking disgusting and my Winter Longs needed their session in the washing machine! That's why I was a bit slower than usual and I like a good excuse anyway.
Wore my jacket today for first time in ages and I was too hot - this probably slowed me down too. And it was windy on the inbound route etc etc. Best shut up now.
Didn't see any roadkill or interesting fauna apart from a lovely lady jogger.
I did have to avoid a lot of thorny hedge trimmings on the lanes as the farmers have been 'cutting back' a lot in the last week. Thinking about it, that might have slowed me up too.
RWGPS ups & downs and not much flats thing:
Got out for 17.97 miles at 13.23 mph av' (slow) and 1322' ascent with max' grade of 15.2% (*loody steep as far as I'm concerned).
Head was good, lungs were good and legs came good after about 5 miles.
Re slow av' speed. I decided to follow a bridleway for about 2/3rds mile. This was STUPID! Started out as nice and gravelly and off I whizzed. It then turned wet and grassy - cue some minor wheel spinning. And then...splosh; 8-9" of soft sticky mud for about 100 yards. Had to get off and walk/push bike - bike now looks like it has been standing next to a cow with diarrhea, my shoes are looking disgusting and my Winter Longs needed their session in the washing machine! That's why I was a bit slower than usual and I like a good excuse anyway.
Wore my jacket today for first time in ages and I was too hot - this probably slowed me down too. And it was windy on the inbound route etc etc. Best shut up now.
Didn't see any roadkill or interesting fauna apart from a lovely lady jogger.
I did have to avoid a lot of thorny hedge trimmings on the lanes as the farmers have been 'cutting back' a lot in the last week. Thinking about it, that might have slowed me up too.
RWGPS ups & downs and not much flats thing:
Last day off work so headed north towards Fountains Abbey, this time following NCN67 from the crossroads north of Ripley, basically to find some shelter from the wind, and came across a not that common road sign
So then joined NCN688 in the correct NCN route manner, before reaching Fountains there is the climb pass How Hill Tower
http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=7241 for more details
The last time I entered the deer park the gate was held open by a National Trust employee so I did not see the signs on it - obviously not doubt we are on the Way of the Roses.
My previous photo of St Marys Church came out with the tower leaning which I thought was the fault of the curved waterproof case to the Lidl Sportcam, however the Go-Pro equally makes the tower appear to lean. Must be something to do with the curved route pass the Church. Anyway to prove its straight heres a photo looking west along the Avenue through the Park
and in the other direction the East Gate with Ripon Cathedral clearly visible
Then headed through Ripon, Skelton, Boroughbridge and down the A168 (old A1) before passing through various villages to reach Knaresborough with only a short use of the busy A59. No photos as the Go Pros battery gave up and nothing seemed to demand stopping to use the phones camera,
So then joined NCN688 in the correct NCN route manner, before reaching Fountains there is the climb pass How Hill Tower
http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=7241 for more details
The last time I entered the deer park the gate was held open by a National Trust employee so I did not see the signs on it - obviously not doubt we are on the Way of the Roses.
My previous photo of St Marys Church came out with the tower leaning which I thought was the fault of the curved waterproof case to the Lidl Sportcam, however the Go-Pro equally makes the tower appear to lean. Must be something to do with the curved route pass the Church. Anyway to prove its straight heres a photo looking west along the Avenue through the Park
and in the other direction the East Gate with Ripon Cathedral clearly visible
Then headed through Ripon, Skelton, Boroughbridge and down the A168 (old A1) before passing through various villages to reach Knaresborough with only a short use of the busy A59. No photos as the Go Pros battery gave up and nothing seemed to demand stopping to use the phones camera,
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- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
^^^^ Still looks a bit curved to the right to me.
Poacher
Gravitationally challenged member
- Location
- Nottingham
I nearly started a new thread for this one - "In Praise of Roadside Fruit Trees", but didn't want to fall foul of the new sport of OP bashing, so I'll hide in this thread instead.
It's that time of year again when wayside apple trees start to relinquish their bounty, so I decided to drag out the tourer and fill my panniers. One of the better local trees fell victim to a road improvement project just past Burton Joyce, and has been reduced to a 6" stump, so I mourned it in passing and pressed on. Last year I found a tree by the side of the A6097 in Lowdham which produced small fruit with white flesh containing concentric red rings. I thought it was this one, but I was wrong.
These apples were maybe not yet ripe, as there were no windfalls. Anyway, they were small and hard, but I took four to try. Crisp and refreshing they were, but nothing to write home about, so I'll write here instead. Alongside this tree were about half a dozen small plum trees. The plums were small, but very ripe and absolutely delicious, which is unusual for wildies, and a damson sight tastier than damsons - anyone who has sampled the plums just over the bridge from Dove Cottage near Harby will know just how sour wild plums can be! I'll need to return with a rigid container, as the handful I bagged up didn't fare too well on the ride.
Next stop, Thurgarton. I spotted some windfalls in the gutter, but couldn't see an apple tree, until I realised that they had rolled across the road from an orchard. I don't pick cultivated ones, even if they're outside a property boundary, so onwards and upwards. Just past the village was a productive tree, but again, no windfalls, so this was noted for a visit in a few weeks.
Just past Brackenhurst College, a distant view of Southwell.....
... home of the rightly famous Bramley apple - they don't normally grow quite this big.
A couple of miles or so past Southwell is Upton, immortalised by Billy Joel's "Upton Girl".
These are several trees on the diminutive village green bearing some of the best dual-purpose apples I know - if someone told me they were a cross between Bramley and Cox's Orange Pippin I wouldn't be surprised. Since I feel weirdly guilty picking apples from the tree, I filled one pannier with windfalls. With such a glut I can stand some wastage from bruising, and the garden birds and butterflies (especially Commas) benefit from the spoils. A few winters ago we had five species of thrush eating apples on the snow at one time - Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare and Redwing.
Retraced my route to Southwell and turned off the main road to pass the racecourse (nearer Rolleston than Southwell), as I'd noticed a likely tree when attending an antiques fair at the end of August. Nearly filled the other pannier with windfalls from here, as they looked so good. Having eaten one since I got back, they're even better than they look, firm creamy yellow flesh, not as crisp as a Cox's, but certainly not woolly textured as some commercial fruit can be, aromatic scent, suggestive of some other kind of fruit that I can't currently put a name to, and definitely moreish.
Another productive tree at Bleasby yielded three more windfalls for later sampling. The return journey with laden panniers and into a stiff headwind was much slower than the outward run, so I was pleased to arrive back just in time for the disappointingly one-sided Japan Scotland game.
Here are samples of my haul: from L-R, Upton, Rolleston, Bleasby. The capstone is 17" square, for comparison.
A satisfying short(ish) ride spoilt only by a couple of absolutely insane overtakes.
It's that time of year again when wayside apple trees start to relinquish their bounty, so I decided to drag out the tourer and fill my panniers. One of the better local trees fell victim to a road improvement project just past Burton Joyce, and has been reduced to a 6" stump, so I mourned it in passing and pressed on. Last year I found a tree by the side of the A6097 in Lowdham which produced small fruit with white flesh containing concentric red rings. I thought it was this one, but I was wrong.
These apples were maybe not yet ripe, as there were no windfalls. Anyway, they were small and hard, but I took four to try. Crisp and refreshing they were, but nothing to write home about, so I'll write here instead. Alongside this tree were about half a dozen small plum trees. The plums were small, but very ripe and absolutely delicious, which is unusual for wildies, and a damson sight tastier than damsons - anyone who has sampled the plums just over the bridge from Dove Cottage near Harby will know just how sour wild plums can be! I'll need to return with a rigid container, as the handful I bagged up didn't fare too well on the ride.
Next stop, Thurgarton. I spotted some windfalls in the gutter, but couldn't see an apple tree, until I realised that they had rolled across the road from an orchard. I don't pick cultivated ones, even if they're outside a property boundary, so onwards and upwards. Just past the village was a productive tree, but again, no windfalls, so this was noted for a visit in a few weeks.
Just past Brackenhurst College, a distant view of Southwell.....
... home of the rightly famous Bramley apple - they don't normally grow quite this big.
A couple of miles or so past Southwell is Upton, immortalised by Billy Joel's "Upton Girl".
These are several trees on the diminutive village green bearing some of the best dual-purpose apples I know - if someone told me they were a cross between Bramley and Cox's Orange Pippin I wouldn't be surprised. Since I feel weirdly guilty picking apples from the tree, I filled one pannier with windfalls. With such a glut I can stand some wastage from bruising, and the garden birds and butterflies (especially Commas) benefit from the spoils. A few winters ago we had five species of thrush eating apples on the snow at one time - Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare and Redwing.
Retraced my route to Southwell and turned off the main road to pass the racecourse (nearer Rolleston than Southwell), as I'd noticed a likely tree when attending an antiques fair at the end of August. Nearly filled the other pannier with windfalls from here, as they looked so good. Having eaten one since I got back, they're even better than they look, firm creamy yellow flesh, not as crisp as a Cox's, but certainly not woolly textured as some commercial fruit can be, aromatic scent, suggestive of some other kind of fruit that I can't currently put a name to, and definitely moreish.
Another productive tree at Bleasby yielded three more windfalls for later sampling. The return journey with laden panniers and into a stiff headwind was much slower than the outward run, so I was pleased to arrive back just in time for the disappointingly one-sided Japan Scotland game.
Here are samples of my haul: from L-R, Upton, Rolleston, Bleasby. The capstone is 17" square, for comparison.
A satisfying short(ish) ride spoilt only by a couple of absolutely insane overtakes.
The_Weekend_Report_Guy
Pablo's Cycling Tours
- Location
- Coín, Málaga
My ride today looked like this...
On the bright side I got on the bike... Yeeey..!
On the bright side I got on the bike... Yeeey..!
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
7.2 miles my ride this day, on the Trek 7200.
84F
29C
Winds vrbl 3
24% relative humidity
Sunny, with lots of old guys on bikes(including me) out and about, watching the start of the corn harvest.
84F
29C
Winds vrbl 3
24% relative humidity
Sunny, with lots of old guys on bikes(including me) out and about, watching the start of the corn harvest.
After yesterdays pedal/paddle, the sun was shining this morning, and little breeze initially but with a bit of a chill in the air, a mate called round at 09:00 so we could ride to Kettering to meet another couple of friends for a 25 mile loupe that they'd ridden a while ago. Before we set off though, the kettle was on.
I said it'd take us 45 minutes to get to our meet, and, with astounding accuracy, 45 minutes 30 seconds later, we were there!! I love it when a plan comes together
After a chat for a while, the four of us set off on our circuit. With a bit of a change of route at Boughton, as the old route is a bit flat uninteresting, we rode one of my favourite bits of road in the area. Steep downhills followed by some testing uphill stretches. Once past those, we picked up a 'Quiet Lane', so they say.. First bend, a DPD delivery van. Just after that, a 7.5 tonner, fortunately on a slightly wider section. Then several farm vehicles. We must have hit Quiet Rush Hour. Happily, all the drivers slowed down and gave us room to pass safely, and were thanked with a cheery wave!
A quieter part of the 'Quiet Lane' from Loddington to Orton.
We did try to find a cuppa in Brixworth at about 28 miles, but to no avail. We didn't want to go into the village to the Breadline as it was near to lunchtime and it gets too busy from the locals. Shame really, as their toasted brie and cranberry panini is bloody lovely! Never mind.. We didn't have too far to ride back to Kettering before getting a coffee.
Edit: Just after we'd crossed the A43, I spotted an old mate of mine with his bike in the back of his car. Obviously I hurled some friendly abuse at him that he should be riding it, not driving it!. I reckon a single finger was a poor response to be honest!
Two of the chaps were driving home, but us two rode the 12 miles, with a bit of a headwind by this time, back to my house were more tea and coffee was imbibed.
After a chat for 15 or 20 minutes, he tootled of home and I wiped the bike down and locked it away for another day.
A really enjoyable 51 mile Autumn Equinox ride, still wearing bare legs and arms, though I did have a jacket just in case..
https://www.strava.com/activities/398471235
I said it'd take us 45 minutes to get to our meet, and, with astounding accuracy, 45 minutes 30 seconds later, we were there!! I love it when a plan comes together
After a chat for a while, the four of us set off on our circuit. With a bit of a change of route at Boughton, as the old route is a bit flat uninteresting, we rode one of my favourite bits of road in the area. Steep downhills followed by some testing uphill stretches. Once past those, we picked up a 'Quiet Lane', so they say.. First bend, a DPD delivery van. Just after that, a 7.5 tonner, fortunately on a slightly wider section. Then several farm vehicles. We must have hit Quiet Rush Hour
. Happily, all the drivers slowed down and gave us room to pass safely, and were thanked with a cheery wave!A quieter part of the 'Quiet Lane' from Loddington to Orton.
We did try to find a cuppa in Brixworth at about 28 miles, but to no avail. We didn't want to go into the village to the Breadline as it was near to lunchtime and it gets too busy from the locals. Shame really, as their toasted brie and cranberry panini is bloody lovely! Never mind.. We didn't have too far to ride back to Kettering before getting a coffee.
Edit: Just after we'd crossed the A43, I spotted an old mate of mine with his bike in the back of his car. Obviously I hurled some friendly abuse at him that he should be riding it, not driving it!
. I reckon a single finger was a poor response to be honest!Two of the chaps were driving home, but us two rode the 12 miles, with a bit of a headwind by this time, back to my house were more tea and coffee was imbibed.
After a chat for 15 or 20 minutes, he tootled of home and I wiped the bike down and locked it away for another day.
A really enjoyable 51 mile Autumn Equinox ride, still wearing bare legs and arms, though I did have a jacket just in case..
https://www.strava.com/activities/398471235
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The_Weekend_Report_Guy
Pablo's Cycling Tours
- Location
- Coín, Málaga
From this morning..
Fall is on the air... Or should I say ground?
Fall is on the air... Or should I say ground?
