Your ride today....

[Sbudge]

"And I was only stuck in an isolated, scattered shower for 16 miles"

Clearly it was isolated to you! To quote the late Douglas Adams (again) "All the clouds knew was that they loved him and wanted to be near him, to cherish him, and to water him"

 

[Turdus philomelos]

Just back from holiday and uploaded my Garmin data. Am fair chuffed I bet my BP. No bad for an old bird

 

[ianrauk]

The BBC weather lady said we would be unlucky to catch any rain today. yeah thanks for the hex....
I was out of the door at 7.45am this morning to cycle the 25 miles to Aylesford to meet @Trickedem , we had plans to visit the newish cycle friendly pub, The Freewheel in Graveney.

Getting out the door, the temperatures were in double figures, so not so bad for this time of year. An hour in, the first specks of rain started falling.. just specks, nothing to heavy. And as it wasn't cold, it wasn't bothersome. The rain stopped after a few minutes, then started again, then stopped, then started. Yeah, very good fun weather Gods.. now clear off with the wet stuff will ya. It worked. The last few miles to Aylesham were dry.

I was a little early so decided to have a nose around this very pretty village.

#

Tim arrived and we were off. We usually follow the rolling Kent hills of the Pilgrims way to Faversham but Tim had a devious plan to do the rolling Kent hills via the main roads type ride. And it started to rain again, and it got heavier, and we got wet, and we got mucky, and our toes got cold. But we carried on, it wasn't too disheartening. After the 7 hours of torrential stair rods Tim and myself experienced in France a few weeks ago, a bit of Brit drizzle was just a very minor annoyance.

Arriving at Lenham Tim took a small diversion to have a look at the cemetery there.

All the poor souls in the pic above we killed by a single V1 flying bomb in 1944. About 40 men in all. The majority in their early/mid 20's. All from the same Army regiment. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The same regiment that Tim was part of many years later during his stint with the forces.

Cracking on with the ride, the rain was still tormenting us and it was getting a little heavier. It now wasn't far to the pub. As we were approaching Faversham, Lordy be.. the sun was coming out. You could feel it's warmth. By the time we got to the pub, it was full blown blue skies and sunshine.

The Freewheel, as I mentioned previous is a pub dedicated to the Cycle arts. And it was packed. I over heard that bar maid say that 3 club rides had turned up at the same time. It was very busy.

We could see that it was far too busy to even think about ordering some food. So we settled for a pint of local ale instead. A very fine drop it was too.

Suitably refreshed, we still needed to eat so we made our way to Faversham to the Swan Cafe. Burgers, chips and a mug of tea really hit the spot.
Suitably sated, we decided to follow the Friday Night Ride Whitstable route, but in reverse. By this time the weather had turned most favourable. The sun and the mild temperatures soon helped dry the roads and help speed up our progress. Back at Rochester I said cheerio to Tim and sped cross country via more rolling Kent hills back to home.

So. 111 miles for the day (including a few bonus future Eddington miles). And a lovely day's cycling it was too. Despite the wet weather.
Century # 28 for the year, 162 over all.
Marvelous.

 

[Sbudge]

The BBC weather lady said we would be unlucky to catch any rain today. yeah thanks for the hex....
I was out of the door at 7.45am this morning to cycle the 25 miles to Aylesford to meet @Trickedem , we had plans to visit the newish cycle friendly pub, The Freewheel in Graveney.

Getting out the door, the temperatures were in double figures, so not so bad for this time of year. An hour in, the first specks of rain started falling.. just specks, nothing to heavy. And as it wasn't cold, it wasn't bothersome. The rain stopped after a few minutes, then started again, then stopped, then started. Yeah, very good fun weather Gods.. now clear off with the wet stuff will ya. It worked. The last few miles to Aylesham were dry.

I was a little early so decided to have a nose around this very pretty village.
View attachment 107325

View attachment 107328


View attachment 107329 #

Tim arrived and we were off. We usually follow the rolling Kent hills of the Pilgrims way to Faversham but Tim had a devious plan to do the rolling Kent hills via the main roads type ride. And it started to rain again, and it got heavier, and we got wet, and we got mucky, and our toes got cold. But we carried on, it wasn't too disheartening. After the 7 hours of torrential stair rods Tim and myself experienced in France a few weeks ago, a bit of Brit drizzle was just a very minor annoyance.

Arriving at Lenham Tim took a small diversion to have a look at the cemetery there.
View attachment 107332

All the poor souls in the pic above we killed by a single V1 flying bomb in 1944. About 40 men in all. The majority in their early/mid 20's. All from the same Army regiment. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The same regiment that Tim was part of many years later during his stint with the forces.

Cracking on with the ride, the rain was still tormenting us and it was getting a little heavier. It now wasn't far to the pub. As we were approaching Faversham, Lordy be.. the sun was coming out. You could feel it's warmth. By the time we got to the pub, it was full blown blue skies and sunshine.

The Freewheel, as I mentioned previous is a pub dedicated to the Cycle arts. And it was packed. I over heard that bar maid say that 3 club rides had turned up at the same time. It was very busy.

We could see that it was far too busy to even think about ordering some food. So we settled for a pint of local ale instead. A very fine drop it was too.
View attachment 107334


Suitably refreshed, we still needed to eat so we made our way to Faversham to the Swan Cafe. Burgers, chips and a mug of tea really hit the spot.
Suitably sated, we decided to follow the Friday Night Ride Whitstable route, but in reverse. By this time the weather had turned most favourable. The sun and the mild temperatures soon helped dry the roads and help speed up our progress. Back at Rochester I said cheerio to Tim and sped cross country via more rolling Kent hills back to home.

So. 111 miles for the day (including a few bonus future Eddington miles). And a lovely day's cycling it was too. Despite the wet weather.
Century # 128 for the year, 162 over all.
Marvelous.

View attachment 107335

Looks like a real peach of a ride. Looking at those pictures I wish I could:-
a) Ride that far easily
b) Drink beer!

 

[ianrauk]

Looks like a real peach of a ride. Looking at those pictures I wish I could:-
a) Ride that far easily
b) Drink beer!

Drinking beer is the easy part

 

[Sbudge]

Drinking beer is the easy part

I wish, all the men in my family have a genetic 'curse' which stops us being able to enjoy anything alcoholic...it's very very annoying. Some bizarre enzyme in our saliva that makes anything more than a couple of sips taste like vinegar.

 

[Postmanhat]

Rode a lumpy 22 miles out to watch the second half of the Matlock CC hill climb up Bank Road. It's a double header with the first part being up the Riber Road. That's the hill looming on the left in the first photo

Not long to go mate! About a 100 yards from the finish

It's only several hundred yards, but averages about 14-15%

A lady after my own heart. Remain seated at all times

This lad danced up like it was a roadbridge. Barely looked out of breath. Could have gone a lot quicker

Most left everything on the road though

Was exhausted after watching all that so went the 18 miles straight back to Derby. Was amazed and surprised to find I'd averaged 17.3 for it, easily a PR for that sort of distance. Best of all, was the first outing for my merino base layer (Endura BaaBaa as you ask). Wonderful stuff. Will be asking for Merino everything for Christmas

 

[Mike_P]

Relentless drizzle this morning so got distracted by resolving rotting bathroom furniture (Amazon - plastic so it cannot rot) and Argos (MDF so a can of varnish bought in probably a vain attempt to make it last some length of time). As a result it was almost 4pm before the bike exited the shed. Decided on what in the summer would be a evening ride, 16.6 miles, and managed a PR on the (13.2% max) climb past the Sun Inn at Norwood...

although my average of 11.1mph is somewhat below the KOMs 26.6mph. Its the climb after the first decent on the elevation chart below

 

[Gravity Aided]

About one mile on the Raleigh Sports today, as I had to use it to go through police lines after an incident after first mass at church led to the street being closed. A man came down the street about 70 miles per hour in his conversion van, and crashed through several trees, power poles, and yards before coming to a rest against steel I-beams supporting the steps to the choir loft of our church after going through 2 courses of stone. All of this about ten minutes after mass, so we were in another part of the church looking at slides of Tanzania. I took photographs of the damage, as well as cleaned the debris field from the driveway, as others were otherwise engaged in trying to hold a church service and luncheon(without electric lights,but power to kitchen) so I rode from a few blocks over with a big old broom on my Raleigh, doing what this bicycle does best. Truly miraculous no one was seriously hurt in the church, no idea about the fellow in the van, as police don't tell you these things based on your authority as a cyclist .
54F
Winds W8
relative humidity 37%
30.54 barometer
Sunny

 

[galaxy]

Ride to work today., feeling frustrated as it's such a lovely day so sat out by the lake and ate lunch. Almost impossible to think I'm sat neat the m4

 

[Elybazza61]

2nd Ely and District CC sportive yesterday so 104 miles done in just under 5 and half hours.
Start was delayed a bit due to the fog(that would be 'moderate' visiblity then for the Met Office) and the weather was a mix of drizzle,rain and North winds.
Nice route incorporating some rolling Suffolk hills,Norfolk ramps and bumpy Cambridgeshire fen roads;

https://www.strava.com/activities/415703344

Didn't quite get the 20mph average,but a good pace helped by being in a small group for the majority of the route;only downer was a dose of cramp near the end but the guys(and gal) waited for me to spin out the last few km's.

The 'grupetto(l/r-Alex,Jp,Emily,Andy and Cliff)';

And at the end;

And the bike after;ready now to be given a clean and strip down for winter storage;

 

[sanddancer]

Having not rode for a month I decided to get my kit ready last night and set the alarm half an hour early for work this morning (05:45)

Yes my first commute by bicycle for over 20 years only 8 miles and along the river cyclepath but I must say I quite enjoyed it and felt refreshed
bit of a sweat on since I had a few stellas last night knowing I didn't have to drive

Just the journey home now after a 12hr shift

 

[i hate hills]

Quick 5 mile blast out before my backshift . Bit out of puff in places due to a weeks inactivity . Dark and cold up here today.

 

[galaxy]

20 nice miles this afternoon with a drink stop over the canal

 

[Alex H]

Note to self:
Check the bike before you get kitted up - then you can fix the puncture in the back wheel and then make the decision to go or not (depending on how long the repair takes)

A sunny day and relatively warm 16°C, so a chance to set a new yearly distance record (No, I'm not telling what it is )


First stop St Cyr, where they have dug half of the village roads up . This did not help on exiting the village, where the old road meets the 'works, there was a slight (about 15cm) difference in levels, so much so that my camera decided to leave the comfort of the map flap on my bar bag and hit the deck. Fortunately no damage done.

So here is a picture of the horrendous double hairpin on the way out of St Auvent. This is the second corner.

I'm only posting the photo 'cause it's the only hairpin around here - it must be at least 15m high

As the Limousin is covered in forest there are a lot of these at the sides of the roads

Now if I had a log burner (which fortunately I don't - all that cleaning, chopping, sawing, splitting, storing ) I would maybe be sorely tempted to come along in the middle of the night with a trailer and 'liberate' a few logs. However, there appears to be a security device in use on the logs - it's a red line, painted on the top layer - I wonder how it works

Back home via the Rochechouart roundabout in it's Autumn livery (into the sun, unfortunately and the name isn't on the other side )

30km in just under 1hr 25min

Flies 1
Huge maple leaves 0
Buzzards on a fence post 1