Your ride today....

[Stonechat]

Having collected bike from LBS this morning, checked on the mileage it has done since I got it - About Jan 2014
Now over 10,000 miles on this bike

 

[Old jon]

Another bright sunny morning tempted me out on the bike again. North and vaguely west, starting with the longest climb I do, from Viaduct Road all the way to the water tower at Cookridge, a very slight respite then up to the side of the Leeds and Bradford airport. The views are certainly worth the effort although the little camera does not see much of them.



Drop down into Otley itself, always interesting, cross the river, climb the hill after the bridge and turn left on Weston Lane. I had thoughts of going on to Weston or Askwith but just by the old gatehouse the view to my left across the valley deserved all the attention I could give it. Nothing to do with the steep climb from there into Weston village itself, a lot to do with my legs saying ' NO.'

Fuel for the body, turn around and return home the boring way, a little over thirty miles for the trip.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Not good, Had a damn fool motorist pull away from a kerb right in front of me no signal obviously no mirror, resulting in a nasty gash above my right eye, right knee and shoulder are stiff as a board(they are gonna hurt tomorrow), bike is fine thankfully but i think my phone is knackered

Goodness, sorry to read this! Gws!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Really not my week. Uneventful ride to and from work then, whilst I am standing by the docking station a woman on her own bike bumps up onto the kerb, looses control, and rides straight into me.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Hatton Locks the destination, 50 miles the journey. Having gone down with the lurgy a couple of days ago, temperature, sore throat and snotty nose, I wasn't intending to ride, but the sun was shining and I started to think..... if I go slow and directly to the cafe, so that was it I was out and pedalling. Though the steady pace happened, by the time I got to the cafe my legs had gone and I had no choice on the way back, there was nothing in the legs. The direct route to the cafe never happened, I kept getting to junctions and thinking I feel OK I'll go this way, in the end I got to the crossroads by the Punch Bowl and instead of turning right into Chessetts Wood road I carried on down Rising Lane and across the main road into Lowsonford cutting out the loop through Hockley Heath, so it was a shortened ride but just not the direct out to the cafe and back I had planned, I used the same route back as I did on the way out. I enjoyed the ride but by the end I had had enough and was glad to get home.

 

[Stonechat]

Good to get a ride on the Road bike and the gears working well again.

First easy ride over to where the local club hold their 10 mile TTs, then gave this course a fairly
full on try. Itis quite up and down in places, and a hill in the last mile will bring you down to less than 10 mph.

Roads all familiar to me but never quite done it in that order

Then did a little loop to Shepperton and Ashford.
Overall mileage was 28.73 miles @ 17.3 mph
906 feet climbed

https://www.strava.com/activities/532438526/

The TT course was laps 3 and 4 on Strava (my Garmin is set for 5 mile laps)
Time for this came in at 32:36, though Strava segment says 32:20
516 feet in the TT course ave speed 18.4 mph.
So if I enter the club 10 mile TTs, will probably be bringing up the rear.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Up to London from Southampton today.

I can't run Strava all that way without my phone battery going down ( without my trusty, but left at home backup power pack).

But I'm here now (about 80 miles).

It's quite a nice day up here today.


A quintessentially London shot.

Southwark Cathederal, in front of the Shard (old meets new).

 

[SteveF]

Off to Kent today (south of the river don't you know - passport not needed but inoculations advised!)

73km loop to Strood with a few lumps in the way https://www.strava.com/activities/532543507

Short run downhill to the delight that is Tilbury to catch the 8:30am ferry to another delight that is Gravesend

The hybrid enjoying the cruise:

The ferry is right next door to the London cruise terminal and this wee beastie was in, The Magellan, not the biggest but impressive close up none the less:

Out of Gravesend on cycle route one along the canal (bit of faffing along the way as the route turns into a tiny alley in an industrial estate), but managed to find it in the end.

A view back across the Thames to DP world:

On to Cooling and their castle, one that I didn't know even existed:

Before a small climb up to High Halstow, according to Garmin there was a 12% bit on the hill (note to self: avoid places with "High" in their name).....

On to Strood/Rochester which was busy and unpleasant to ride though, then into the quieter lanes and rolling hills around Luddesdown, Sole Street and Cobham before meandering back to Gravesend and the ferry (which left just as we arrived so a small wait ensued)...

A piccie of the Ferry coming to get us, no not the Magellan, the little blue and white thing to the right!

Finally a short hop to Orsett Heath and the lovely Fox for a pint and a tasty plate of ham egg and chips, here's the pint (only Doombar I'm afraid):

All in all... am pleased I took the day off as it was a hell of a lot better than being at work!!

 

[Rasmus]

Nice little 50k loop down to and around Chew Valley lake this afternoon. Tough ride into the wind heading out, then lots of fun bombing it back northwards. Noteworthy driver interaction: One car held back nicely through some narrow bits, so when the road widened I gave him a thank you wave as he passed - he then proceeded to immediately left hook me into a forecourt!

 

[mark st1]

Mixture of a ride for me today the beginning and end on my own but the middle was with my mate and his wife. Taking advantage of the good weather and being on holiday from work did just shy of 60 local ish miles including a whizz round this little beauty



The Olympic rowing venue from 2012 it's only the second time I've been here since the Olympics and it's a good venue when it's quiet no racing permitted though



After leaving my friends headed off up to this little gem at Warren Row



Guarantee it won't be this quiet tomorrow



Owned by a top fella who does wonders with bikes one of the best bike mechanics I've ever met and a sound bloke with it. He also makes an awesome cuppa



The cake is all home made by his brother and is out of this world.

Time to take the new bike out tomorrow

https://www.strava.com/activities/532580337

Cheers
Mark.

 

[Elybazza61]

Nice roll out with the better half this afternoon;an in-and-out ride to a nursery cafe in Fordham.

Wind was a bit stronger than we thought but a nice tail wind on the way out until the last bit from Prickwillow to Ely which basically finished the other half off;still that's two 40k rides for her in a week so she's coming on well really.

Saw a Barn Owl and what we think were three Marsh Harriers on the Isleham-Prickwillow road.

https://www.strava.com/activities/532636970

 

[Roadhump]

Went out this morning about 10.30 am hoping to get home before the rain arrived, it had been forecast to start about 1.00 pm. I had only been out about 10 minutes when it began falling quite heavily. Together with the southerly head wind as I headed over moss land towards Ormskirk, it made for a cold, wet and windy ride. Only having my mitts on, it took about 20 minutes before my fingers were no longer like thick icicles. I went through Ormskirk and up Ruff Lane past the old grammar school which is now houses and apartments, over Scarth Hill and on towards Bickerstaffe where I gradually turned round and headed into Aughton. From here the wind was behind me and things became a bit less strenuous until I went up Clieves Hill for a bit of incline practice.

Despite the inclement weather, the views from Clieves Hill were very good, I could see a few well known landmarks in Liverpool, the Welsh mountains, the Liverpool Bay gas rig and up to Southport.

From the hill I headed through Barton which is a small hamlet / village in the farmland between Ormskirk, Southport and Formby. The man road is called Station Road because until 1938 there was a railway station there. I can't imagine how few people must have used that station, it died almost 30 years before Lord Beeching's axe fell on many other railway stations across Britain; all that remains is a bridge that takes the road over the old site which is now a large pond, full of trees.

As I rode through Barton I stopped to admire the Barton donkeys, which are eating from the same hay pile come rain or shine.

Then towards Ainsdale from Barton and riding into Heathy Lane, then past the entrance to the old Cheshire Lines cycle path which takes you down to the loop line and eventually the south end of Liverpool if you want to go that far. The road surface on Heathy Lane is one of the worst I have cycled on and you have to concentrate to avoid the risk of coming a cropper and ending up in a ditch / farmer's field.

About 30 minutes later, I arrived home cold, wet and hungry, but despite the poor weather, I enjoyed the ride which was just over 31 miles in length and took 2 hours 22 minutes with an average of 13 mph.

 

[Archeress]

Another ride today, bit of a utility ride tbh. Popped down to the city centre first, a driver accelerated through a red light at the crossing by the UWE. Then on a bit of shared path down by Cabot Circus, I was trying to give the pedestrians a wide berth, but a nobber with a large parcel deliberately walked towards me trying to drive me off the path. I don't mind using the road, but this was a very busy road and I needed to use the crossing to get across it. The crossing even lights up with a cyclist symbol as well as pedestrian symbol.

Anyhow, locked the bike up outside Cotswold Outdoor and went in to purchase something intimately feminine .

After finishing in Cotswold I popped into Cycling Republic which is next door, first time I'd been in since it opened. I picked up a very nice Altura short sleeve jersey reduced from £30 to £8.

After a quick coffee and pain au raisin in Pret a Manger, I hopped back on the bike and headed over to Bloc Climbing by the M32. It's a bouldering centre and I'd put my climbing shoes and chalk bag in my pannier. It's been a while since I last climbed so after an hour, my hands felt very abraded and my arms were very fatigued.

After another coffee (to which I added a nip of whiskey from my hip flask), I headed for home along Concorde Way. 16 miles total.

As a nice treat, my fiance drove us to my favourite fish and chip shop in Weston Super Mare, Papas, this evening

Hugs
Archeress x

 

[toffee]

Mrs T and I have been out of the country this week. In total it has involved 3 trains 1 ferry and 269 miles.

The two rides today were

And

Derek

 

[cosmicbike]

Only the commute for me this evening (and yesterday). The weather is causing clothing fun, 3 degrees on the way in and 12 degrees on the way home. Nearly time for shorts though which is nice, and I'm sure my work colleagues can't wait...