Your ride today....

[iandg]

Tired after being on-call yesterday and called into the lab between 01.30 and 03.00 am so only did a short loop. Out across the single track to AchaMor and then main road back through Leurbost. Caught by my mate Del about 5 mile out of town so had company for most of the ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/576607095

 

[Dave 123]

Just a 19 mile ride for me this morning as we had company for the rest of the day. The weathermen and women got it wrong, so it was shorts and short sleeves for me.
Had someone sit on my wheel for a while, so I sat up and made him talk to me as a punishment!

https://www.strava.com/activities/576997366

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Out with a few members of Wakefield Triathlon Club this morning
Thankfully only for the ride (some of them had open water swam, at Pugneys, before hand)

 

[Surlydave]

Second ride of the w/end, this time with approx. 8 Suffolk Ctc members. Leaving Ipswich and heading
north we arrived at the Angel Cafe in Diss for brunch having cycled through the rolling Suffolk countryside.
We all left fully satisfied, and the cafe even went out of their way to bring us jugs of iced water along
with free suntan lotion, (you don't get that everyday). Our next stop was Helmingham Hall for a pot of tea
and cakes as we headed back towards home. Even the couple of punctures we got as a group did not
take the shine off an excellent day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/576992280

 

[Diggs]

Hi, Me again with a pro tip. If you mount your camera on the handlebars, it's a good idea to make sure that the memory card isn't still in the laptop from reviewing yesterday's ride.
So today, I had to resort to a camera phone of all things! To quote Mr Dury, "I'm from Essex in case you couldn't tell" but today I headed off to Kent, Tonbridge specifically.

Life behind bars

 

[Elybazza61]

Two rides over the week-end in different conditions.

First was a short club run with the easy group on the "Northern" loop out via Welney.
Weather was mostly miserable;stiff cold Northerly with the odd spot of rain.Nice ride though and at one stage had a very pro style rotate going on the way back albeit with a bit less speed.

https://www.strava.com/activities/575649645

And today a nice sunny morning for a ride with the better half,lovely day with plenty of other bods about and most motorists being considerate;

https://www.strava.com/activities/576585447

331kms for the week so now a quiet tapering week before next Sundays Boudicca sportive

 

[Katherine]

Bright and breezy! A lovely route to The Anderton Boat Lift today with the Salford cycling club. From Swinton, we went through Astley and Leigh, Culcheth and Glazebrook, before tackling the Warburton Bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal. For only the second time, I didn't drop under 10 mph, which is one of my personal challenges. Riding through the Cheshire lanes was lovely. Today we went through Lymm, High Legh, Arley and Great Budworth. The coffee and cake were delicious and demolished too quickly for a picture! We sat outside on the veranda watching some Vikings having a battle. No idea why they were at The Anderton Boat Lift!

Made my own way home as everyone else wanted to go a bit quicker though we were only 20 minutes behind the fast group arriving there. Home was back through Great Budworth where I could stop for a picture as it was my first time through there not in a group.

Then the return route went through Dunham, Partington and Trafford.
The weir at Bollington Mill,

On the spur of the moment I decided to call in at Evans to see if the replacement hoods for my shifters had arrived. Next minute, my bike is on the stand and the new parts are being fitted. I'm asked if I want the brakes tightened. Yes please, I reply and please can you adjust the gears again as they're still not quite right? No problem and only charged for the parts! That was perfect timing, apparently I called during a lull! ( Sunday afternoon about half past 2, to remember for next time.) The brakes and gears felt so much better too.

PS I'm having trouble putting some of the pictures on. I'll try again later.

 

[ianrauk]

Today was the Great Escape 200km Audax from Look Mum No Hands in that there London Town. I was out of the door to meet up with @Mista Preston and @arallsopp , a quick blast to Deptford to meet @rb58 and @martint235 , it was then only a few miles to Look Mums. On arriving, being greeted with this sight.

300+ cyclists ready to hit the deepest, darkest Essex lanes.

At Look Mum's there was a few other Cycle Chatters, @Gordon P , @jiberjaber, @AKA Bob , @Mark Grant, @Michael Adu. Also joining us was Martin's niece, Ellie, (not of this parish). We also bumped into the legend that is @zigzag . He was doing his own non stop version of the ride. Yep, you read that right.. he was doing his own 200km NON STOP ride... A legend.

At near half way, at Fitchingfield, it was lunch time.. so a picnic was a good idea with blankets to perch our botties on and coffee's supplied by the very lovely, friendly tea shop on the village green.

Essex Country Lanes

It was Ellie's maiden imperial century ride. She did brilliantly, not only did the 100, but smashed it. A great cyclist.
A picture to celebrate the 100 mile mark.

From the left, Mr jiberjaber , Mr Mista Preston , Miss Ellie, Mr Gordon P , Mr Michael Adu, Mr Mark Grant, Mr Martint235 and... look who happened to pass by as I was taking the photo...only Mr @Dogtrousers, so I dragged him into the pic

There was also some time for a couple gratuitous bike pics.

So. The company was great, the roads were great, the weather was great, it all made for a really fantastic day's cycling.

So, 161 miles on the clock. The second weekend in a row. The Great Escape Audax done and dusted for another year.
Century # 12 for the year, 178 over all.

 

[Donger]

Great sunny weather in Gloucestershire today ... exactly like the weather forecast wasn't predicting all week. Time for May's effort towards the Cyclechat Metric Century a Month Challenge, so I ended up (as planned) doing 101.7km (63.2 miles).

It is now something of a tradition that I meet up with my old mate Andy from Birmingham for every edition of the British Heart Foundation's "Cotswold Bike Ride" in May, and this year was no different.

Andy hasn't been well lately, has a crap bike, and has hardly ridden it this year .... so we opted for the shorter, 30 mile version (which was actually 31 miles). He wasn't exactly dressed for the hot weather, and struggled today, but it was nice to take it slow and have a good chat and a bit of sightseeing as we went along. Here he is cresting the horrible Roel Hill near Charlton Abbots ... where many people got off and walked:

Got this nice shot of Roel Hill from the bottom before shooting up it faster than ever before and waiting for Andy to come into shot:

Glorious weather near Winchcombe:

Great facilities provided at Winchcombe School as usual:

The main event might have been slow, but I enjoyed it anyway, and I had time to offer my services a couple of times as a mechanic, pumping up one old gent's tyre and releasing a jammed chain for a lady rider. I had planned my route to and from the start carefully to make sure that it added up to 100km. The BHF ride was actually about 31 miles, but I also had 16 miles to do in each direction before and after it. I was quite chuffed to be able to do the homeward 16 miles in exactly an hour..... something of a sprint finish for me in the context of my 100km rides, and the freshest I have ever felt at the end of one of these. A great day out, and still going strong in the challenge .... even if some of the others have managed 20 more rides than me! One big ride a month is enough for me.
Cheers, Donger.

 

[Gravity Aided]

7.1 miles, as it was cold, and I had to try out my fettling from yesterday, the BB was fine, as was the ride. I had the Schwinn Impact up to around a good club ride racing speed when it tried to pull a fork oscillation on me(a tank slapper, we used to call that on motorbikes) right around 25mph or so. It's a rare occaision when this bike goes that fast, but I'm trying to source that problem. After last weeks rain, today has been great.
55F
13C
Winds NW 14G18+
Relative humidity 31%
Barometer 30.17
partly cloudy
Set out tomatoes today, I'm hoping no more frost from here on...

 

[Katherine]

Bright and breezy! A lovely route to The Anderton Boat Lift today with the Salford cycling club. From Swinton, we went through Astley and Leigh, Culcheth and Glazebrook, before tackling the Warburton Bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal. For only the second time, I didn't drop under 10 mph, which is one of my personal challenges. Riding through the Cheshire lanes was lovely. Today we went through Lymm, High Legh, Arley and Great Budworth. The coffee and cake were delicious and demolished too quickly for a picture! We sat outside on the veranda watching some Vikings having a battle. No idea why they were at The Anderton Boat Lift!

View attachment 128541

View attachment 128542

View attachment 128544

Made my own way home as everyone else wanted to go a bit quicker though we were only 20 minutes behind the fast group arriving there. Home was back through Great Budworth where I could stop for a picture as it was my first time through there not in a group.

View attachment 128562

Then the return route went through Dunham, Partington and Trafford.
The weir at Bollington Mill,
View attachment 128563

On the spur of the moment I decided to call in at Evans to see if the replacement hoods for my shifters had arrived. Next minute, my bike is on the stand and the new parts are being fitted. I'm asked if I want the brakes tightened. Yes please, I reply and please can you adjust the gears again as they're still not quite right? No problem and only charged for the parts! That was perfect timing, apparently I called during a lull! ( Sunday afternoon about half past 2, to remember for next time.) The brakes and gears felt so much better too.

PS I'm having trouble putting some of the pictures on. I'll try again later.

Finally edited to add the rest of the pictures.

 

[rugby bloke]

Decent cycling weather all weekend. Usual Saturday morning 25 miler followed by the first 60 miler of the season yesterday. Looking at my training log this time last year I was happy to ride 18 miles, so some definite progress. I wanted to enjoy the ride so I broke it down to into 3 20 milers, which certainly helped. Glorious Northants / Bedfordshire countryside, plenty of cyclists out and about. Said "Hello" to each cyclist I saw, probably got a 85 % response rate, so happy with that.

 

[Jon George]

I did this ride, yesterday. It was one from Ipswich to Bury St Edmonds I have had in mind for months. (It will be the next stage of this year's Tour De Cochon with my mate Dan at half-term.) I have to say I fell damn chuffed - I didn't think I still had this sort of distance (101.42km) in me.

I was on the road at 7 o'clock and dressed for the cold. (The layers came off on the journey home). There was lots to see, but the highlight for me was a conversation with a rather posh young lady on horseback, who gave me some directions after I admitted I was probably a little lost. Her horse was tempted to nuzzle my phone and me, but I thought taking a picture might spook it. It was one of those little moments that makes cycling, and life, so damned enjoyable

It was a great morning in the saddle - I saw loads of different clubs out on runs.

I think this picture sums up how I felt about it all:-

 

[des.o]

^^^^^ Good to bump into you guys yesterday on The Great Escape. Was hoping to catch up with you later, but a combination of waiting an hour plus for a sausage roll at the Blue Egg and your obviously superior speed put paid to that. Next time...

 

[ianrauk]

^^^^^ Good to bump into you guys yesterday on The Great Escape. Was hoping to catch up with you later, but a combination of waiting an hour plus for a sausage roll at the Blue Egg and your obviously superior speed put paid to that. Next time...

Hi Des, Good to see you bud... last time we saw each other..was on the same ride last year....so probs see you on the same ride next year

We knew the Blue Egg would be busy so we went to the CoOp, grabbed picnicy type stuff and sat on Fitchington Village green a couple of miles down the road.