Your ride today....

[derrick]

Saturday's ride to Cambridge and back, Just under the 100 miles for me, The others did the hundred plus as they had further to go to get home, For three of them it was there longest rides, So well done to them, We had a nice stop at the Copper Kettle in Cambridge, It was a busy little cafe, but the cafe's owner could not have been more helpful, After we had all eaten he came out with a nice bit of cake for for us all, So if you ever fancy a bite to eat in Cambridge i can recommend The Copper Kettle.

https://www.strava.com/activities/410228550

 

[hedder2212]

Went for a short ride today to ease myself back into the saddle.
Slow ride over to the arboretum and around hatherton lake a few times.

Then a slow ride over to the canal through town centre. Was tempted to ride up and past the locks but i didn't think my leg could handle it today.

Slowly rode down to darlaston along the towpath and came back on the roads. A nice, gentle, slow sunday ride for me.

 

[Alex H]

I don't know @Goonerobes personally, but I think this is a bit unfair , especially after those nice photos he took.

 

[Goonerobes]

I don't know @Goonerobes personally, but I think this is a bit unfair , especially after those nice photos he took.

View attachment 106399

, Another of the joys of being an Arsenal fan I guess!

 

[Donger]

Cool, a little hazy, but dry today. Almost perfect cycling conditions, and a nice, almost flat ride out with the slower group of the Kingsway CC. Another pleasant 40.6 miles for me in good company. Started off riding through Gloucester to Sandhurst. Unlike my only other previous ride there, I was not attacked by even one dog, let alone a ferocious pack of them. This was an encouraging start. We then carried on down Wainlodes Hill and along the Severn for a while, where my squeaking front brake almost spooked a horse.Then along some lanes I don't think I had ever done before, between Apperley, Deerhurst, Lower Apperley and Hartpury, before making our way back onto the Newent road and back to Gloucester. My least favourite junction anywhere then awaited, at the roundabout at Over - where we had to cross two lanes to turn right on the roundabout. Sure enough, three quarters of the way round, just as I was indicating left and about to change lanes, some twonk in a red Audi accelerated past me only inches away from me to my left. . I was on my best behaviour and let it go. Too nice a ride to go getting all het up. Feeling chilled. A nice ride.
Donger

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Got out for a pootle.

Managed to successfully deal with a number of barriers that put this in jeopardy:

Cosy sofa plus very good book vs cold outdoors.

Left knee hurts (Was strimming the 'top lawn', which is 1 in 4, on Wednesday - twisted it. Knee, not the lawn.)

Right side of chest hurts when I breathe or lift my right arm - muscular (No idea how this happened. Went to bed on Thursday and it was fine, got up Friday and it wasn't.)

Right hand hurts (Padded bit around thumb. Inflamed due to climbing accident years ago - need another steroid jab.)

Tired - went to bed late last night. Against my better judgement I got involved in vodka drinking game with Lovely Wife. Loosely based on Name that Tune with the tunes being Banging Balearic Beats (don't think I have gotten four B's in a row before in my whole lifetime) which is not easy.

Got my head around that lot and decided I was good to go. Nearly fell at the last hurdle as I couldn't make my mind up whether my Zero 5 water bottle tab' should be berry or citrus. Today, berry won. This is against the flow tbh - the citrus tube is nearly done for whilst the berry tube looks flush.

Nice ride in the end - headed roughly south towards Milnthorpe and Holme - about as flat as flat can be up here and this suited my disposition today.

Aerial shot of Milnthorpe as I know you all like pic's: Sorry it's so small.

As cycling's a numbers game here are some:

27.27 miles / 14.53mph av' / 1329 'ascent.

RWGPS view of what went on:

Treated myself to post-ride Beans On and I am now in a state of Nirvana.

Safe everyone.

 

[Racing roadkill]

https://www.strava.com/activities/410779908

58 odd miles on a club ride.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

This is more a 'your ride several days ago'....
Well it was Friday's ride, I think.
Round 2 of Loch Rannoch and a 2hrs 53 mins ride time target to beat and I was determined to do so.

Blue (the boxer (dog)) wasn't out, so there was no excuse for an early stop and a cold I had had earlier in the week was threatening to get onto my chest so my asthma was playing up. the weather was warm and muggy, but dry and that was the important thing. The target today was to break the ride into 2 with lunch taken opposite Liarn Farm where we are staying, at just under half way, instead of having two breaks at 1 hour intervals.... it didn't quite go to plan.

Lunch stop

After lunch and everything was pretty mundane really. No issues with the roads, no issues with the road users and well no issues really except for one pressing issue...
A toilet break was called for and there is a café in Kinloch Rannoch that we have not been to before and well, it seemed like the perfect excuse according to my OH... and so the ride became a two stopper again...

Sometime later in the day and Schiehallion in my wing mirror.

And a target time of 2 hours 53 mins smashed to 2 hours 39 mins - we'll say nothing about the actual elapsed time :cake:
https://www.strava.com/activities/409835153 And another 23 miles.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

And yesterday's CC Ecosse ride to see me (for some odd reason ) @Pale Rider @Pat "5mph" @User9609 and @Fubar all made their way to the Rannoch area to see me...

I was up before dawn, sadly bad backs do that to you so I was lucky enough to see the sunrise (what little and brief patch of colour there was) and lucky enough to see the fog at the head of the loch (or is it the tail?) and to take the odd photo or two...

Pre-dawn light over Loch Rannoch - there is a chance of a good day's cycling today.

Schiehallion peeping out of the fog - sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn't.
Time to grab the big camera.

Some of the colour of the sunrise.

Dawn has been and gone, now there is just some great light on the Loch with the fog and Schiehallion to boost.

Then it was on to the baking to get some scones cooked before the riders arrived... :cake: and coffee being the order of the day.

Just before everyone is due to arrive, I spot this 22 degree halo around the sun. If you look carefully you will see what looks like a faint rainbow around the rather overexposed area in the middle of the photo. There was also a sundog/Parhelia which I did photo but there wasn't really enough of it to justify a picture here. It wasn't a very good photo and the Parhelia was very short lived after I spotted it.

Having given @Pat "5mph" directions of "come out of the station and follow the (only) road" there was a touch of concern about her asking should she turn left or right out of the station so my OH went up to meet her at the railway station stretching his legs. I know he gets frustrated riding veeerrrryyyy slowly with me, so being able to get out and stretch his legs does him the world of good and it meant that Pat would see the Frog Rock...

Soon afterwards the first of the CC Ecosse clan who were coming arrived and cake and coffee was served until everyone was ready for the road again.

Blue (the boxer) was out with his owners, so a mandatory stop was enforced and we once again attempted to say hello to him. He was less anxious than last time, but it seems his ordeals with the police (including a police cell of his own) have left him afraid of the yellow hi-viz colours we were wearing, so next time we shall have to remember not be have them on when we try to say hello for the 3rd time. We were invited for coffee and cakes next time we are round...

Some time later and the boys have left @Pat "5mph" and I...

Darn it, the camera is still on the wrong settings, but it kind of works really.... "on the go" could be the title.

A random flame topped Rowan tree I happen to like... (as confirmed by @User9609 who kindly went close enough to it for it to be identified - something I can't currently do sadly)

After my required stop half way around, there was some concern of timings of trains and the likes... so at Kinloch Rannoch @Fubar and @User9609 made off on their respective ways. @Fubar making his train by 7 minutes! @Pale Rider accompanied @Pat "5mph" for the first 6 miles of her 18 mile ride to the railway station from where we were at the time (and I can confirm that rumours of @Pat "5mph" sense of direction could be entirely true - luckily all she needed to do was to stay on the road and not turn off at the only other junction... we later found out that she arrived with time enough for a photo of the red deer along the way, so had plenty of time in hand)...

My thanks must go to @Fubar who not only remembered that I had arranged to come up to Scotland in October but also to him for arranging the meet up. It was great meeting some of the crowd!

We ambled home in a respectable 2hours 43 minutes ride time, so only 4 mins slower than my best so far. My tyres have since been changed for some thinner lighter ones knocking 750g off the combined tyre weight so hopefully I should see a little more time off that before the end of the holiday, assuming my back manages the thinner tyres OK. (My rear tyre was badly cracked and on its way out being an old Schwalbe Marathon XR! There is another one at home as well on another wheel but I suspect it is in just as bad condition.)

And so another 23 miles is done. https://www.strava.com/activities/410725763
I think I may visit the railway station next...

 

[bozmandb9]

I did what I think was probably my first metric century today! (Last week was a measly 94km).

The ride was billed as a 56 mile club run, described as 'moderately lumpy (I think that was the term). For me it was quite hilly! 771 meters of elevation. But a lovely ride, and great conditions.

I seem to be learning how to take hills a little better. Finding that getting out of the saddle can make them go much faster, and be less taxing. However I frequently misjudge, and go off to fast up the early part of the hill, and suffer higher up. But I guess I'll learn over time.

Anyway, I was pleased that I still seemed to be in good shape by the end of it, having been worried in the earlier stages that I wouldn't keep up.

The more astute of you will have noted that 56 miles doesn't make a metric century (especially as it seemed to only be 53), but I had my ride to and from the start, which made it up to 65 odd.

Below Strava link for the club ride part of it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/410816265

And including 'commute':http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1206304259

 

[cyberknight]

"Fast " club run today as the medium group has slowed down to a more sedate pace , luckily the fast groups pace was not as hot as it can be so i hung on right till the end .
58 miles at a 19.3 average for the whole ride .
Stopped at Little Haywood for a cake stop and i saw a trek madone 7 , im not jealous
https://www.strava.com/activities/410740318

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Two rides today. 1) Sunday morning pootle with our lass - 25 miles over just under three hours and a cup of coffee, gps played up and gave me 1,500 feet of elevation, in reality it is lucky to be 500 feet, but what the heck.

Then this afternoon I pootled up to Bruntingthorpe to watch the Vulcan fly over - another 22 miles to the total.

Glorious weather in Leicester again though the wind had a bit of a nip to it.

 

[gavgav]

Another lovely sunny day for a bike ride. I'd arranged to meet some friends from Worcester, at Cannock Chase.

Bundled the bike into the car and had a trouble free journey to Cannock, arriving in time to bundle the bike back out of the car, ready for my friends to arrive about 10 minutes later.

They have a 9 yr old daughter and so it was a gentle ride planned, following the green (Fairoak) trail and the blue (Sherbrook) trail.

It was packed at the Birches Valley Car Park and we soon realised why as there was a Memory Walk for Dementia, taking place, which made it even slower going than it would have been. The gravel trails were mainly in good state, with a few loose trickier bits, for my Hybrid bike at least.

There is quite a bit of climbing to start with, certainly for a 9 yr old anyhow!, before it flattens out along the Sherbrook Valley, where we stopped for a bite to eat. Whilst doing so we were approached by a distraught lady who had lost her Springer Spaniel. We hadn't seen it, but vowed to keep an eye open. She said that the dog didn't have a collar on though! Seems rather irresponsible to me, but I'm not a Dog owner and so probably not in a place to comment really. We then had a dog running up the hill towards us (not a springer) again with no collar on it, with no owners anywhere in sight. Phil tried to stop it, but it clearly didn't want to stop and continued off into the distance, at speed. About 5 mins later the owner came running up the hill, shouting the dog and so we told him in which direction the dog had gone and he continued to run in the hope of catching him.

We finished our lunch and continued on to Abrahams Valley, where I mistakenly tried to cheer up the rapidly tiring Jess, by saying I think it will be flat along here........hmmm it was the hilliest part of the ride . I think she let me off when I decided to do a bit of "off roading" on some more technical bits of the ride and made her laugh!

We crept along the remainder of the blue route, with a few tears and whines from Jess, but she did very well really!

Sue and Jess had a moment, when we reached the stream, with both getting stuck half way and ending up Paddling

Back at the Visitor Centre we indulged in Coffee and Cake, having done 12.7 miles with a surprising 870ft of climbing.

Bundled bike back in car and had a good drive home.

Fabulous day

 

[PeteXXX]

This is part of yesterdays ride, I took this morning to sort out the video . . .
All this new fangled stuff really is marvellous !!
Leaving Askwith behind, through Weston and down the hill towards Otley.
Ooops, cannot find a way to upload a video.
It is here on Facebook

View: https://www.facebook.com/jon.webber.581/videos/654185821389103/

You might have to make the post 'Public' for us to be able to view it.

 

[galaxy]

Errands run this afternoon, 12miles down the river Blackwater onto the Basingstoke canal ending up at Costco for a cooked chicken.