Your ride today....

[Gravity Aided]

6 and so miles today, getting better with the big old mountain bike.
83F, 28C
Winds W12, G20
Relative humidity 37%
Barometer 30.01 10172 mb
Warm but dry, grilled steak forecast for this evening.

 

[Stonechat]

Photo from the Bournemouth Sportive
I am at the front and out of the saddle nearing the top of the hill

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Today's ride and much of last night's Dartmoor Ghost. Heavy rain in the night made the climbing hurt just a little bit more. Sorry moor.

 

[cosmicbike]

The plan was to get out early and do my metric half, but Friday nights antics caught up so I was late out of bed, leaving not long enough. Apparently there was gardening to be done, one of my pet hates, but this involved a chainsaw so made it more tolerable..
Anyways, a usual route 26 miles done today, up and around the park. Managed an 8th overall on a segment I didn't know existed, so must have had the wind behind me

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Yesterdays ride once again: We're into another new month (where is the year going to?) and the weather has taken a turn for the better just in time for the July challenge ride.

I was out on the road at about half seven heading on a tour to the south - partly on roads I know very well but also heading for some new ground. The route was to Condover initially then across to Westbury, south to Montgomery, Bishop's Castle then Bucknell where I was onto roads I haven't cycled before to Lingen, Kinsham, Shobdon Aerodrome, Eardisland and Leominster. Then it was northwards again through Richards Castle, Ludlow, Craven Arms, Acton Scott, Church Stretton and finally back along quiet lanes to Condover and home.

Heading out it was quite chilly for July and a fleece was needed to start with but that was put away when I got to Westbury. I made decent progress to Montgomery where I had a pause for a bite to eat then enjoyed quite a good run to Bishop's Castle as the wind was now behind me.

The annual Tandem Triathlon was taking place in Bishop's Castle so I had the help of a marshal at the crossroads on the way out of town. Here the tailwind was more noticable and I cruised at 18-20 mph through Lydbury North greeting the tandem competitors coming the other way.

After turning off this road at Kempton the going gets a little more undulating but it didn't seem too bad today. I got my top speed of the day (32.1mph) descending into Hopton Heath then was onto new territory on the road to Bucknell. Bucknell is quite a pleasant, sleepy place and had a nice spot by the River Redlake where I had another food stop and applied the suncream I'd forgotting about at the start of the ride (good job the bottle was stll in the bag from last time).

I continued south passing Brampton Bryan and more undulating lanes through Lingen and Kinsham (excellent karting circuit here) then zigzagged my way across country through Combe Moor, Stockley Cross and past the aerodrome at Shobdon where I was in time for a plane to take off directly over my head.

Next stop was Eardisland which took me very much by surprise as it's such a fabulously pretty place - real chocolate box stuff. I took a few pictures here which have all turned out to be a massive disappointment.

After stopping here for another bite to eat I moved on again to Leominster (pronounced Lemster for those who don't know the area) where I turned north again through Luston and Richards Castle. On this section another rider caught and passed me but didn't pull away and I was quicker up the hills so I pulled alongside and we ended up chatting most of the way to Ludlow. ( If you see this Ian.)

I took the bridleway route out of Ludlow, heading for Bromfield (past Islabikes) and on to Back Lane to Onibury. The A49 is closed at Onibury until the 9th while the level crossing is completely rebuilt so I thought I'd take advantage of the closure to ride a section I'd normally avoid due to the quantity and speed of traffic. Since the official diversion goes 60 miles out of the way a few other people were using Back Lane to bypass the closure. Not a problem for me being on a bike but it was getting a bit congested for the motorists who wanted to pass one another. A group of cyclists came the other way and the lead rider told me "Watch out, they're all nuts!"

After a short pause for another sandwich at Stokesay Castle I headed into Craven Arms where I decided the traffic still wasn't too bad and carried on along the A49 for a bit longer. There may have been less traffic than usual but I still felt hassled so was glad to turn off onto the lanes at the first chance and head through Alcaston, Acton Scott and into Church Stretton down Hazler Road. I don't think I drank enough through the middle part of the ride so flagged quite a bit on the climbs on this section but once in Church Stretton the gradient and the wind was mostly in my favour for the rest of the ride so I set a decent pace despite not really having much energy left.

109 miles for the day at 13.9 mph moving average.

Preparations under way for the summer fair at Montgomery.

The bunting is out for the tandem triathlon at Bishop's Castle too.

Brampton Bryan

Lingen

Eardisland - wish I'd managed to get some better photos of the place.

Leominster

Ludlow

Enjoying having the A49 to myself.

Stokesay Castle

Up in the hills between Acton Scott and Church Stretton

 

[welsh dragon]

As the day is so gorgeous, i decided to go for a very slooooow bimble. Just a little over 10 miles done as i have to go out in a while. Like phil, the roads are clearly filled to overflowing with traffic. when i took a photo of the field below just a few days ago, the farmer had just cut the grass. A few days later and the field has been plowed.

 

[Gareth C]

Having made it to Beadnell yesterday via the beaches, I was to meet Steve from work and a couple of his mates for a fat foursome.

The rendez vous went well, and shortly we were on the beach heading to Bamburgh Castle.


There was some inevitable high jinx as the guys wanted to pile off the sand dunes, but with my tired legs, I stuck to photography.





After that, northwards progress recommenced and we were soon at the castle.


From here, some off beach riding, initially on lovely dune singletrack.


Later on a big road detour (into a headwind) to go through Belford and rejoin the coast at Beal. At this point the group splits: I head north towards Berwick, whereas the others head over the causeway onto Holy Island for a play on the sand.



After a long 11 miles, Berwick comes into view.





Journeys end – what a fun weekend!

 

[NorthernDave]

After yesterdays ride, I was taking it a bit easier today with a local pootle.

So, Coal Road, into a headwind , then Skeltons Lane and down Sandhills into Thorner and along Main Street, turning onto Carr Lane at the Mexborough Arms and the steady climb, the drop round the S bends and then the climb again all the way to the A58. straight over and down the little hill, before another climb up through Shadwell and on to Slaid Hill lights, all into a headwind again despite now heading in a different direction
Anyhow, left at the lights and down the hill on Roundhay Park Lane, before stopping at the Ring Road lights and then climbing up Park Lane and onto Street lane and then Prices Avenue where I stopped for a photo:

While stopped I had a chat with a nice Welsh couple who were very happy with Geraint Thomas's showing yesterday.

Back on the bike and down past the old tram terminus, between the sports pitches on Soldiers Fields and on to Oakwood Clock where the lights were red. They eventually changed and I went left onto Wetherby Road, passing the disused park gates at the end of the Carriage Drive and dropping down the hill. For as long as I can remember there has been a little smallholding here, sandwiched between Wyke Beck and the Bulls Field, but the land has all been cleared and there is lots of building equipment there. The old house looks to have been fettled too so I guess we can expect some more executive type dwellings to appear soon...

Right and up the short climb of Asket Hill, which is rewarded by the much longer drop down the other side, across the A58 and up Dib Lane, covering ground I've barely ridden on since my teens. Left at the top onto Oakwood Lane and down past the sports centre, before getting a wind assisted push up Foundry Lane, across York Road and up Cross Gates Road, using the cycle lane occasionally between the parked cars...

Through Cross Gates and across Barwick Road, then local roads to home, enlivened only by a bit of fun with a Mitsubishi Evo driver who decided to overtake me, then realised we were in a 20mph limit and I was already doing around that speed down the hill...

15.06 miles (24.23 km) in 1hr 11m at a steady average of 12.7mph, with 918ft climbed.

All good again, great weather apart from that constantly changing headwind (what is it about the wind this summer?) and the legs nicely loosened up again after yesterday. Quite a mix of rural and urban today which I don't often do, but there's nowt like a change is there?

And now the map:

 

[GrumpyGregry]

What a glorious day. Had to ride solo to Lewes, to retrieve the family car left behind last night after a party. Lovely solo ride.

 

[Donger]

After a 24 hour monsoon put paid to any chance of cycling on the first day of my Belgian holiday, I was itching to get out there this morning, and started my ride at 7am. I don't have the benefit of all of @Gravity Aided's meteorological equipment, but it was pretty clear that the humidity was about 100% when I started off. How it didn't actually rain, I have no idea.
Dropped down the steep little hill in Durbuy and picked my way carefully through the old town over the slippery cobbles ....

before heading off across the river Ourthe and up the hill to the villages of Palenge, Borlon.....

and Ocquier before turning northwards and heading through woods that reminded me of the Wye Valley, (but without the traffic)....

to Hamoir.

Here, I turned back for Durbuy via Tohogne. Over 27 miles today, and I'd be surprised if more than 3 of them were on the flat. Whenever I looked at my speedo, I seemed to be either doing about 7 mph or over 25mph ... very little in between. The road from Hamoir to Tohogne was typical of the ride, grinding on ever upwards in a straight line at about 5% for about 3 miles, followed by about 10 metres of flat and immediately plunging back downwards.
When I got back to Durbuy, I rode through the town and beyond before turning back and heading up a steep little side street (over 15%) to the gite. In this shot you can see the gite on the skyline, (two houses to the right of the belvedere tower). Mrs Donger was still in bed! True to form, she had motivated me the previous day by saying it was far too steep and I'd never get up it! It did the trick as always.

Got back in time for a late breakfast, and sat supping a nice big mug of tea while admiring the view over Durbuy. The missus insisted on taking this one first, though:

Tomorrow I'm off to get a quick blast of the Tour de France as it whooshes by near Vielsalm. Will probably drive to a decent parking spot I've found about 3 miles from there and ride my bike up past the traffic to get a glimpse of the race at Salmchateau. That will leave me a 3 mile climb back up to the car, for a paltry day's total of 6 miles, but I reckon it's worth giving up a ride to get to see le Tour. Will make up for that later in the week.
Cheers, Donger.

 

[Dan's Owd Man]

View attachment 360013
@GerethC "Journeys end – what a fun weekend!"

Me thinks you left something behind

"Disposable Bike Packing Gear"?

 

[Simontm]

Short spin this morning as my nieces are over from Vancouver and the ride reminded me why I quite often use Sundays as a rest day. Immediate action at Winters Bridge as two idiots thought they were far too important for a red light. Needless to say I was duty-bound to catch and overtake them once the lights had turned green. Then headed towards Richmond where on the Petersham Road, despite seeing me coming up the outside of the roadworks traffic queue, another cyclist decided to move out in front of me
Over Kew, back round Brentford, Hounslow, Hampton then Bushy Park which took some navigating as young families walked three/four abreast on the road (yes people, it really is a road not a path!). Over Kingston Bridge and back down Portsmouth Road with the London Dynamos being considered cyclists as usual with their chain bombing down the cycle path
Home in 1:15, 20 miles

 

[rugby bloke]

Fitted in a decent 35 miler yesterday, but today's ride was much more significant. After my daughter's baptism of fire on her first ride on her road bike we decided that a flatter course would be a better way to build up confidence. So I put the bikes into the car and drove over to Castle Ashby. From there it was out towards Yardlely (bike pushed over the cattle grids) and then down through the fields and up the other side to the outskirts of Eastern Maudit. A quick swig of water and we headed up the hill to Grendon before swinging left and heading back to Castle Ashby. On the way back my daughter rode her bike over the cattle grids, so that is another box ticked. Only 7 miles ridden, but lots of smiles and no tears, so the primary objective was met. I have also discovered how much explosive power she has - a product of all her gymnastic and trampoline conditioning work. When she decided to go she leaves me for dead !! Just have to work on her CV fitness, so more miles on the bike.
All finished off with a well earned visit to the cafe at Castle Ashby which appears to be an absolute mecca for cyclists - we were certainly in the majority.

 

[Freds Dad]

After not getting out on the bike for about 10 days due to work and family commitments I managed to get 20 miles in yesterday and another 10 today. Not the longest rides but back in the saddle and hopefully another 20 tomorrow after work.

 

[daisyj]

Third time out on my new 16 mile Sunday ride. Beautifully sunny start but not too hot. It's a bit hilly at the beginning but absolutely worth it for the scenery later on.

I stopped here for a few minutes and someone in the nearby house was playing classical music on a piano, lovely. Had a quick chat with fellow cyclists about the upcoming hills and then moved off.

Along the cycle track, under the trees the ferns and moss are at their richest green.

Then out into the sunshine again. Turning for home, the sun was getting stronger and my red nose this evening tells me I should have slapped on the sunscreen!
Gorgeous ride, even though I had to walk part of a couple of hills that I'm determined to crack eventually.