Your ride today....

[HLaB]

A Pre Beer’age cycle yesterday.

A reasonable pace on the way out leading out the group, I left them before the cafe though

so I could get back in time for the afternoon drinks and I was rather chilled out on the way back. Tubeless done its job thankfully and sealed somewhere. Post drinks I had to spin the wheels though and let it reseal as it had lost about 40psi. Thankfully it didn’t lose any more overnight.



Surprisingly after waking up a few times last night with a bit of a hangover I woke up 3hs later and felt ok for the Sunday group ride.
Only the slow group riders turned up but its guaranteed they’ll stop at a cafe. Afterwards I went on a bit of a high tempo solo to burn off the lunch.

 

[Marchrider]

penultimate ride of 2024 - and look how dry the roads are, dry roads in December

just about to pass this dude on the left

trying to rain, but not quite managing it

30 miles takes me up to 5990 miles - just 10 to go and with my edinburgh xmas card run tomorrow that will be job done

 

[sevenfourate]

penultimate ride of 2024 - and look how dry the roads are, dry roads in December

View attachment 755980

just about to pass this dude on the left
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trying to rain, but not quite managing it
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30 miles takes me up to 5990 miles - just 10 to go and with my edinburgh xmas card run tomorrow that will be job done

Awesome.Congrats 👌 That’s a stellar year. Good Health for 2025 Sir……..

 

[bluenotebob]

Celebrated my 72nd birthday with friends on Wednesday – tried to get out for a ride but there simply wasn’t time. I managed a short (17km) ride yesterday but I was very busy with other things – so today was my ‘birthday ride’, albeit 48 hours after the event.

I decided it would be similar to my ride on 4th December .. a ride down the V3 Voie Verte from Bois-de-la-Roche to Pleucadeuc – and then go off exploring before returning by the same route. On my road bike this time with zero intention of going off-road.

Another very cold morning … I waited a while drinking coffee and hoping the temperature would rise a bit but it didn’t - so I headed out in the van, parked up by the old station at Bois-de-la-Roche and started cycling around 10.45. Straight past Pleucadeuc and onto the V3/D149 junction (roughly 39km). Took the road and went into Molac – or at least, as far as the church. Took some photos, turned round and headed back to la Muterne where I joined the C2 heading east. I love this road which twists a bit, dips and climbs and is mostly shaded by tall trees. I followed this road to la Pierre Longue – an impressive menhir. Turned left onto the D774 and headed back into Pleucadeuc – this is a fast road which I think I’ll try and avoid in the future. Straight through Pleucadeuc and onto the D112 – back to the site of Pleucadeuc’s old railway station where I rejoined the V3 and made my way back to the van.

A nice December ride … 92.76km in around 5 hours 40 minutes.

This ride took me over 13,000km for the year – I’m now up to 13,071km (8122 miles) and hope to get to 13,250km before the end of the month.

On the C2 road, near Talhouët

The menhir (standing stone, I guess) called la Pierre Longue

There's a lot of water in the river Oust .. on the Pont de Bagotais on the return leg

 

[Marchrider]

The Christmas card Run
down the Braids

Throgh Blackford and the Grange
Meadows was a bit deserted

there she is - Black Pudding & Haggis Sausage Roll Van, just the ticket on the cold damp windy Edinburgh day - seriously they are absolutely gorgeous

Princess Street - what a dump - the worst of Edinburgh

Keeping the overtaking tally positive for the year (must have been +500 today
just love riding in the city, what a way to travel

Another good thing about not been out in the wilds, plenty of refreshments - double Haggis, double egg - a wonderful little eaterie on Elm Row

Fuelled up for Crammond, skies have cleared, and Crammond was lovely today, a few hardy dog walkers, that was it

Th wonderful Blackhall & Roseburn paths get me quickly to Gorgie, where I got lost as usual, just can't get my head round Gorgie, busy congested and bewildering - found the canal

Then up through Merchiston and onto Greenbank, just love the way Edinburgh is so varied
what a house

and finally back to the Braids, I will end this with Chris Rutherfords wonderful Muriel in Braidburn Park - just perfect in the failing light
(must be 20 foot long by 10 high)

So to sum up that was 43 miles to save 5 xmas card postage stamps - well worth it - just love being in edinburgh

And that's the final ride of the year, total now 6,033 - bit short of my 6500 mile target (had an energy crises in the summer, my old body doesn't like the heat)
now new goal, 13½ stone by the end of the year - better start eating and drinking, a whole stone to put on

 

[All uphill]

Bad weather, battles with the NHS and a worsening health issue had sucked all joy out of life recently, so I set out on the Spa not expecting much.

The plan was to meet Ms AU and our son at a cafe a few miles from home.

Within 10 minutes I knew I had my mojo back! Mucky roads and oblivions in cars couldn't take away the joy of being outdoors.

The coffee was fine, Christmas cake excellent and the return journey was exhilarating.

13 miles in about an hour.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

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What a house indeed. In fact it’s the Edinburgh City (Craiglockhart) Poorhouse, the workhouse as it would be known down south. Opened 1870.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The last week has been a bit distracting so this one is from last Sunday (15th of December).
A dry and not too cold day, although a little on the windy side. @gavgav asked if I'd be free for a ride including a pub stop which sounded pretty good to me so he came over in the morning and we set off towards Condover using the surprisingly quiet A49. It was just as well that we'd already chosen to go this way as the alternative over Lyth Hill was closed for some reason and causing some confusion. We saw one driver try to head the wrong way along a one way street due to spurious diversion signage.

A red kite was flying low over the fields near Condover. Heading for Longnor and Hollyhurst we found that the wind wasn't terribly helpful to us but we expected it to be better later on, which it was on the climb to Folly Bank. During the climb other vehicles always seemed to come along just as we got to a narrow bit.

The section from Cardington to Church Preen school was good fun with the wind helping us along but more undulating bit to Kenley was just okay. After descending the bank to Bull Farm and working our way round to Evenwood we had a nice tailwind again for the long straight at Cound Moor and that continued helping on the way to Cressage. There was another cyclist ahead of us on the climb through Eaton Constantine and I did wonder whether we'd catch him up but he was just that bit too quick once the gradient eased.

Lunch was taken in the bus shelter at Charlton before we headed on through Walcot and turning into what felt like a stronger headwind to Withington. (We didn't imagine it - the Met Office showed that the wind did pick up later in the ride). Our planned pub stop was taken at the Hare and Hounds which has recently reopened after a refurbishment. It's really nice with friendly staff, some of our favourite beers on tap and the new landlord seems keen on the place being cycle friendly. Food is something they are working on still - we're told they are looking at doing lighter meals that don't cost too much.

We were a bit slower after our stop. I realised I hadn't restarted Strava so Gav got ahead while I did that and I felt glad when he needed to stop to allow a car by as I didn't have the energy to catch up. The wind seemed to hinder quite a bit for the rest of the ride back. Gav said he was really feeling it in the legs yet he was still setting a pace where I had to work hard to keep up on the way through Atcham, Cross Houses and Weeping Cross.

I had exactly 42 miles on the clock by the time I got back at 11.9 mph average. Strava shows 2113 feet of climbing. An enjoyable ride in good company. Looking forward to getting Doug out to the Hare & Hounds at some point in the future.

Photos were a bit of an afterthought. This is what I did get:

A snack stop just after Cardington.

From the same spot looking back towards Cardington.

Lunch stop at Charlton.

Pub stop. A pint of Butty Bach for me and an HPA for Gav.