100 km ride from Leighton Buzzard, Sat 17th Mar 2018

[biggs682]

That's a pity. I will tag you on future LB rides to see if you can make any of them.

We could always try a meet in Olney then you might get @PeteXXX and some other Northampton based riders

 

[PeteXXX]

I’m w*rking this Saturday, sadly.

 

[ColinJ]

I had never heard of Olney but I just looked it up and see it is 15-20 km east of Towcester. That would have been handy when I used to visit my sister in Towcester but she has now moved to Linslade (Leighton Buzzard) which is why I have been organising these rides from there, to coincide with my visits.

I also visit my other sister in Coventry. I could organise some rides from there too, if anyone would be interested in that?

As for an Onley ride ... Why don't you and/or Pete plan one?

 

[ColinJ]

Thinking about it ... I always wanted to cycle from Coventry to the Malvern Hills and back. That would be quite a long ride but would be a good day out. It won't happen this year, but perhaps I will plan it for summer, 2019?

 

[ColinJ]

The forecast for Saturday is getting worse by the minute! I am getting weather alerts from the Met Office every couple of hours ...

Let's monitor the situation and see what the forecast says tomorrow. Freezing winds are one thing, but freezing winds, snow and ice might be a bit much - fingers crossed for safe conditions!

 

[steverob]

When I checked before lunch, my local forecast (ten miles down the road from LB) said Saturday was 2-3 deg C and it only had a snow warning for the Sunday. Checked again just now and its dropped by two degrees, now with a snow AND ice warning for both Saturday and Sunday.

I'll still be at the station regardless and if the conditions turn out to be too poor to do a long ride, the road back to my home is typically in good nick regardless of the weather, so it's no problem me getting home. There's also the option to delay the start of the ride until 10am to see if things clear up I suppose.

 

[Sbudge]

Me too, unless it snows or is too icy I'll ride for sure but we can compare notes again Friday night. I'll bring some spare hand/feet warmer packs just in case ;-)

Cheers

Simon

 

[ColinJ]

Yes, let's confer again tomorrow evening.

If we do decide to go ahead but wake up to a blizzard, what time would you both need to know about a last-minute cancellation?

 

[steverob]

8:30am

 

[Elysian_Roads]

That's a pity. I will tag you on future LB rides to see if you can make any of them.

Hi @ColinJ, likewise won't be able to make this weekend's ride but may be able to make a future LB outing. Will be working on my hill climbing in the meantime....

 

[Sbudge]

Yes, let's confer again tomorrow evening.

If we do decide to go ahead but wake up to a blizzard, what time would you both need to know about a last-minute cancellation?

Same as Steve really, depends what time we plan to start. I'm about half an hour away from LB. Weather looking a bit grim at the moment though. Let's make a tentative call after 7pm tonight.

Simon

 

[ColinJ]

Well, lads, unless the forecasters have got it completely wrong, tomorrow isn't going to be a day for a safe, enjoyable 100 km ride on potentially icy hilly lanes!

How about accepting that and trying to come up with something safer and easier?

Perhaps a start at 12:00 to allow time for conditions to improve a bit and then tackling a shorter ride of (say) 50 km with an option to improvise extra on top of that if we feel like it?

One advantage of that would be that we'd be able to wait until much later in the morning to see how the weather was actually developing.

If that sounds sensible @steverob and @Sbudge, could you think about what route we could do that should have been gritted but should not be too busy?

What do you both think?

 

[Sbudge]

Well, lads, unless the forecasters have got it completely wrong, tomorrow isn't going to be a day for a safe, enjoyable 100 km ride on potentially icy hilly lanes!

How about accepting that and trying to come up with something safer and easier?

Perhaps a start at 12:00 to allow time for conditions to improve a bit and then tackling a shorter ride of (say) 50 km with an option to improvise extra on top of that if we feel like it?

One advantage of that would be that we'd be able to wait until much later in the morning to see how the weather was actually developing.

If that sounds sensible @steverob and @Sbudge, could you think about what route we could do that should have been gritted but should not be too busy?

What do you both think?

I'm certainly up for that too. Depending on conditions I could then ride to/from LB too (rather than driving) and make it 100km if possible. I'm free all day anyway. Agree a go/no go at 11am say?

 

[steverob]

I'm certainly up for that too. Depending on conditions I could then ride to/from LB too (rather than driving) and make it 100km if possible. I'm free all day anyway. Agree a go/no go at 11am say?

If I leave mine at 11:00 heading for LB, that will mean riding half on main roads and half on back roads, which will give me a good idea as to the conditions and whether a further ride is feasible or not.

I've definitely got Simon's mobile and I think I've still got Colin's from one of your previous rides (will double check via PM), so if I get halfway and find that it's not safe/passable for me to get to LB, I'll text both of you and head back home. Otherwise, I'll reach the station at about 11:50 with any luck and we can head out from there.

A 50km route shouldn't be too much of an issue. The "north" route I showed on page one of this thread spent its early parts going along some quiet, but still quite well used village roads (e.g. two lanes wide, likely to be gritted), so I think we may use some of that as a template and then decide to loop back round when we've had enough.

 

[ColinJ]

Excellent!

I hope that we can still get a ride in.

I have your number, Steve (xxxxx xxx 781?) and mine is still xxxxx xxx 978.

Unless we are forced to cancel, see you in front of the station at around 11:50.