Just arrived in lovely sunny conditions and was thinking exactly the same thing!
Well doneDone. Well, at least, I'm claiming it, purists may object.
I set off into the snow, and it really wasn't bad. The road surfaces were good, the snow was dry and it wasn't too cold. My plan was to aimlessly loop round the suburbs, so I could always get to a station if the weather got really bad. I realised I'd forgotten my phone, so I looped back home to pick it up at the 25k point. That alone would be enough to disqualify me from the imperial century a month challenge, but worse was to come. After 40k or so I thought I'd see what things were like outside the conurbation, so I rode up to the North Downs ridge at Titsey. Bad move.
As I rode the snow changed from fluffy flakes to little icy crystals, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. I stopped for a snack and a swig from my (frozen) water bottle and headed back from the ridge, right into the wind. I had to pedal downhill at times. Then things started to go wrong with my bike: gears, rear brake and front mech all started playing up. This turned out to be due to a thick accumulation of ice on all of the bottom of the bike - and on my boots! The descent from Titsey to Bromley via Biggin Hill is normally a fast one, but this was hard work. There was ice all over the bike , and my feet and hands were frozen.
I popped into the station at Bromley South for a hot drink. 77k done. Once I'd thawed my numb hands I phoned my wife and by a bizarre coincidence she was standing a few metres away, having popped out to do some shopping. We took the train home together, and the ice from my bike melted into a huge puddle on the train floor. At home I thawed my feet and hands, put on some dry socks, and then set out for a final 25k loop which I completed without incident.
102k done. Two visits to home. A train section, and a change of socks. I'm still claiming it
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sounds an interesting day out !! .I'd be claiming it as well
Done. Well, at least, I'm claiming it, purists may object.
I set off into the snow, and it really wasn't bad. The road surfaces were good, the snow was dry and it wasn't too cold. My plan was to aimlessly loop round the suburbs, so I could always get to a station if the weather got really bad. I realised I'd forgotten my phone, so I looped back home to pick it up at the 25k point. That alone would be enough to disqualify me from the imperial century a month challenge, but worse was to come. After 40k or so I thought I'd see what things were like outside the conurbation, so I rode up to the North Downs ridge at Titsey. Bad move.
As I rode the snow changed from fluffy flakes to little icy crystals, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. I stopped for a snack and a swig from my (frozen) water bottle and headed back from the ridge, right into the wind. I had to pedal downhill at times. Then things started to go wrong with my bike: gears, rear brake and front mech all started playing up. This turned out to be due to a thick accumulation of ice on all of the bottom of the bike - and on my boots! The descent from Titsey to Bromley via Biggin Hill is normally a fast one, but this was hard work. There was ice all over the bike , and my feet and hands were frozen.
I popped into the station at Bromley South for a hot drink. 77k done. Once I'd thawed my numb hands I phoned my wife and by a bizarre coincidence she was standing a few metres away, having popped out to do some shopping. We took the train home together, and the ice from my bike melted into a huge puddle on the train floor. At home I thawed my feet and hands, put on some dry socks, and then set out for a final 25k loop which I completed without incident.
102k done. Two visits to home. A train section, and a change of socks. I'm still claiming it
View attachment 400413
That ride would still totally count in my opinion, even if it HADN'T been done in such horrendous conditions. Chapeau to you for even attempting that today, let alone succeeding!Done. Well, at least, I'm claiming it, purists may object.
I set off into the snow, and it really wasn't bad. The road surfaces were good, the snow was dry and it wasn't too cold. My plan was to aimlessly loop round the suburbs, so I could always get to a station if the weather got really bad. I realised I'd forgotten my phone, so I looped back home to pick it up at the 25k point. That alone would be enough to disqualify me from the imperial century a month challenge, but worse was to come. After 40k or so I thought I'd see what things were like outside the conurbation, so I rode up to the North Downs ridge at Titsey. Bad move.
As I rode the snow changed from fluffy flakes to little icy crystals, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. I stopped for a snack and a swig from my (frozen) water bottle and headed back from the ridge, right into the wind. I had to pedal downhill at times. Then things started to go wrong with my bike: gears, rear brake and front mech all started playing up. This turned out to be due to a thick accumulation of ice on all of the bottom of the bike - and on my boots! The descent from Titsey to Bromley via Biggin Hill is normally a fast one, but this was hard work. There was ice all over the bike , and my feet and hands were frozen.
I popped into the station at Bromley South for a hot drink. 77k done. Once I'd thawed my numb hands I phoned my wife and by a bizarre coincidence she was standing a few metres away, having popped out to do some shopping. We took the train home together, and the ice from my bike melted into a huge puddle on the train floor. At home I thawed my feet and hands, put on some dry socks, and then set out for a final 25k loop which I completed without incident.
102k done. Two visits to home. A train section, and a change of socks. I'm still claiming it
Done. Well, at least, I'm claiming it, purists may object.
I set off into the snow, and it really wasn't bad. The road surfaces were good, the snow was dry and it wasn't too cold. My plan was to aimlessly loop round the suburbs, so I could always get to a station if the weather got really bad. I realised I'd forgotten my phone, so I looped back home to pick it up at the 25k point. That alone would be enough to disqualify me from the imperial century a month challenge, but worse was to come. After 40k or so I thought I'd see what things were like outside the conurbation, so I rode up to the North Downs ridge at Titsey. Bad move.
As I rode the snow changed from fluffy flakes to little icy crystals, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. I stopped for a snack and a swig from my (frozen) water bottle and headed back from the ridge, right into the wind. I had to pedal downhill at times. Then things started to go wrong with my bike: gears, rear brake and front mech all started playing up. This turned out to be due to a thick accumulation of ice on all of the bottom of the bike - and on my boots! The descent from Titsey to Bromley via Biggin Hill is normally a fast one, but this was hard work. There was ice all over the bike , and my feet and hands were frozen.
I popped into the station at Bromley South for a hot drink. 77k done. Once I'd thawed my numb hands I phoned my wife and by a bizarre coincidence she was standing a few metres away, having popped out to do some shopping. We took the train home together, and the ice from my bike melted into a huge puddle on the train floor. At home I thawed my feet and hands, put on some dry socks, and then set out for a final 25k loop which I completed without incident.
102k done. Two visits to home. A train section, and a change of socks. I'm still claiming it
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So do I, and I have also only been actually turned back by a [largely] missing bridge. It's still a little concerning though, and that cattle grid is in a quite spectacularly awkward place, as @ColinJ can confirm.
I also tend to question then ignore those signs, but sometimes ...
On one of my forum rides we came to a road closure which we ignored. We proceeded a few hundred yards but then discovered that a section of the road was no longer there. In its place was a hole so big that it looked like a massive IED had gone off under the road! We had to shoulder our bikes cyclocross-stylee and clamber up a muddy slope to get round it. I'll see if I can find one of the photos of it ... Ah, here is one taken by @potsy:... I was riding to the start of an audax event. I had planned to use a small lane from Milnrow which eventually came out near event HQ in Rochdale and which would save me riding down some busy A-roads which I would be riding along shortly on the event itself.
Road Closed!
Not for Intrepid Cycling Man, it wasn't! I continued past the huge sign. And then the even bigger sign. I even did some extreme cyclocross to get my bike up over a 4 ft diameter concrete pipe laid across the road.
And then I came to an 8 ft high fence across the road!
Beyond it lay a vast area of devastation with heavy earth-moving plant in operation. I found out later that they were building a new junction for the M62, a new A-road to link to it, and lots of new business premises.
Ok ... ROAD CLOSED!
It would have been the mother of all detours if you'd had to turn back. Not quite on a 'Connel Bridge closure' scale***, but still not what you'd want to do!
