Three 30-minute rides each week of the year 2026 challenge

[bluenotebob]

Week 14: 8 local rides over 30 mins; 13.5 hours on the bike; distance cycled 192.24km (958m of Ascent)

Ride 1: Tuesday 31st March (1) – local ride on the RAID: 19.23km, 1 hr 31 mins
Ride 2: Tuesday 31st March (2) – VV ride on the Urban Shaper: 26.02km, 1 hr 48 mins
Ride 3: Wednesday 1st April (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 16.47km, 1 hr 15 mins
Ride 4: Wednesday 1st April (2) – VV ride on the Crosshill: 22.85km, 1 hr 32 mins
Ride 5: Friday 3rd April – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 26.19km, 1 hr 50 mins
Ride 6: Saturday 4th April (1) – local ride on the RAID: 17.83km, 1 hr 24 mins
Ride 7: Saturday 4th April (2) – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 23.39km, 1 hr 32 mins
Ride 8: Sunday 5th April – Mauron/Grancastel (V3) on the Princess: 40.26km, 2 hrs 38 mins

Photo below from 19th March (but not posted before): the RAID on a heathland track near Kermagero

 

[FrothNinja]

W14R1 - 43 minutes - Thurs - Local miles
W14R2 - 1 hour 28 minutes - Sat - Colne ride
W14R3 - 31 mins - Sun - Local miles

Timely pic from Thusday

 

[Jon George]

30th 50 mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
3rd 50 mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
4th 70 mins Around town. Quizzing.
5th 70 mins Around town and Westerfield.

A view of the river Orwell from Stoke Bridge. (In the distance is Princess Street bridge - one you would cross after exiting the train station if, say, you were coming to watch the men's football.

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 15: 6 local rides over 30 mins; 18.65 hours on the bike; distance cycled 283.49km (1238m of Ascent)

Ride 1: Monday 6th April – VV ride on the Princess: 26.35km, 1 hr 47 mins
Ride 2: Tuesday 7th April – Lunacy Distance ride on La Rossa: 119.14km, 7hrs hr 42 mins
Ride 3: Wednesday 8th April – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 24.11km, 1 hr 43 mins
Ride 4: Thursday 9th April – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 27.65km, 1 hr 54 mins
Ride 5: Friday 10th April – HMCAM ride on the Crosshill: 62.58km, 3 hrs 58 mins
Ride 6: Sunday 12th April – VV ride on the Urban Shaper: 23.66km, 1 hr 35 mins

A couple of photos below from Tuesday’s ride at le Moulin Bragoux down in the l’Arz valley, west of Rochefort-en-Terre. It’s a pretty place which I first visited last year (but without a camera). I haven’t done it justice with Tuesday’s photos – I was mithered by the heat (it was a sweltering 29C) and by tractors thundering through the hamlet. It’s also unfortunate that I can’t get a kickstand fitted to my carbon road bike – it means propping the bike up against a post or a tree (if I can find one) when I’ve stopped to take a photo.

 

[FrothNinja]

Week 15: 6 local rides over 30 mins; 18.65 hours on the bike; distance cycled 283.49km (1238m of Ascent)

Ride 1: Monday 6th April – VV ride on the Princess: 26.35km, 1 hr 47 mins
Ride 2: Tuesday 7th April – Lunacy Distance ride on La Rossa: 119.14km, 7hrs hr 42 mins
Ride 3: Wednesday 8th April – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 24.11km, 1 hr 43 mins
Ride 4: Thursday 9th April – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 27.65km, 1 hr 54 mins
Ride 5: Friday 10th April – HMCAM ride on the Crosshill: 62.58km, 3 hrs 58 mins
Ride 6: Sunday 12th April – VV ride on the Urban Shaper: 23.66km, 1 hr 35 mins

A couple of photos below from Tuesday’s ride at le Moulin Bragoux down in the l’Arz valley, west of Rochefort-en-Terre. It’s a pretty place which I first visited last year (but without a camera). I haven’t done it justice with Tuesday’s photos – I was mithered by the heat (it was a sweltering 29C) and by tractors thundering through the hamlet. It’s also unfortunate that I can’t get a kickstand fitted to my carbon road bike – it means propping the bike up against a post or a tree (if I can find one) when I’ve stopped to take a photo.

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Lovely - not only is the water wheel present but the power wheel is still in situ.

 

[FrothNinja]

W15R1 - 5 hours 42 minutes - Tues - Brierfield, Langho, Salmesbury, Preston, Darwen, Accrington, Padiham, Colne, Burnley (total 63.3 miles / 101.9 km, plus 1,075m / 3,527ft)
W15R2 - 2 hour 4 minutes - Tues - Clitheroe return nightish ride
W15R3 - 3 hour 56 minutes - Thurs - Brierfield to Preston and back without deviations (total 47.6 miles / 76.6 km, plus 828 m / 2,717 ft ascent)
W15R4 - 4 hour 43 minutes - Sat - Brierfield, Fence, Colne, Sough, Thornton-In-Craven, Broughton, Skipton (for a good poke around), Crosshills, Calf Edge, Nelson, Fence, Burnley (total 45.9 miles / 73.9 km, plus 1,043 m / 3,425 ft ascent)
W15R5 - 32 mins - Sun - Local miles

Pic on the outward leg of Tuesday night's ride. Darker in actuality - was trying to catch the sunset but aimed at the sky, doh

 

[Jon George]

6th 50 mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
8th 85 mins Train Station – Woodbridge – Home
10th 90 mins Bridleways around Tuddenham
11th 70 mins Quizzing around Ipswich
12th 70mins Quizzing around Kesgrave and Ipswich

And, with a nod to the poet Robert Frost, a road most definitely travelled (just North of Ipswich.)

 

[Jon George]

13th 50 Mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
14th 170mins Ipswich - Bucklesham – Kirton – Trimleys – Felixstowe – Trimleys – Kirton – Bucklesham – Foxhall – Levington Marina – Nacton – Ipswich
15th 50mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood – B&Q – Sainsbury’s
17th 90mins Bridleways around Tuddenham
18th 60mins Levington via Nacton and Gainsborough Road
19th 70mins Around town and Westerfield

And a pic of The Old Rectory at Nacton village. (I have subsequently been informed that it quite regularly opens it gardens in summer for charity. Definitely seems worth a visit.)

 

[bluenotebob]

Quite a difficult week – as I’ve written elsewhere on the forum, I’ve started to struggle to recover quickly from longish rides. Not sure if this is down to seasonal hay-fever (and anti-histamines) or whether it’s age catching up with me.

I’ll try and stay in this challenge this year but I’m doubtful about 2027. I want to keep doing long rides every week or two – but that might mean that I only do one or two rides a week. It looks like it might become a simple choice – long rides (6/8 hours) versus a handful of shorter (60/90 minutes) ones.

Week 16: 5 local rides over 30 mins; 11.62 hours on the bike; distance cycled 168.11km (755m of Ascent)

Ride 1: Thursday 16th April (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 20.31km, 1 hr 36 mins
Ride 2: Thursday 16th April (2) – VV ride on the RAID: 32.88km, 2 hrs 31 mins
Ride 3: Friday 17th April (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 15.79km, 1 hr 9 mins
Ride 4: Friday 17th April (2) – Mauron/le Pissot (V3) on La Rossa: 72.48km, 4hrs 32 mins
Ride 5: Sunday 19th April – VV ride on the Crosshill: 26.65km, 1 hr 49 mins

Photo below from last Tuesday’s ride (7th April). Just west of the chapelle St-Barthélémy (on the ridge south of the Claie valley) – a Christian cross inside the remnants of a much older stone circle. I knew that early Christians adopted pagan sites and this is a good example of that.

 

[FrothNinja]

W15R1 - 36 minutes - Weds - local miles
W15R2 - 1 hour 3 minutes - Fri - local miles
W15R3 - 1 hour 12 minutes - Sun - hills south of Burnley to Trawden, Colne L&L

Pic from today's Lazy Sunny Afternoon ride