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.

View attachment 805021

View attachment 805022

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]

W16R1 - 36 minutes - Weds - local miles
W16R2 - 1 hour 3 minutes - Fri - local miles
W16R3 - 1 hour 12 minutes - Sun - hills south of Burnley to Trawden, Colne L&L

Pic from today's Lazy Sunny Afternoon ride

 

[Jon George]

Week 17
20th 50 mins Levington
21st 50 mins Sainsbury’s via Kesgrave and Foxhall
23rd 50 mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
24th 60 mins Bridleways around Nacton and Levington
25th 100 mins Bridleways around Freston
26th 70 mins Around town and Westerfield

Here's a pic from the 20th of Formation - a sculpture at the entrance to the Ravenswood estate that was built on the site of the local airport. (The place where I had my first flight. The pilot had not secured his seat properly and when he opened the throttle to take off, his seat slide back and his feet came off the rudder controls. And thus the brakes. We started veering towards trees. His solution? Pull the stick back, get into the air - the port wind tip nearly clipping the ground - and to give me control when we hurtled over a road, at about sixty feet, as he fixed his seat. I think he was a bit impressed at how calm I was. )

 

[FrothNinja]

W17R1 - 43 minutes - Mon - Preston & Burnley local miles
W17R2 - 37 minutes - Wed- local miles
W17R3 - 46 minutes - Thur - local miles
W17R4 - 2 hour 41 minutes - Fri - Brierfield, Fence, Ridge, Sabden, Langho, Whalley, Wiswell, Nick of Pendle, Ridge, Barrowford, Nelson, Burnley (total 38.6 miles / 62.1 km, plus 1,105 m / 3,625 ft ascent)
W17R5 - 38 minutes - Sat - local miles
W17R6 - 1 hour 50 minutes - Sun - Extended Clarion loop
Pic from this morning

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 17: 8 local rides over 30 mins; 14.75 hours on the bike; distance cycled 211.05km (1228m of Ascent)

Ride 1: Wednesday 22nd April (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 17.12km, 1 hr 18 mins
Ride 2: Wednesday 22nd April (2) – HMCAM ride on the Princess: 57.31km, 3 hrs 46 mins
Ride 3: Thursday 23rd April (1) – local ride on the RAID: 15.04km, 1 hr 15 mins
Ride 4: Thursday 23rd April (2) – Mauron/Loyat (V3, D123) on La Rossa: 32.16km, 2 hrs 13 mins
Ride 5: Friday 24th April (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 19.27km, 1 hr 25 mins
Ride 6: Friday 24th April (2) – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 24.05km, 1 hr 33 mins
Ride 7: Sunday 26th April (1) – local ride on the Urban Shaper: 22.68km, 1 hr 39 mins
Ride 8: Sunday 26th April (2) – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 23.42km, 1 hr 36 mins

Up near Kerminy on my first ride today. The trees on the left were selectively coppiced just a couple of years ago – it’s amazing how quickly they’ve re-grown.

 

[Jon George]

Week 18
27th 115 mins Westerfield – Thurleston – Claydon – Henley – Westerfield
28th 50 mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
30th 50 mins Levington
1st 50 mins Nacton Via Gainsborough Road and Ravenswood - Sainsbury’s
2nd 90 mins Bridleways from Westerfield – Henley – Witnesham
3rd 50 mins Around town

A pic from the 27th near Henley.

And another from 28th at Nacton

And one from the 2nd at Witnesham - where soemone thought their guard dog wasn't quite doing all they could.

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 18: 10 local rides over 30 mins; 18.03 hours on the bike; distance cycled 255.3km (1253m of Ascent)


Ride 1: Monday 27th April (1) – local ride on the RAID: 20.33km, 1 hr 33 mins
Ride 2: Monday 27th April (2) – Mauron/Loyat (V3, D123) on La Rossa: 32.11km, 2 hrs 4 mins
Ride 3: Tuesday 28th April – VV ride on the Urban Shaper: 25.14km, 1 hr 50 mins
Ride 4: Wednesday 29th April (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 19.73km, 1 hr 28 mins
Ride 5: Wednesday 29th April (2) – VV ride on the Crosshill: 26.53km, 1 hr 50 mins
Ride 6: Thursday 30th April (1) – local ride on the RAID: 16.43km, 1 hr 16 mins
Ride 7: Thursday 30th April (2) – Mauron/Lézonnet (V3) on the Urban Shaper: 35.13km, 2 hrs 22 mins
Ride 8: Friday 1st May (1) – local ride on the MASSI: 18.55km, 1 hr 19 mins
Ride 9: Friday 1st May (2) – Mauron/Lézonnet (V3) on Katie-Mae: 35.16km, 2 hrs 26 mins
Ride 10: Sunday 3rd May – VV ride on Katie-Mae: 26.19km, 1 hr 54 mins

Photo below from Friday’s second ride on the GR37 south of Loyat (alternative to the photo posted in the ‘MBIFO a bridge’ thread)