Tiny rides of 2023

[Hebe]

This is a thread to celebrate the tiny rides that are still a triumph in their own way. I’m setting it up to support my resolution on @Ming the Merciless ’s Cycling hopes and dreams 2023 thread. So my January mini goal is simply to get a bike out of the garage and down the road, once a week. I might just loop around the housing estate after putting air in the tyres, or I might stretch to 5 or 7k. Or I might do the 15minute pootle to the leisure centre or into town. If it’s really nice weather I’ll do a longer ride but that won’t be on this thread Please join me here with any small but perfectly formed and satisfying rides of your own - perhaps first ride after recovering from illness/surgery, test ride after fixing something, just making it off the sofa on a rainy day. Not a challenge, no minimum distance or frequency.

Proposed loose format for celebrating your tiny rides - just include a rough idea of distance, any purpose to the ride and how it went. As detailed or tiny as you wish. By definition these are not necessarily far or fast rides, and there's as much joy to be had from a half mile loop after too long away from the bike as from a longer regular ride.

Today I realised that we’re a week into January and other than a spin on my sister’s exercise bike I haven’t been on a bike at all this year. I went out for 20-30 minutes on the Marin, my speed is still down a bit after covid but the (slight) uphills were not as hard work as they were 10 days or so ago.

 

[sevenfourate]

^^^Good idea. We don’t all regularly do larger rides for whatever reason(s). But enjoy our shorter rides just as much I suspect 😎

Dry roads here this avo. So I dug up the MTB and did a 6 mile round trip to the Vape shop. Coming home on the Coast road. Yes the sea isn’t Azure blue here in Lowestoft in January 🙄: but I’ll never ever take living right by the sea for granted…..

Chilly. But nice to be out for 3/4 of an hour.

 

[Slick]

I've been off the bike for some time since doing my abductor on a particularly challenging ride. I tried a comeback too early that didn't go well but I finally managed to swap the physio for a swimming session today and feel the better for it. I'm still hopeful of 50k before the end of the month so I can join that challenge, but just getting on the bike will be a win right now.

 

[Hebe]

^^^Good idea. We don’t all regularly do larger rides for whatever reason(s). But enjoy our shorter rides just as much I suspect 😎

Dry roads here this avo. So I dug up the MTB and did a 6 mile round trip to the Vape shop. Coming home on the Coast road. Yes the sea isn’t Azure blue here in Lowestoft in January 🙄: but I’ll never ever take living right by the sea for granted…..

Chilly. But nice to be out for 3/4 of an hour.

I miss the sea. I grew up in Cornwall. I’m near a canal now but it’s not the same. Short rides are great because there’s still so much of the day left when you get back, but you still have that bike ride joy. It poured down 10 minutes into my ride today and I realised that riding in the rain isn’t actually that bad when you know you’re going to be home soon.

 

[Hebe]

I've been off the bike for some time since doing my abductor on a particularly challenging ride. I tried a comeback too early that didn't go well but I finally managed to swap the physio for a swimming session today and feel the better for it. I'm still hopeful of 50k before the end of the month so I can join that challenge, but just getting on the bike will be a win right now.

Good luck. That must be very frustrating. I started swimming again after covid, because I knew that if I got into trouble with breathing I could just stop and get out of the pool, rather than being stuck several miles from home. Though to be honest the odds of me riding more than a mile or so in the firtnight or so after covid were slim to begin with. January is a long month and maybe when you’re recovered enough you can get your 50k from a few shorter rides.

 

[DCLane]

Good idea. Some of the best rides aren't the longest. Yes I'm hoping to ride Paris-Brest-Paris but one of the best rides I did in 2022 was quite short; a retro ride round Southwell on a misbehaving 1959 Harry Quinn:

 

[sevenfourate]

Good idea. Some of the best rides aren't the longest. Yes I'm hoping to ride Paris-Brest-Paris but one of the best rides I did in 2022 was quite short; a retro ride round Southwell on a misbehaving 1959 Harry Quinn:

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That looks fun !

Friend of a friend is always out doing retro BMX meet ups. Basically a load of 40-50 year olds who’ve built up old school bikes they couldn’t afford back in the day - and spending the day in *London tearing up the streets on a 2-wheeled pub crawl.
I’m not a drinker. But the sight of a load of has-beens on BMX’s enjoying themselves looks ace 👍

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Good idea
I have been having problems with motivation and opportunity for the last few months
weather hasn't helped but the less I go out the more effort I need to put in to actually do anything

I have dropped my normal expectation from 20 miles to 16 - which makes a few shorter loops OK rather than 'a bit too short'
I am also counting bits where I just do a couple of miles to get somewhere
I have also allowed myself to use a slightly higher power assist (Yes -it is an ebike) if I feel rubbish
all this helps me get out in the first place and hopefully will build up my fitness back to whare it was before so I feel better about trying my normal canal loop which includes a long hill in winter to avoid too much mud!

Good idea to have a thread for "well I managed something" and count it as a gain

 

[Hebe]

one of the best rides I did in 2022 was quite short; a retro ride round Southwell on a misbehaving 1959 Harry Quinn

I shall look that up on Strava, it does look like fun!

Good idea to have a thread for "well I managed something" and count it as a gain

This is absolutely it! Especially in the long months with the short days. I think you’re right to value the short errand journeys too, they all get your heart rate up and your legs moving more than they would on the sofa or in the car, regardless of what kind of bike you’re on.

@sevenfourate people always look like they having fun on BMX

 

[figbat]

I kind of do a tiny ride every week. Every Wednesday I go for a 1.5-2 hour MTB ride with a group from my village. We end up in the local pub until closing time (or after!). I then ride approximately 500m home. I never record the home leg on Wahoo or Strava but over a year it adds up. It’s often the worse part of the night too - we could’ve been riding in mud, sub-zero, horizontal rain or whatever but that half km home after a pleasant couple of pints, some chips and a log fire is always a chore.

 

[DCLane]

I shall look that up on Strava, it does look like fun!

They're run via this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1099172983891563

I'm guessing there will be a similar one near-ish you. If not, start one by having a start/stop café plus a route on quiet roads. That's all the Belvoir group started from.

 

[wafter]

Nice idea

I think once you're out you'll go further than you'd thought - but any saddle time's a win!

 

[Hebe]

Nice idea

I think once you're out you'll go further than you'd thought - but any saddle time's a win!

That’s the thing isn’t it, once on the bike it’s not a big deal to keep going a bit further. It’s getting the momentum to get on the bike in the first place.

 

[Hebe]

They're run via this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1099172983891563

I'm guessing there will be a similar one near-ish you. If not, start one by having a start/stop café plus a route on quiet roads. That's all the Belvoir group started from.

Thank you. I definitely need more miles and road confidence but will have a look.

 

[Hebe]

I kind of do a tiny ride every week. Every Wednesday I go for a 1.5-2 hour MTB ride with a group from my village. We end up in the local pub until closing time (or after!). I then ride approximately 500m home. I never record the home leg on Wahoo or Strava but over a year it adds up. It’s often the worse part of the night too - we could’ve been riding in mud, sub-zero, horizontal rain or whatever but that half km home after a pleasant couple of pints, some chips and a log fire is always a chore.

That does sound like a difficult setting to leave!