Your ride today.... (part 1)

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Gareth C

Veteran
Location
North Pennines.
A quick blast around Swaledale

Not content with riding Land’s End to John O’Groats in September, I’m also doing another cross-country route in August, repeating the Scottish Coast-to-Coast by mountain bike that I rode last year. We’re going with Highlands & Islands, who are outstanding in terms of organization, support, and also just all-round good people. I’m doing this because my mate Iain, who saw the photos from last year, thought it was awesome, and persuaded me to go again!

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On the shore of Loch na Sealga last year, before wading the river with bikes held above our heads!

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Arriving at The Causeway last year, between Fionn Loch and Dubh Loch, Letterewe Forest

By way of training, this year I’ve been focusing on my road bike, and only really done one small mountain biking trip this year. Iain’s been getting worried I’m turning into a roadie, and fully expects me soon to be shaving my legs. Well, with Liz out for the day, the road bike in the shop for a service, I thought it well overdue to get some mountain bike miles under the belt.

Where to go? Locally to Hamsterley Forest, close by to the High Cup/Cross Fell North Pennine mega day, or down to Swaledale? I figured that Hamsterley would be a bit predictable (trail centre), the High Cup/Cross Fell would be great, but a bit full-on for my current level of mountain fitness, so off to Swaledale it was.

Rather than commit to a specific route, I decided to head up into the lead mining area north of Reeth, and make it up as I went along. Up Arkengarthdale on the road, and then onto nice easy bridleways north of Calver Hill, with a nice quick descent to Fore Gill Gate, a short road section (including ford scuppering my thoughts of staying dry), and then back onto bridleway up onto Surrender Moss. At the top there’s the amazing moonscape left behind from the lead mining that took place here during the industrial revolution (and before).

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Moonscape near Great Pinseat

At this point I could have headed back down to Swaledale via Old Gang Beck, but was having such fun I decided another climb was in order, so headed over to Gunnderside via the Old Gang Mines. The bridleway that descends to Gunnerside gill is pretty “full on”. I had trouble walking down it with the bike, and have more usually been in such territory when out on rock climbing trips. However, it was clear some people had ridden the descent – they’re clearly better riders than me!

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In Gunnerside Gill, with the gully descent just left of centre.

From here I took the bridleway along the east side of Gunnerside Beck, but after the mines, this was a bit of a disappointment – narrow, lots of bracken, and often uphill! Eventually this is rewarded with a nice fast grassy descent to Whin Hall. Eventually the road is met, and a ridiculously steep descent to Gunnerside, which has the brake pads burning.

From here I follow the tracks along the south side of the River Swale, which are at this time of the year well overgrown with nettles, full of flies, but at least the rocky path gives me chance to show “speed is your friend” on such ground on a mountain bike. Just west of Healaugh, I bail onto the road (the last section I know, and would be best described as “nettle heaven”!) There’s plenty of roadies out on the Tour de France route, and the signage for next week is now in place.

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One week to go…!

Finally arrive in Reeth, and pop around to see Rich at Swaledale Outdoors and finalise our plans to meet-up at the Tour next weekend. Legs are aching – any illusions that I had that all my roadie training would transfer to mountain biking have been thoroughly removed!
 
Just over 80 miles this morning. Left the house just after 7.30 . Up to EK then Eaglesham, Galston, Sorn, Muirkirk, Strathaven and the back home via Stonehouse and Larkhall. Lovely morning with just a bit of an south easterly breeze. Home just before 12. Not any big climbs on the route but a lot of ups and downs which gave me 4500 feet of climbing
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
A gentle fifteen mile pootle around local roads taking in a smidging of the Tour route, some of the Leeds Country Way between Wigton and Bramhope via Eccup reservoir before heading back home.

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Cycle markers on le Tour route on the A61

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A depeleted Eccup reservoir undergoing some maintenance.
 

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PeteXXX

Cake or ice cream? The choice is endless ...
Location
Hamtun
Nice early ride for me today, solo as all the rest of the mob were working and I had to be back early afternoon to take my Granddaughter out for a few hours.

I'd prepped the bike yesterday and after a bowl of porage and a big black coffee I was ready to go at 07:00. I'd thought of popping up towards Uppingham and Oundle, but at the last moment, headed south instead towards Hanslope and Old Stratford for a change.
I've never ridden to Buckingham before so thought that'd be a good direction to head for some new tarmac to see.
After the town centre, a narrow old place, I turned right towards Stowe, a National Trust house and gardens,

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Tea rooms closed until 10:00, sadly is was just gone 09:00 <doh>

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where I traversed one of the most vicious cattle grids I've ever seen! At least it slows people down I suppose, or wrecks whatever mode of transport crosses it too fast..

Very pretty area to ride through though. The road I took from there was towards Silverstone, where all the signs are out for local road closures next weekend due to the Grand Prix.
At the entrance to the racetrack, I had a chat with the old boy on security for a few minutes and he said it was OK to ride around the site, but not on the actual track or pits as the hospitality trucks and setup teams are already arriving to get organised. Nice old boy actually, but I'm not sure who he'd manage to stop if there was a problem!

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After this, I needed to head back towards home. The roads around the area are a bit confusing, with the new A43 and the original A43 through Silverstone village are not particularly well signed. I know some of the area from driving through it for quite a few years, but on a bike, it's a different perspective. Anyway, I found a sign towards Wood Burcote that was in the general direction I was going (that avoided the main A43 and some of the A5).

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In the village, my OS map said to turn right. The first right was a Byway to Paulerspury, which I did not take, and the next available turn worried me a bit as it started off looking like an MTB route, but got a bit better after a river crossing! Still it's nice to discover off the beaten track roads, isn't it? :thumbsup:
After this, I was back on familiar territory and was back home in time for family duties via Stoke Bruerne, Ashton and Salcey (no time for coffee of cake :sad: )

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Random pic of my shades and a buttercup :rolleyes:


A nice metric century (63.3 miles in 3hrs 53mins , not bad for me!) in lovely weather, mainly, but a bit of a headwind on most of the way back plus slight drizzle for the last mile. Good timing really as the heavens opened soon after I got back :rain:

http://www.strava.com/activities/159421937

^_^
 
First run after 2 week holiday break. :sun:My legs thought they were still on holiday. 21 mls to get started. :cry::eek: Tough going till they got warmed up, but good to get back in the saddle.
 

Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
I had a nice tour round the countryside to the east of Worcester today with my brother. We did the 48 mile route of the British Heart Foundation ride starting and finishing at the Sixways Stadium.

I decided to use the knockabout bike for this one and arriving at the Rugby stadium it immediately became apparent I was going to stand out a bit as practically all the other bikes were drop bar varieties. I had one chap ask about mine and got approving comments for not having brought "man jewellery".:laugh:

Once set up they started us in waves so as not to clog up the roads. Doug and I went off with the second wave which started off at a brisk but manageable pace. There is a hill about a mile in which shook things up a bit - A few people dropped back while others overtook us (including a guy on a BMX. So I wasn't the only one with a stand-out bike ;))

Once past this first hill things started to settle down a bit. Doug and I were setting a reasonably good pace and by getting him to follow me close we were able to stay with one of the faster groups for quite a while.

About 10 miles in we turned into a junction and after looking back to check where Doug was I had to correct my balance (as you do). I felt the back end of the bike hit a bump followed instantly by a BANG, hissss, thump-thump-thump. Yes, I'd managed to hit the only piece of tyre-shredding debris in that particular gutter.:wacko: A few minutes pause followed while I fixed the puncture (while chatting to the owners of the house we'd stopped by) then we continued.

The guy on the BMX had gone past while I was fixing my tyre and I'd hoped to overtake him again. We never saw him for the rest of the ride, meaning that: a) He'd set a really stonking pace and got back before us. b) We passed him at one of the water stops (or pubs) en-route. c) He dropped out. I'd be quite curious to find out which.

We got moving again and continued to set a good pace, covering 15 miles in the first hour of riding. A break was called for and we paused at one of the water stops for refreshment and a bit of one of the concrete blocks flapjacks that I'd made.

Around the 20 mile mark we hit the first proper hill on the route as we climbed up to the Lenches. Doug seemed all keen to charge at it but I suggested a low gear and taking time over it. After the BB replacement the other day though the bike refused to drop into low range so that meant a stop for adjustment, after which Doug wound his way up pretty easily.

We had a nice fast downhill after the first hill, only to have to do it all again on the climb to Church Lench.

After the main climbs it settled back down to being undulating again and we could press on. The hills had taken their toll and Doug wasn't as quick as before. We tried the slipstreaming technique again but it didn't work as well with tired legs and I was leaving him behind if I wasn't careful.

At Flyford Flavell the route had been changed due to a road closure. We later discovered that this took at least a mile out of the advertised route. A shame as Doug had hoped to do at least the stated 48 miles and possibly his first 50 today, but it wasn't to be today.

As the rest of the route went on Doug was slowing. We had another stop for my cement flapjacks but it didn't stop him feeling the effects of the mileage so that near the end he was having to drop to low range for even fairly gentle hills.

We made it though and picked up medals for finishing, followed by some very nice burgers from the van by the start/finish line.

Doug really impressed me on this ride. It's his longest to date and he may have been finding it hard by the end but we still managed the 46.6 miles at 13.4 mph moving average. With the stops included we did it in 4 hours and 5 minutes which is 55 minutes faster than I'd estimated.
:bravo:
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Early morning drive to get to the event. Nice weather for ballooning.

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Doug ready for the start..........

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.....along with all the other riders.

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The villages in the Lenches all seem to be having their fetes the same day. We have a display of BSA front wheel drive cars.........

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....and scarecrows a bit further up the road.

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It's getting hard work but Doug is still going/

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Rest stop.

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Made it to the end.:wahhey:

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Just to prove that yours truely made it too.

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The foreign object that caused all the hassle earlier in the ride.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
A nice trip to Brighton with @jayonabike , @toptom , @CharlieB , @Michael Adu and James. The day started off with me getting involved with a young teen triathlon in Croydon. I ended up racing a few kids. Good fun it was too ^_^. Some really quick lads and lasses on bikes.

I met the chaps out side Geoffrey Butler Cycles in Croydon, bang on 9am. Though for the 10 minutes I had been waiting I nearly lost control of myself looking at the top o' the range Spesh and Colnago's in the shop window.

The ride out of Croydon is not the best, for obvious reasons. But it's fast and get's you out of there faster then fast. For 10 miles we averaged a speed of 20+mph, which ain't half bad seeing as it's urban riding with all that goes with it, traffic, traffic lights etc

The diversions around Gatwick have all been cleared so it was a fast route past, but there were no landing planes to whip off our hats
The slight tailwind and the gentle undulations made for even quicker riding. Some of the long winding downhills were simply glorious, in view and in riding. I couldn't help but shout out a 'YEEEHHHHHHAAAAA!!!" on one descent.

But as most people know, to get to Brighton you have to climb the south downs. I was going to go via the easier Clayton Hill route and then the bike path into Brighton. But as a good buddy pointed out, if you have people doing the Brighton ride for a first time, then the Ditchling beacon must be done, not just for the climb, but for the fantastic run in to Brighton afterwards.

We reconvened to rest our legs and gee ourselves up at @hatler 's FNR coffee stop in the car park at the bottom of Ditchling. We were setting off when a family on bikes came by.. took me a little by surprise and I very nearly had my first clipless moment. But quick reactions saved the day..phew. The father asked why weren't taking a run up at the hill..^_^

So up the Beacon, nice and steady, a few cyclists, and very little vehicular traffic, which for 11.30am surprised me a little. However we did withness a cyclist/car coming together.

From what I could make out/deduce, a car overtook us and another cyclist in front, this action forced a car coming down the hill to slow. A woman cyclist following behind, slammed into the back of the slowing car. Knocking her to the ground, Apart from looking in shock, she seemed ok, was sitting up an talking to both car drivers and another cyclist. There was little I could do so just carried on up the Beacon.

So, everyone got to the top ok, and the views on the way up and at the top were stunning, a beautiful clear day that you you could see for miles. Most times I have done the beacon was on the FNR's, at a very early morning time, the hills and valley covered in mist.

Obligatory top o' beacon pic (sorry @CharlieB , seemed to have cut you out of the pic.. bloody camera phones and sunlight.
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We had to press on, @toptom mentioned that a 12noon arrival in Brighton would be great going.. and we did it.. just about. Not helped by the as usual crap Brighton traffic.

It was a lovely day, lovely enough to leave the bikes on the beach to sunbath and enjoy the lovely blue sea.
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and indulge ourselves on fish and chips.(veggie pie for one).
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Some people had to text home pics of their Fish and Chips...:thumbsup:
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As nice as it was sitting down chatting away and taking in the sun and splendour of Brighton. Time was rolling on. We had to make a move. I promised Ianrauk Jnr that I would be back for the football.

The climb out of Brighton is a toughie.. at first tough in that it's just urban sprawl. Then you have to climb Devils Dyke.. but what goes up.. must come down. A couple of long drag windy climbs are complemented by a couple of nice long descents. It really cant be beat...it's what is being on a bike is all about...the pain in your legs from a climb, the pain in your face from getting smacked on the schnozzer by a fly, and the sheer adrenalin rush of a long winding speedy descent.

So rolling terrain meant we were soon back at Handross and back to the urban sprawl run in to home. Crawley and Gatwick were dispatched with the high speed cycling that they deserve. Back on to the A23, it was more rolling and gentle climbing. But the legs felt good and we were making excellent time.

A quick stop at Merstham to rest weary legs and bums and to take more obligatory bike shots.

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Merstham, Coulsdon, Reedham and Purley didn't even touch the sides... and back into Croydon. We had a few specks of rain earlier, but now it decided to fall heavily. It's just a good thing it wasn't cold. I said to the chaps as I left them at Croydon. Don't worry it's a 5 minute shower. HAHAHAHA.. right. My last 8 miles run into home was heavy rain. Oh well. :laugh:

I got home in time for the footy. Soaked to the skin.. like a drowned rat said mummy, what's a drowned rat? said ianrauk jnr. 'Me' said daddy. 'Oh ok' said jnr as he toddled off.

So a fantastic days cycling, with some really awesome cyclists. Days like this doesn't get any better. It's what's being on a bike is about.

109 miles on the clock at an average of 17mph.
Century 17 for the year and 120 overall.

Phew.. tired legs.. am going to feel it on the commute tomorrow..:ohmy::thumbsup:
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Archeress

Veteran
Location
Bristol
Went out with the cycling club today, Stokes Cycling Club. There were 14 of us in total and todays ride was a short medium level ride to Thornbury. Half the time on these club rides I never know where I am, but I just follow the leader sure in the knowledge that if I keep up I will see home again lol! The ride today was pretty much non stop, so when I saw my first ever maypole I wasn't able to get a photo. Not only that, as I never know where I am on these rides, the only way to find it again is to ride the route all over again on my own. In Thornbury, the original cafe we were going to use was closed so we used the chain Coffee #1. There were already a group of cycists in there and while we were there another group came in. After the ride I decided to accompany some of the club to the nearby pub in Bradley Stoke before cycling home. I'm now looking forward to my next ride with the club, some of the millenium coast path in Wales.

http://www.strava.com/activities/159493382

Hugs
Archeress x
 
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