Your ride today....

[Andy in Germany]

Delivery:

We have a contract with the city of Tübingen to maintain their fleet of work bikes, which includes pick up and delivery. A while back I realised that one of the most efficient ways to do this was to carry the Brompton in the cargo box, then ride it back. This was Friday's delivery to the local youth centre.

 

[Elybazza61]

Yesterday was my first Audax, a 150 brevet populaire round up to a 100 miles with LucretiaMyReflection aka Claire.

Had a rush even before leaving home as there were lots of train cancellations so quickly finished grabbing everything and scooted down to the station, unfortunately Claire missed my message and as I was sitting on the train saw her on the platform just as the train was leaving; fotunately she made other arrangements and actually arrived at the HQ before me as I had popped of at Cambridge to nab a coffee before getting another to Cambridge South and a short ride to Haslingfield to sign in.

Stayer and Fairlight ready to go;

Riders ready for briefing;

Lot's of bods there and finally after the 200 riders were gone we had the briefing from organiser Yasmin and we were off in hazy sunshine after the early mist had worn off.Light headwind but the cool air was welcome as we meandered out of Cambridge over the Gogs and onward East io the first control and on in to Suffolk.

Looking back to Cambridge from the top of the Gog-Ma-Gog hill/Worts Causeway.

Once in to Suffolk plenty of old buildings and big corn fields;

House dated 1614 on the junction between Little and Great Thurlow.

Big skies and wheat fields on the way to Lavenham.

Was also an architectural dig going on ;

https://melfordheritage.org.uk/bridge-street-dig-2025/

Terrain was now rolling with some sharp inclines as we headed to the next control in Lavenham;

After a quick snack, drink and toilet break it was Back West on to Long Melford for more sustenance;

Drinks and sandwiches at Cafe Higge

Was now getting warmer as we left and headed out over the Stour and the next control at The Blue Egg at Great Barfield.

Part two with more pics will come tomorrow as have run out of time tonight to finish this.

 

[G-Zero]

…….another not intelligent enough to register the Bottle Holder was empty as I departed this am 🤦‍♂️

Hence why in my 2nd pic - I have a bottle of Lucozade from the garage in place……..

I feel much better not being the only one

 

[Mburton1993]

Wasn't planning on going out today but I wanted to test some fettling, try the Fallowfield Loop and also get some fresh air away from the Dovestone smoke.

Wasn't sure how far I was going to go but then a pinch puncture made for a convenient midway point.

But it ended up being a nice Sunday afternoon albeit abit windy.

And then coming back into Stalybridge, the hill's on fire (a different fire from Dovestones).

So if you're in the Greater Manchester area and you're wondering about the smell, it's probably that.

 

[wafter]

About sixty miles of utility-ish and "social" wafting over the weekend; the minutiae of which I'll spare everyone..

 

[sevenfourate]

Another day. Another Strava faux-pas. Today arriving at work, stopping - and glancing down to see average of 17.1mph upon arrival. To then open up, feed cat, get prepped, get changed.

And notice Strava time still running (What happened to auto-stop ???).

So deleted the ride and added as a manual entry. I really am useless. The biggest technophobe on this Planet 🙄

And; 7 months with mudguards on - and I don’t think I got wet once ! 3 days with them offf [In July !] and I’ve got varying degrees of wet all 3 days…..

Still: more miles in the Bank. And I needed to bike in - so I can stop at my LBS on the way home and get spokes re-checked after 50 miles on the new hoops 😁

Gravel riding ?

Hmmm. Me and Strava 🤦‍♂️

 

[Elybazza61]

So part two of the Audax,,,

So the next few kilometres were the hottest of the day and even with a part tail wind the pace dropped and more stops until we got to Great Barfield and the Blue Egg for the next control,Cold drinks and Ice-Cream were welcome before heading on again.


Another stop in Debden to get in the shade and a bike in a bus shelter pic.

And on again through Thaxted
and other villages/towns with lots of thatched and pargeted cottages' quick stop at Newport to get some cold water before arriving at the last control at Arksden to answer the Brevet card question.

And a selfie to confirm!

Then on back in Cambridgeshire to arrive back at the HQ for verification;

Strava clocked it at 166.99kms at just over 8 hours moving time, official Brevet time was 11 hours.

Was going to stay a bit longer at the finish but saw that the trains were still in a mess so had to do a quick nip back to Cambridge and fortunately got a train home.

Was a good (but hot!) ride and has wetted my appetite for another Audax.