Your ride today....

[wafter]

Frankly, it’s nearly everyone. Idiot pedestrians wafting about like dandelion fluff; drivers of anything boasting four wheels or more, all apparently convinced they’re auditioning for Mad Max: Oxfordshire Drift; other cyclists, whose sole mission seems to be demonstrating how not to ride a bicycle; and, of course, the pièce de résistance, a pair of twunts on illegal battery‑powered motorcycles, masked up like discount ninjas.

It is interesting you mention the Ridgeway. I’m less than 100 feet from a BOAT that leads straight onto it, practically a VIP entrance. I really should dust off the old Trek MTB and give it an airing. With any luck, the twunts will be terrorising someone else’s tranquillity for a change.

Yeah, I can appreciate all that; no doubt thrown into sharp focus by your recent excursions to far more cycle-friendly climbs..

Sounds like you've got a golden opportunity on your doorstep though - best get out amongst it while the weather still makes it easy

 

[EltonFrog]

Today I had a dentist appointment. Yesterday I resolved to cycle the just‑over‑ten miles to the practice — not because I had any burning desire to cycle, but because I really didn’t want to drive there.

I nearly gave in and got in the car, but IMTFU prevailed, so I got the road bike ready and went. Instead of taking the mostly traffic‑free route, I stuck to the roads, and on the whole it was fine. The only incident was a white‑van man flinging his door open without looking; fortunately I was paying attention.

I arrived a little early, so I carried on for another ten minutes. By chance I came across a sign for the Aston Martin museum — something I had no idea existed. I went to investigate. It was closed, but I’ve made a note to visit another time.

Once my appointment was over, I realised I wasn’t hating being out, so I took a different way home via Dorchester‑on‑Thames and a café with alpacas, where I stopped for a sausage sandwich and coffee. Then on through Shillingford, Wallingford (with a pause at the castle grounds), Brightwell‑cum‑Sotwell, the Moretons, Aston Tirrold, Blewbury, and finally home.

30.45 miles. And no one pissed me off. That’s a win.

 

[bluenotebob]

Glad you enjoyed your ride @EltonFrog.

Nice photos too.

FWIW .. your photo of the woman cycling with a parasol (from Austria, earlier in the year) is hands-down my favourite photo of the year (and probably the last five years).

 

[EltonFrog]

Glad you enjoyed your ride @EltonFrog.

Nice photos too.

FWIW .. your photo of the woman cycling with a parasol (from Austria, earlier in the year) is hands-down my favourite photo of the year (and probably the last five years).

Thank you, thats kind of you.
It was one of those days where we kept passing each other, I thought it was rather eccentric.

 

[VinSumRox]

Rode out with pals, 94km and 1076m of up, out along Yarrow valley, crossed to Ettrick, cafe stop, the Roberton, Ashkirk and Selkirk. Legs knackered as been out a fair bit in last few days. Great weather, sunny and 18C

 

[postman]

Thursday ride off.Thirty four to thirty six degrees,not for me,since chemo i cannot cope in heat.

 

[cosmicbike]

A couple of months ago a few work colleagues and I decided to get together for social pedals as a bit of a motivator. Today was our second ride out and a very enjoyable 35 miles of mostly towpath from Staines to Bushey Park for a cuppa and then home.

 

[PeteXXX]

Another pleasant ride around Salcey Forest with grandson and a friend this morning. Quite warm but mostly in the shade of trees.

Obviously, we had to have an ice cream and a game of table tennis on the way round 😂

12 miles ridden and thoroughly enjoyed!

 

[HLaB]

Two rides for me today,

Out with some mates to Seaton in Rutland, looping back to Gretton for Lydia's Cafe and of course coming back by our favourite pub in Fotheringhay for a couple of pints (Ghost Ship for me). Before cycling the 12miles home. 64miles in total for me. I was a bit dubious about going out west to comeback into a ESE wind but with it being mostly down hill back from Rutland, us looping by Oundle to get that Southerly element back to Fotheringhay and me going hard after the pub to sweat the beer out, we got away with it. Rutland is more fun anyway.

In the evening I joined a local paceline, we had to tweak the route a bit to avoid the smoke from the fire at Holme Fen 😢 But apart from that sad event, the ride was ace.

 

[sevenfourate]

First ride (Commute of the week). And trying out a complete new quality headset; and riding with dramatically lower tyre pressures (Much more like suggested by Silca for my weight etc) and as a first attempt at reducing some ongoing right hand numbness.

But - let’s not dwell on some of the Challenges. Let’s focus on the fact the temp was perfect, the roads were dry, traffic was light, and I felt great. What a Morning to be on 2 wheels ❤️

Sunrise in Suffolkshire: (Hmmmm: Corn on the Cob anyone)…..

2500 miles YTD. Quite something for a previous non-cyclist, who’s extremely busy elsewhere and lacks time. I’ve maxxed my Cycling year so far with other commitments. And loved every single minute of it…….

 

[sevenfourate]

Puncture (Rim tape failure - and only recently installed by my LBS when new wheels went on), Strava issues [Lost maybe 10 (?) miles 🙄] - and more worrying: I very nearly had a catastrophic head on with the car pictured entering a junction from the wrong direction……🤦‍♂️

How I missed them was down to luck not skill; because they either didn’t see or didn’t care one iota about me..……the most interesting ride in a while. And not in a good way 😳

The little bit of plain sailing after all that was good though 😁

 

[KuroSan]

Took the trailer on a longer test run with bag installed to Greenwich park and back, about 10 miles, stopped at Sainsbury on the way for a 10 litre bag of cat litter for a bit of weight (and for the cats obvs) and it performed better than I could have hoped. Wheel nuts stayed done up with threadlock, although I may still drill out the axles to set a retaining pin of some sort for extra security and the bag sits well after a bit of arranging of bungees.
Just to confirm that everything was the way I wanted it, I did something on the way home that i won't do again with the trailer, but I had to experiment.... One of the hills I come down to get home has some pretty aggressive speed humps, I tend to launch a little off them without a trailer as it's about the only adventurous thing i get to do nowdays and today I hit one with the trailer at a good enough speed that, according to the dude in the van behind me who was laughing his arse off, "Mate, every wheel left the ground!!"
So I'm going to leave it at that and call this thing good to go, it's actually such a relief to know I can finally get all my shopping without having to walk with a packed trolley and in agony every 2 weeks!

 

[Donger]

Today I did something really dumb. I set off on the longest ride I've ever attempted on my big heavy Marin mountain bike. On one of the hottest days of the year. Planning to ride out from Swindon to Avebury via Marlborough and hopefully back via the Ridgeway. My plan to start really early in the morning was totally scuppered by (1) problems fitting my mountain bike carrier which I should have fitted the previous evening and (2) an infuriating delay paying for parking (without a smart phone) in the car park of Coate Water Country Park in Swindon. Some little scrotes had destroyed all the pay machines, forcing me to use an elaborately complex process over the phone to pay for parking. The two things together, along with a frustrating tailback on the A417 near Birdlip on my way over to Swindon lost me about an hour and a half, leaving me at the mercy of the blistering early afternoon sunshine for my return leg. Quite obviously it made no sense whatsoever to return via the Ridgeway (which I have never experienced) as I would have been climbing out on the downs, fully exposed to the sun and with no opportunity to stop at any pubs or shops to take on more drinks. My outward leg used a nice shady tunnel of trees along a graveled cycle path from Swindon to Marlborough, followed by some quiet lanes running roughly parallel to the A4 to keep me off the main road. Naively, I pressed on to my destination in Avebury assuming that the nice shady tunnel of trees would protect me on my way back. In reality, the sun had shifted position and by the time I used the cycle track again, when the temperature was about 33 degrees, the sun was shining directly along the path, offering very little shelter. I really struggled. I had taken 2.5 litres of drinks with me (salt tablets incl) and I stopped off at two pubs, consuming 3 pints and having a litre bidon re-filled with tap water as well as a shop where I bought a litre of orange juice. Altogethr about 6.5 litres of fluid, yet I still returned like Beau Geste staggering out of the Sahara. It didn't help that at one point on my return I took a wrong turn, uphill on a very gravelly private lane that led nowhere and added a mile when I was at my lowest ebb. I lost count of how many times I stopped on the way back, never passing any bench that was in the shade (of which the were not enough) and on one occasion actually falling asleep in the heat.

All of which makes it sound like a pretty horrible ride, yet there were large parts of it that I absolutely loved. Some of the little Wiltshire villages in the Og and Kennet Valleys were outstandingly pretty. And I had always wanted to find a quiet, back road route that would get me to Avebury, which has to be one of my favourite places, along with Marlborough, which I had to pick my way through in both directions. Just why, oh why did I do it on one of the hottest days of the year? And why did I still use my heavy mountain bike if the weather didn't suit riding the Ridgeway? I've had another 4 litres of fluids since I got home, and at last I'm finally able to sweat again. Pretty sure I came close to collapse through de-hydration at one point, and I really don't recommend any major exertions in this weather. Thank God I didn't head up the Ridgeway on my way back. Anyway, that's a 40 miler done towards my Metric Half Century-a-Month Challenge for the year. (64.8 km). A few pictures: