sevenfourate
Devotee of OCD
- Location
- Lowestoft, Suffolk
Argh right. Sorry... Didn’t mean to pry. And hope it’s going well 😁
Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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Argh right. Sorry... Didn’t mean to pry. And hope it’s going well 😁
Following yesterdays exertions, a recovery ride in all senses.
Charity shop first via the tow path; no furniture but scored a nice 50p moss green dish to house my newly-acquired parsley plant.
Onward through town to the supermarket for a few uncharacteristic Sunday bargains, then to Dunelm to quantify and fondle some potential kitchen storage bins..
Took the long way round to Wolvercote - getting a smile from a hottie in a soft top on the ring road - then back in along the tow path with a bit of snipping and snaffling, stopping at the park for a minimal session on the rings and about 1.7 successful runs on the monkey bars.
Finally a pint was had on Broad Street before heading home for dinner; feeling very much better for the 20-ish miles in the saddle - even if my legs do feel like they probably should have after yesterday's relatively large one..
Charity shop first via the tow path; no furniture but scored a nice 50p moss green dish to house my newly-acquired parsley plant.
Onward through town to the supermarket for a few uncharacteristic Sunday bargains, then to Dunelm to quantify and fondle some potential kitchen storage bins..
Took the long way round to Wolvercote - getting a smile from a hottie in a soft top on the ring road - then back in along the tow path with a bit of snipping and snaffling, stopping at the park for a minimal session on the rings and about 1.7 successful runs on the monkey bars.
Finally a pint was had on Broad Street before heading home for dinner; feeling very much better for the 20-ish miles in the saddle - even if my legs do feel like they probably should have after yesterday's relatively large one..
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I was really dithering about today's ride... Yesterday I had decided that it would be an undulating 100 km ride with about 1,400 m of ascent. Then I started thinking that I would be up for a very hilly 100 km route that I haven't done for a few years with 2,000+ metres of ascent...
Then I checked the weather forecast - it might rain later... How about that 80 km loop that I haven't done yet - 1,600 m of ascent? Yeah, that would do.
But then I didn't go to sleep until 04:10 and woke up a couple of times in the next 4 hours...
I was knackered before I even got up!
In the end, I decided on a compromise - a 50 km route with about 1,000 metres of of ascent.
I did a little warm up loop first - Todmorden, Walsden, Lumbutts, and then back down to the valley road through Hebden Bridge to Mytholmroyd.
I quickly changed my mind again! Instead of doing the long (by UK standards - 8 km) Cragg Vale climb to Blackstone Edge, I would do a more circuitous route up to Sowerby village, then over to Mill Bank. That village sits at the top of a very steep lane and there is an equally steep lane going back up once you have descended into the dip between them.
My bike at the top:
(You can't really see from there how the lane plunges down ahead, but I didn't want to stop on the descent!)
My bike at the bottom, just as I was about to ride back up:
(You can't see from there how the lane really ramps up ahead round that bend, but I didn't want to stop on the ascent either!)
I continued and soon hit a big area of lanes that have recently been chip-and-sealed. Fortunately, it must have been long enough ago that vehicles have cleared 2 strips of gravel away. There are strips of loose chippings in the middle of the road and on both sides, but 2 safe clear zones to ride down. (The problem with road-wide gravel when descending these steep lanes is obvious!)
I felt a few spots of rain and really didn't fancy making a big effort to climb back up and then potentially get soaked. I was also starting to feel a bit tired... Blow it - yet another change of plan!
I did a rapid descent to Mytholmroyd and returned to Todmorden along the bottom of the valley.
I was a couple of km short of my '50' when I got back so I did a bit extra to sort that out. Despite wimping out, I still did just over 800 metres of climbing.
It was nice not getting frazzled, but I did miss the beautiful blue skies!
Then I checked the weather forecast - it might rain later... How about that 80 km loop that I haven't done yet - 1,600 m of ascent? Yeah, that would do.
But then I didn't go to sleep until 04:10 and woke up a couple of times in the next 4 hours...
I was knackered before I even got up!
In the end, I decided on a compromise - a 50 km route with about 1,000 metres of of ascent.
I did a little warm up loop first - Todmorden, Walsden, Lumbutts, and then back down to the valley road through Hebden Bridge to Mytholmroyd.
I quickly changed my mind again! Instead of doing the long (by UK standards - 8 km) Cragg Vale climb to Blackstone Edge, I would do a more circuitous route up to Sowerby village, then over to Mill Bank. That village sits at the top of a very steep lane and there is an equally steep lane going back up once you have descended into the dip between them.
My bike at the top:
(You can't really see from there how the lane plunges down ahead, but I didn't want to stop on the descent!)
My bike at the bottom, just as I was about to ride back up:
(You can't see from there how the lane really ramps up ahead round that bend, but I didn't want to stop on the ascent either!)
I continued and soon hit a big area of lanes that have recently been chip-and-sealed. Fortunately, it must have been long enough ago that vehicles have cleared 2 strips of gravel away. There are strips of loose chippings in the middle of the road and on both sides, but 2 safe clear zones to ride down. (The problem with road-wide gravel when descending these steep lanes is obvious!)
I felt a few spots of rain and really didn't fancy making a big effort to climb back up and then potentially get soaked. I was also starting to feel a bit tired... Blow it - yet another change of plan!
I did a rapid descent to Mytholmroyd and returned to Todmorden along the bottom of the valley.
I was a couple of km short of my '50' when I got back so I did a bit extra to sort that out. Despite wimping out, I still did just over 800 metres of climbing.
It was nice not getting frazzled, but I did miss the beautiful blue skies!
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I just relived the Mill Bank descent/ascent on Google Maps. The Streetview camera did a good job - CLICK HERE!
Elybazza61
Legendary Member
Little 30k pootle out solo as the BH wasn't up for it and has a sore knee.
Headed out along the river and down to Barway on NCN 11;surface out of Ely slowly crumbling away still and another part now really single track with the vegetation coming in from the verges now, also had to roll over a water pipe going to the fields.
From Barway it was through Padney and on to Wicken.
Always lots of farm machinery about new and old;
Then took the currently multi-surface path to Soham that still isn't finished past lots of solar farms;
Had a little mooch around Soham seeing my Grandparents old bungalow and Soham Town Rangers football ground that I used to frequent;
Then via the back road out of Soham that routes back to Barway and then back the same way home.
On the NCN looking to Ely;
Back through the park past the "ship";
Nice to get out but also nice to get back as it was warming up quite a bit despite the breeze.
Headed out along the river and down to Barway on NCN 11;surface out of Ely slowly crumbling away still and another part now really single track with the vegetation coming in from the verges now, also had to roll over a water pipe going to the fields.
From Barway it was through Padney and on to Wicken.
Always lots of farm machinery about new and old;
Then took the currently multi-surface path to Soham that still isn't finished past lots of solar farms;
Had a little mooch around Soham seeing my Grandparents old bungalow and Soham Town Rangers football ground that I used to frequent;
Then via the back road out of Soham that routes back to Barway and then back the same way home.
On the NCN looking to Ely;
Back through the park past the "ship";
Nice to get out but also nice to get back as it was warming up quite a bit despite the breeze.
All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
A nice gentle 30km with a bit of up and down for a coffee at the White Post today.
Donger
A.K.A. Buster Nuvverbike (componentry destroyer)
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
Dropped my car off for a bodywork repair at a place in Stonehouse today, so I took the bike along and rode the 14 miles back home. Hopefully the car will be ready tomorrow, so I'll have the return journey to ride to go and collect it. It all keeps the pedals turning. The only sour note was a punishment pass by a white van man that forced me into a pothole, resulting in a broken spoke on my front wheel. Fortunately I have a spare front wheel hanging up in the garage.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I had a little errand to do in Hebden Bridge on Monday afternoon so I nipped over there on my bike. Rush hour traffic was building up when I was coming home so I decided to climb up out of valley and take the scenic route instead.
I chose to use an extremely hard little climb out of the town. Moss Lane is so steep that they surfaced it with concrete rather than tarmac.
It doesn't go all the way to the road above. The last 30 or 40 metres are on a footpath which is so steep that I have never even considered trying to ride it. I would guess that it is close to 35%.
I got up this on the bike...
But I had forgotten that the last little bit to the new house kicks up to a horribly hard gradient. It is the tarmac bit ahead of my bike in this photo...
I thought that I was going to make it but a glance at the Wahoo showed me that I was about to hit my endstops and that would not have been pretty so I jumped off the bike before I fell off it!!
The days are long gone when my maximum heart rate was 200 bpm. These days anything over 160 bpm is extremely unpleasant so 156 bpm was plenty high enough, ta very much...
I rode up to Blackshaw Head and then descended back to Todmorden via Great Rock and Cross Stone Road.
One near squishing on the return leg... A driver of a huge 4x4 decided to come round this blind bend on my side of the road about 1 second before I got there!
Luckily for me, his reactions were better than his driving judgement! He swerved violently and got out of my way just in time.
It was only a 21.6 km ride but distance isn't really the issue round here - there was almost 500 m of ascent crammed in and much of that was steep.
I chose to use an extremely hard little climb out of the town. Moss Lane is so steep that they surfaced it with concrete rather than tarmac.
It doesn't go all the way to the road above. The last 30 or 40 metres are on a footpath which is so steep that I have never even considered trying to ride it. I would guess that it is close to 35%.
I got up this on the bike...
But I had forgotten that the last little bit to the new house kicks up to a horribly hard gradient. It is the tarmac bit ahead of my bike in this photo...
I thought that I was going to make it but a glance at the Wahoo showed me that I was about to hit my endstops and that would not have been pretty so I jumped off the bike before I fell off it!!
The days are long gone when my maximum heart rate was 200 bpm. These days anything over 160 bpm is extremely unpleasant so 156 bpm was plenty high enough, ta very much...
I rode up to Blackshaw Head and then descended back to Todmorden via Great Rock and Cross Stone Road.
One near squishing on the return leg... A driver of a huge 4x4 decided to come round this blind bend on my side of the road about 1 second before I got there!
Luckily for me, his reactions were better than his driving judgement! He swerved violently and got out of my way just in time.
It was only a 21.6 km ride but distance isn't really the issue round here - there was almost 500 m of ascent crammed in and much of that was steep.
Time to buy a handlebar camera if you haven't got one
Defo one to upload to the police if you had one.
