Your ride today....

[sevenfourate]

^^^Is getting a Strava “Local Legend” kind of like getting a ‘Clubman of the Year’ Trophy at a Junior Football awards night ?

*You don’t actually excel at anything. You just regularly turn up and give it a go 🙄🤣

 

[HLaB]

^^^Is getting a Strava “Local Legend” kind of like getting a ‘Clubman of the Year’ Trophy at a Junior Football awards night ?

*You don’t actually excel at anything. You just regularly turn up and give it a go 🙄🤣

I turned the feature off, I don't want folk knowing where I cycle often or need to draw attention to me.

 

[bluenotebob]

The plan for yesterday had been to go to the re-cycling centre in the morning with my neighbours and then out for a bike ride in the afternoon. The trailer had been loaded up and it was just a case of adding a few more things – then off we’d go. But … I got a message overnight saying that there was a fault with the car so the trip might have to be delayed.

Change of plan – a lovely cool morning so I went out for 45 mins on one of my mountain bikes – saw a hare near la Raserais. Back home for more coffee – just in time to get another message: “Bob – the car’s fixed – we’re leaving in 20 mins”. Just as well I’d only gone out for a short ride …

Back from the re-cycling centre by 10.30am – gulped the last of the cold coffee and decided it was far too early for lunch. So, a millionaire and a brownie into the sacoche and a full bidon of water loaded onto the bike – a short drive into Mauron then I headed south on my road bike on the V3 Voie Verte.

Through Ploërmel without any difficulty and down to the canal. A return from here would have been enough for my July HMCAM qualifier but my legs felt good so I carried on across the flat Oust valley. I calculated that going up and over the south side of the valley and down to the Claie would give me about 80km for my second ride and a daily total of 90km – enough for a Lunacy Distance ride and perhaps enough ascent for a Lunacy Climbing ride.

Just after the start of the climb up to the old railway station at Malestroit, I came across deviation signs. Oh, no: not again – I’d had this problem earlier in June when they’d closed the Voie Verte NW of Pleucadeuc. I stopped a cyclist coming along the marked deviation route and asked him if the Voie Verte was blocked (“Route Barrée”). Yes, he said – it’s blocked off.

So, I followed the diversion – going further and further west – and getting more and more suspicious. I ended up at la Née where – sure enough – the canal towpath (EV1) was blocked. But I hadn’t been on the canal towpath – I was heading south on the V3 – not east on the EV1. Oh, bugger … I’m not riding the towpath on my road bike unless it’s unavoidable – so I branched off onto the D10 and headed into Malestroit. Such a pretty town and so photogenic with beautiful medieval buildings but heaving with tourists (July is not a good time to explore Malestroit). A swift re-calculation of distances and I worked out that staying on the towpath (sorry, bike) to the écluse at Foveno would give me about 80km for the ride … so, apologising again to the bike, we carried on – all the time wishing that I hadn’t listened to the guy who’d told me that the V3 was closed – and also wishing that I’d been on one of my gravel bikes instead.

Got to Foveno, gobbled down most of my melting chocolate millionaire shortbread and then quit the canal again and joined the D764 heading back into Malestroit from the east.

Worked my way through various sets of traffic lights and back onto the D10 before quitting it again to rejoin the towpath. Bump, bump, bump – oh, this isn’t fun – and back to la Née. Started back on the diversion but left it after about 1km – rejoined the D10 for the umpteenth time – and headed west to where it crosses the V3. I could see cyclists in the distance – so the V3 hadn’t been closed at all.

By one of those strange coincidences, I then came across the same cyclist who’d told me several hours earlier that the V3 was blocked. I told him it wasn’t – but he was insistent that it was – it became clear after talking to him for a minute or so that he’d no idea what the V3 was – and that he’d just been cycling along the towpath when he’d come across the deviation signs.

Annoying – but what can you do?

Not the ride I’d intended to do – but back to the van with 84.69km on the clock (only 288m of ascent so not enough for a Lunacy Climbing qualifier). Coupled with my early morning ride, that was 95.21km for the day which moves me a little closer to E Metric 85 (one more ride to go) and E Imperial 57 (still 9 more to do).

My digital camera isn’t working (probably needs replacing) so no photos from the ride – but here’s my road bike at Foveno in April 2024 (not much has changed other than that the bike now has mudguards and an 11-litre sacoche/saddlebag).

 

[wafter]

They were great for about 45 years, then the German Government went and privatised them; after starving them of investment for nearly a decade. Sound familiar?

Thanks and yes - depressingly familiar

I've have expected better from the Krauts!

 

[Andy in Germany]

Thanks and yes - depressingly familiar

I've have expected better from the Krauts!

Frankly, so would I. It wasn't quite as badly managed as in the UK, but we are now having to catch up again.

I have pointed out that if you don't want these policies, don't keep voting for the people who make the policies. Unfortunately the other parties all went a bit "special interest" so voters don't like them either...

 

[EltonFrog]

Just under 40 miles today from Ybbs to Krems. Mixed feelings about the ride: it began well enough, but thanks to a navigation error on my part we strayed over to the north bank — entirely unintentionally — and spent about ten miles cycling beside a busy main road, diverting through the occasional, not‑terribly‑interesting village. The pavement was safe, but the proximity to the traffic made the noise relentless, and I endured a mild malaise of the soul, largely of my own making.

At Melk we happened upon a landing party for about four of those River Cruise boats, hundreds of people queuing to get on, looked more like a prison ship to me. Each to their own, but it ain’t for me.

After lunch we reached Spitz and crossed back to the south side which, I should say, was much nicer — quieter, prettier, and altogether more what one hopes for when cycling the Danube. We passed apricot orchards, vineyards, and a handful of genuinely pleasant villages, even if the R1 did insist on wandering away from the river more than usual. Still, the weather was kind and we met some lovely people — even Americans.

 

[Donger]

The last ride of my Anglesey holiday today, and it was one I shall remember for a long time.The sort that reminds you why you took up cycling in the first place. Even when I have been confined to a twilight home for the terminally bewildered and I no longer recognise my own wife I will still remember this one fondly.

It was actually a ride of two halves, the second half being quite nice but the first half absolutely tremendous. I started out from the shoreline of the Menai Strait just outside Caernarfon in the early morning light and followed the shoreline as closely as possible along a series of tiny lanes through the marshes. Zero traffic, constant marshland/shoreline views.

I passed through Llandwrog and stopped off at Dinas Dinlle Beach for views of the distant Llyn Peninsula before turning around at the old R.A.F. Llandwrog (now Caernarfon Airport) ....

.... and heading back the same way to Caernarfon.

The whole ride was accompanied by the sounds of curlews and oystercatchers, who were taking advantage of the low tide. I was tempted to go back and do it all again, but I stuck to my plan. After crossing the pedestrian/cycle bridge across the river mouth in Caernarfon, I found my way to the railway station, from where a narrow gauge line runs southwards and shares a route with the "Lon Eifion" cycle path/footpath.

I added this to my ride for a couple of reasons. Firstly out of sheer curiosity, as I've ridden a few other former railway paths this year and I wanted to see how it rated. Secondly I wanted to put in an early 50km ride for July in the the Half Century-a-Month Challenge. Most of it was a tunnel of bushes and trees but with occasional glimpses of the ever approaching mountains of Snowdonia. I came across this lovely old rusting hulk a few miles in.

Quite a pleasant track, this. It actually leads all the way out to Bryncir (two thirds of the way out to Porthmadoc) and it offers a decent tarmac surface at least all the way to Penygroes, where I turned around. In places the track is rather narrow and only just wide enough for two bikes to pass in opposite directions. I met plenty of dog walkers early on, and a few cyclists later .... giving me plenty of opportunity to use just about my only Welsh phrases on people "Diolch" and "Bore Da" came in useful. I do know a few other words in Welsh, but the opportunity to say "services", "slow" or "supermarket" didn't arise. I think I passed for Welsh. On the edge of Penygroes, I turned around and headed back to Caernarfon, conscious of time flying and my promise to be back by lunchtime.

On the way back, it became obvious that the outward leg had been ever so slightly into the wind and ever so slightly uphill most of the way. Heading back to Caernarfon was an absolute doddle, with plenty of free-wheeling and very little effort required. I arrived back at the station in bright sunny weather and to find that the tide had now come in. The town was still surprisingly quiet, and I was able to cut right through the middle of a car park that is often rammed full of tourists.

What a great ride. The lanes along the coast to the West of Caernarfon are fantastic, and the Lon Eifion is a great way of getting to Harlech to enjoy the coastal rides. I loved every second of this one. 31.6 miles ridden. A shame I didn't have all day to explore Eastwards past Caernarfon and along the Menai Strait as well. Oh, well. Back home tomorrow.
Edit. Forgot to include my traditional end-of-holiday "flatnav" compilation of this week's rides. 3 rides, 74.1 miles in total. All of it great cycling.

 

[sevenfourate]

Riding into work: meant I needed to ride home. And a really slow, relaxed ride went out the window A. Because I was ‘flying’ relatively easily B. Because it was never a really hurting wind as such. And C. Because of A + B above - I came to the top of a decent hill ( Take note @ColinJ ) already carrying a bit of momentum and realising it was tail wind too: pedalled, hooked up some big gears and pedalled some more. *I may have even tucked down a bit into a more Aerodynamic position 🙄 Resulting in - I think - my highest speed ever 😳

Had clouded over by the time I reached the Sea-front. I love this view never the less:

And arriving home - the knee I had ‘concerns over’ feels fine. So that’s all good for this weekends riding 👍

If it’s on Strava - it happened 😉

 

[Mike_P]

l came across this lovely old rusting hulk a few miles in.
View attachment 813573

One of two from South Africa. The other one has recently been restored https://www.ng15-134.co.uk/