Your ride today....

[Noodle Legs]

So as @Supersuperleeds has previously alluded to, the planned Sunday social CC Forum ride around Market Bosworth was rightly cancelled (though rescheduled for next week) and because I am not as brave/crazy (delete as appropriate!) as @Supersuperleeds, I thought I’d play it safe and do a 100km ride on zwift. I did ok...for about 2 hours by which time my derrière was most uncomfortable and I just could not continue with it. 40 “virtual” miles it was in the end.
Forecast looking better for next week I’m told, and the midweek socials possibly back on too so I can start recording some real miles again!!

 

[Jenkins]

Having spent yesterday afternoon & evening slumped in front of the TV watching the Sebring 12hr live stream, I decided to head out for a ride this morning to make up for the alcohol & crisps consumed. A check of the wind direction and strength on Wundermap assisted route planning to minimise the effects of the cold, but there were still a couple of sections where I was swearing out loud at the head or cross winds.

It was -1°C when I left and never got any warmer, while the 15-20mph easterly was brutally cold in the open areas and it was as grey as only a British winter's day can be. I did keep away from my preferred back roads thanks to last night's snow, but there were still large patches of ice in a couple of places which needed avoiding. Out through Kirton and Brightwell before dropping in to Newbourne and heading back up to Waldingfield & Martlesham, across to Rushmere and Westerfield where there was the most evidence of yesterday's conditions...

(OK, so it's not as impressive as others have posted from a couple of weeks ago)
From there it was back home via Ipswich and Buckleshap to complete a metric 50 and to defrost my toes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1459555008

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Not having got out over the weekend I tried to make up for that this afternoon. I went for the reverse version of my Cardington route which I don't do often as the climbing seems to go on forever when riding it clockwise. Heading out to Condover it immediately became apparent that the wind was fairly strong today (met office says it was 22-34 mph while I was out) but fortunately going this way it would be helping me up those hills later on, although I'd have to ride into it on the way back.

After the snow overnight into Sunday, the thaw has been quite rapid and that wind had dried out a lot of the roads so I stuck with the normal road tyres without any difficulty.

From Condover I headed to Cantlop, Pitchford and Acton Burnell then climbed up to Kenley (bit of a pull this one) and onwards to Cardington. Once past Kenley I had that wind behind me which made the downhill bits fast and the uphill bits fairly easy. After passing Cardington and the climb over Folly Bank I needed to pop an extra fleece on as the wind was quite a bit colder to ride into. From here back to Condover is mostly slightly downhill and I'm used to cruising along at 17 to 20 mph with ease. Today though it was more like 9 to 12 mph and hard work. The short route back would have exposed me to the wind and the busy traffic which wasn't very appealing so I headed over Lyth Hill where there was still snow on the road in places and a flood at the top.

28.8 miles today at 12.6 mph average. Okay given the conditions.

The Wrekin has a saddle made of snow.

At the summit of the Folly Bank climb.

Still looks picturesque partway down the descent.

Caer Caradoc from my regular viewpoint.

Looking back to the hills from Ryton

 

[Roadhump]

A couple of weeks ago I was really chuffed when I beat the Beast from the East, but this weekend, when the baby beast paid a visit, I chickened out and opted for a lazy weekend of watching sport on telly, curry, beer and warmth, so today, even though the strong north east wind was still there to make it quite chilly, I had to redeem myself and get out.

I decided to take the new Triban out for its second ride, and went up to the north end of Southport and through Banks, out into the country before heading back through Banks and along the gravel track that connects Banks Road to the Coast Road at Crossens, then I headed south, and now, with the benefit of a tailwind, instead of a headwind, I got a good speed up for about 2 or 3 miles. It was a lovely bright, sunny day, but very blowy and quite chilly. A shorter ride than I normally do at 22 miles, and my average speed was 14.1 mph, a bit lower than normal, which is probably down to spending more time riding into the wind than with it behind me, but I am really enjoying the new bike, it is fun to ride, nippy, tight and responsive, with more of a relaxed posture than a dropped bar bike. It should be good for some of the 15 - 20 mile commutes I do now and again, hopefully being quick enough to cover them in a reasonable time and quite comfortably. I stopped a few times for the odd photo.

Looking across the Ribble Estuary from Crossens towards Blackpool where the tower can be seen just to the right of centre, and St Annes Pier, on the horizon near the left of the pic.

Looking back from the same spot is the Crossens Pumping Station, and the hill just to its left (centre of pic) is Rivington Pike near Bolton.

The sea wall at Southport with Ocean Plaza entertainment / leisure complex to the left. Note that to the left of the wall is the pedestrian part of the wall, where cycling is frowned upon, and to the right is the dedicated cycle path, which is often impassable in the summer, due to pedestrians - not that I'm a paranoid cyclist or anything :-)

Looking past Southport Pier towards Blackpool where the tower and the "Big One" roller coaster stand out as landmarks

 

[Noodle Legs]

Hallelujah!

Finally managed to get out for the first time in eight days, a nice sunny flat run with the MO of just seeing how quick I could do it. I don’t normally focus on speed- I’m not a racer- but with that said I knew from all the indoor stuff and managing 117 miles at 15mph avg that I’d gotten a little stronger so I thought I’d just see how much.

This was definitely a ride of two halves, the first of which was a pacey 10 miles to Twycross in 33 minutes in glorious sunshine (albeit still cold) with a pleasant tailwind. Stopped for 5 mins for a drink and to take the obligatory “Leaning bike” photo and then set off for the return leg.

Oh boy.

The pleasant tailwind I previously referred to suddenly became a biting 20-30mph head/cross wind and the tree lined roads that afforded me such shelter on the way to Twycross were replaced by open countryside. At one point I was blown across the road such was the force of the crosswind and when that changed to a headwind I might as well have ridden up a 25% + climb, such was the difficulty. Max HR (180bpm) was achieved just riding the flats! Needless to say the “see how quick you can do it” ride became more of a “just try and get Home in one piece” ride and my first half average of around 18-19mph quickly dwindled down to 15.5 for the whole ride.

On reflection the words “arse about face” spring to mind with regard to route planning but I just wanted to get out and back before dusk so planning went out the window.

Negatives aside, it was still an enjoyable ride at a still fairly moderate pace... 20 happy smiles for me!

Halfway stats

Obligatory bike shot

Check out Gone with the wind.... on Relive! https://www.relive.cc/view/1461143519

 

[Spartak]

Great ride on Saturday... 5 of us ventured out in freezing conditions.
We headed into the wind. Stopping in Wotton-under-Edge for bacon sandwiches.
On leaving for the cafe the snow had started, we were now heading south back to Bristol, thru Hillesley & Chipping Sodbury.
50 kms with 500 metres of climbing.

 

[cosmicbike]

2 night shifts of commuting by van did me no favours, the legs decided to be unhappy on dog walk today so I took the CX out after lunch to try and ease things off. Kind of worked, but the 7 miles were painful and in the end I took SWMBO advice and popped a pill. That did the trick, and a chilly 4 miles or so this evening were pain free.

 

[cosmicbike]

After spending last night in the garage, the Van Nic Yukon emerged this morning with a set of 42cm bars (the 40cm ones it came with were too tight for me, made my shoulders ache), new front and rear brake cables and cross top levers gone. Those familiar will be pleased to hear I've kept the purple bar tape, managing to resist the new packet of black tape on the shelf.
24 miles later in the cold wind, a much more comfy bike. Need to tweak the saddle angle a little bit otherwise I think it's there.
Imperial century due tomorrow, I do hope the wind backs off....

 

[Jon George]

Another 50k in the bag!
In the matter of about a month, I've gone from struggling on rides of this distance, to getting home feeling energised. (I couldn't even muster any disgruntlement with a drafting rider who hadn't had the courtesy to let me know he was there.)

This at Butley: Bike Against Gate That Has Long Given Up Its Original Purpose In Life.

 

[gavgav]

I feel I should do a David Shepherd and stand on one leg whilst writing this (those who don’t know their cricket umpires will probably think what on earth is he on about (it’s page 1111 of the thread) ok it’s not the real “Nelson” (111) but being a numbers man I like it ).

Anyway, managed to get a short ride in, after work, to keep at least some resemblance of mileage in the legs, amongst the ice age blasts.

Headed over to dads, but in a clockwise direction, which is rare as I tend to stick to the opposite direction normally. It’s mainly to avoid the horrid right turn off the A458, at the A5 interchange, during rush hour, and indeed this evening showed exactly why as there was traffic galore. I pulled into the entrance to the lorry yard, and waited for a gap in the traffic to get across and onto the Betton road.

I had the wind behind me and it was helping me up the fairly gentle climbs, as far as the Lyons Lane turn. There was a load of traffic though, with this road being a bit of a rat run during rush hour and I witnessed a ridiculous overtake from woman in a Corsa. She gave me plenty of room.......but on a blind crest and bend, forcing chap coming the other way to stand on his brakes and come to a complete stop to avoid her .

Thankfully Lyons Lane was quieter and with the wind behind me I set 6 Strava PB’s to Condover, Ryton and Stapleton. There was still some snow on the verges along here and indeed some fair sized drifts back again by the Ryton turn.

I called at Dad’s for 20 minutes, and I smelt a chicken cooking in the oven as I came up the drive. Was tempted to stop for tea, but made do with stealing some of the crispy skin (I love Chicken skin!!) as I wanted to press on and get back to listen to the mighty Shrews’ match tonight, on the radio, which hopefully will leave us top of the league again

So I took the road to Exfords Green, Annscroft, Hook-a-Gate, Meole and home. Despite turning into the Northerly wind, it wasn’t as strong now and I made good progress, giving a mileage of 15 miles at an average speed of 12.5 mph. Happy with that on my heavy Cube and low mileage recently.

 

[BianchiVirgin]

A little local loop in figure of 8 shape. 16.1km in 37mins which is 8 mins faster than before. That's the difference in a race machine and a hard tail on 38mm semi-slicks.

 

[Stonechat]

After spending last night in the garage, the Van Nic Yukon emerged this morning with a set of 42cm bars (the 40cm ones it came with were too tight for me, made my shoulders ache), new front and rear brake cables and cross top levers gone. Those familiar will be pleased to hear I've kept the purple bar tape, managing to resist the new packet of black tape on the shelf.
24 miles later in the cold wind, a much more comfy bike. Need to tweak the saddle angle a little bit otherwise I think it's there.
Imperial century due tomorrow, I do hope the wind backs off....

I am the opposite, still have wide bars on my Kona which I will change one day

 

[Roadhump]

One from yesterday - a lovely Spring day, so having last week prepared the Giant for use in the warmer months, only to be thwarted by Baby Beast, I seized the opportunity and took it out for a 36 mile trip around S.W. Lancs - up to Hesketh Bank and Tarleton, down the A59 to Rufford, left towards Mawdesley and then throwing a right into Mains Lane which runs into Wanes Blades Road, over the River Douglas and then alongside the River Tawd, past Hoscar train station and into Lathom via Hobcross Lane and Blythe Lane. Feeling a bit cream-crackered I stopped for a breather by a bridge over a small stream, half way to Ormskirk:

Up Dark Lane to Ormskirk and back towards Southport. Luckily I was quite alert crossing the A59 in Ormskirk; there were a few cars waiting to turn right onto the 59 and I was going straight on so I slowed down and passed on their left. I could see other cars coming the other way, but my view was partly obscured, and as I passed the front car, the front car coming the other way lurched forward and across my path as the elderly driver tried to turn right. She saw me and braked, as I did too, and when I managed to push my heart back down into my chest, I carried on.

One of the problems living on the west coast, especially where the coastline is wedge shaped pointing out to sea, is that when the wind is a westerly, you have a headwind from almost any way you approach home, and so the last 8 miles or so were quite tough, due to the brisk west wind. A good ride though on a beautiful bright day, 36 miles at an average of 16.0 mph.

 

[craigwend]

windy, very, very windy ~ the weather... not me !

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Just Julian H and me today. Nice sunny stuff but the wind was a tad chilly. We chatted with Bozzy in Upton. Poor Bozzy has had to stop pedalling on doc's orders. We rode Tunnel Hill and looped to see a very wet Longdon Marsh before heading for Birtsmorton and Pendock. Then we took the lovely lane along the Glynch Brook for Upleadon Court and the dodge by Cleeve Mill for an entrance into Newent by the back door. We took a new way around by the church and lake for the cafe. No main roads involved!

I met an old colleague in the cafe. He's looking well and enjoying life. Eventually we two headed for Oxenhall and the lane with the ford. Wild daffs were everywhere and what we'd come to see. We climbed steeply into Dymock Wood where the daffs were not quite ready for us but at Shaw Common we had superb drifts to admire. Unusually from here we headed for Kempley with daffs standing guard at the side of the road. We paused at St Mary's Norman chapel for the daffs in the churchyard. Wondrous indeed. We then looped by Brooms Green for Ryton and more daffs. The large drifts in the fields here were late but that's fine - we'll be back. Then with daffs sightings getting fewer we had to dodge through the farmyard at Bromsberrow as flooding is still present in that dip. A change of route took us upward to Hollybush before we dropped off the common to junk by Drugger's End. Soon we were parting on Hook Bank so I took my standard run back. If my computer hadn't stopped for a while I might have topped up the miles to the round number. But who needs OCD? 59 smiles