Your ride today....

[Pale Rider]

Day three of my mini tour to Yorkshire found me well fed but tired and grumpy due to lack of sleep in York YHA. The dorm had been full but it wasn't the usual horrors of snoring and flatulence that had kept me awake; it was the heat. The security features on the windows prevented them from being opened by all but the slimmest gap so we were stifled.

I was up and out of there as soon as it was light but decided to change my plan for a hilly ride home and dawdle up the Vale of York instead. Rode North out of the city on the main road figuring most of the traffic would be going the other way and I would avoid the bumpy cycle path. Once clear of the ring road I took to the lanes through Overton and Alne to bring me to Easingwold in time for a second breakfast.

Easingwold was market day rammed but I managed to find a seat in the sun at the tea room right on the market square. I ordered a strong coffee to keep me awake and a dark chocolate and stem ginger thing to chew on then just sat there sunbathing and people watching. I was in no rush.

Eventually I mooched off still with no clear route in mind but just gradually tacking North on the lanes rather than the main roads. And so I rolled slowly into Maunby just as the pub was opening.

View attachment 486179
The Buck at Maunby

That pint coupled with the lack of sleep forced me to move onto plan C. A few miles down the road, somewhere between Warlaby and Danby Wiske I had an attack of the dozies and almost fell off my bike. No more zig zagging now but a fairly direct route to Darlo where I jumped on a train for home.

View attachment 486181

63 miles with 1,400ft of climbing. TBH I'm a bit dubious about that 1,400ft as there didn't seem to be any climbing at all. Maybe it was all the bridges as I crossed the East Coast mainline several times.

I'm not sure what the climbing numbers would be, but York is low lying.

Leaving to the north is an overall drag up over lots of miles.

I recall one occasion, aggravated by a head breeze, when it was a real struggle.

Going to York, perhaps assisted by a tail breeze, I once averaged more than 15mph - fast for me.

 

[EltonFrog]

Got soaked today. I wasn’t feeling very mature so I got the MTB out and set off for Harwell to watch the Harwell half marathon and watch the Fragrant MrsP come over the line.

I was planning on doing some riding around before that but after a mile it just pi$$ed down, so I went to the race start and sheltered with a cup of tea and cake. I got bored after about half an hour so got back on the bike in the pouring rain nd went looking for the Fragrant MrsP, found her after a couple of miles and rode back with her.

Only 8.5 miles today, but they were wet, cold, miserable and windy miles.

The council have installed this bike repair station, it’s got a pump and loads of bike tools attached.

A Bond villain lair, it’s got frikkin lazers going round it.

 

[Mrs M]

Strange day today.
Had my breakfast/lunch outside in the sun, lovely and warm.
Set out on the MTB with no plan in mind, like Forrest Gump on a bike, (just kept pedalling and pedalling)
Short sleeves although the sky was murky and looked like it was about to rain.
Thought just get wet, but rain didn’t appear and heading towards Aberdeen the temp. gage on a local business read 22 degrees
Ended up at a wee wooded hill area I’ve been to before but stayed longer this time and explored and had some off road fun Bike handled well on this mini trail, through gravel, mud and leaves. Can’t wait to try something bigger. City was barely visible through the haze (smog) ?
Also no pins and needles in hands since I adjusted stuff on the handlebars.
Tired myself out so headed home along a back road that used to be a pot holed rat race into town.
Closed to traffic at the moment and re tarred, also mostly downhill so easy way home.
Passed Cove Rangers football ground and a ladies match was under way, (sorry lads, couldn’t get a decent pic)!
Another enjoyable ride out. Going back to work tomorrow, part time to start with. Onwards and upwards

 

[colly]

Damp Sunday afternoon ride to shake off the stinks.

Nowt special but did see a number of 'team cars' about, some festooned with more bikes than is good for them.

All in all a pleasant ride despite the dampness.

27 miles and just under 2000 ft of upwards.


View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/40239246

 

[EltonFrog]

View attachment 486239 View attachment 486238 View attachment 486234 Strange day today.
Had my breakfast/lunch outside in the sun, lovely and warm.
Set out on the MTB with no plan in mind, like Forrest Gump on a bike, (just kept pedalling and pedalling)
Short sleeves although the sky was murky and looked like it was about to rain.
Thought just get wet, but rain didn’t appear and heading towards Aberdeen the temp. gage on a local business read 22 degrees
Ended up at a wee wooded hill area I’ve been to before but stayed longer this time and explored and had some off road fun Bike handled well on this mini trail, through gravel, mud and leaves. Can’t wait to try something bigger. City was barely visible through the haze (smog) ?
Also no pins and needles in hands since I adjusted stuff on the handlebars.
Tired myself out so headed home along a back road that used to be a pot holed rat race into town.
Closed to traffic at the moment and re tarred, also mostly downhill so easy way home.
Passed Cove Rangers football ground and a ladies match was under way, (sorry lads, couldn’t get a decent pic)!
Another enjoyable ride out. Going back to work tomorrow, part time to start with. Onwards and upwards

Nice looking bike Mrs M.

 

[Mrs M]

Nice looking bike Mrs M.

Thank you
Love it

 

[Mrs M]

P.S. for today’s ride.
Pulling out of our driveway heading right, I saw a wee familiar black and white figure up the road to the left, acting suspiciously
Went to investigate and found our eldest cat Thomas (aka Romeo) skulking up our neighbours driveway. Their front door was open and Thomas was making his way towards it.
This neighbour has a large female dog and she calls Thomas “the stalker”.
Apparently he has a wee soft spot for the doggie and follows them on their evening walk, only stopping when they go indoors.
I asked him what he was up to and with a wee guilty look on his face accompanied me home before I left for my ride. What a boy.
Pic of Thomas (Mr T) in his finest.

 

[Jenkins]

I'd not indended to do much today - just a trip into Felixstowe on a bottlebank run and to get some cash from the hole in the wall. Then I remembered that I needed to get some brake pads for the Giant flatbar which I found were in stock at Halfords in Ipswich and, while I was there, I might just as well pop into Aldi and get some pasta sauce as it was close by.

The bottlebank & cashpoint run accounted for the first 10 miles, a quick stop at home to change to a smaller backpack, then out again on a regular route through Falkenham, Kirton, Newbourne, Martlesham and up Beacon Hill to Rushmere, Westerfield and finally into Ipswich to do the shopping before home.

All in a total of 51 miles on the day just on a utility ride!

This from Falkenham where the sugar beet campaign is in full swing to the extent that they're storing them on non-beet fields awaiting collection.

 

[Donger]

Managed to get out there and squeeze in a cheeky 30 miler before the weather front rolled in. A pleasant bimble around the lanes to Arlingham, Frampton, Whitminster and Epney. For a few miles I was joined by a guy from Stroud Valley Velos, and we chatted as we rode. Even on a fixie, he was just a tad too fast for me, so I eventually let him slide gradually out of view as I just enjoyed a bit of a leg stretcher after my exertions on Friday. It seems to be that time of year when mysterious mannequin/scarecrow figures start to appear all around Elmore and Longney. This was the pick of this year's efforts. (Sorry about the crap picture from my mobile):

Felt the first spots of rain about 5 miles from home, then a bit of light drizzle for the last couple of miles. As I closed the front door behind me, the heavens opened. Might have to wait about a week for it to stop, so glad I got that one in .... closing in on a big personal milestone next month, so need every mile I can get.
Cheers, Donger.

 

[jongooligan]

Back on home soil today for a tandem ride with Mrs. jg.

We dropped down through Chester le Street, got onto the C2C track at North Lodge and headed West at a gentle pace. 'Very relaxing this', says Mrs. jg and it is. Weather's decent, there aren't too many other people on the track and everything's all right with the world.

After a brief debate we decided not to carry on up the track from Beamish but to take to the road through West Pelton and Grange Villa.

Allotments at Grange Villa

Then it was the tough climb up through Craghead onto Wagtail Lane to bring us out onto Green Lane at the top of Quaking Houses bank. Not much discussion up here as we panted to the top.

'Looking Out, Looking In' Miner's memorial at Craghead.

Another discussion at the top. This one about school turning out times. We decided we didn't want to get involved so bombed down through Holmside and across Waldridge Fell. That cut our ride down to just 16 miles but it was good to get out together for a change.

 

[EltonFrog]

It wasn’t supposed to rain today.

Yesterday I made a apple and blackberry crumble.

The Fragrant MrsP wanted to go to Reading today so we took the road bikes and set off on a dry, cloudy/sunny morning with a bit of a headwind. Took the most direct route along the A417, a road I don’t like very much, it’s rolling hills and very busy.

When we got to Norcott, some moronic twunt in a clapped out Corsa shouted out, ‘get on the phuqing path’ so I took more of the primary and slowed the twunt down even more.

Once the business was finished in Reading, a spot of lunch in Browns, we served by a waitress who was without a single shadow of a doubt the most helpful and charming person I have encountered for years.

We then came home more or less the same way.

Stopped at the Co-Op in Pangbourne for some custard for the apple and blackberry crumble.

At Streatley it started to pi$$ down so I got wet. Again. Grrrr....but we did have a tail wind which was nice.

Handy custard holder on the bike.

ETA: 39.43 miles today.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A bit of a spin to stretch the legs before the weather deteriorated. I took the Raleigh and headed for Lyth Hill, Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Cound Stank, Cross Houses, Atcham, Upton Magna and back through Shrewsbury.

Overcast but with occasional glimpses of sunshine and a fresh breeze which was a headwind for the start and finish but a nice tailwind for much of the middle part of the ride.

I thought I'd be helpful at Hunger Hill and pull into a gateway to let a pickup past. Unfortunately they wanted to get into the field through that gate themselves. Ho hum. At Ryton the road is closed by The Fox so after asking if it was okay to walk through the works I had the road pretty much to myself (there was one other cyclist) for the couple of miles to Longnor.

The tailwind was nice all the way to Sundorne (where I took to the road as I knew the old canal path would be muddy) and the drivers behaved themselves making it good to be out. I did a bit of a loop round the town centre (not good for the average speed due to slow traffic) then dropped into the Quarry before leaving town via Belle Vue. The rain started about half an hour after I got back.

29.3 miles at 14.3 mph average.

No photos from this one.

 

[Spiderweb]

No time to get out on the bike this weekend so great to be back on my perch for the morning commute, 6.7 miles with an average of 17 mph.
Quite a nice afternoon for an extended home commute. I got passed by a chap on a fabulous Woodrup, I had to catch him up and have a chat about it, immaculate condition with beautifully lined lugs and lots of shiny Campagnolo Record, I would love to own a Woodrup. Got caught in about 20 mins of rain at the end of my ride. 28 miles with an average of 16.1 mph.

 

[AndreaJ]

I found time to get out yesterday and today despite the doom and gloom weather forecasts. Sunday's ride was a quick ride round the lanes of Whixall, out towards Northwood, into Whixall , through WelshEnd, to Hollinswood where I turned to Fenns Wood and into Alkington, back to Hollinswood on a different lane, turn to Lower Houses, Coton, Braynes Hall, Waterloo, Edstaston , Poolhead, Foxholes, Ryebank, Horton and back home past The Moatshed. More traffic than I would normally see for some reason but no cyclists, walkers or dog walkers which is quite unusual.19 miles, average speed 15.9mph, no rain either and hardly any wind, still short sleeves and shorts weather.
Today's ride was a bit shorter due to lack of time so for a change I went out the opposite way , which I don't often do for some reason, and started off towards The Moatshed, and through Horton, Ryebank, Edstaston, Waterloo, Coton,, Lower Houses, Hollinswood and over the crossroads to Fenns Wood passing a pony and trap, where there was a road closed sign which I decided to ignore and see if I could get through, past another road closed sign , still nothing happening so carried on to the other end of the closed section where I was turning anyway to cross the canal. When I got to the canal a man just started to wind the bridge up for his boat to pass so I had to wait for his boat which wasn' t even near the bridge to appear and pass , he then insisted on waiting for the next boat to pass which was now stuck in the mud at the edge of the canal before he wound the bridge back down so I could carry on, by now getting cold with the waiting around. Got moving again to Alkington, back into Whixall wher the delay in my carefully timed route meant I would have to pass the school at home time which is always best avoided. Got past without any problems though and carried on towards Northwood and turned for home.16.9 miles, average speed 15.7 mph , bit cooler today and much windier, got home just as it started to rain.

 

[Jenkins]

I've got this week off work and, having looked at the weather forecast, today was probably going to be the best day of the lot so I took the opportunity to get out while I could.

The first 15 miles was the same as yesterday - the very indirect run through Falkenham (where a bulk carrier blocked the road while being loaded with sugar beet, but the farmer kindly stopped the conveyor belt so I could walk underneath, on the verge), Kirton, Newbourne and Martlesham. This time I turned right and headed into Woodbridge, on to Melton and then south down the other side of the River Deben past

which I've never been to, despite it only being a few miles away. Once I got to Shottisham I turned off the 'B' road onto an unclassified road which led to the object of the ride - All Saints at Ramsholt, the last of the three local round tower churches that I'd not photographed (Aldham & Hasketon beng the others)

Unfortunately this was down little more than a farm track and I picked up a very slow puncture which I should have fixed at the next photo stop at the Ramsholt Arms down another side road by the river, but I just put some air into the tyre and carried on without even stopping for a pint!

Leaving the riverside, I headed out on a loop of Alderton, Hollesley & back to Shottisham (with another stop to add air to the softening tyre) before taking the road back towards Woodbridge. Unfortunately the tyre started loosing more air so I had to stop at a picnic site and fix the problem (a small sharp stone which just had nicked the tube) before continuing on a more direct route home. It got quite breezy for the later part, but it was a lovely warm and sunny day for a ride. https://www.strava.com/activities/2733430467