footloose crow
Über Member
- Location
- Cornwall. UK
You mean there are rides that are not just either up or down evil hills....??
Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Globalti
Legendary Member
A pleasant 42 miler through the lanes to Chipping and thence to Dunsop Bridge and home over Waddington Fell. Unfortunately the road from the summit down to Waddington is in terrible condition thanks to quarry trucks so you can't relax and enjoy the 2 mile downhill.
3160 feet climbed, didn't even feel too knackered by the end apart from tired shoulders.
3160 feet climbed, didn't even feel too knackered by the end apart from tired shoulders.
Last edited:
Yes Im lucky where I live right out the door hills ,left flatlands of the river Soar valley . It was good training for the annual Cornish holiday in July ( hopefully ) . I stay at Hollywell bay and every ride starts with a 250ft climb and after a fortnight my enthusiasm is starting to wain
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Another 31 miles yesterday but my legs didnt want to know , at least i got out and span the pedals.
Sorry no photos again but i am not going anywhere exciting and just maintaining fitness this week with it being a slow week due to the weather.
Sorry no photos again but i am not going anywhere exciting and just maintaining fitness this week with it being a slow week due to the weather.
Lovely early morning ride to Arkholme and Silverdale. Rare day with light winds and sunshine. very few cars but lots of cyclists. Hard not to head for the Dales as nice views across to Ingleborough and Dent. 51 km with 700m of climbing deserved a home made flat white and a cinnamon bun.
Knightly85
Well-Known Member
Another 10 miles in the bag 
Early out this morning at 5.20am. Why ? Just woke up early.
The intention was to go east and maybe Selby and even possbly to York along the 'Solar Way'. I gave up on that after having to put air in the front tyre at Garforth. New tubelss tyres seem just fine but if the front was passing air after 6 miles it would have been a long old stop start trip. Instead I did about half the intended distance and went to Tadcaster.
En route I passed the Memorial to those who lost their lives at Towton in 1461 during the War of the Roses:
Although the memorial cross is somewhat care worn now the site is tended and looked after, with information boards and also a walking tour path has been set up:
559 years after the event flowers are still left at the memorial. Most likely by a local ex-service organisation but even so it's a touching tribute.
More air was needed in the front and then it was down to Tadcaster, home of two breweries, John Smiths and Samuel Smiths. Yes they historically are related.
Also home to Tadcaster bridge which partially collapsed in 2015 after heavy rains. It took over a year to repair and reconstruct and now looks in fine fettle.
Home via Bramham and Thorner and it seems no more air needed in the front. Edit: I spoke to soon. Flat as a fart now at 4pm
31.9 miles and just under 1700 ft of up.
View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48158533
The intention was to go east and maybe Selby and even possbly to York along the 'Solar Way'. I gave up on that after having to put air in the front tyre at Garforth. New tubelss tyres seem just fine but if the front was passing air after 6 miles it would have been a long old stop start trip. Instead I did about half the intended distance and went to Tadcaster.
En route I passed the Memorial to those who lost their lives at Towton in 1461 during the War of the Roses:
Although the memorial cross is somewhat care worn now the site is tended and looked after, with information boards and also a walking tour path has been set up:
559 years after the event flowers are still left at the memorial. Most likely by a local ex-service organisation but even so it's a touching tribute.
More air was needed in the front and then it was down to Tadcaster, home of two breweries, John Smiths and Samuel Smiths. Yes they historically are related.
Also home to Tadcaster bridge which partially collapsed in 2015 after heavy rains. It took over a year to repair and reconstruct and now looks in fine fettle.
Home via Bramham and Thorner and it seems no more air needed in the front. Edit: I spoke to soon. Flat as a fart now at 4pm
31.9 miles and just under 1700 ft of up.
View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48158533
Last edited:
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
I went for a pootle this morning, which would normally mean riding the Kingpin or the Coniston but I took the Domane instead. No plans of where to go though I had to meet The Fragrant MrsP briefly to supply her with more water as she was running a virtual half marathon this morning. After that I just meandered round the lanes and villages of Didcot.
22 miles, quite cool and cloudy but at least it was dry. Oh, and I’ve lost one of the nose pads from my glasses.
22 miles, quite cool and cloudy but at least it was dry. Oh, and I’ve lost one of the nose pads from my glasses.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Halfway round and thankfully just ridden up the hill out of Morpeth and my rear gear cable snapped clean though at the shifter- stuck on the 11 cog so not happy! ....new cables on their way- thinking if one's gone then it's only a matter of time on the other!!
Just read an excellent hack to grip the snapped cable for a lower gear under one of the bottle cage bolts so next time I'll be ready!
Just read an excellent hack to grip the snapped cable for a lower gear under one of the bottle cage bolts so next time I'll be ready!
Last edited:
Shearwater Missile
Veteran
" Cause Donger, during the war "
Mr Celine
Discordian
- Location
- Waxing my moustache
Saturday's ride, back to previously uncharted main roads. The A72 up Tweeddale is best avoided due to the speed and volume of traffic and anyway there is a quiet alternative along the south side of the valley. It wasn't as empty as other lockdown main roads have been but this road links local towns so there would have been plenty of reasonable excuses to go shopping etc.
On reaching Peebles it had been a rather dull ride, so I headed south for a short loop round the Cademuir. The scenery here looks more like the highlands and there was still some snow on Dollar Law further up the Manor valley-
To make things more interesting the return to Peebles was made over the Manor Sware which is allegedly 10% but seems more in some places. The view north over Peebles from the summit is worth it though.
After that it was bomb down the hill into Peebles and back the way I came down the A72, now even quieter than before.
The map -
48.5 miles @ 16.2mph, 672m upness.
On reaching Peebles it had been a rather dull ride, so I headed south for a short loop round the Cademuir. The scenery here looks more like the highlands and there was still some snow on Dollar Law further up the Manor valley-
To make things more interesting the return to Peebles was made over the Manor Sware which is allegedly 10% but seems more in some places. The view north over Peebles from the summit is worth it though.
After that it was bomb down the hill into Peebles and back the way I came down the A72, now even quieter than before.
The map -
48.5 miles @ 16.2mph, 672m upness.
Yesterday's ride as I was too knackered to write it up when I got back....
New fat Continental slicks arrived and were (eventually) fitted to the CdF. I didn't feel too hot but it was sunny and I wanted to test the tyres so out we went. As usual one thing led to another and while the pace remained sedate and effort low, more miles were clocked than intended.
I headed out SE through town, a bit of a wiggle through Greater Leys and out to Stadhampton where I discovered an inviting looking bridleway. This turned out to be a manageable mixture of hard-packed and overgrown but not-really-technical singletrack, a few rutted but tolerable grass fields and some perfectly acceptable gravelly farm tracks.
The bike in an appropriate environment, mit new rubber (apologies for the very obvious poor gear selection!):
I came out near Chippinghurst and continued over the M40 to Thame, skirting around the outside briefly before heading NW through North Weston, Shabbington and Worminghall. I'd planned to continue to 0akley but rediscovered the disused airfield so had to have another ride around that - sadly not as much fun as last time in the absence of sun or novelty. I came out at a point on the road I'd already passed once, so in the interest of time and to avoid the monotony of covering the same ground again headed NE out of Worminghall to Stanton St. John.
By this point it was about 19:30 and the light was getting a bit sketchy from the low sun, while I was increasingly coming to the conclusion that I'd over-cooked the distance.. not an insumountable issue but I was getting tired, my legs ached, my nose had started running and I generally felt a bit crap.
I'd planned to re-enter the city through Elsfield and Marston, however got tempted by another bridleway I knew led to Barton, so hung a left for some more mixed-surface "fun". Through the gritty, flat-ish hard-packed field the bike was grand; becoming more uncomfortable as it got rougher and occasionally terrifying on the odd patch of wet, slippery mud. More overgrown but straightforward singletrack was had before emerging at the top of an open field with a wide, dry, cracked but rideable path to the bottom. This was super-tame by MTB standards but it my inexperienced and diminished state it was all I could do to get out of the saddle and let the bike roll without bothering the brakes too much; my glutes aching from keeping me off the seat and my neck and shoulders tense from my grim-death grip on the bars and nervous steering input..
I muddled my way back through Barton, Headington and the rest of town, getting back just as the sun was setting and utterly knackered.
The ride ended up at around 43 miles at 13mph and a mean heart rate of 122bpm for mostly zone 2 exertion. The first maybe 30 miles were very pleasant aside from the seemingly perpetual clouds of swarming flies; countless of which I ingested or inhailed
I'm not sure if it was just a combination of a late night beforehand (was up until silly O'clock looking at bike bits) with the additional demands of riding away from smooth, open tarmac but this ride really rinsed me; far more than the numbers should suggest. Hopefully I've not picked up a dose of the 'rona!
New fat Continental slicks arrived and were (eventually) fitted to the CdF. I didn't feel too hot but it was sunny and I wanted to test the tyres so out we went. As usual one thing led to another and while the pace remained sedate and effort low, more miles were clocked than intended.
I headed out SE through town, a bit of a wiggle through Greater Leys and out to Stadhampton where I discovered an inviting looking bridleway. This turned out to be a manageable mixture of hard-packed and overgrown but not-really-technical singletrack, a few rutted but tolerable grass fields and some perfectly acceptable gravelly farm tracks.
The bike in an appropriate environment, mit new rubber (apologies for the very obvious poor gear selection!):
I came out near Chippinghurst and continued over the M40 to Thame, skirting around the outside briefly before heading NW through North Weston, Shabbington and Worminghall. I'd planned to continue to 0akley but rediscovered the disused airfield so had to have another ride around that - sadly not as much fun as last time in the absence of sun or novelty. I came out at a point on the road I'd already passed once, so in the interest of time and to avoid the monotony of covering the same ground again headed NE out of Worminghall to Stanton St. John.
By this point it was about 19:30 and the light was getting a bit sketchy from the low sun, while I was increasingly coming to the conclusion that I'd over-cooked the distance.. not an insumountable issue but I was getting tired, my legs ached, my nose had started running and I generally felt a bit crap.
I'd planned to re-enter the city through Elsfield and Marston, however got tempted by another bridleway I knew led to Barton, so hung a left for some more mixed-surface "fun". Through the gritty, flat-ish hard-packed field the bike was grand; becoming more uncomfortable as it got rougher and occasionally terrifying on the odd patch of wet, slippery mud. More overgrown but straightforward singletrack was had before emerging at the top of an open field with a wide, dry, cracked but rideable path to the bottom. This was super-tame by MTB standards but it my inexperienced and diminished state it was all I could do to get out of the saddle and let the bike roll without bothering the brakes too much; my glutes aching from keeping me off the seat and my neck and shoulders tense from my grim-death grip on the bars and nervous steering input..
I muddled my way back through Barton, Headington and the rest of town, getting back just as the sun was setting and utterly knackered.
The ride ended up at around 43 miles at 13mph and a mean heart rate of 122bpm for mostly zone 2 exertion. The first maybe 30 miles were very pleasant aside from the seemingly perpetual clouds of swarming flies; countless of which I ingested or inhailed
I'm not sure if it was just a combination of a late night beforehand (was up until silly O'clock looking at bike bits) with the additional demands of riding away from smooth, open tarmac but this ride really rinsed me; far more than the numbers should suggest. Hopefully I've not picked up a dose of the 'rona!
Last edited:
Eventually decided, given it was sunny one moment, overcast the next simply whilst I stood looking at the wardrobe, on bib knickers with long sleeve jersey for a late morning ride today, a short clockwise Ripley-Nidd loop with a sting in the tail. Wind was pretty light and probably had little involvement in the days PRs – northbound on the Ripley bypass and north-west / west / north-west to Ripley on the B6265. The sting in the tail was after pausing at Killinghall on the return I headed south on the A61; the rider in front at no point moved out to socially distance from pedestrians
Should add that is a roadside mirror not an object on top of the car.
Then my hope of a run at the 7% avg hill on Ripon Road was quashed by the traffic lights
At the top took would normally be an outbound section of a route south-west but then turned down Cornwall Road. The bridge at the foot which had timber screening alongside it to stop any UCI competitors flying off a bike not landing in the beck below (and which did serve its purpose on more than occasion
) now appeared to have been damaged by a vehicle judging by the concrete blocks.
The potentially excessive speed of the UCI competitors was largely due to the preceding decent of Penny Pot Lane, a different matter going in the opposite direction with a short kick at the foot of 10.8% max, a short decent and then up again with a far longer climb of 11% max.
Then home via the Oaker Banks. 13.58 miles@ 14mph avg 958ft climbed.
Post ride a hunt revealed the missing panniers separately from the missing saddle bag and then the quick links elsewhere – sure I had looked in that draw before. Then I was puzzled again as I could picture a multi tool with a chain tool element but could not find it; it eventually dawned on me it was part of one of the tool kits in the bar ends of the hybrid. A mini Park Tool one ordered
Should add that is a roadside mirror not an object on top of the car.
Then my hope of a run at the 7% avg hill on Ripon Road was quashed by the traffic lights
At the top took would normally be an outbound section of a route south-west but then turned down Cornwall Road. The bridge at the foot which had timber screening alongside it to stop any UCI competitors flying off a bike not landing in the beck below (and which did serve its purpose on more than occasion
) now appeared to have been damaged by a vehicle judging by the concrete blocks.The potentially excessive speed of the UCI competitors was largely due to the preceding decent of Penny Pot Lane, a different matter going in the opposite direction with a short kick at the foot of 10.8% max, a short decent and then up again with a far longer climb of 11% max.
Then home via the Oaker Banks. 13.58 miles@ 14mph avg 958ft climbed.
Post ride a hunt revealed the missing panniers separately from the missing saddle bag and then the quick links elsewhere – sure I had looked in that draw before. Then I was puzzled again as I could picture a multi tool with a chain tool element but could not find it; it eventually dawned on me it was part of one of the tool kits in the bar ends of the hybrid. A mini Park Tool one ordered
Last edited:
AndreaJ
Veteran
A warmer day today and a ride round some of North Shropshire’s meres was the plan. I set off to Northwood, a detour to Bettisfield coming back on to the road at Hampton Bank, Welshampton, turn by the school to Coptiviney and halfway up the hill I was met by a herd of cows on their way in to be milked, they saw me appear on my bike and all stopped for a look.
The road surface is like that all along that lane! Once the cows had all gone into the yard I carried on up the hill dodging the mess cows leave when they walk up the road to Ellesmere, through Ellesmere to Lee where I saw a dog training friend so stopped for a quick chat across the lane before carrying on past Whitemere over the crossroads and past the nature reserve to Colemere, Lyneal, Loppington where it looks like the badgers have managed to tunnel all the way under the lane now, English Frankton, Brown Heath, back to Loppington, Nonely, Wolverley then home. Not too many people about again. 26.16 miles @15.1mph.
The Mere at Ellesmere.
The road surface is like that all along that lane! Once the cows had all gone into the yard I carried on up the hill dodging the mess cows leave when they walk up the road to Ellesmere, through Ellesmere to Lee where I saw a dog training friend so stopped for a quick chat across the lane before carrying on past Whitemere over the crossroads and past the nature reserve to Colemere, Lyneal, Loppington where it looks like the badgers have managed to tunnel all the way under the lane now, English Frankton, Brown Heath, back to Loppington, Nonely, Wolverley then home. Not too many people about again. 26.16 miles @15.1mph.
The Mere at Ellesmere.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
44miles to bosworth battlefield centre
Gloves were damp with sweat when i stopped , after a flapjack i started off again and they had gone cold which really set my reynauds off.I stopped and put armwarmers and a pair of thermal glove liners on but the damage was done so my body decided to try and move blood from the legs into my hands which wasnt making any difference apart from my legs telling me to slow down
Gloves were damp with sweat when i stopped , after a flapjack i started off again and they had gone cold which really set my reynauds off.I stopped and put armwarmers and a pair of thermal glove liners on but the damage was done so my body decided to try and move blood from the legs into my hands which wasnt making any difference apart from my legs telling me to slow down
