rockyroller
Guru
- Location
- 20 miles northwest of Boston, MA
👍 garlic & olive oil! I think that's partly why my parents are 90 & 93. if I can just keep them in the house & my sister out! hehe
Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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AndreaJ
Veteran
The rain had downgraded to drizzle so with motivation to ride through more mud and puddles/floods starting to disappear I decided just a short ride to get a few more miles nearer to my target for the year would do. I headed out to Northwood, Foxholes, Ryebank, Whixall finding 2 hedge cutters within a short distance, along Goblins Lane and onto to Hollinswood where there was a big flood luckily the grass verge was quite high so I got off and walked round it and carried on to Alkington crossing the canal over the swing bridge back to Whixall, Northwood and home. 18 miles and was glad I went in the end.
theloafer
Legendary Member
- Location
- newton aycliffe
had a free day .. so jumped on the bike to blow the cob webs away sunny but fresh ..not pleased to see the bridge at Whorlton fenced off..
so had to retrace back to the A67 then on to Winston to pick up my normal route .. just short of 40 miles ..feet like blocks of wood and all the lanes seemed like rivers but still good to be out 
blowing away the cob webs lol | Ride | Strava
one day i will ride this
blowing away the cob webs lol | Ride | Strava
one day i will ride this
Finished for the holidays and have reduced family duties so got off for a ride. A pleasant 40 miles with 900m of up to Kirby Lonsdale and Farleton Fell. Quite cold but still and dry. Couldn’t see Ingleborough and both the Dales and Lakes looked to be in cloud so kept fairly close to the coast. Magnificent inversion along the Lune. I have lost track of which tiers Cumbria and North Yorkshire are in so packed a corona cafe in my carradice. Lots of riders out on the Kirby Lonsdale road, then went up to Hutton Roof before the narrow gated roads around Farleton. These are always narrow, often with grass up the middle but were also covered in mud and hedge trimmings. As well as the hedge carnage from the flails, it was good to see some hedge laying taking place. Nice ride but Bike needs cleaning again.
rockyroller
Guru
- Location
- 20 miles northwest of Boston, MA
hehe better wait for a drought season, eh?
itboffin
Guru
- Location
- Marlborough, Windshire
I'd intended on doing a 60 miles loop out to Westbury white horse with a friend and seeing as i woke up and 5am today i made a start on dinner, lovely all fresh spag bol which as it turned out was the best i've ever eaten anyway about 8am i had breakfast which would normally be a cup of coffee, this morning was my longer ride 2 scrambled egg on wheat toast with half a can of baked beans, oh and coffee.
Out the door at 10am and i'm greeted with this, the one road west flooded
Doesnt look deep but trust me that car in front produced a bow wave that went over the bonnet and i know from Jan's flooding the next flood point will be waist deep, planned ride aborted then it occurred to me I cant go east as i'm less than 5 miles from Berkshire in tier 4, both the roads north and south and not bike friendly, so back home it was. I might be in tier 2 but until the flooding clears i'm effectively trapped.
Out the door at 10am and i'm greeted with this, the one road west flooded
Doesnt look deep but trust me that car in front produced a bow wave that went over the bonnet and i know from Jan's flooding the next flood point will be waist deep, planned ride aborted then it occurred to me I cant go east as i'm less than 5 miles from Berkshire in tier 4, both the roads north and south and not bike friendly, so back home it was. I might be in tier 2 but until the flooding clears i'm effectively trapped.
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
A dry day where I wasn't otherwise engaged 
so I got out to do a variation of one of my regular routes: Lyth Hill, Condover, Acton Burnell, Cressage, Eaton Constantine, Walcot, Withington, Upton Magna, Atcham and back.
It's a bit chilly and overcast with plenty of standing water on the roads after heavy rain overnight, but it was good to get out. Lots of people up at Lyth Hill walking and the roads were quite busy with people rushing round presumably doing things in preparation for Christmas. Otherwise it was fairly uneventful as far as Acton Burnell where there was a small flood to wade through.
At Cressage I drop down into the Severn Valley where the flood plain was doing its job and making the road into a causeway through the water. I got overtaken by another cyclist on the way to Eaton Constantine then caught a couple of other riders on the climb out of the village so I can't have been doing too badly.
The traffic wasn't quite as busy for the short section on the old A5 then Bluebell lane was an enjoyable descent as ever. The River Tern was also in flood at Walcot. The run to Withington seemed more tiring than usual and it was nice to get past the little climb on the way to Upton Magna and onto some downhill bits.
The flood plain at Atcham was a spectacle but the water here hadn't come quite as high as I'd expected, although it was high enough that I couldn't use the road to Cross Houses or the start of Chilton Farm Lane, so ended up going along the main road a short way to join the lane further up.
The lumpy section on the way to the Kingstreet crossroads was a bit slow as the legs were complaining by now. I thought I'd take a little detour along the lane to Allfield to see how badly flooded that was but it turns out that the drainage has now been sorted out (it's only taken about two years
) so I used this shortcut, then being able to see across the fields that the A49 was quieter than earlier I took the short way home here as well.
31.1 miles for the day at 12.4 mph average. I need to build my riding back up again - this showed me I've lost a bit of fitness with having had so few outings in December.
Pitchford Hall
Concord College, Acton Burnell.
A couple of watery shots from Cressage.
A little bit damp in the garden at the Mytton and Mermaid.
I'm not risking getting wet shoes on Chilton Farm Lane. Time to go around.
so I got out to do a variation of one of my regular routes: Lyth Hill, Condover, Acton Burnell, Cressage, Eaton Constantine, Walcot, Withington, Upton Magna, Atcham and back.It's a bit chilly and overcast with plenty of standing water on the roads after heavy rain overnight, but it was good to get out. Lots of people up at Lyth Hill walking and the roads were quite busy with people rushing round presumably doing things in preparation for Christmas. Otherwise it was fairly uneventful as far as Acton Burnell where there was a small flood to wade through.
At Cressage I drop down into the Severn Valley where the flood plain was doing its job and making the road into a causeway through the water. I got overtaken by another cyclist on the way to Eaton Constantine then caught a couple of other riders on the climb out of the village so I can't have been doing too badly.
The traffic wasn't quite as busy for the short section on the old A5 then Bluebell lane was an enjoyable descent as ever. The River Tern was also in flood at Walcot. The run to Withington seemed more tiring than usual and it was nice to get past the little climb on the way to Upton Magna and onto some downhill bits.
The flood plain at Atcham was a spectacle but the water here hadn't come quite as high as I'd expected, although it was high enough that I couldn't use the road to Cross Houses or the start of Chilton Farm Lane, so ended up going along the main road a short way to join the lane further up.
The lumpy section on the way to the Kingstreet crossroads was a bit slow as the legs were complaining by now. I thought I'd take a little detour along the lane to Allfield to see how badly flooded that was but it turns out that the drainage has now been sorted out (it's only taken about two years
) so I used this shortcut, then being able to see across the fields that the A49 was quieter than earlier I took the short way home here as well.31.1 miles for the day at 12.4 mph average. I need to build my riding back up again - this showed me I've lost a bit of fitness with having had so few outings in December.
Pitchford Hall
Concord College, Acton Burnell.
A couple of watery shots from Cressage.
A little bit damp in the garden at the Mytton and Mermaid.
I'm not risking getting wet shoes on Chilton Farm Lane. Time to go around.
Last edited:
footloose crow
Über Member
- Location
- Cornwall. UK
22 December. The (Solar) New Year's Day Ride
Living in a pagan part of Britain where Celtic beliefs lie just beneath the surface, today is the real first day of the year as the earth tilts back on its six month journey back to mid summer. Jan 1st is just a date.
It was a horrible day. Fog on the hills, heavy rain showers, flooded lanes, quite a lot of mud and a boisterous wind. I was not at all sure I wanted to go outside this morning...especially as this is the season when Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of fate and sometimes foreteller of death, tends to wander about. Often disguised as a crow.
She may look like this...
But it's not real is it? Just a very old story. Although today, on some high and lonely lanes where there are no houses or passing cars, just heathery moors and winter rough fields with only the road edges visible in the swirling mists, it is easy to feel a sense of foreboding.
My plan was to sneak around all the quietest lanes between Truro and Penzance, avoiding the madness of Christmas traffic. Life in Tier 1 carries on as normal and we will see the impact soon in rocketing rates of Covid 19. They have already tripled since the beginning of the month. So out of Truro on the steep Chapel Hill and a brief view of Cornwall's metropolis laid out below me , then immediately plunging down into a deep valley, over a small bridge and then up again steeply to regain all the height lost. Passing Merlin's Wood, a tangled oak woodland that is much newer than any pre-Christian magician, the rain falling hard on the road and pricking my eyes.
The villages roll past, each accompanied by its own hill, always steep, the rain sometimes stops but the water is always flowing down the road, washing gravel under the tyres. Cusgarne, Frogpool, Trethella Water, Stithians, St Day. I thought St Day was the highest point of the ride. The fog was certainly thicker here as I rose up into the clouds. Cars emerged from the whiteness suddenly so I put a second front and back light on, one flashing, one steady and hoped they could see me. The hills continued after St Day but fortunately not for long and downhill soon beckoned to where the mist was much lighter and I felt safe enough to take a photo.
Through Praze-an Beeble, just a blur of granite grey houses, dripping trees and onto Relubbus and Leedstown, St Hilary and Goldsithney. The villages mark the route, give me short targets to go for. I like to know the next thing is only three or four miles. It breaks it up.
Descending steeply through Marazion I finally see St Michael's Mount. The village is busy with tourists, the pasty shops and ice cream sellers doing well despite the gloom and rain. The Mount is only half visible, the top hidden in cloud and a grey, restless sea and raw wind are not enough to deter one couple swimming. No wetsuits. But who is more mad...me for cycling in this gloomy rain and mist where all I can see is a stretch of dirty road or those two for getting an endorphin high playing in the bitter waves?
The cycle route along the top of the beach has been closed for upgrading so to avoid the A30 which is busy with impatient shoppers going too fast, I take a roundabout route behind the town, up and down though Gulval, which looks as if it would be a lovely place on a summer's day, but I am hungry, wet and cold and just want to get to Penzance harbour and turn round.
The way home is up to the north coast to Hayle, blessedly rolling at first rather than crocodile toothed hill and valley, hill and valley. I have switched to my spare gloves now and eaten quickly, stuffing a sandwich down on the harbour slipway. There are cafes and pubs and a tantalising scent of fresh pasty hereabouts but I am both quarantining before meeting elderly relatives at Christmas and shielding with my own vulnerabilities. So week old bread with jam it is, damp at the edges where the rain wets it.
I always find this north coast route after Hayle to be hard work. The hills are longer and by now my legs are tired with forty miles and 3000 feet in them already. I went through Hayle slowly, snarled in traffic, a grey sky and grey buildings and a grey road. Everything is shades of grey but cold and wet rather than erotic. Now it is up and then down (inevitably) to pass the surf beach at Gwithian, VW vans parked all along the road, skinny surfers, hair plastered down by waves and salt, changing out of wetsuits, tugging at the reluctant neoprene, trying to force frozen hands to work. The waves look good today, clean and not too big.
Another long hill with traffic queueing behind me which I hate, so it is off on the first lane on the right. An error of judgement. It is flooded and I cycle through long, brown puddles where the water is streaming off the land. My feet were already wet but I worry about the bottom bracket. I could go back but don't. I keep thinking it will get better in a bit.
It doesn't. I don't photograph the worst bits, just plough through them hoping for the best, hitting unseen potholes. I wonder how long it would be before anyone drove along here and found my drowned body. Can you drown in six inches?
It is a relief to race down the hair pinned drop into Portreath and an opportunity to grab some more food although all I find in my saddle bag is a gel. It will have to do. Hunger gnaws at me. Three hills left. I watch the waves for a while and the squall that misses me as it proceeds along the coast. The sun is breaking through and the temperature has risen.
Three hills, then two and finally one. The roads are getting busier and no one seems to want to give me space. I need to concentrate, making eye contact with oncoming vehicles and cycling defensively. The last hill is the worst and for the first time ever I take a break part way.
Home is a welcome sight. I am wet, dirty, tired and hungry and I am not convinced I have had a great time.
But I didn't encounter Morrigan, either as she is depicted here or in the shape of a crow. I barely saw anyone not in a vehicle in fact. If she was looking for me, she would have struggled today in the mist and rain.
A rest day tomorrow. There is a list of jobs for me on the kitchen worktop I notice......
Living in a pagan part of Britain where Celtic beliefs lie just beneath the surface, today is the real first day of the year as the earth tilts back on its six month journey back to mid summer. Jan 1st is just a date.
It was a horrible day. Fog on the hills, heavy rain showers, flooded lanes, quite a lot of mud and a boisterous wind. I was not at all sure I wanted to go outside this morning...especially as this is the season when Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of fate and sometimes foreteller of death, tends to wander about. Often disguised as a crow.
She may look like this...
But it's not real is it? Just a very old story. Although today, on some high and lonely lanes where there are no houses or passing cars, just heathery moors and winter rough fields with only the road edges visible in the swirling mists, it is easy to feel a sense of foreboding.
My plan was to sneak around all the quietest lanes between Truro and Penzance, avoiding the madness of Christmas traffic. Life in Tier 1 carries on as normal and we will see the impact soon in rocketing rates of Covid 19. They have already tripled since the beginning of the month. So out of Truro on the steep Chapel Hill and a brief view of Cornwall's metropolis laid out below me , then immediately plunging down into a deep valley, over a small bridge and then up again steeply to regain all the height lost. Passing Merlin's Wood, a tangled oak woodland that is much newer than any pre-Christian magician, the rain falling hard on the road and pricking my eyes.
The villages roll past, each accompanied by its own hill, always steep, the rain sometimes stops but the water is always flowing down the road, washing gravel under the tyres. Cusgarne, Frogpool, Trethella Water, Stithians, St Day. I thought St Day was the highest point of the ride. The fog was certainly thicker here as I rose up into the clouds. Cars emerged from the whiteness suddenly so I put a second front and back light on, one flashing, one steady and hoped they could see me. The hills continued after St Day but fortunately not for long and downhill soon beckoned to where the mist was much lighter and I felt safe enough to take a photo.
Through Praze-an Beeble, just a blur of granite grey houses, dripping trees and onto Relubbus and Leedstown, St Hilary and Goldsithney. The villages mark the route, give me short targets to go for. I like to know the next thing is only three or four miles. It breaks it up.
Descending steeply through Marazion I finally see St Michael's Mount. The village is busy with tourists, the pasty shops and ice cream sellers doing well despite the gloom and rain. The Mount is only half visible, the top hidden in cloud and a grey, restless sea and raw wind are not enough to deter one couple swimming. No wetsuits. But who is more mad...me for cycling in this gloomy rain and mist where all I can see is a stretch of dirty road or those two for getting an endorphin high playing in the bitter waves?
The cycle route along the top of the beach has been closed for upgrading so to avoid the A30 which is busy with impatient shoppers going too fast, I take a roundabout route behind the town, up and down though Gulval, which looks as if it would be a lovely place on a summer's day, but I am hungry, wet and cold and just want to get to Penzance harbour and turn round.
The way home is up to the north coast to Hayle, blessedly rolling at first rather than crocodile toothed hill and valley, hill and valley. I have switched to my spare gloves now and eaten quickly, stuffing a sandwich down on the harbour slipway. There are cafes and pubs and a tantalising scent of fresh pasty hereabouts but I am both quarantining before meeting elderly relatives at Christmas and shielding with my own vulnerabilities. So week old bread with jam it is, damp at the edges where the rain wets it.
I always find this north coast route after Hayle to be hard work. The hills are longer and by now my legs are tired with forty miles and 3000 feet in them already. I went through Hayle slowly, snarled in traffic, a grey sky and grey buildings and a grey road. Everything is shades of grey but cold and wet rather than erotic. Now it is up and then down (inevitably) to pass the surf beach at Gwithian, VW vans parked all along the road, skinny surfers, hair plastered down by waves and salt, changing out of wetsuits, tugging at the reluctant neoprene, trying to force frozen hands to work. The waves look good today, clean and not too big.
Another long hill with traffic queueing behind me which I hate, so it is off on the first lane on the right. An error of judgement. It is flooded and I cycle through long, brown puddles where the water is streaming off the land. My feet were already wet but I worry about the bottom bracket. I could go back but don't. I keep thinking it will get better in a bit.
It doesn't. I don't photograph the worst bits, just plough through them hoping for the best, hitting unseen potholes. I wonder how long it would be before anyone drove along here and found my drowned body. Can you drown in six inches?
It is a relief to race down the hair pinned drop into Portreath and an opportunity to grab some more food although all I find in my saddle bag is a gel. It will have to do. Hunger gnaws at me. Three hills left. I watch the waves for a while and the squall that misses me as it proceeds along the coast. The sun is breaking through and the temperature has risen.
Three hills, then two and finally one. The roads are getting busier and no one seems to want to give me space. I need to concentrate, making eye contact with oncoming vehicles and cycling defensively. The last hill is the worst and for the first time ever I take a break part way.
Home is a welcome sight. I am wet, dirty, tired and hungry and I am not convinced I have had a great time.
But I didn't encounter Morrigan, either as she is depicted here or in the shape of a crow. I barely saw anyone not in a vehicle in fact. If she was looking for me, she would have struggled today in the mist and rain.
A rest day tomorrow. There is a list of jobs for me on the kitchen worktop I notice......
Managed to finish working at 4pm and saw a window of opportunity before rain was forecast from about 6pm, for a ride. Thankfully, unlike Sunday morning, when I opened the shed door I didn’t find a flat front tyre from 2 thorns picked up on my drenching Saturday afternoon ride. Need to have another go at seating the wheel though, before my next ride, as had a constant hum from the brake pad on the disk......
I decided to take a clockwise route to Dad’s, which for some unknown reason I rarely do. Went through Sutton Farm and then out to Betton Abbots and King St crossroads, having to negotiate a bit of a flood between the 2, which I’ve not seen on that road before. A sign of how constantly wet it’s been recently.
Lyons Lane was quiet, to Condover, but the road up to Ryton was heaving with traffic, for some reason.....Turned off at Gonsal and crossed the A49 without a car in sight, which rarely happens and then called in at Dad’s for a chat.
As I went outside to get back on the bike, it had started to rain lightly, so I donned my waterproof jacket for the journey home. Thankfully the rain stayed light through Exfords Green, Annscroft and Hook a Gate, which with the wind behind me meant I made fairly quick progress. One pillock kept main beam on and never dipped
I then went through Meole Village and encountered 2 idiots on the crescent. First chap decides to pull onto my side of the road, in front of me, with no indication, but not content with that then decides to pull across the road, again with no indication, to reverse into his drive He got some choice words and a gesture. I then pulled out onto the next road and a chap in a van comes barrelling through past a parked car, when it’s my right of way and forces me to swerve out of the way. 
It started to rain heavier, as I got to within a couple of minutes from home and so I’d timed it just right to avoid a drenching.
15.61 miles at 12.2mph avg.
I decided to take a clockwise route to Dad’s, which for some unknown reason I rarely do. Went through Sutton Farm and then out to Betton Abbots and King St crossroads, having to negotiate a bit of a flood between the 2, which I’ve not seen on that road before. A sign of how constantly wet it’s been recently.
Lyons Lane was quiet, to Condover, but the road up to Ryton was heaving with traffic, for some reason.....Turned off at Gonsal and crossed the A49 without a car in sight, which rarely happens and then called in at Dad’s for a chat.
As I went outside to get back on the bike, it had started to rain lightly, so I donned my waterproof jacket for the journey home. Thankfully the rain stayed light through Exfords Green, Annscroft and Hook a Gate, which with the wind behind me meant I made fairly quick progress. One pillock kept main beam on and never dipped
I then went through Meole Village and encountered 2 idiots on the crescent. First chap decides to pull onto my side of the road, in front of me, with no indication, but not content with that then decides to pull across the road, again with no indication, to reverse into his drive
He got some choice words and a gesture. I then pulled out onto the next road and a chap in a van comes barrelling through past a parked car, when it’s my right of way and forces me to swerve out of the way. It started to rain heavier, as I got to within a couple of minutes from home and so I’d timed it just right to avoid a drenching.
15.61 miles at 12.2mph avg.
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
Last commute before the Christmas break.
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
Guess who had to go into work this morning to print off a ticket...
Big Sky Country...
Big Sky Country...
Jon George
Mamil and couldn't care less
- Location
- Suffolk an' Good
Whilst on a brisk walk down our road with my wife (the neighbours have been galvanised to organise advent calendar windows: each house has nominated itself to put up a decoration on each day), I waved to a cycling neighbour embarking on a ride. Ten minutes later in was stair-rods weather. I felt for him.
So I decided to get out the trainer in the kitchen. The trouble was, I have recently put much bigger tyres on Patsy #2 The CX and, unbeknownst to me, were rubbing on the vinyl floor, as opposed to the resistance wheel - which I thought was the problem. Even just ten seconds of effort was enough to wear a grove.
Now feeling guilty at the damage wrought, and with the weather a tad better, I changed my mind and ventured out. Due to the accident I had last Friday, I temporarily have no leggings, but the weather was mild enough for me not to miss them. (I'm thinking about replacing them as I type.)
I did about six miles and am definitely thinking about changing back to some dedicated road tyres for this sort of weather. Cornering has a certain 'skittish' feel at the moment.
I took a picture.
So I decided to get out the trainer in the kitchen. The trouble was, I have recently put much bigger tyres on Patsy #2 The CX and, unbeknownst to me, were rubbing on the vinyl floor, as opposed to the resistance wheel - which I thought was the problem. Even just ten seconds of effort was enough to wear a grove.
Now feeling guilty at the damage wrought, and with the weather a tad better, I changed my mind and ventured out. Due to the accident I had last Friday, I temporarily have no leggings, but the weather was mild enough for me not to miss them. (I'm thinking about replacing them as I type.)
I did about six miles and am definitely thinking about changing back to some dedicated road tyres for this sort of weather. Cornering has a certain 'skittish' feel at the moment.
I took a picture.
itboffin
Guru
- Location
- Marlborough, Windshire
went out today in complete torrential rain it was fine, hardshell jacket and merino base so warm but the wind as ever just makes cycling really hard work, when will it do one and just feck off
itboffin
Guru
- Location
- Marlborough, Windshire
60 miles planned for tomorrow 40+mph tailwind outbound should be fun, maybe not so much on the way home
