Your ride today....

[Grant Fondo]

A sunny day so what can I do ?
Out at around 10 am with the intention of a longish ride. A quick loop before I set off in earnest and I found that after just 3 miles I was feeling dead. Legs aching, every stroke was an effort, it was hard work, and was it cold? Oh dear me yes it was. I almost gave in and turned for home.
I didn't, because I've been here before and sometimes one just needs to get into it a bit and let things settle down.
I had a route in mind and so I pressed on. Out of Leeds via Shadwell and East Keswick and into Wetherby by way of Linton.
14 miles in and I was only just coming to terms with things, each upwards turn of the road though brought misery.
Out from Wetherby into the Easterly wind, past the race course (racing on the 12th apparently for those that like such things) and I was STILL pondering a turn for home. Past Bickerton and the last viable get out slipped behind me as I pressed on to Tockwith and Rufforth. I finally seemed to get into some kind of rhythm and found I was relaxing into the effort and the ride. York ring road came and went and as I slid down into York via Acomb I felt much better.
York is a busy place traffic wise but as it happened I pretty much just cruised through despite having to stop at almost every set of lights and every pedestrian crossing.
Out from York on the unusually quiet A19 rather than the Solar Way cycle path. Only because the roads were free of ice and snow. Cyclepaths around where I live are as slippery as it gets. I was cruising along passing the turn for Escrick and stopping near Ricall for a 'comfort break'. I think that's what we call a pi55. Down into Barlby and then into Selby, passing the old BOCM place where it look like they are pulling many of the old massive grain silos down.
Once over the old toll bridge I was heading for home, but what's this ? A headwind ? I was promised easterly winds today and I imagined sliding back into Leeds for the last 20 miles with a nice push at my back. As it was I was pushing into a block headwind, not all that strong to be fair but it was icey. I stopped at Monk Fryston for a pastie and a coffee, both of which were very welcome. It was only a local shop and no seats so I was stood outside in the cold. I hopped back on right after scoffing. I could have wandered about letting it digest a bit but it was too damn cold and I didn't want to get chilled.
Heavy legs after the stop soon disappeared but it was still a slog for the last 14 miles or so. I was tempted to do a few local laps to get over the 70 mile mark and considered it for all of .5 seconds. Bugger that.

62.5 miles and 2150 ft of up. Fixed wheel.

View: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/62474554

Respect! The word cryogenic springs to mind

 

[footloose crow]

10 Feb. Into the fridge....

The Cornish for snow is 'ergh'. We don't have lots of different words for snow . We also don't have many adjectives for 'cold' and this week of coldness has exhausted them. 'Yeyn yw' - it's cold. Then we have to resort to 'Ethwyk yw' - it's awful.

We have had snow this week but it only settled on the hills. However, the deep freeze, the brain sapping cold, the insidious subtracter of bodily warmth has been increasing daily. Today the Wahoo said it was minus one. Before wind chill. It hurt to breathe. I am not acclimatised to cold.

Today is the only day this week when it isn't blowing a gale. I do mean gale. Proper ship wrecking full force eight to ten gale. So I had to get out today and try to grab at least 50k. The ride started over the low hills north of Truro along lanes that are usually deep in filth but have dried in the cold this week. Progress was swift as I needed the body heat from working hard. Nice not to have a muddy bike.

Then along the Cornish version of the pennine ridge, the vertebrae of hills that runs along the spine of the county, until the long drop down to the coast at Portreath. I didn't hang about. A quick photo and turn around. No one surfing. No one on the beach. The sand was frozen where freshwater drained across it.

Turning around revealed why progress had been swift and now I had a fierce headwind that froze fingers, nose and toes. The air felt thick as you breathed it in, searing the throat.

Definitely harder coming back. By the time I was home I needed a hot drink but the first obstacle was turning the key in the lock. My hands had got so cold they couldn't turn the key. It is always stiff. I had to go to the shed for some pliers to get the key to turn the lock.

Very windy (and a bit snowy) for the next five days so no more rides for a while. This afternoon I ordered some warmer gloves - that should make the temperatures rise again!

 

[Andy in Germany]

It snowed today. Thank goodness for spiked tyres.

Trouble is, I know that by the time I've got used to riding on the different surfaces that snow creates, it'll all have melted.

 

[Beespoke]

My quick blast up in the hills this morning...

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Dawn on the Moss

 

[Grant Fondo]

Dawn on the Moss View attachment 573354

View attachment 573355

I dread to think how cold that ride was

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A couple of rides:
Yesterday: I woke to an unexpected dusting of snow. The chance for a ride came later in the day when I'd also had time to oil the chain and swap over to the studded tyres. The route was over Lyth Hill to Condover, up the climb to Berriewood then to Ryton, Stapleton, Exford's Green, Longden, Annscroft and back over the top of Lyth Hill.

Lots of cars parked up on the hill so people could walk but on the lanes there was hardly anyone about. The descent into Condover was extremely muddy where tractors had dragged it out of one of the fields. Apart from that the roads were mostly dry so I wondered whether fitting the ice tyres had been a good idea, however after Berriewood the lanes were pretty icy anywhere that the remaining snow had been sheltered from the sun.

There was a lad with a mini-moto playing on a slippy lane in the Exford's Green area (not legal but i'm not going to be a snitch as he wasn't being stupid with it) and the walkers I encountered near Longden seemed very surprised to see a cyclist.

The climb from Annscroft to Lyth Hill turned out to have been gritted which made things simpler.

17.2 miles at 11.3 mph average.

Looking at the Stretton hills from Lyth Hill.

Looking in roughly the same direction but from near Stapleton.

Crossing Lyth Hill again and another impressive cloudscape over The Wrekin

Today:
An early ride today as I wasn't sure if I'd be needed to do a bit of garden work this afternoon. It was showing -3C when I set out and there were some interesting effects leaving the village where there were streaks of frost across the road between where cars had been parked.

I started off the same as yesterday; heading over Lyth Hill and dropping down to Condover - the mud here had frozen hard leaving a horrendously rough surface to rattle over. From Condover I headed the short way to Ryton then along the lane to Longnor which was very icy for much of the way so the tyres earned their keep.

Longnor - Acton Burnell - Cantlop had been gritted but was into the wind again so not the fun dash I'm used to. Even with the grit though there were a couple of places where run-off from the fields had frozen and the dip after Pitchford was particularly bad so I dropped into the valley very cautiously for a change.

From Cantlop I extended the route up to the Kingstreet crossroads then took a left back towards Condover. More ice here but nothing too bad. I finished off taking the shorter main road route back from Condover. Yet again there are temporary traffic lights in the village and I made a bit of a mistake when filtering past the queue by holding on a little too long and still being alongside a Land Rover as they started pulling away - they were good about it and allowed me to complete the overtake though, but .

20.1 miles at 12.2 mph average.

A frostier view from Lyth Hill this morning.

Pitchford Hall looking good in the sunshine.

View to a snowy Long Mynd not far from the Kingstreet crossroads.

 

[figbat]

I don't know what's got into me - I go through a dry spell of cycling and then, as the weather turns cold, I seem to take this as a challenge and have been out twice this week. Today was a little longer - nicely dry under tyre, a few patches of ice but nowhere critical (corners, braking zones etc). The weather seems to have kept the casual walkers inside too so a lot less bell action. Anticipating a cold one I went for lots of layers and almost overdid it - on anything approaching a climb I was getting pretty hot and even when freewheeling never got cold. I went for Hot Hands sachets in the gloves again but not on the feet - this time I pre-warmed my shoes and overshoes on a hot radiator and put them on just before leaving - this, along with a warm core, staved off any foot issues with nothing more than some slightly cold outer toes.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

I dread to think how cold that ride was

About minus 6 at a guess. Cold enough to make cycling across a peat bog viable, anyway!

But I genuinely wasn't cold at all, not even slightly: thick waterproof socks *and* overshoes; heated gloves; waterproof top over fleecy top; buff under helmet. Main problem for this sort of ride is not getting cold, it's that getting changed takes longer than the ride! I was out for about an hour.

 

[Donger]

Just 12.4 miles today around all the local housing estates, avoiding ice. Brrrr! Tttoo ccold tto ttype any mmmore than that.

 

[cosmicbike]

A slow 34 miles today, not in the mood for lycra and the Van Nic so trundled about on the commute bike. Chilly with some bits of ice here and there but mostly main road stuff to avoid it. Looking forward to warmer weather next week.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The sun came out today.

Let me count my blessings.

 

[Jenkins]

Hving used nothing other than the 29er since last Sunday due to the conditions, a short shopping trip this morning suggested that roads were finally useable on something a little more road orientated, so I took the Giant flatbar on an outing to Westerfield via Ipswich & back.

This required walking the bike to the main road as the two residential roads I use to get there are still covered in hard packed snow & ice as they don't have the traffic to break it up. The high road through Trimley was actually dry having been in the sun all day (yes, we actually had sunshine) but up into Kirton it was quite wet with a bit of a thaw from the snow in the shade, but no ice. Still plenty of snow on the fields though

The only really bad section was on the Bucklesham Road heading towards Foxhall where there was a half mile stretch of mixed rutted packed snow, slush & clear spots which could have been ridden on the 2.1" tyres on the 29er, but not the 28mm ones on the Giant so a bit of pushing and scooting was required. Other than that and the bitterly cold easterly on the return leg, not much to report except that it was good to get out in the dry at last.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Coldest one so far this year. Temperatures were marginally above freezing but the wind chill took it down to an effective -6 C. The roads are mostly dry but any wet bits were frozen apart from the odd puddle kept ice free by traffic. I bumped into bearded Brian again, coming the other way this time. We stopped for a brief chat but parted as we were getting cold. The White Rabbit is unphased by the weather but around the corner splash from traffic had made some super icicles. Floods at Upton have nearly gone. The Hanley Road is open but New Street still closed. No worries as I took to Tunnel Hill to get back into the lanes for home. 36 smiles

 

[Oldhippy]

Marginally above freezing! That's luxurious that is!