Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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delb0y
Legendary Member
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos
Managed an unexpected 30 today - that's two on the trot - when the plumber decided to finish early and head off to the cider festival. So that left me free, and on the spur of the moment I headed off for a gentle ride round by the canal, the river, a smaller river, and a much smaller canal and beyond. Very pleasant, although I'm not used to riding in the afternoon with people and cars and things about. Much prefer dawn.
Spiderweb
Not So Special One
- Location
- North Yorkshire
A busy morning tidying the garden so didn’t get on the bike until midday. Out to York with friends Martin & Gaynor for coffee near The Shambles. A lovely steady ride of 37 miles with an average of 14.3 mph.
Elybazza61
Guru
Just a short pootle to the tip and then in to the centre for coffee beans and also Waitrose for wine and snacks for tonight: a whopping 7km's.
Yesterday was spent mostly in an unproductive haze of vodka, donuts and self-loathing, and I wasn't prepared to ruin today in a similar way.
I managed to get out the door at about 9 on the CdF; forgoing most of the morning rituals and having settled for a quick clean of the teeth. I'd planned to do maybe 25 miles, but just took it as it came and went where I felt like.
I headed out west as usual; exploring a few new roads and some crap new bridleways in the process.
A local gated road; nicely away from the traffic but the significant gate content somewhat hampers progress..
A church that's oft-seen from said gated road was visited for the first time today; and turned out to be a very pleasant, secluded place.
A bit further out I took a detour from the road to check out a new bridleway; which started off promising enough with a clearly defined route through a freshly-harvested field... but quickly petered out - ending in a rutted, ploughed field with no obvious path or exits. I spent a very tiring and generally horrible ten minutes learning this, but didn't fall off!
As is often the case a lack of signposts meant I ended up on a footpath (rather than a bridleway) but there was nobody about to have their day ruined by my presence..
Another nice, short stretch of bridleway discovered in a lesser-explored area on the way to Chipping Norton - which will eventually be a regular target for the Fuji (once it's kitted out appropriately) in the name of sausages..
Upon arriving in Chippy I instantly questioned my decision to integrate a pre-butcher's recce into this ride as it was (predictably) heaving. I made my way quickly through the town and headed out north as I'm keen to find alternatives to the most direct route - which is mostly a fast, unpleasant A-road.
Signs reminded me of the proximity of the Rollright stones (an ancient stone circle that's always worth a visit) and I thought I'd swing by for a bit of quiet time. Upon arrival it became clear that there was no quite time to be had however, since there was an "event" on.
Said event turned out to be a small affair consisting of appropriately friendly, earthy, decent folk plying wholesome and mystical crafts. I made a small donation, bought a coronation chicken baguette and settled down for some welcome breakfast and a few pics ..
As I assured an inquisitive chap at the time my pedal was propped against a tuft of grass for this photo; so there was no chance of causing any damage to the stone. Said chap turned out to be playing some 14th century English bagpipes a little later in the day so I hung around and was glad I did as it provided a hugely appropriate, haunting soundtrack
For the observant, the black mass in my rear bottle is some blackberries I'd picked along the way; which were very much appreciated later in the ride!
By this point I'd done about 22 miles and it was well past lunchtime; my progress having slowed to take photos / investigate things; but I was fine with today being more of a little adventure rather than a straight-up ride.
I headed back along familiar roads, eking out a little more distance on the route when presented with a choice. By the time I was back in the village I was quite close to 50 miles so thought I'd pop out the other side and get some eggs. Surprisingly there were plenty so I came away with three boxes of the precious as some mates were after some too.
The return leg was the usual mix of slightly-naughty terrain; this time getting screwed again by following a signed route that was a bridleway until it wasn't. I took an alternate, unsanctioned route into an adjacent industrial / office complex; ignoring the "no entry" signs and defiantly collapsing then carefully reinstating their barbed-wide-and-baton "gate" while the sheep in the next field looked on; evidently shocked by my brazen criminality..
Getting up here was fun - it topped out at about 12%, I was rinsed and couldn't get out of the saddle as the weight transfer meant the back wheel just spun up on the straw. Made it to the top though - just!
Back home the final numbers were a shade over 50 miles and 2400ft at a sedate 11.7mph / 118bpm mean for around 2050kcal burnt. While the moving time was a bit over 4hrs, I was out for about 7 total and don't think I'll be getting anything else constructive done today..
I managed to get out the door at about 9 on the CdF; forgoing most of the morning rituals and having settled for a quick clean of the teeth. I'd planned to do maybe 25 miles, but just took it as it came and went where I felt like.
I headed out west as usual; exploring a few new roads and some crap new bridleways in the process.
A local gated road; nicely away from the traffic but the significant gate content somewhat hampers progress..
A church that's oft-seen from said gated road was visited for the first time today; and turned out to be a very pleasant, secluded place.
A bit further out I took a detour from the road to check out a new bridleway; which started off promising enough with a clearly defined route through a freshly-harvested field... but quickly petered out - ending in a rutted, ploughed field with no obvious path or exits. I spent a very tiring and generally horrible ten minutes learning this, but didn't fall off!
As is often the case a lack of signposts meant I ended up on a footpath (rather than a bridleway) but there was nobody about to have their day ruined by my presence..
Another nice, short stretch of bridleway discovered in a lesser-explored area on the way to Chipping Norton - which will eventually be a regular target for the Fuji (once it's kitted out appropriately) in the name of sausages..
Upon arriving in Chippy I instantly questioned my decision to integrate a pre-butcher's recce into this ride as it was (predictably) heaving. I made my way quickly through the town and headed out north as I'm keen to find alternatives to the most direct route - which is mostly a fast, unpleasant A-road.
Signs reminded me of the proximity of the Rollright stones (an ancient stone circle that's always worth a visit) and I thought I'd swing by for a bit of quiet time. Upon arrival it became clear that there was no quite time to be had however, since there was an "event" on.
Said event turned out to be a small affair consisting of appropriately friendly, earthy, decent folk plying wholesome and mystical crafts. I made a small donation, bought a coronation chicken baguette and settled down for some welcome breakfast and a few pics ..
As I assured an inquisitive chap at the time my pedal was propped against a tuft of grass for this photo; so there was no chance of causing any damage to the stone. Said chap turned out to be playing some 14th century English bagpipes a little later in the day so I hung around and was glad I did as it provided a hugely appropriate, haunting soundtrack
For the observant, the black mass in my rear bottle is some blackberries I'd picked along the way; which were very much appreciated later in the ride!
By this point I'd done about 22 miles and it was well past lunchtime; my progress having slowed to take photos / investigate things; but I was fine with today being more of a little adventure rather than a straight-up ride.
I headed back along familiar roads, eking out a little more distance on the route when presented with a choice. By the time I was back in the village I was quite close to 50 miles so thought I'd pop out the other side and get some eggs. Surprisingly there were plenty so I came away with three boxes of the precious as some mates were after some too.
The return leg was the usual mix of slightly-naughty terrain; this time getting screwed again by following a signed route that was a bridleway until it wasn't. I took an alternate, unsanctioned route into an adjacent industrial / office complex; ignoring the "no entry" signs and defiantly collapsing then carefully reinstating their barbed-wide-and-baton "gate" while the sheep in the next field looked on; evidently shocked by my brazen criminality..
Getting up here was fun - it topped out at about 12%, I was rinsed and couldn't get out of the saddle as the weight transfer meant the back wheel just spun up on the straw. Made it to the top though - just!
Back home the final numbers were a shade over 50 miles and 2400ft at a sedate 11.7mph / 118bpm mean for around 2050kcal burnt. While the moving time was a bit over 4hrs, I was out for about 7 total and don't think I'll be getting anything else constructive done today..
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A Bank Holiday ride with @Rickshaw Phil and I wanted proper hills today, so we planned a ride up onto the Longmynd. Phil came down to mine, so he could have a look at the bike and the screeching noise from Saturday. I’d thought it was likely rear brakes dragging and indeed it was, so we fixed that and headed out on a mild but mostly cloudy morning.
The wind was from the East/North East and so behind us for the 1st half of the ride. We began by heading to Betton Abbots, Condover, Ryton and Longnor, with very little traffic about, which was nice.
We continued on to Comley and then had a short wait to cross the busy A49, before joining the road to All Stretton and Church Stretton. They’d opened the school car park in the Town, as overspill parking for Cardingmill Valley and there were already cars in there, which was because the main NT car park was already full at 11am! There were lots of walkers preparing to walk up onto the Mynd.
We pressed on to Little Stretton and then turned onto the lanes and the proper climbing began, firstly up to Minton, where we paused for a drink and the first photo.
We continued climbing up and had a friendly encounter with some walkers, who were impressed with Phil’s bell sound, before we reached the start of the track that would take us up onto the Longmynd at Nutbatch.
It’s a slog up there and the only sun of the ride appeared at that moment, when we didn’t really want it, which made it a warm pull as well. We made it up, with a couple of stops, mainly because my back was hurting, more than the legs. We reached the 1st summit and then dropped down to the Portway, where we stopped for lunch, admiring the stunning views.
We then bumped our way along the Portway, which normally has some give in it, but with the very dry Summer, it’s not got any now! We were crossing the live airfield up there, with plenty of gliders up enjoying the day. As we took the permissive Starboard Way route around the main bit of the airfield, we came across a lady with clipboard, who was marshalling the take off and landings. She asked if we were ok to wait, which we were, to allow one to take off. With it being an Easterly wind they were being rightly cautious in ensuing the chain and mechanism didn’t drop onto people. You wouldn’t stand much chance if that hit you!! Whilst waiting we had a terrific view overhead of one coming into land.
We were waved through and then continued around and back onto the road, which was a hard uphill slog into the cool wind and we stopped to don jackets also. We then branched off and up the rough track to Pole Bank and the summit of the Longmynd at 1693 ft.
There were quite a few up there, having lunch and enjoying the view. We then descended along the track and down to High Park, where we stopped to enjoy the amazing scenery over the Shropshire plains and decide which route back we fancied and which pub we would stop at 🙂
We decided on Picklescott and so enjoyed the fast descent to the cross roads. My rear brake had very short travel, after expanding in the heat and so Phil made a bit of a tweak. We turned towards Picklescott and I remarked to Phil that Andy from cricket lives down there….We arrived in the village, to find the Bottle & Glass pub open, to our delight and who should be sat outside with a pint, but Andy and his wife Anna!! So we had a good chat to them, whilst enjoying a nice pint of Ludlow Gold, for me.
We set back out and down Pease Lane, to Wilderley, before climbing up to Church Pulverbatch and the main road. It wasn’t too busy and the traffic was pretty well behaved. It’s a nice fast run to Longden and Longden Common, but the wind tempered the speed a little.
It was then onto Annscroft and Hook a Gate, then Nobold, where we crossed the A5, which had 2 solid lanes of traffic back as far as we could see. I would imagine there were a good few miles of queues already, with it likely to get worse later on, due to returning holiday traffic from Wales and also the Salop Steam Rally.
We finished by going through Meole Village and Phil made another tweak to my rear brake so that it had better travel on the lever, before we parted ways.
Thoroughly enjoyed that, the legs were feeling it a bit in the last few miles, but good fun.
39.06 miles, with 2818 ft of climbing, 1000 of which was the climb to the summit of the Mynd, at 10.2 mph avg speed.
The wind was from the East/North East and so behind us for the 1st half of the ride. We began by heading to Betton Abbots, Condover, Ryton and Longnor, with very little traffic about, which was nice.
We continued on to Comley and then had a short wait to cross the busy A49, before joining the road to All Stretton and Church Stretton. They’d opened the school car park in the Town, as overspill parking for Cardingmill Valley and there were already cars in there, which was because the main NT car park was already full at 11am! There were lots of walkers preparing to walk up onto the Mynd.
We pressed on to Little Stretton and then turned onto the lanes and the proper climbing began, firstly up to Minton, where we paused for a drink and the first photo.
We continued climbing up and had a friendly encounter with some walkers, who were impressed with Phil’s bell sound, before we reached the start of the track that would take us up onto the Longmynd at Nutbatch.
It’s a slog up there and the only sun of the ride appeared at that moment, when we didn’t really want it, which made it a warm pull as well. We made it up, with a couple of stops, mainly because my back was hurting, more than the legs. We reached the 1st summit and then dropped down to the Portway, where we stopped for lunch, admiring the stunning views.
We then bumped our way along the Portway, which normally has some give in it, but with the very dry Summer, it’s not got any now! We were crossing the live airfield up there, with plenty of gliders up enjoying the day. As we took the permissive Starboard Way route around the main bit of the airfield, we came across a lady with clipboard, who was marshalling the take off and landings. She asked if we were ok to wait, which we were, to allow one to take off. With it being an Easterly wind they were being rightly cautious in ensuing the chain and mechanism didn’t drop onto people. You wouldn’t stand much chance if that hit you!! Whilst waiting we had a terrific view overhead of one coming into land.
We were waved through and then continued around and back onto the road, which was a hard uphill slog into the cool wind and we stopped to don jackets also. We then branched off and up the rough track to Pole Bank and the summit of the Longmynd at 1693 ft.
There were quite a few up there, having lunch and enjoying the view. We then descended along the track and down to High Park, where we stopped to enjoy the amazing scenery over the Shropshire plains and decide which route back we fancied and which pub we would stop at 🙂
We decided on Picklescott and so enjoyed the fast descent to the cross roads. My rear brake had very short travel, after expanding in the heat and so Phil made a bit of a tweak. We turned towards Picklescott and I remarked to Phil that Andy from cricket lives down there….We arrived in the village, to find the Bottle & Glass pub open, to our delight and who should be sat outside with a pint, but Andy and his wife Anna!! So we had a good chat to them, whilst enjoying a nice pint of Ludlow Gold, for me.
We set back out and down Pease Lane, to Wilderley, before climbing up to Church Pulverbatch and the main road. It wasn’t too busy and the traffic was pretty well behaved. It’s a nice fast run to Longden and Longden Common, but the wind tempered the speed a little.
It was then onto Annscroft and Hook a Gate, then Nobold, where we crossed the A5, which had 2 solid lanes of traffic back as far as we could see. I would imagine there were a good few miles of queues already, with it likely to get worse later on, due to returning holiday traffic from Wales and also the Salop Steam Rally.
We finished by going through Meole Village and Phil made another tweak to my rear brake so that it had better travel on the lever, before we parted ways.
Thoroughly enjoyed that, the legs were feeling it a bit in the last few miles, but good fun.
39.06 miles, with 2818 ft of climbing, 1000 of which was the climb to the summit of the Mynd, at 10.2 mph avg speed.
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Spiderweb
Not So Special One
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Out on the Tricross at 10.30am for one of David’s magical mystery tours (he doesn’t tell me where we are going!). His wife Suzanne was with us, she seemed enlightened so as usual it was only me who was left in the dark!
Anyway a great ride out to Pool in Wharfedale and a few hills for a change.
44.8 miles with an average of 15.3 mph.
Anyway a great ride out to Pool in Wharfedale and a few hills for a change.
44.8 miles with an average of 15.3 mph.
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DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
My rides this week are toast - Covid +ve. Rats. Probably picked up at Specsavers. Shouldn't have gone...
Today's cycling shenanigans.
Out of the door nice and early to cycle the 23 miles to Strood to meet up with @Trickedem of this parish. Plan for today was a loop of the windy Isle Of Grain & to have a bit of brekkie. The foody stop being the picturesque Pure Plant Cafe. A tad expensive but my scrambled eggs on toast sure hit the spot. Top notch food.
After saying goodbye to Tim at the 63 mile mark, my plan was to head south into deepest, darkest Kent to Wadhurst to pop in on an old mate to scrounge a cuppa. Hoping he was in. He wasn't in.
No matter..twas a lovely day for cycling anyway.
So, scores on the doors for today's tour of Kent
137 miles for the day.
With a bonus of a new Eddington number of 115
Out of the door nice and early to cycle the 23 miles to Strood to meet up with @Trickedem of this parish. Plan for today was a loop of the windy Isle Of Grain & to have a bit of brekkie. The foody stop being the picturesque Pure Plant Cafe. A tad expensive but my scrambled eggs on toast sure hit the spot. Top notch food.
After saying goodbye to Tim at the 63 mile mark, my plan was to head south into deepest, darkest Kent to Wadhurst to pop in on an old mate to scrounge a cuppa. Hoping he was in. He wasn't in.
So, scores on the doors for today's tour of Kent
137 miles for the day.
With a bonus of a new Eddington number of 115
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HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
Given it was a Bank Holiday I decided to go for a little exploring on the gravel bike and ended up at one of Britain's oldest grade 1 listed buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drayton_House . Whilst I was in the area I visited one a bit younger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boughton_House . Lol, a festival stopped me going through the gardens but I got in by the Tradesman's entrance. Oh and the Ford I crossed was shut or I would have had a go honest; that didn't stop a driver :-D https://www.relive.cc/view/vYvrL2ZN1L6
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
We went to the playground in the next village and made canals.
Jameshow
Veteran
Think you smashed the best ride of today!!👍👍👍
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
Younger Son agreed to come on a ride with me because he wants to prepare for our upcoming bike tour. Conveniently we had to get his Federal ID card at half past eight in the morning, so he had to get out of bed.
Application completed, we headed for one of my favourite routes, the Siebenmühlental, literally "Valley of the Seven Mills." Younger Son riding my old commuting bike. He'll likely use this on the tour.
I like this run because from the trailhead in Leinfelden there's about 7km of old railway line; it's well surfaced, traffic free and mostly downhill for several kilometres, which gives a good start for the ride
All my maps are packed so we had to use the tourist maps, which wasn't great. In this case, the left hand map was incomplete, and the one on the right had "North" at the bottom, which is evil and wrong.
Not many pictures; we would ride a while and stop and hang out which we've not done in a while. We managed 73 km with a lot of climbing and to his credit Younger Son rode it all with no more than a few comments about old men and navigating...
Looks good for the tour, although the bike will need some work...
Application completed, we headed for one of my favourite routes, the Siebenmühlental, literally "Valley of the Seven Mills." Younger Son riding my old commuting bike. He'll likely use this on the tour.
I like this run because from the trailhead in Leinfelden there's about 7km of old railway line; it's well surfaced, traffic free and mostly downhill for several kilometres, which gives a good start for the ride
All my maps are packed so we had to use the tourist maps, which wasn't great. In this case, the left hand map was incomplete, and the one on the right had "North" at the bottom, which is evil and wrong.
Not many pictures; we would ride a while and stop and hang out which we've not done in a while. We managed 73 km with a lot of climbing and to his credit Younger Son rode it all with no more than a few comments about old men and navigating...
Looks good for the tour, although the bike will need some work...
As always an enviable ideal for living, @Andy in Germany 
