Your ride today....

[gavgav]

Mothers Day is always a difficult day for me and so I was glad to be able to get out for a ride and take my mind off it.

The temperature was a couple of degrees cooler than the last few days, but still pleasant in the sun, albeit with a blustery westerly wind. I set out through Meole village and out onto the busy main road to Hook a Gate and Annscroft. The flag there confirmed I’d have a nice tailwind to Exfords Green and Stapleton, where I called on my Dad, Brother and his partner, to have my snack lunch with them.

I set back out to Ryton and down the lane to Longnor, then on down to Comley, where I began the long steep climb up the “corkscrew” towards Enchmarsh. A friendly lady walking 2 dogs commented that it’s a “stinker of a hill” which I agree but said I was looking forward to the descent.

I very much enjoyed the descent to Cardington and having the wind behind me on to Gretton and Church Preen. I came across an errant sheep here, who was out of a field and then not long after, 2 more. Clearly the day to try and escape!

At Kenley I dropped down the bank and on to Evenwood, then CoundMoor. Then it was the narrow lane towards Cound, where I encountered a woman driving a Volvo too fast and with no intention of slowing down.

The Wrekin was looking good in the distance

The descent to Cound is always good fun, especially when you manage to time it that there is no traffic. From Cound I followed the lane to Eaton Mascott, but then turned left along the lane to Pitchford, which I’d not ridden for a couple of years. I’d forgotten how much it climbs.

The road to Cantlop and Betton Abbots was busy with traffic and I then joined the short section on the A458, but it was long enough to encounter a complete “W****r” driving a flat bed truck. It was busy with traffic, in both directions, but a VW Campercan was rightly patient behind me and not overtaking into the path of oncoming traffic. Then I heard a hoot from something not too far behind, followed but a long blast of a horn and said idiot overtaking the camper van and me, into the path of oncoming traffic, forcing them to serve out of the way. If he’d waited 10 seconds, we’d have been at the roundabout 🤡🤡 I rarely react these days, but he got a clear hand signal from me as to how I felt. What the hell is up with some people 🤷‍♂️

An enjoyable (apart from the end) 34.55 miles at 11.7mph avg and 2009 ft of climbing.

I gave the bike a wash when I got back and re-oiled the chain, as it had been squeaking a little on the ride

 

[Mike_P]

A month after its last outing the Defys wheels turned in anger. Slight change to normal with use of the local shared surface cycle track to avoid a set of TTLs. The weather initially was sunny but clouds soon rolled in and the westerly gained some strength such that on the half mile long south westerly climb of the B6161 south of Beckwithshaw up to Briscoe Rigg the cross wind was seriously hampering progress. Paused on a false flat to regather my breath before tackling the final part of the climb.

The road pass Almscliffe Crag was heavilly parked but there was one less intrusive form of transport

while the bike by village signboard photo had to make do with a speed restriction combination for North Rigton

Paused at a bench in the village and a quick rummage in the saddle bag produced a suitable bolt for the rear mudguard which had lost one. A steep descent and across the A658 to come to halt at a level crossing while a train to Knaresborough went one way and eventually one to Leeds went the other.

Wind assisted quick progress beyond and then a brief ride along the A61 before turning to Kirkby Overblow where a further pause included more investigation of the mudguards and discovered the quick release catch on the front one was undone.

A fast ride along the A658 and around Rudding Park only to come to almost a standstill as at the foot of the hill the traffic lights were red; green they went and through them in the low 20s but speed tumbled to single digits on the climb beyond too quickly. The A661 was very busy but generally crawling along at a gentle cycling pace or less. From turning off that A road remarkably only one enforced stop (a pedestrian crossing) affected the 25 minutes of the ride home, although I did pause on a parked up on one side residential road to allow a following car pass. And the mudguards still rattled.
25.49 miles 1919ft climbed 12.1mph avg

 

[Jameshow]

A month after its last outing the Defys wheels turned in anger. Slight change to normal with use of the local shared surface cycle track to avoid a set of TTLs. The weather initially was sunny but clouds soon rolled in and the westerly gained some strength such that on the half mile long south westerly climb of the B6161 south of Beckwithshaw up to Briscoe Rigg the cross wind was seriously hampering progress. Paused on a false flat to regather my breath before tackling the final part of the climb.

The road pass Almscliffe Crag was heavilly parked but there was one less intrusive form of transport
View attachment 682279
while the bike by village signboard photo had to make do with a speed restriction combination for North Rigton
View attachment 682280
Paused at a bench in the village and a quick rummage in the saddle bag produced a suitable bolt for the rear mudguard which had lost one. A steep descent and across the A658 to come to halt at a level crossing while a train to Knaresborough went one way and eventually one to Leeds went the other.

Wind assisted quick progress beyond and then a brief ride along the A61 before turning to Kirkby Overblow where a further pause included more investigation of the mudguards and the discovered the quick release catch on the front one was undone.

A fast ride along the A658 and around Rudding Park only to come to almost a standstill as at the foot of the hill the traffic lights were red; green they went and through them in the low 20s but speed tumbled to single digits on the climb beyond too quickly. The A661 was very busy but generally crawling along at a gentle cycling pace or less. From turning off that A road remarkably only one enforced stop (a pedestrian crossing) affected the 25 minutes of the ride home, although I did pause on a parked up on one side residential road to allow a following car pass. And the mudguards still rattled.
25.49 miles 1919ft climbed 12.1mph avg
View attachment 682283

You didn't invite me or Colly!🤣🤣🤣

 

[Imaginos]

Twenty miles on a rainy Sunday.

 

[All uphill]

I needed to get out this morning; a punishment close pass, with abuse, last week, had played on my mind too long.

I was up and out before the school run got going and headed west with no plan beyond topping up my breakfast in Whelan's cafe in Wiveliscombe.

A cow popped its head out of a barn to greet me; I stopped to check he/she wasn't stuck.

The weather was drizzly, but it didn't stop my enjoying my egg bap under my umbrella, Ella, Ella.

I headed out to Ford and Fitzhead enjoying the views, and the very rural nature of West Somerset.

On to Halse and Bishop's Lydeard and gently downhill to home. Some kind person anticipated my needs here.

Or maybe that is for the bears who are said to poo in the woods?

30ish miles. Out the door at 8am and back by 12. Lots of uphill and very little downhill.

 

[footloose crow]

Winter sun

The double thump of the wheels hitting the ground, first the left side and then the right followed by a sudden slowing of the aircraft and I knew we had arrived. Stepping out into warmth, a clear sky and a dryness that came when it clearly hasn't rained here for many weeks and I knew we had definitely arrived. Winter sun in Lanzarote, some 120 miles off the African coast. I have pedals, shoes and a helmet and soon I will have a bike.

Within a day I have also a sharp tan line on my legs and arms too. Madame Crow is unimpressed and her cycling shorts get shorter every day as she seeks to even out her tan lines. She has no time for the rules of the Velominati.

One day we ride to the highest point on the island, almost 2000 feet above sea level where we can look down on the planes approaching the airport, bringing the next vital import of pale, overweight tourists that sustain this island economy. It is the only day with low winds and the ride up is well graded, never more than 8% on smooth tarmac. Lanzarote drivers seem to cheerfully accept cyclists have a right to the road and always pass using the opposite lane. The only close passes this week come from hired cars.

The Col de Haria - the highest road on the island

Wind is an issue on the island. It has been a very windy winter according to the locals and most days we have a pretty solid head or side wind for most of the day. One day it is gale force and our ride has to be made shorter and using the coastal cycle path. Cycling infra structure is good on the island in the main towns and most of the other roads have a wide margin that can be used to keep out of traffic. It is possible to ride for 50k on promenades and cycle paths.

Checking out the coastal cycle path

At the end of fifteen kilometres of downhill.

Lanzarote is a volcanic island and has large swathes of lava flows that look as if they only swept across the island last week. Nothing grows on them except a few hardy weeds at the road verge and it creates an austere landscape of black and grey but set against a cerulean sky. Like Iceland would look if it stopped raining and the temperature rose by 25 degrees. It is beautiful but stark and the consequences of falling off the road into the razor sharp ocean of lava are not to be ignored - especially with a side wind that requires the bike to be leaned nearly 45 degrees from vertical. There are no hedges or walls or trees to break up the wind and it just forms a solid river of moving air, a physical force that has to be reckoned with until a change of direction in the route plan gives some relief.

More lava and volcanoes...

One road along the coast has been closed to traffic as the sea has eroded deep into the lava field creating blow holes that have blown holes in the road. This gives us a fifteen kilometre ride beside the ocean, riding by the Atlantic swells with no traffic. We can even ride on the left. We just have to avoid the holes in the road.

The coast road closed to traffic

Every ride has a destination for lunch. It is how I persuade Madame Crow to come out every day. The setting is sometimes a restaurant by the sea for garlic prawns and beer or it may be in a village, somewhere shaded with a plate of salad grown on the island. Prices are reasonable and our lunch stops long and lazy, enjoying eating outside in March, the sun warming our wintery, British bones and turning our skin first red and then deep brown.

Not all of the roads are smooth tarmac and one day we wander, accidentally, onto one of the gravel tracks that criss cross the island. Madame Crow does not enjoy gravel and although I assure it is short (it isn't) and flat (with it turns out not to be) she is not mollified. We are close to divorce when I find my way back onto the road network again and my assurances that the gravel was better than a busy road go nowhere.

She was asking' Does this go on for very much longer?' and I was lying

We don't ride very far on any day, a combination of the warmth and the strong winds, only covering about 280km over the week with a day off to go for a walk. The island is flatter than than the 'cycling pro' playgrounds of Tenerife or La Canaria but that does not make it flat and every ride has at least 600m and often a 1000m of ascent in just 40 -70km of riding. The circumnavigation of the island is 180km with around 3000m of climbing I tell my wife but her expression leaves me in no doubt that we are not doing that together and was I really thinking of doing it on my own?? Well the thought had crossed my mind.

The next double thump of wheels is on a gloomy runway at Exeter, trees shaking in the wind and a persistent drizzle blowing across the tarmac as we tramp wearily to queue up for border control. There is a sign that says 'Border checks take longer because they are tougher' (since we left the EU?) but I can't help thinking it is more due to only having two people checking. The drive home is quiet as we think about a sunny island out in the Atlantic with wide empty, bone dry roads and endless horizons of ocean, lava and in the distance volcanoes.

This afternoon I went out for a ride on some muddy lanes here in Cornwall. I needed a waterproof and the bike will need a clean. The daffodils were bedraggled and hanging their heads, the potholes worse than I remember and this is the first day of Spring. I guess things can only get better....

 

[Andy in Germany]

On Friday I managed to organise myself sufficiently to get Middle Son to my workplace, so we could take Middle Son's new bike and Beautiful Daughter's new bike and my Xtracycle longtail on the the on a train for Stuttgart.

Three trains and approximately 2374 steps later we cycled across central Stuttgart towing the Pink Peril to the tram on the other side of the centre. This is because the lifts for the tram station in central Stuttgart are inconsiderately too small to fit a longtail bicycle. We took the tram to the top of the valley, where there was a barrier-free station, and rolled through the forest and fields to our village.

Next day Beautiful Daughter was introduced to her new bike:

Actually that's not exactly true; she introduced herself to her new bike and then insisted on a "bike tour". On the way she experimented with the gears and their uses; she's very impressed that she can now climb previously difficult hills, and occasionally leave Papa behind.

We followed an family tradition and went to the ice cream shop, Beautiful Daughter having fully embraced the idea that (1) bikes are for transport and (2) Snacks don't count if you cycle to get there.

We also inspected a building site. She likes building sites. (and fire stations, chickens, trams, fields, trees, horses...)

 

[Spiderweb]

An extended ride home from work this afternoon. 28.2 miles with an average of 14.2 mph.

 

[gavgav]

A short ride after work, on a blustery evening, but I beat the rain that was forecast.

I took a clockwise route around Shrewsbury, for a change of direction. I set out into the strong South Westerly, through Meole, Radbrook and Copthorne, before turning and enjoying a tailwind at Shelton.

I sailed along to Porthill and then through the Quarry, wind assisted, before joining the towpath alongside the river. I wasn’t 100% certain it would be open, having been under water last week, but for once the council have pulled their finger out and cleared the debris off it in only a few days, instead of weeks!

I followed Sydney avenue to Castlefields and then turned back into the wind along the cycle paths to Monkmoor and Reabrook. I then followed the whole length of the old railway path, to Sutton Farm. A friendly chap with 2 dogs was joining the short ramp up to the estate and kindly held back at the top for me and laughing, he said he didn’t think I’d want to stop there with a hill! I agreed and thanked him for being so kind 👍🏻

The wind was getting even stronger, gusting over 30mph by now according to the Met Office and so I battled home into it from there.

12.59 miles at 11.5mph avg

 

[wafter]

The bulk of the day has been mercilessly consumed by a "normal" day in the office - road rage for breakfast followed by 8.5hrs of excess caffeine consumption, over-eating, total lack of focus and the usual hopeless existential dread. Not to say that it's been difficult objectively, but I'm a delicate little flower and circumstances are less than ideal (although of course could be, and for many are so much worse).

Anyway, juxtaposed against this situation come 5pm the opportunity of a ride of any description beneath the threatening leaden skies was something to be grasped feverishly with both hands.

Out on the Routier; this time begrudgingly forsaking the usual route down the tow path - deterred by water falling from the sky and black clouds in that general direction. I headed the opposite way instead, travelling east along the cycle path that shadows the ring road; smug that I was making better pace under my own steam than all the lost souls being slowly ground down to nothing in the static traffic.

Once back at the Cowley Road I headed north back into town, keeping pace with the considerable amount of traffic despite my ragged operation of the bike's clunky downtube shifters and the shortcomings of its sticky freewheel. I headed all the way through town and out to north end, travelling through Wolvercote then out of town through Wytham and alongside the ring road towards Botley.

Thanks to all the caffeine and water consciously consumed in an attempt to keep myself hydrated I had to stop for a leak; propping my bike against one of the many trees that separated the road I was on from the A34. A passing lad on a bike seemed to take a fair bit of interest - I think in my old school Raleigh rather than its shifty middle aged rider heading off alone into the woods.. I stood atop the hill and urinated defiantly in the general direction of the hateful A34 before continuing on my way to Botley.

Once back in urban surroundings I propped the bike against a post box and nipped into the chippy for a bit of fish. Since my environment were less than inspring I lashed my dinner to the pannier rack and rode back towards town - stopping outside the Siad business school to consume my winnings - and bloody great they were too. If you're in the area I highly recommend Harrisons on Elms Parade

Dinner smashed I was back on my way through town before picking up the tow path on the Abingdon road and heading back to the east of the city in the opposite direction to usual. The journey was sprinkled with positive interactions with other folks that I'm sure was a net win for all concerned, and added to the more subtle endorphine hit experienced in its latter stages.

The trip computer put this ride at about 18 miles which I think is amongst the longest pre-pub rides I've managed; and a fitting segway into the spring/summer-proper that begins next week and signals that I can leave the lights at home

 

[Jameshow]

The bulk of the day has been mercilessly consumed by a "normal" day in the office - road rage for breakfast followed by 8.5hrs of excess caffeine consumption, over-eating, total lack of focus and the usual hopeless existential dread. Not to say that it's been difficult objectively, but I'm a delicate little flower and circumstances are less than ideal (although of course could be, and for many are so much worse).

Anyway, juxtaposed against this situation come 5pm the opportunity of a ride of any description beneath the threatening leaden skies was something to be grasped feverishly with both hands.

Out on the Routier; this time begrudgingly forsaking the usual route down the tow path - deterred by water falling from the sky and black clouds in that general direction. I headed the opposite way instead, travelling east along the cycle path that shadows the ring road; smug that I was making better pace under my own steam than all the lost souls being slowly ground down to nothing in the static traffic.

Once back at the Cowley Road I headed north back into town, keeping pace with the considerable amount of traffic despite my ragged operation of the bike's clunky downtube shifters and the shortcomings of its sticky freewheel. I headed all the way through town and out to north end, travelling through Wolvercote then out of town through Wytham and alongside the ring road towards Botley.

Thanks to all the caffeine and water consciously consumed in an attempt to keep myself hydrated I had to stop for a leak; propping my bike against one of the many trees that separated the road I was on from the A34. A passing lad on a bike seemed to take a fair bit of interest - I think in my old school Raleigh rather than its shifty middle aged rider heading off alone into the woods.. I stood atop the hill and urinated defiantly in the general direction of the hateful A34 before continuing on my way to Botley.

Once back in urban surroundings I propped the bike against a post box and nipped into the chippy for a bit of fish. Since the surroundings were less than inspring I lashed my dinner to the pannier rack and rode back towards town - stopping outside the Siad business school to consume my winnings - and bloody great they were too. If you're in the area I highly recommend Harrisons on Elms Parade

Dinner smashed I was back on my way through town before picking up the tow path on the Abingdon road and heading back to the east of the city in the opposite direction to usual. The journey was sprinkled with positive interactions with other folks that I'm sure was a net win for all concerned, and added to the more suble endorphine hit experienced in its latter stages.

The trip computer put this ride at about 18 miles which I think is amongst the longest pre-pub rides I've managed; and a fitting segway into the summer-proper that begins next week and signals that I can leave the lights at home

Right that's it, next time I'm passing (on route to my parents!) I'll buy you fish and chips my friend! Probably a Friday night after Easter!

 

[Imaginos]

Some groceries and beer.

 

[Donger]

I stood atop the hill and urinated defiantly in the general direction of the hateful A34 before continuing on my way to Botley.

 

[All uphill]

If you ever write a book @wafter I want a copy. So much in that one sentence.

 

[wafter]

Right that's it, next time I'm passing (on route to my parents!) I'll buy you fish and chips my friend! Probably a Friday night after Easter!

Thanks - that sounds grand although unfortunately I'm not often in the city itself.. by all means drop me a PM nearer the time though in case we can sort something out

If you ever write a book @wafter I want a copy. So much in that one sentence.

Cheers - although most of the time I can barely muster the ability for the most basic tasks, so I think the world is safe from any meaningful publication containing my rantings!