Your ride today....

[Katherine]

My ride from Sunday, was an adventure.
I should have joined a Skyride in Bolton for a hilly 30 miles, but I missed the path on route 55 when it skirted round a field. I arrived at the starting point 5 minutes late. I rode around looking for a large group of cyclists, gave up and started asking passers-by. I was told that a group had just left from the car park across the road! I followed them for 20 minutes with people telling me which way they'd gone until I got to tell top of one road and no one to ask which way they'd gone. After having given up and then someone else seeing them and having my hopes raised several times, it took me a while to decide whether to go home or go for a hilly ride on my own.
Well, it was a lovely hot sunny day, so I sat on a bench and looked at Google maps on my phone and decided to ride towards Rivington, which I'd never been to before. I was barely halfway up the next hill when I caught up with a younger lady on a nice (don't ask me what it was) road bike but looked like she was struggling in the wrong gear. She was pleased to see me and delighted that I was able to show her how to change the gears on her boyfriend's bike. When I said I wasn't really sure where I was going, she took me up and over the next hill which was good practice for her too. We enjoyed the few miles together and she'd picked up the gears, going home much more efficiently, despite wearing trainers on clipless pedals.
After that I headed for Rivington, via Belmont, enjoying the hills and the views.
I checked out various refreshment stops, having coffee and cake in one, Rivington Barn was full of bikers, so I didn't stay long, then coffee and a teacake in another. The last was right by the reservoir and where I got into conversation with another 2 ladies on nice road bikes who'd riden the easier way up the A6 from Walkden, which was the way I decided to bomb it home. A lovely, interesting ride in glorious weather.
37 miles, 1950 feet elevation.

 

[Katherine]

A lovely evening ride to Salford Quays and round Media City, looking for a sunset but it was a bit cloudy. Home in the dark on quiet roads. 19 miles.

 

[MikeW-71]

Had to pop out and post a letter after work. But the post box is just round the corner.... So I added a few more corners...

3.5 miles on the old Raleigh
https://www.strava.com/activities/389350997

Hopefully I can have time after decorating prep to get out for a ride tommorrow too.

 

[PeteXXX]

Technically this is today's ride as I'm still up since it was ridden...

Just a short bimble on the SS pub bike to pick enough blackberries and elderberries for lunch, a crumble & a few gallons of wine...
My first port of call was through an old kitchen garden and orchard, in a ruined house, to pick some plums. Sadly, either they'd been picked, or not cropped this year.
Never mind.. Onwards to the top end of Cut Throat Lane where I knew there'd be good pickings.
Within half an hour, I'd got enough for my rucksack
and headed homeward via Court Farm.

Back home on 7 miles on the old pub bike with a bulging rucksack full of berries just in time for lunch & w*rk..
http://www.strava.com/activities/389038121

 

[Nomadski]

Was such a nice warm sunny day, really fancied a ride out. Then I finished my early shift (4-1pm) got home, made a cup of tea, sat down and then all of a sudden it was 10pm! D'oh.

TBH - it was a bit of an impulse buy. I had a budget of about £200 and just searched for compact cameras which got good reviews and I don't remember reading about the Sony.

I haven't explored its capabilities properly yet. (I'm not a photographer and don't know what I am doing so I leave it on auto most of the time.)

The "S" series were always Canon's premium compacts, they have always been great. Surprised none of the sites you looked at mentioned the RX100, it is pretty much leading class for that type of camera with its huge sensor. Maybe it's price at the time was higher than the group you was looking at (just a snip under £300 recently, and £550 when released!).

http://www.trustedreviews.com/sony-cyber-shot-rx100-review

I'll shut up about cameras now....

 

[biggs682]

Nice 13 mile pre work ride this morning . Tried to get a picture of the mist and the sun but failed, so took these instead.

 

[robjh]

I went for a ride yesterday evening along some of the canal towpaths around Birmingham. After leaving work in Coventry, I rode to Knowle, near Solihull, and got onto the Grand Union towpath there. With hindsight I should have stayed on the road for another couple of miles as the towpath on this first stretch was appalling, but improved markedly after Catherine de Barnes (yes, that really is a place name).

The canal goes from pure rural, running between fields, into a long shaded cutting through the suburbs, where gardens come down to the water and houses are glimpsed through the trees, to urban and (post-) industrial, lined by endless yards and warehouses and other industry and criss-crossed by roads and railways. There is plenty of sturdy Victorian functional architecture in varying states of abandon and picturesque decay. It’s fascinating stuff if that’s your thing.

Bridges near Aston junction

I came back up to the roads through the centre of Birmingham – a bit of a mistake with all the road works and temporary one-ways that made route finding difficult, and I resorted momentarily to a spot of pavement-riding (shh! Don’t tell anyone on Cycle Chat).

Two occasional inconveniences - a bridge with brick ridges ; a gate across the towpath

I rejoined the canal amongst all the busy restaurants and bars behind Broad Street, and took the ‘Mainline’ canal towards Wolverhampton. This is wide and straight, and with its smooth well-maintained towpath I made faster progress here. The canals form tranquil green arteries that cut through the conurbation, and can feel miles away from all the noise and urbanity that is just beyond the trees. There are some lovely 19th century iron bridges on this stretch, culminating at Galton Bridge which carries a road way above both canal and railway.

on the Birmingham Mainline canal

Galton Bridge

I was running out of daylight by Tipton, so I left the canal and took the roads back to Birmingham via Oldbury, then jumped on a train back to Coventry and rode a few more miles home. I did 34 miles to Tipton, and a total of 53 for the ride.

Sunset on the M5 bridge

 

[Racing roadkill]

https://www.strava.com/activities/389730449

A nice 27 miler, in the warm sunshine

 

[Spartak]

Short ride this morning from Emersons Green to Filton.

Loaded bike onto mates car for journey to Eurotunnel for trip to Abbeville to ride the Ronde Picardy Sportif on Saturday.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Nice xc ride today in the nene valley area.
Lovely day here.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

104 miles today, very windy but very sunny and very warm, back at work on Monday so I can have a rest. Has been a cracking week to have off work.

https://www.strava.com/activities/389808580

 

[Massivecompacthalo]

Today is Bank Holiday here, National Catalan day. So, the normal traffic free roads were, traffic free!
122km, 2200m of climbing in glorious sunshine for the first part, then it clouded over a little.

Early start, climbing out of the fog.

Climbing the 20km cat 1 climb to Collfred.

Quiet and rural, 1050m up.

View at the highest point.

The route and profile.

 

[i hate hills]

Took the mtb in the car up to Fordoun for a cycle on the country roads there . Very little traffic and very scenic. Not sure how many miles was done but just great to get out after the stresses of nightshift.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Given that I haven't posted anything for a while and that the weather was so good today, or should I say the light, I thought I would post today's ride... or at least some of the photos from it (and yes, I think I have a problem with the camera which I may need to look at...)

So not having had much energy of recent and also wanting to rule out cycling as the cuase of a problem I have with my knees (ligaments are very sore) I have only been going out at the weekend with my OH rather than during the week alone. But yesterday and today the weather was sooooo nice that I decided I wanted to get out (and cycling has been ruled out) so off I went for a short ride along the Whitegate way... Its the usual dodge the dogs, walkers, occasional horse riders, many many horse landmines and the occasional cyclist not looking at where they are going...

So the A556 bridge....

My favourite silver birch trees (just past the A49 bridge)

The far end where all the wild garlic grows in the spring

Coming back, roughly half way back

Somewhere around the scout camp

And almost home again.... (and a moment when the wind wasn't blowing)....

It was a lovely morning to be out and I only wish I had the energy for doing more, but at the moment I am very tired and my back is hurting me, so I am just taking life easy.... so a gentle and slow 11 miles

yesterday https://www.strava.com/activities/389767397
And today https://www.strava.com/activities/389767401

 

[cosmicbike]

2 rides for me today, only 1 of which was planned. I had a nice route in my head, taking in all my errands, and though my shopping was less than successful, I arrived home with 11 miles done on the MTB shopper looking forward to a relaxing afternoon before taking my Cub pack away for the weekend.
Only after lunch did I realise the lack of toothpaste, so off out again
15 miles today. I plan to 'sneak' a bike onto the car roof for the weekend and get a few miles in someplace different.