No ride today (have you seen the weather?
), so I'll post about yesterdays ride if that's OK..?
With the road bike being at the shop, it was an early ride out on the hybrid.
Decided against wearing my
Altura winter gloves and regretted it within 5 minutes of setting off - it was blooming cold at 8am yesterday morning and the Aldi gloves I had on were doing little to alter that.
Local roads and then out through Cross Gates and down Manston Lane, before taking the bridleway out on Nanny Goat lane and out towards Garforth. As I came around the corner for the short run parallel to the M1 before the underpass there were two deer grazing - I don't know who was more surprised, them or me! One deer scooted through a hole in the fence and off, the other one tried to follow, missed the gap, bounced off the fence and then ran in the opposite direction.
Under the M1 and past the stables where the bridleway was more of a mudbath, but I managed to get through without falling off.
That said, I've made a mistake putting a Schwalbe Marathon tyre on the back wheel of the hybrid. It might have good puncture protection but it's slow on the road and has very little grip off road. I think I'll have to change it again, possibly putting a pair of Land Cruisers on...
Down to Barwick Road, a quick right under the railway bridge and up the hill before turning onto Barrowby Lane and heading for the bridleway / NCN R66.
Into the woods and up the hill and I thought I'd stop to take a couple of pics:
Back on the bike and up the climb over the M1, then the dash down to Thorpe Park, where the office building work continues with the bridleway closed / diverted again.
Up onto the other end of Barrowby Lane (there is a bit missing in the middle where they put the M1), down Austhorpe Lane where a very considerate dog walker saw me approaching and still decided to cross the road in front of me (looked straight at me, paused, then set off anyway) forcing me to slow down to avoid him colliding with me.
Back down the first part of Manston Lane, then a loop through Pendas Fields and onto Barwick Road, a circuit around Pendas Way to add a bit more mileage on, then up to home with a final loop to push the ride over 12 miles.
So,
12.32 miles in 57m at an average of 12.8mph, with only 380ft climbed (it felt like more).
All good though and more importantly it puts me fractionally over 204 miles for November - which tomorrows forecast suggests will be it for this month...
The only downer is that the wireless cycle computer now refuses to work at all if the front light is on (it would previously work with the light on the low setting).
I'll have to think about how to get around that one before the next after dark ride - the shape of the handlebars means that the light can't be mounted any further away and I've already tried rerouting the cable connecting the light to the battery pack...
.
