Your ride today....

[gbb]

Not too much mileage for me lately but finish work at 3.30, home at 4, bike out 4.10...just a quick 17 miler, Whittlesea and back.
All in a moderate breeze, bright and sunny...lovely. No sooner home and grey rain bearing cloud is building

 

[PeteXXX]

Up with the lark, for me, this morning at 05:30 (!!) ready to ride over to a mates house to grab a quick espresso before heading out for a longish road ride.
The forecast wasn't looking too bad, but it was wrong. It was quite wet by the time I reached his place, but luckily my clothing kept most of the moisture out and I'd popped my waterproof toecaps in my jersey pocket so was able to keep my feet dry as well. The mudguards were handy as well
Still, it eased of after a short while and became a pleasant day with little wind, which was nice. Even the odd bit of drizzle on the way round didn't dampen our spirits.

We rode through some lovely old local stone villages, such as Gretton, Cottingham and Rockingham before using a road marked as 'Closed' but we thought we'd take a chance and could always turn back if we couldn't get through. Luckily, it was only a short closure and we could walk alongside the hole on the footpath. Eventually, we got as far as Harringworth where we stopped to take a few pics of the Welland Viaduct.

It's a stunning piece of architecture, better shown ~here~

Onwards from Harringworth, we headed up a grind of a hill towards Deene and on to my next planned place to visit, Lyvenden New Bield, an old Elizabethan summer house that never did get finished!

As we were on about 55 miles by now, we popped into a Country Park cafe I've used before.

Lemon Drizzle cake, and a sausage roll straight out of the oven.. Lovely!

It was a straightish route home from here through a few more pretty villages and Burton Latimer. (A bit close to my workplace on a day off, but... Hey Ho)

A really enjoyable 77 miles, on a fairly lumpy route, back in time to wipe the bike down and put my feet up up the settee for an hour before dinner

https://www.strava.com/activities/545057620

 

[gavgav]

My regular loop round Shrewsbury (clockwise direction tonight). Nothing really to report other than 3 bonfires encountered in the first 4 miles of the ride, so lots of smoke to breathe in .

No thunderstorms for us and so didn't get wet but very gusty winds and seemed to be a Cyclists Headwind tonight, I.e in my face in whatever direction I went!

14.1 miles at 11.7mph avg

 

[Fab Foodie]

@CarlP

We met a friend of yours this evening ....

What a star!

 

[EltonFrog]

@CarlP

We met a friend of yours this evening ....

View attachment 124844

What a star!

Oh cool! Nice chap ain't he? Did you ride along that section of route 5? It's in a shocking state and during the day there's loads of hgv's going up and down that road.

 

[Old jon]

Real life inflicted itself on me again today, at both ends of the time I take out for riding. BUT I still got 29.0 miles in. No difficult downhills, still less any strenuous uphills and the weather was kind also. One of those Fridays with nowt to moan about.

The usual Holbeck muddle to start off and then a boring bit of towpath to Viaduct Road :---

Cardigan Road and North Lane to the A 660 and a wind assisted pedal to the Ring Road at Lawnswood. Breeze really, not a wind. All the way to the Dyneley Arms and a rather wonderful whizz down Pool Bank. Up the valley to Otley, some eating was done, and I took the boring A 660 again up that long and winding valley side to reach the Dyneley Arms from the other side and then reverse the outward route to return home. It is different scenery from the other side of the road. Lucky me !

 

[Elybazza61]

Two commutes from yesterday;

First a nice steady A10/Waterbeach cycle path run in and then an early bunk-off and a seemingly harder ride home although not much difference tome wise.

https://www.strava.com/activities/544862130

https://www.strava.com/activities/545179110

Club ride tomorrow and I was going to add a bit for this months 100k/Strava fondo;not looking to nice though,rain all day and low temps so will see how it goes and decide at the cafe stop what I do.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Tipping it down this morning but the radar showed a gap in the deluge heading my way. So I saddled up and headed out on roads that were showing signs of drying out. Not much wind out there so that was definitely a bonus. Some biggish puddles told the tale tho'. No worries as mostly they could be circumvented. My mind was wandering a bit but I did notice the superb displays of bluebells at the Rampings and then again at Strensham. Crikey the M5 was chock-a-block as I crested at Strensham. Poor b*gg*ers was my thought as I carried on down to the Severn and took the quiet lanes back home. I was quite surprised at my average pace when I had a look. One of my quicker outings for quite some time.

 

[cosmicbike]

After yesterdays metric half I was having the day off, but decided a 4 mile pedal to the doctor and back would be better than taking the car. Dodged the showers, and was good to have a brief spin. Hoping to have some company on tomorrows ride, weather permitting.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Two commutes from yesterday;

First a nice steady A10/Waterbeach cycle path run in and then an early bunk-off and a seemingly harder ride home although not much difference tome wise.

https://www.strava.com/activities/544862130

https://www.strava.com/activities/545179110

Club ride tomorrow and I was going to add a bit for this months 100k/Strava fondo;not looking to nice though,rain all day and low temps so will see how it goes and decide at the cafe stop what I do.

This month's Strava 'Fondo, is 115 Km's.

 

[Roadhump]

I woke up at 5.15 am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, I was so tired that I really didn't feel like any physical exertion, but decided the only way out of my zombie like haze was to force myself out into the fresh air. I went out not long after 10.00 am into the West Lancashire countryside, up to Hesketh Bank and Tarleton. The air quality was quite poor so the scenery wasn't anything to get excited about, but the very light wind made it a good morning for a ride.

As I rode through the marshes dissected by Southport's northern Coast Road, there were suddenly thousands of midges battering my head and I had to make sure I kept my mouth closed to avoid any flying down the back of my throat. Flying insects can be a problem, especially in the summer, but I haven't known anything like that before, but I have heard it's very common in rural / coastal Scotland.

Many of the fields' surfaces are freshly ploughed soil and there were quite a few tractors doing more ploughing as I made my way through the agricultural land of Banks and Hesketh Bank. In Hesketh Bank I went past an old Methodist chapel that is fenced off and due for demolition. Built in 1938, it doesn't really seem that old to be demolished for a church, but the land has probably fetched a price too good to turn down.

From there I rode up Hesketh Lane, then back into the farmland in Tarleton, across the A565 into Mere Brow and then back into Banks, through Crossens at the north end of Southport and across Churchtown Moss then Birkdale Moss to wend my way home.

A tad over 30 miles at an average of 14.8 mph, a very enjoyable couple of hours on the bike, after which I felt far more refreshed and shook off my fatigue.

 

[biggs682]

Up and out by 6.20 am this morning so a bit late for me !

Grabbed the Wester Ross as it has guards fitted as weather forecast was damp unsure which route and mileage as i set off , i took a left and headed towards town then decided a right would be good next so headed off towards Great Doddington , across hardwater and up to Grendon then more decisions as 3 ways out opted for the Easton Maudit road then Bozeat and on to the outskirts of Poddington and Hinwick before turning left and heading homewards via Irchester and Little Irchester where it was starting to drizzle , only 20.5 miles but just enough .

 

[Fab Foodie]

Oh cool! Nice chap ain't he? Did you ride along that section of route 5? It's in a shocking state and during the day there's loads of hgv's going up and down that road.

Very nice guy! To spend your holiday doing that shows uncommon dedication .... Chapeau.

Regarding the state of route 5, it's just a victim of the dreadful state of all roads around Abingdon (and much of Oxfordshire to be fair). What irks particularly is the state of the main Abingdon to Oxford road via Kennington which is heavily used by commuting cyclist. I'm surprised they are not on MTB's. :-(

 

[User19783]

Very nice guy! To spend your holiday doing that shows uncommon dedication .... Chapeau.

Regarding the state of route 5, it's just a victim of the dreadful state of all roads around Abingdon (and much of Oxfordshire to be fair). What irks particularly is the state of the main Abingdon to Oxford road via Kennington which is heavily used by commuting cyclist. I'm surprised they are not on MTB's. :-(

I use the Bagley wood road, then Upper road, if i am going into Oxford, .

 

[Fab Foodie]

I use the Bagley wood road, then Upper road, if i am going into Oxford, .

Never realised you're in my neck of the woods!
I generally use that route coming back from Oxford, if I'm going in I tend to go either Oxford road to Hinksey or Wooton road to Botley .... I like the downhills!