Your ride today....

[Old jon]

Yet another ride on the bike. Pretty wonderful. The weather was bright and breezy, none of that precipitation and most of the roads were quiet. ( ish )
34.9 miles completed, which was a little more than I intended, starting with my warm up lap around Holbeck. Through Hunslet and up that wonderful rise to John O' Gaunt's, followed by a bit of a descent through Woodlesford, past the station and turn left to cross both canal and river. Then the climb up through Swillington, to tire the legs a bit, drop to Garforth and climb its cliff. Follow the A 63 until the turn for Sherburn in Elmet, and once in the village, turn left on Sir John's Road. This takes you to Lotherton gates, and I went in. Found this strange tree . . .

Doesn't look native to me.
Anyway, from there via Aberford, Barwick and Scholes and home via Thorner, Skeltons and Red Hall Lanes, Boot Hill and the Oakwood clock.

 

[gavgav]

Ride 2 of my holiday with @Rickshaw Phil and the difficulty was ramped up today.

Cold and extremely windy as we set out through Coniston, negotiating the local traffic that was taking up the whole road (sheep ) before we began the steep climb up Hawkshead Hill. With some effects of the bug still bothering me, I was struggling a bit at the half way point and did wonder if I would make it to the top, but made it up there and we then took the lumpy road across to Barngates, where the intention was to stop for lunch at the Drunken Duck Inn. We bought a pint of their nice beer, but after getting a menu, we baulked at paying £7 for a sandwich that I had to google every ingredient to find out what it was . Their food has always been pretentious, but this took the proverbial.

Beer

Not to worry though, as half an hour down the road in Elterwater is the lovely Britannia Inn and so we continued on to there and enjoyed a much more reasonable Cumberland Sausage (and another half a pint )

We decided to head up the valley into the Langdales next, with it being simply stunning for scenery, but it was hard work against the vicious wind

Once at the Old Dungeon Ghyll, Phil decided to continue over the pass to Blea Tarn, but Doug and I took the longer route back the way we came, cruising nicely with the wind behind us now and then climbed up from Elterwater to the Three Shires Inn. Very steep climb, but a bit more spread out that the route Phil took.

Doug isn't too sure about this route

Whilst climbing, we had a fly past from a Tornado and then after meeting Phil he came back past with his mate, very impressive noise!

There was more climbing up the gravel tracks to Tilberthwaite, before the nice descent, but it was into the wind and boy was it blowing now! Is it really May?

We joined the gravel track alongside the main road to Coniston, and I came across a deer just up the bank to my right. It soon shot off, startled, but lovely to see.

Once back in Coniston, we dropped down to the Bluebird Cafe for a drink in the sunshine, before taking the track across the fields home.

25.2 miles with 1753 ft of climbing

 

[Jon George]

I wouldn't normally do a 'Your Ride Today' report for a quick spin of 10 miles, but the weather was so good this afternoon I went out on Patsy #1 The Carbon in my minimal summer wear! Wehay!

 

[alecstilleyedye]

30 Miles for me today. Second race of the Dave Astles memorial road race series held at the Siddington circuit near Holmes Chapel. Last week had been terrible weather with hail, snow, wind, rain and sunshine in an hour. So this week made a very pleasant change with an almost balmy 11degrees.
We had a TLI national champion in the race, who got away in a pretty strong break about half way through the race. I had no chance of jumping on it whilst recognising the danger as I was boxed in too far back in the group. Despite trying to pull the break back with about 10 of us riding through and off on the front of the main bunch we could only peg them at about 30 seconds. Great fun though.
We had a para guy cycling with us with an aero carbon fibre leg. I suspect he may have been the chap @alecstilleyedye knows as he had an Irish flag on his leg.
One more for me to ride in the series and one to marshal. Can't wait.

yep, that will be colin

 

[Dave 123]

The gym or the bike.....?

So out I went into the sun drenched Cambridgeshire countryside, dripping in blossom, charms of Goldfinch a plenty, a Whitethroat singing atop a hedgerow, beautiful old churches, space stations, considerate drivers. What's not to like?

The 360° headwind! Quite strong too. It kept me cool I suppose.

Gamlingay church

Pluto

35 little old miles. Nice!

https://www.strava.com/activities/565330700/

 

[Hacienda71]

yep, that will be colin

He was going well. Joining in the through and off. Unlike half the bunch just sitting in waiting for the Sprint at the end.

 

[Donger]

Just a brisk there-and-back to Arlingham and back tonight. Stopped to chat with @gordyfinbar in Longney, where I found him out running down the lanes. By the time I arrived in Arlingham, I was feeling pretty good, having overtaken 15 bikes on the way, and not been overtaken by any. Then along came the Eastgate crew. Just as I was leaving Arlingham, the fast bunch rolled in at speed, and a mighty impressive sight it would have been ..... if half of them hadn't taken a wrong turn! I had a feeling I might get caught on my way home.

I soon overtook another rider on my way back towards Frampton, as several more little groups of 5-10 Eastgate riders went by in the opposite direction. Spotted @Frazzle in one group and @Dark46 in another, and we called out to each other as we passed. I was going as fast as I could, but still got overtaken in Framilode by the 15 fastest Eastgate boys before I had done 5.5 miles! Got to within a mile of home and started to relax and take in the views of the River Severn at Stonebench .... and was immediately overtaken by another 9 Eastgate riders! Dang! It had only taken them a tad under 12 miles to reel me in.

I am clearly not as fast as I thought I was. Oh well, beautiful weather today, and a great night for cycling. 24.5 miles in 1 hour 45. Cheers, Donger.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Time to head back. Just one final ride to get to the railway station in Carlisle. I had my luggage on board so the climbs out of Cockermouth and over to Gilcrux got me warmed up for sure. Quite a shock for unstretched legs too. The wind was being helpful for once so I began to make good time. I kept my route to the lanes and I was rewarded by few cars. Cars arrived at Wigton where I cross the northerly main road for Carlisle. Soon I was back in the calm of the lanes and counting down the miles to Carlisle. Once into the city I was confused by the one way system. So was my Garmin. Even the mappers hadn't penetrated the complexity. I somehow spiralled into my target. My train journey went smoothly and I was able to freewheel home having been disgorged from my second train of the day bang on time.

 

[NorthernDave]

Day 4 / Ride 4 - will the madness ever stop? (Well, probably tomorrow looking at what I've got on, but let's see...)

Having been out for the day in the glorious sunshine, I had an hour or so to kill before tea.
Did I fancy having a barbecue for tea? Did I want to pop out for an hour on the bike while Mrs ND got it sorted? What do you think..?

So, quick change and out on the hybrid. It was great to get out, even better at not having to layer up - even the fingerless gloves made their first appearance of the year.
Nothing too fancy - I was expecting plenty of traffic as we neared the rush hour, so I planned to stay off road as much as I could. So, a quick spin down to Cross Gates, up to Austhorpe to pick up NCN R66 through Thorp Park and the deserted bridleway section down to Garforth, where I stopped mid-way for a couple of photos:

Back on the bike and down onto the tarmac for the run up to Barwick Rd, then a quick left and left again under the railway bridge and the climb back up to the riding school. Onto the bridleway and down under the M1 bridge and the mainly down hill run to Manston Lane, where two lovely ladies held the gate open for me so I didn't have to stop.
A special mention for the wind today - it was warm, it was sunny, but it was still blooming windy. Plus it was that special type of cycling wind where it seems to be in your face whichever direction you're going...
Anyhow, up into Pendas Fields, down to Barwick Rd, then a quick loop around Manston to add a bit more mileage and up to home, with a final loop around the block to plus the mileage into double figures.

10.2 miles (16.41 km) in 53m 4s at an average of 11.5 mph and with 531 ft climbed. Not bad at all for a bonus ride.

Then another quick change and the barbecue was ready for the burgers to hit the grill. And a selection of beers from the excellent Wold Top Brewery http://www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk nicely chilled to wash it down (I can recommend the Hello Velo) . Does life get any better..?

 

[Accy cyclist]

How hard was that today?! We ONLY did 78 miles!! The usual 52 to 56 mile club ride took a detour and we ended up in Knott End near Blackpool(well i think it is) Granted it was a nice day but i'd done 25 miles on Monday and 27 on Tuesday so the extra miles were not welcome. 5 hours 46 minutes in the saddle meant a slightly sore backside! Nice to do a three quarter century though!

 

[Gravity Aided]

Windy here as well, turned gray and cold during the ride, but it was still 7 miles more ride than I would have gotten had I continued in fettling mode.
56F
13C
Winds N23G26+
Relative humidity 62%
Barometer 29.82 steady in the glass.
Mostly cloudy/overcast.

 

[biggs682]

Quick 12 mile pre work spin this morning doing the last few test miles on the Galaxy before putting it up for sale.

Could not resist this picture of the mist rolling along the Nene valley.

 

[Smithbat]

Took a longer route to work this morning. 5 miles instead of the normal 2.5. Even had a cup of tea with a friend, here is Aylesbury Clock Tower looking beautiful in the Market Square.

 

[rugby bloke]

Had a glorious ride yesterday evening, With the weather set fair I had been looking to get out on the bike all day. Road 25 miles through beautiful Northamptonshire farm land (apart from the bit through Brackmills Industrial Estate and the section that runs parallel to the M1 and the windfarm !). The fields are all great slashes of yellow as the rape comes into flower. Chocolate box villages, considerate drivers, sun on my back. Even the timeless sound of leather on willow as I rode past a village cricket club. Everything felt good on the bike and looking forward to the Sportive on Sunday. A couple of good sprint sections to get the heart rate up and a couple of decent climbs to get the thighs burning. All in all it felt like the essence of cycling.

 

[john59]

I was out for 7.00 am to ride another 100 km +, to complete this months metric century challenge and the Strava 'May Grand Fondo'. The weather was kind with the sun shining and reasonably warm.

Route.

View: https://www.strava.com/activities/566085718/embed/ec140055e423043358918a942d8c06e6ab70685b


Shropshire Union Canal at Hargrave.



Broxton Old Hall Lodge & Entrance. Owned by Iceland founder Malcolm Walker, I believe!