Your ride today....

[Biff600]

Although I enjoyed the ride this morning, I wasn't feeling the 'love' It felt like I was constantly in a head-wind and pedalling through treacle

 

[Alex H]

A bit cloudy today, but warm and promising later, so a tandem trip to Cognac-la-Forêt.

Pino by the plan d'eau

Route

27km in 1:27:00 with 254m of climb (and a nice 2.7km downhill at one point )

 

[gavgav]

A short morning ride around Shrewsbury, with a target of at least 13 miles. Reason will become apparent.

Quite chilly for August and needed a jacket, as I set off through Meole Brace and out to Nobold. From there I looped through Copthorne and up Racecourse Lane for the first time, it's quite a pull in that direction.

Out onto the road to Shelton, then through Porthill and The Quarry, where there were loads of people working to set up the tents ready for the Shrewsbury Flower Show, which takes place in 2 weeks time. Had a moment with a pigeon that flew out of a tree and almost hit me head on

Along the towpath and out to the weir, before taking the cycle paths down to Abbey Foregate and then home.

13.6 miles for the morning and more notably, completing my 1000th mile for 2016.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I met Andy G in Rhayader yesterday. We were in for a superb ride through some stunning countryside. The first section is known to be tough. We headed out from Rhayader straight onto a climb. It went well. And things continued well indeed. From Llanidloes we'd discussed a diversion to the usual (I've done this loop once before so "usual" doesn't really apply) route which would take us around the western side of Llyn Clywedog. We knew it had a steep climb on it and we soon found that we were correct. It went pretty well and soon we were enjoying the run alongside the Lyn (@welsh dragon see how I've gone into Welsh ). Back on route we climbed at Dylife which seemed much easier than last time. Above us 14 (yes 14) Ravens were circling and "chatting". Now we had an amazing panorama over the northern hills and mountains of Mid Wales. This is one of the most stunning views I've ever experienced on a bike. The descent is fast if you want it so but the view takes over and brake blocks get worn out. I descended into the scenery and rolled on a bit but where was Andy? Eventually I rode back. Disaster. Andy's front wheel had blown. Part of the braking surface had parted and he'd flatted instantly. Then as we tentatively rode on his rear tyre punctured. That we could fix. We limped into Machynlleth hoping there would be a bike shop. Nope, that had closed. So it was time for lunch.

A plan was hatched. I would continue on the route as the climbing was much less severe that way although it was longer. Andy would drink more tea and I would return in the car (eventually). So off I went down a busy A497 with a hindering breeze to turn at Talybont and take the stunning ride over Nant y Moch. Now that's a beautiful ride and climb. Next comes Devil's Bridge so I stopped briefly for a slice of cake, a pot of tea and a refill of my bottle.

Now I had the mountain road to Rhayader to look forward too. First a fairly steady climb away from the gorge and over to Cwmystwyth. Then the gradual hawl up the stream valley and through the gap in the hills. Over the watershed I decided to loop around the reservoirs of the Elan Valley. Slightly further but I'm sure Andy wouldn't mind an extra 10 mins.

Back at the car I was asking for petrol. I knew I was low on fuel and the news was the filling station was now closed in Rhayader. Would I get to Machynlleth before I ran out? Driving over to Llanidloes the warning light came on. Yikes. Fortunately a helpful chap in Llanidloes pointed me at some petrol. Andy was waiting outside the cafe. He'd been chucked out at closing time and was relieved to see me. We piled his bike in and headed back. The drive over to Rhayader emphasised how tough this road is. Plenty of steep. We reckoned that our diversion around the Lyn had actually been easier despite the mapping web site saying it had an extra 570 feet of climbing on it. 9800 feet of climbs and 94 miles overall on this one. And all's well that ends well too. Andy will have a new pair of wheels next time.

 

[welsh dragon]

I met Andy G in Rhayader yesterday. We were in for a superb ride through some stunning countryside. The first section is known to be tough. We headed out from Rhayader straight onto a climb. It went well. And things continued well indeed. From Llanidloes we'd discussed a diversion to the usual (I've done this loop once before so "usual" doesn't really apply) route which would take us around the western side of Llyn Clywedog. We knew it had a steep climb on it and we soon found that we were correct. It went pretty well and soon we were enjoying the run alongside the Lyn (@welsh dragon see how I've gone into Welsh ). Back on route we climbed at Dylife which seemed much easier than last time. Above us 14 (yes 14) Ravens were circling and "chatting". Now we had an amazing panorama over the northern hills and mountains of Mid Wales. This is one of the most stunning views I've ever experienced on a bike. The descent is fast if you want it so but the view takes over and brake blocks get worn out. I descended into the scenery and rolled on a bit but where was Andy? Eventually I rode back. Disaster. Andy's front wheel had blown. Part of the braking surface had parted and he'd flatted instantly. Then as we tentatively rode on his rear tyre punctured. That we could fix. We limped into Machynlleth hoping there would be a bike shop. Nope, that had closed. So it was time for lunch.

A plan was hatched. I would continue on the route as the climbing was much less severe that way although it was longer. Andy would drink more tea and I would return in the car (eventually). So off I went down a busy A497 with a hindering breeze to turn at Talybont and take the stunning ride over Nant y Moch. Now that's a beautiful ride and climb. Next comes Devil's Bridge so I stopped briefly for a slice of cake, a pot of tea and a refill of my bottle.

Now I had the mountain road to Rhayader to look forward too. First a fairly steady climb away from the gorge and over to Cwmystwyth. Then the gradual hawl up the stream valley and through the gap in the hills. Over the watershed I decided to loop around the reservoirs of the Elan Valley. Slightly further but I'm sure Andy wouldn't mind an extra 10 mins.

Back at the car I was asking for petrol. I knew I was low on fuel and the news was the filling station was now closed in Rhayader. Would I get to Machynlleth before I ran out? Driving over to Llanidloes the warning light came on. Yikes. Fortunately a helpful chap in Llanidloes pointed me at some petrol. Andy was waiting outside the cafe. He'd been chucked out at closing time and was relieved to see me. We piled his bike in and headed back. The drive over to Rhayader emphasised how tough this road is. Plenty of steep. We reckoned that our diversion around the Lyn had actually been easier despite the mapping web site saying it had an extra 570 feet of climbing on it. 9800 feet of climbs and 94 miles overall on this one. And all's well that ends well too. Andy will have a new pair of wheels next time.

Well done indeed. I do hope you made all the appropriate (rather disgusting noises) that are part and parcel of pronouncing Welsh place names.

 

[13 rider]

Back from my holidays in Cornwall and two weeks of discovering Cornish hills

My modest holiday home or is it The national trusts Trerice house ?
Most of my rides were earlyish 0700 hour rides around the lanes around Holywell Bay calling in at the papershop at 0800 and back to cook breakfast as the family got up .By riding at this time I avoided the wosrt off the traffic but I adopted the policy on the narrow lanes of pulling in and stopping for any traffic even if I was climbing as I was in no rush and got thanked by every driver and found most drivers very well behaved .Many hills climbed the only downside to all the climbing the descents all had blind bends and poor line of sight so you couldn't just let the bike go

A moderate Cornish hill
My main day out was a repeat of last year ride but an extended version . Drive to Padstow and off to the ferry to Rock

Early morning wait for ferry
From Rock it was up the valley via lanes and through the villages of Chapel Amble ,St Kew and St Mabyn the climb into St Mabyn is a brute on to Helland were the camel trail crosses last year I went right but this year I went left in search of cake as reccomended by cc top Cornish cake taster @Saluki rode to the end of the trail and found

Snails pace Cafe where cake and coffee were consumed

Lemon drizzle cafe
@Saluki is a good Judge of cake
From here it was 17 miles of camel trail back to Padstow the trail to Bodmin from Snails pace is lovely and quiet the Bodmin to Wadebridge is busier but the bit from Wadebridge to Padstow is rammed .on this section I invented the sport of Grockle Dodging which involves trying to overtake tourists on bikes most appear to not havnt riden a bike for years with kids swerving all over the trail . I had considered doing the ride in reverse so the trail would be quiet but the ferry does not run a low tide so it would have meant racing the tide and I just wanted to pootle along .Arriving back at Padstow in one piece with 34 miles in the bag I thought Ive got all day nice weather legs ok let's carry on so up the coast Newquay bound visiting Crugmeer , Trevore , Harlyn and St Merryn and back to Padstow now with 44 miles on the clock can't leave it there so back up the camel trail for 4 miles and back with more grockle dodging stopped to help at family repair a puncture got thanked with a slice of cake the poor dad was really struggling to get the tyre off on the child's bike with the family sitting having a picnic . One last climb out of Padstow to my car was a real struggle 52 miles done with 3895 ft of climbing which considering the camel trail is pretty flat shows how hilly the rest was and still more than double feet per mile I do at home really enjoyed the Cornish lanes you just have to adapt to the roads

 

[biggs682]

42 glorious miles earlier this morning taking in the following places Sywell,Ecton,Little and Great Houghton,Preston Deanery,Quinton past the m1 wind farm and Salcey Forest visitor centre left at the cross roads .

Next up was Stoke Goldington,Ravenstone,Grafton ,Olney,Lavendon,Harrold,Hinwick,Irchester and back home.

Machine for the ride was one of my Ian Mays

 

[Saluki]

From here it was 17 miles of camel trail back to Padstow the trail to Bodmin from Snails pace is lovely and quiet the Bodmin to Wadebridge is busier but the bit from Wadebridge to Padstow is rammed .on this section I invented the sport of Grockle Dodging which involves trying to overtake tourists on bike most appear to not havnt riden a bike for years with kids swerving all over the trail . I had consider doing the ride in reverse but the ferry does not run a low tide so it would have meant racing the tide and I just wanted to pootle along .Arriving back at Padstow in one piece with 34 miles in the bag I thought Ive got all day nice weather legs ok let's carry on so up the coast Newquay bound visiting Crugmeer , Trevore , Harlyn and St Merryn and back to Padstow now with 44 miles on the clock can't leave it there so back up the camel trail for 4 miles and back with more grockle dodging stopped to help at family repair a puncture got thanked with a slice of cake the poor dad was really struggling to get the tyre off on the child's bike with the family sitting having a picnic . One last climb out of Padstow to my car was a real struggle 52 miles done with 3895 ft of climbing which considering the camel trail is pretty flat shows how hilly the rest was and still more than double feet per mile I do at home really enjoyed the Cornish lanes you just have to adapt to the roads

Grockle-dodging is a summertime sport here. The grockles are now in season and we are allowed to take pot-shots at them (Not really). I am so happy that the local hire businesses are going great guns and making enough to tide them over the winter, but it would be better if the grockles hired the bikes but were not actually allowed to ride them and just went to local cafes and stuffed cake That would be just awesome. Some of them are absolutely lethal. The grockles, not the cakes. You are so right about the Wadebridge to Padstow bit, it can get a bit scary at times so we ride it after 6pm when the tourists are all having fish and chips and indoors again.
We thought that we might ride across to Port Issac this week. Only about 8 miles from here but I definitely want to avoid the weekend.

 

[13 rider]

Forgot to mention in my early post I managed to claim a strava KOM while out around Crantock which consider I was on my heavy hybrid was a bit of a surprise but then realised only 66 people had done the segment compared to the hundreds round here .

 

[Donger]

Club ride number 20 for the year so far. 41.5 miles down the Vale of Gloucester, taking in Frampton on Severn. Slimbridge, Berkeley and Lower Stone, stopping off for a very nice coffee and cake break at the cyclists' cafe at Tortworth, which was suitably located at the top of a bit of a climb. Returned via Lower Wick, Stinchcombe, Cam and Frocester. After the drinks break, @Dark46 and I let the Intermediate guys go off on their own, and we formed our own two man groupetto for the ride home. (The other three who might have joined us had already had to turn back by that point).

At one point we took a wrong turn, and ended up climbing another steep hill along the Cotswold edge somewhere between the Tyndale Monument at North Nibley and the village of Stinchcombe. This turned out to be a bonus, though, as we were treated to a fantastic view of the River Severn and of both Severn Bridges down beneath us in the distance. After that, it was nice to slow it down a bit and ease our way home at about 15-17mph along the A38. Good ride, good company and fair weather. (p.s. caught sight of @Frazzle and friends heading in the other direction as part of some other peloton somewhere near Berkeley). That's a record breaking month for me now, with another 336.6 miles done towards my end-of-year total. Just shy of 1,900 miles now.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I've been to Catthorpe this morning, rode 58 miles. I was originally heading south this morning, The Herb centre, but my mojo was missing when I got up so decided on a short ride to the Manor Farm Shop and Cafe instead, but when I came out the cafe decided I'd do the scenic route home.

http://manorfarmcatthorpe.co.uk/

 

[Racing roadkill]

https://www.strava.com/activities/6...-488D-B3AB-F3296DFB9FC6?hl=en-GB&v=1469973391

A little jolly into Surrey today.

Ready for the off.

Stopped for an hour, because someone had just had an 'off'.

A hill in Surrey.

I rode for the Alzheimers society this year, they've laid on a post ride event for us, in the institute of directors.

A lovely ride, spoiled (a bit) by some prat, ignoring the shouts from the Marshalls and wrapping himself round a tree, because he couldn't grasp the concept of "slow down there's a nasty corner ahead"

All in all, a fun day though.

 

[cosmicbike]

Fast (for me) ride this morning. Back onto familiar roads through Wraysbury, Datchet and Eton, then across the river at Windsor before passing the castle and home. Average 17.3mph up until the last 2 miles where I do my cooling down bit, really quite important with my little mutation. What with a trip to Sainsburys on the Brompton that brings my monthly mileage to 658.2 miles, just above the 20m/day average I was aiming for. Wanted to achieve 1000km in a month and done so, so pleased with it, but has made me realise my next target of 1250km in a month is going to be tough....

 

[NorthernDave]

After yesterdays successful spin out on the hybrid, I decided to give the road bike a go this morning for the first time in a fortnight, which must be the longest I've gone between rides since I got it.

Warmed up on local roads, then up Leeds Road to Scholes, right at the Coronation Tree and on to Barwick-in-Elmet. Straight through the former capital and down the hill to Cock Beck, over the bridge and the lumpy cattle lane to Aberford. Felt good to be back out on the bike and my average speed over the first 6 miles was over 18mph, albeit wind assisted.
Left in Aberford for the long climb up to Bramham Crossroads, getting passed by a small peleton from a York club who not only ignored my cheery 'morning' (fair enough, that's up to them), but managed to squeeze me too close to the cars parked at the side of the road...
Round the roundabout and onto the inappropriately named Paradise Way for the run up to Bramham, completing another mile at 20mph+ . I was starting to worry that I was going to pay for this wind assistance on the way home, but you might as well make the most of it, hadn't you?
Right across the top of the village and aimed to get a good run at the Windmill only to find a poorly parked car (on a blind corner) and oncoming traffic, then a jogger and more oncoming traffic aligning at just the wrong time meaning I had to check my speed a couple of times. Still good fun though.
A loop round Clifford and down the hill to Bramham, (with the less said about the lady driving the Volvo the better...) before climbing back up to the A1(M) bridge and heading up Thorner Road, before taking Thorner Lane for the long way round to the village.
At the Milner Lane junction I paused for a drink and a photo or two:

Back in the saddle and down Milner Lane and along the ridge, enjoying the views before plunging down the hill and the short climb back into Thorner.
Into the village, then right onto Carr Lane for a lovely run out to Wetherby Road (equaling my PB for the third time!). A short blast down Wetherby Road and onto Coal Road, before ducking onto local roads for the journey home, with a final loop around the block.

21.1 miles (33.95km) in 1hr 27m at an average of 14.5mph, with 1,220ft climbed. Really pleased with that considering events of the last week, and so good to get out and enjoy a bike ride on a glorious summers day. Perhaps I need to have a week or two off more often?

Lots of people out from serious 'proper' cyclists to families with child seats on the back to a couple on a tandem, so all good.

Edit to add that todays ride puts me through 1,500 miles on the road bike so far this year, which is

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Fast (for me) ride this morning. Back onto familiar roads through Wraysbury, Datchet and Eton, then across the river at Windsor before passing the castle and home. Average 17.3mph up until the last 2 miles where I do my cooling down bit, really quite important with my little mutation. What with a trip to Sainsburys on the Brompton that brings my monthly mileage to 658.2 miles, just above the 20m/day average I was aiming for. Wanted to achieve 1000km in a month and done so, so pleased with it, but has made me realise my next target of 1250km in a month is going to be tough....

My cycling mileage this month is above my usual at 539 miles, and I've also driven 839 miles, I've been a travelling man this month.