Your ride today....

[13 rider]

After adding up all my holiday milage I realised I was 10 miles short of 400 for the month and the same distance short of 3000 for the year so after doing all my the jobs that need doing after being away for two weeks the giant roadie was out after its two weeks holiday as the hybrid came to Cornwall . Picked at flatish route out to Quorn so after two weeks trundling along at 12 to 14 mph climbing 20% hills it felt like flying along the flat at 25 mph Anstey ,Cropston ,Rothley and Quorn Back to Woodhouse eaves just as the cars were leaving a classic cars show at Beaumanor hall so for the next few miles I was passed by all types of cars including my favourite a triumph Tr6 ( as a teenager I knew a Swedish lady who had a tr6 and I had a crush on them both ) Into Swithland back to Cropston and Home 15.2 miles done at what felt like super fast 18.2 mph so cycling Ocd satisfied

 

[Hill Wimp]

A little jolly to Ely and back

View attachment 137106

I am also in the early stages of planning an Ely gin ride (spots @Hill Wimp's ears pricking up)...

 

[srw]

We pottered down to Eton for lunch today, via Maidenhead, to give @rvw a chance to get more used to her fancy new bike. We came home via Gerrards Cross - with an unscheduled diversion to Farnham Royal when we turned too soon on our way to Stoke Poges. There's a very neat, but largely unpublicised, cut through Slough which does a double bike-only contraflow on one-way streets, which we found for the first time today. I even managed to get my mojo back to some extent - although getting overtaken on hills when you're grovelling on bottom-bottom of a newly replaced and bigger cassette on the back a triple is a bit galling....

 

[Booyaa]

A decent ride for me today, 30km out to Telford. Tough going but very scenic, longest ride in a long time but feel very virtuous.

 

[Lilliburlero]

Finally bagged my first imperial (not metric as I described it ) 100 ride today . I found it easier than I thought it would be and that`s down to the tips I get from you CycleChatters. THANKS ALL

Special thanks go out to all the cyclechat monthly challenge crew . Them there folks and the challenges have got me doing more miles than I`d ever dreamed of

But the best piece of advice about doing the 100 miler was from @tallliman ... He told me that "its all in the mind" and it truly is


https://www.strava.com/activities/659794248

 

[AnneW]

Didn't manage a ride yesterday (wasn't too good) but was determined to get a 20 mile ride done today. We'd been invited to an event in Timperley, so set off to cycle along the Bridgewater canal. Apart from a few canal lock type lumps at the start/end, it's easy cycling all the way. It's quite picturesque in places too.

We were in Timperley, so we had to take a picture of Frank Sidebottom....

Nearly back home, and the Betham Tower was doing what it does, towering.......

A total of around 22 miles, average speed 9.5 mph (lots of walkers, other cyclists and dogs to avoid on the canal path). Need to aim for 25-30 miles next ride.

 

[Stonechat]

Club run today, depleted number for various reasons, including Prudential RideLondon, and holidays

Still the hard core carried on - went a (very) roundabout way to Wokingham
Through Windsor am St Lawrence, Ruscombe, and back via Shurlock Row, Drift Road and the Park.

52.7 miles@ 17 mph
1017 feet climbed

Again pace setting in the group was erratic, making it hard than it looks

https://www.strava.com/activities/659573914

 

[mark st1]

An evening ride for a change had promised for some time to go out with the top bloke who runs the Velolife cafe but never got round to it until today. Got up there just before closing time and headed out with Lee and the young whipper snapper Ollie. I still felt full from a huge lunch but they certainly didn't take it easy on me !! Went down through Knowl Hill to White Waltham Shurlock Row where Ollie peeled off to home then through to Winkfield and then somewhere I'd never heard of called Chespside ? The back end of Ascot so certainly not Cheap ! I turned off and went through the racecourse and then upto the peanut roundabout near Legoland then hit the mighty Drift Road a popular TT route but man a blustery head wind today. Followed it to the end then over the M4 and right back towards White Waltham and up past the airfield to home. Nice bit of drafting in places desperately trying to keep up lol.
35.2 miles with only 750 ft of climbing at an avg of 18.9 mph. Good company though.

https://www.strava.com/activities/659881917/shareable_images/map_based?hl=en-GB&v=1470003741

Cheers
Mark.

 

[Diggs]

*Scrolls through thread*
....Yep me too

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

The same loop in reverse again. Penistone, Silkstone, Worsborough, Wombwell, Cortonwood, Elsecar (Blueberry muffin & coffee, mmmmm), Timberland Trail, Silkstone Common, Wortley, then home.

Told to be careful by cafe lady who has a cycling relative in intensive care. Conversation interrupted by achingly pretty young lady who spoilt the illusion by slagging off cyclists.

Brilliant ride. Lots of nice people again. Legs didn't falter until very close to home. Things are improving. Hills are getting flatter!

 

[tallliman]

@Lilliburlero, glad it helped someone! I was told it by a couple of pretty experienced distance cyclists!

 

[Dogtrousers]

I drove my friend to the start of Ride London early on Sun and had a couple of hours spare so I drove down to Westerham and, in line with my new non -bimble "ride a bit harder" ethos managed to squeeze Hosey Common, Ide Hill and Toys Hill twice into 32km. Then back into the car and off to do Stuff. Not much free time this month.

 

[EltonFrog]

Ride London Surrey 104.72 miles yesterday, inc the ride from the hotel. My longest ride this year, the only 100 mile so far.

Completely brilliant day out riding the closed roads of London and Surrey, fantastic weather, great organisation and fantastic support from the marshals and the crowds. It was shame that parts got held up by accidents, and there were a few nobbers about, but that notwithstanding it is a great fun ride and and all of the riders that I met were great, really good spirited.

Highlights on the day for me was the weather, it was just right, the bag drop off and collection was very well organised, the two young women who having a lovely ride but admitted that they only got their new bikes on Wednesday, the bloke on the bike shaped object who was going great guns, the fella on the Brompton that scalped everyone on Box Hill, and the two chaps raising money for cancer research riding two Dawes Kingpins dressed as "Ladieeeees". Oh and the Medal, what a lovely piece of metal, I'm well chuffed with it.

Riding through Kingston, Walton, Weybridge ,Dorking, Leatherhead the support from the crowds was just fabulous, folks having picnics, BBQs, playing music, the fella (a marshal) , shouting us up the hill on Coombe Lane, Kingston, I saw one couple on the central reservation on the A24 in Dorking at a cloth covered table drinking Pink Champagne , the ride up Wimbledon Hill was just brilliant with the crowds cheering everyone on, and kids holding out their hands for high fives. Brilliant!

My favourite bit of the ride is coming down the hill from the Tibbets Corner Roundabout into Putney, completely FAB, but to an indifferent crowd, oh well you can't win them all. Then coming into Whitehall and The Mall, the crowds there where phenomenal.

Could it be better? Of course it could, the road surfaces could be better in many places, it would be nice if people didn't have accidents, it be great if a very few people could stop being unpleasant and selfish. But it's still a brilliant day and long may it continue.

In the Pen towards the start.

Nearly at the start.

The Tower of London next to a pointy thing.

The wait at Pyford.

Tea and Chips at the Leatherhead hub, I was Hank Marvin and craving salt.

I stopped at the hill in Coombe Lane, Kingston for a sausage roll, hundreds of riders passed me, yet it was so quiet, just the sound of tyres on the road and the occasional gear change.

The medal.

The Route.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I have a few days off in the run up to my birthday so am taking the opportunity to get some rides in.
I'd originally hoped to do something special today but the forecast didn't look at all promising. However that has all changed on the update this morning so I took the opportunity to do a quick spin on the Galaxy.

My route was: Condover, Exfords Green, Pontesbury, Minsterley, Westbury, Halfway House, Melverley, Great Ness, Montford Bridge and back via the suburbs of Shrewsbury.

This is only my second proper outing on the Galaxy (mostly due to the showery weather lately) and once again it felt great and spins along at decent speeds with ease. Again it took a little while to get used to the different handlebar but after a few miles I was feeling very comfortable with it and the gear changing felt quite intuitive.

Being the school holidays, the busier roads aren't the ones you'd usually expect but they didn't really cause any bother apart from having a large tractor overtake on the approach to a bend and have to swerve in at the last moment when a car came the other way.

I had a pause for a drink just after crossing the Welsh border then proceeded down the hill to Prince's Oak and onto the flat bit of the ride where I found the Dawes cruised quite comfortably at about 17mph and felt like I could make it do that all day. On top of that, the B17 feels much more comfortable on this bike than it did on the Raleigh so it'll be interesting when I ramp up the mileage.

A nice couple of hours or so out on roads I don't ride as often as I used to, covering just over 36 miles at 15.6 mph average.

A quick snapshot from my drink stop looking to The Breidden.

 

[Old jon]

I must have felt fit this morning. Mind, the feeling did not last long. The ride started with the crossing of Hol Beck to reach the canal towpath, pedal along that to Viaduct Road and cross the River Aire. Halfway up Cardigan Road the fit feeling vanished, wonder why? Through Headingley and cross the Ring Road at Lawnswood then turn left up ( that word again ) Otley Old Road all the way to Cookridge. After the water tower there the road does descend for a bit. It matters little which way, the road soon enough gains more altitude. I took the left turn for Otley and a whizzz down Otley Chevin.

I crossed the River Wharfe here, climbed Billams Hill and turned left at the top for Weston. I had some wild thought of continuing to Denton Bridge, mental mapping said that would put six or seven miles on the ride. Maybe next time.

There is that short little hill just before Weston is reached, after climbing that I needed a sandwich stop, so that was the turn around spot. Back down that short hill, extra whizz for the day, through Otley and take the A 660 all the way back to Headingley and the Kirkstall sidestep to take me back to the canal, and at the end of a 31.7 mile trip, home. Mr Garmin tells me I climbed just over 1600 feet, I think that is the most I have done in a while.

Wonder if Garmin do a contour map?