Your ride today....

[Gareth C]

Sorry, not so much "your ride today", but things have been a bit hectic...

Summer has been amazing, and there has been far too much going on, with too little time to keep the reporting up-to-date…

First there was the Sandstone Way in late July. Originally planned as a long weekend out for Alistair and me, he had to pull out due to illness, and it became a solo effort. This took me back to my youth, when I used to do lots of hiking alone. It’s quite therapeutic!

Then a week later, I had Tim staying over for an exploration of north England cycling. We sampled High Cup, Swaledale and Hamsterley before joining up with Iain and Rich for the ‘Ard Rock Enduro. An event that was harder and more brutal than last year, injuring Rich in the woods on Stage 1, and resulting in a day of chat rather than a day of riding.

Late August saw Iain and I meeting up in Vancouver for some riding in Yukon. I can’t begin to describe how amazing this place is.

The riding is quite good too…



On getting back, and getting over the jet lag, it was then time to meet up first with Alistair for some spectating at the Tour of Britain, then the following weekend with Malcolm for the traditional September ride up (and down) Great Dun Fell.

Finally, we’ve had the ‘Ard Moors Enduro, but due to my lack of skill I managed to injure my leg in practice, so ended up spending the Sunday whizzing around on the ‘cross bike taking pictures of the competitors…

 

[Diggs]

The summer keeps hanging on in there.
On the LBS ride today, we were joined by Yanto Barker as the shop has started stocking his Le Col range. Nice bloke. The ride itself was lovely. Just over 30 miles out into the lanes of Essex

 

[13 rider]

This weekend is my 2nd anniversary as a cyclist so a celebratory ride was called for .Driving around at work the other day I saw a mate riding up Paudy lane out of Barrow on Soar a climb I had not done before so that was the target .Anstey ,Cropston ,Rothley and Quorn thorough Barrow and on to Paudy lane a steep start and then a 3 mile drag nice steady pace past a couple of other riders .Then turn for Ragdale a nice drop into the village but then a climb out on to Frisby on the Wreake and over the A607 on to Gaddesby and some nice rolling lanes back over the A607 into Rearsby where I came across a work colleague up a telegraph pole stopped for a chat and bit of micky taking about him being at work and me not .Into Thrussington and turned into the headwind for the first time Wow it's windier than I thought . Ratcliffe on the Wreake and down Humble lane passing a tandem making their way up .Cossington and a check of milage need more than 43 for a new Eddington number so turned for Mountsorrel ,Rothley ,Cropston quick loop to add some miles back to Anstey and 44.7 miles in the bag at 16.4 mph in blustery condition . Rewarded with a new Eddington jumped from 42 to 44

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Legs are still a bit tired but Mrs 26 and I joined Steve E and Sara P in the Green. Pete M, Jules H, Margaret P-R and John G were all waiting in Upton. With a strong wind forecast Steve called the sheltered route out by Castlemorton and Pendock to the Trioscape. Our return route along the Hams would be exposed but with the wind at our backs.

It was a lovely social outing with plenty of chat. On the run back I put a bit of power in for some speed. Just a bit of fun. My legs wouldn't keep that going too long anyway. 50 miles but mostly it was a lovely group ride with good friends.

 

[Elybazza61]

Quick club ride today;nice sunny day although a tad windy and helpful on nabbing a third place on a popular Strava segment.

Route not used before on a Saturday and was a bit patchy pace wise as it meant skirting Cambridge(was actually part of one of my commutes) before the cafe stop at the National Trust place at Anglesey Abbey;but the ride back was quick and more straightforward.

Motley crew at the stop(I'm holding the cup and the easy group walking to the cafe);

Once back thought I'd do an extra 20k to get another 100k in,this also got 9,000k done for the year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/723112546

Yesterday was a nice easy 29k ride out with the better half.

https://www.strava.com/activities/721968878

 

[Dave 123]

We've escaped to Wells next the sea for the weekend. The cottage that we are staying in is close to Holkham Hall, so with a mile on the Garmin we were...

I stuck my nose round the door in the walled garden for professional purposes. They've been restoring it for years, they might be getting there...

We exited the estate and headed toward The Burnhams. Burnham Overly Priced and Burnham Cos They're From Chelsea. I love the brick and flint houses around here.
Heading for Ringstead we passed a huge asparagus farm

From Ringstead we ended up in Hunstanton. The blustery wind blowing the scent of rancid chip fat up my nose! But the sun was shining, so we had an ice cream.

From sunny Hunny we headed toward Docking, but not before getting a front puncture. After 10 minutes we were rolling again.
Eventually we were back in Holkham park.

We saw the deer...

And an old MG

After that we rode to the beach

Then we stopped at the pub for a pint. 44 wonderful Norfolk miles.


https://www.strava.com/activities/723456320#kudos

 

[Arjimlad]

Today I cycled into the city centre for my boss' admission/licensing service as a Lay Minister in the CofE. It is a most impressive building and the choir & organ were fantastic.
Then a quick 4 miles along the Portway to the celebration, then 9 miles home to Winterbourne. On my new TCR which was very nice, smooth, light, fast etc.

 

[Dark46]

We eventually moved on to cycle through the campus and then descended through Stoke Park (for those who aren't Bristolians but do travel into Bristol by the M32, Stoke Park is the lovely parkland by the big yellow house up on the hill West of the M32).

You forgot to mention Stoke Park was a mental hospital! Certainly wouldn't want a apartment in there.

 

[Racing roadkill]

A 73 mile route reccy, for tomorrow's final Skyride Local from Southampton today.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7...-48DD-8DA5-963038A785A6?hl=en-GB&v=1474737763

Some exceptionally poor roads, 1 puncture, and a Garmin which insisted on trying to keep returning me to the start point, when I was trying to get to the first stop point on the route, then eventually had a proper paddy, and did a factory reset for no apparent reason, then turned itself off, and refused to turn back on . Anyway, I winged it, and got round somehow. At least the weather held out.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Today was an important day, my friend (S) is going for her gender reassignment surgery in November and has been told she must not cycle for a certain time before the surgery so today was her last ride for a considerable time. S turned 70 this year and only started leisure cycling this year at my instigation, she started by riding with me and also riding the novice rides with my club Stokes Cycling Club. S has slowly increased her mileage and today wanted to make her last ride to the cafe at Warmley Waiting Rooms on the Bristol - Bath Railway Path.

We set out in gorgeous sunshine about mid morning riding towards the UWE (University of West of England) where I planned a coffee stop. Okay it was only 3.5 miles in but I wanted the ride to be leisurely and memorable. I knew the cafe at the architecture block had tables outside so we could sit with the bikes without locking them up. The little square outside was a sun trap and we were lovely and warm while drinking our Lattes.

We eventually moved on to cycle through the campus and then descended through Stoke Park (for those who aren't Bristolians but do travel into Bristol by the M32, Stoke Park is the lovely parkland by the big yellow house up on the hill West of the M32). Cycling more city bound we rode along the river and into Eastville Park before then following the route of the M32 on cycle paths. We soon had to depart from this route when we were less than a mile from the city centre and navigate over to the very beginning of the Railway Path.

S had never ridden the Railway Path and had not known what to expect, so it was to her pleasure to find that it was a fully tarmacced path. S often wondered where she was as the path is often quite hidden from the surrounding landscape, and every so often I would hear from behind me, "oh, I know where I am now!" as we came out into more open landscapes.

All too soon we arrived at Warmley and locked the bikes up and found a table in the sun. We order Bacon Rolls (on Brioche Buns no less!) and a drink each and just luxuriated in the sun. S was quite interested in the accessible cycling project for people with disabilities based at Warmley Waiting Rooms as her wife is considerably disabled, but by the time we'd eaten, the project had closed. We posed for a photo in front of the little cafe building which had it's windows taped up in preparation for the blitz (the Avon Valley Railway based at Bitton, a couple of miles further down the path, has a 1940's event this weekend).

We had a quick look at the old signal box before mounting the bikes again for the homeward trip. We joined the ring road path and made good time. Arriving at the Hambrook / Frenchay lights I gave S a variety of options for the homeward trip, and S decided on the longest. We headed for the UWE campus again, dipping under the M32 on a quiet road and then on through to Abbey Wood. We passed by Bristol Parkway Station and headed through all the parks around the Stokes.

All in, almost 26 miles, S longest ride since she started leisure riding, and must have been almost 20 miles on traffic free cycle paths.

Strava here: https://www.strava.com/activities/722116502

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Hugs
Archeress x

Good luck to your friend

 

[Donger]

Got a huge monkey off my back today. Debut imperial century (which had been on my "to do" list for the last two years) now done and dusted. It wasn't pretty to watch, but I got through it.

I was due to be doing it with my audaxing buddy, @jembullo, but he was struck down by illness at the very last minute, which was a real shame. I'd had a couple of offers from @Frazzle and @Dark46 to accompany me on the Sunday instead, but the weather forecast looked much better for today, and I was keen to go ahead with it. Quite apart from anything else, I was running out of time to get my Cyclechat Metric Century-a-Month ride in for September.

Set off from Minchinhampton Common (Glos) and headed off to Cirencester, Fairford & Lechlade before doing a big slingshot around Faringdon (Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire) and back via Cricklade, Malmesbury and Sherston (North Wiltshire) and Tetbury and Avening (Glos).

If this link works, you will see my basic rookie mistake in scheduling a big hill in the last couple of miles back to where I left my car on the common. Ouch!:
https://www.strava.com/routes/6571622
Didn't manage to follow the planned route exactly, as I'd been a bit lazy preparing my map as I'd planned to let my riding buddy's Garmin do the work. Where I added distance through getting slightly lost, I took off a bit with a shortcut to compensate, and vice versa. Worked out quite well in the end, as I finished on 101.9 miles.

Set off at a decent place and stopped for my first (and only) café stop in Shrivenham at the 57 mile mark after about 4 hrs 40 mins. It came as a bit of a shock when I then got up to leave the pub and found I had come down with "café legs". It also became clear that my return route was not as flat as the outward route, and was being buffeted by some quite strong headwinds at times. I started to ache and suffer, and took the same time to do the remaining 45 miles as I had for the first 57. I know that to some of you, 9 hrs 20 mins is not a great time for a 102 mile ride, but I'm just glad to have got round.

Although it was a real shame I didn't have a riding buddy today, in a strange way it feels like more of a personal achievement, having had to motivate myself and set my own pace, find my own way and battle through on my own. Sometimes I think you get more of a sense of achievement and satisfaction when you have done it all yourself. Jem had already done JOGLE, so had nothing to prove on that score. Having said that, I hope @jembullo is soon up and about and able to come out on the audax next week. It certainly does help to have a bit of encouragement.

Sorry there are no photos ... the system is not letting me download them at the moment. I had taken one of the wonderfully named "Freke Arms" at Highworth, which was once again responsible for planting an annoying earworm that lasted for the next 40 miles ... "Ah, Freke Out! dit diddly dit, Le Freke, c'est chic!" .... etc .

I have absolutely no idea how I am going to get up the stairs tonight. Cheers, Donger.

 

[Katherine]

Got a huge monkey off my back today. Debut imperial century (which had been on my "to do" list for the last two years) now done and dusted. It wasn't pretty to watch, but I got through it.

I was due to be doing it with my audaxing buddy, @jembullo, but he was struck down by illness at the very last minute, which was a real shame. I'd had a couple of offers from @Frazzle and @Dark46 to accompany me on the Sunday instead, but the weather forecast looked much better for today, and I was keen to go ahead with it. Quite apart from anything else, I was running out of time to get my Cyclechat Metric Century-a-Month ride in for September.

Set off from Minchinhampton Common (Glos) and headed off to Cirencester, Fairford & Lechlade before doing a big slingshot around Faringdon (Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire) and back via Cricklade, Malmesbury and Sherston (North Wiltshire) and Tetbury and Avening (Glos).

If this link works, you will see my basic rookie mistake in scheduling a big hill in the last couple of miles back to where I left my car on the common. Ouch!:
https://www.strava.com/routes/6571622
Didn't manage to follow the planned route exactly, as I'd been a bit lazy preparing my map as I'd planned to let my riding buddy's Garmin do the work. Where I added distance through getting slightly lost, I took off a bit with a shortcut to compensate, and vice versa. Worked out quite well in the end, as I finished on 101.9 miles.

Set off at a decent place and stopped for my first (and only) café stop in Shrivenham at the 57 mile mark after about 4 hrs 40 mins. It came as a bit of a shock when I then got up to leave the pub and found I had come down with "café legs". It also became clear that my return route was not as flat as the outward route, and was being buffeted by some quite strong headwinds at times. I started to ache and suffer, and took the same time to do the remaining 45 miles as I had for the first 57. I know that to some of you, 9 hrs 20 mins is not a great time for a 102 mile ride, but I'm just glad to have got round.

Although it was a real shame I didn't have a riding buddy today, in a strange way it feels like more of a personal achievement, having had to motivate myself and set my own pace, find my own way and battle through on my own. Sometimes I think you get more of a sense of achievement and satisfaction when you have done it all yourself. Jem had already done JOGLE, so had nothing to prove on that score. Having said that, I hope @jembullo is soon up and about and able to come out on the audax next week. It certainly does help to have a bit of encouragement.

Sorry there are no photos ... the system is not letting me download them at the moment. I had taken one of the wonderfully named "Freke Arms" at Highworth, which was once again responsible for planting an annoying earworm that lasted for the next 40 miles ... "Ah, Freke Out! dit diddly dit, Le Freke, c'est chic!" .... etc .

I have absolutely no idea how I am going to get up the stairs tonight. Cheers, Donger.

 Well done.
 I know how you feel!

 

[raleighnut]

Got a huge monkey off my back today. Debut imperial century (which had been on my "to do" list for the last two years) now done and dusted. It wasn't pretty to watch, but I got through it.

I was due to be doing it with my audaxing buddy, @jembullo, but he was struck down by illness at the very last minute, which was a real shame. I'd had a couple of offers from @Frazzle and @Dark46 to accompany me on the Sunday instead, but the weather forecast looked much better for today, and I was keen to go ahead with it. Quite apart from anything else, I was running out of time to get my Cyclechat Metric Century-a-Month ride in for September.

Set off from Minchinhampton Common (Glos) and headed off to Cirencester, Fairford & Lechlade before doing a big slingshot around Faringdon (Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire) and back via Cricklade, Malmesbury and Sherston (North Wiltshire) and Tetbury and Avening (Glos).

If this link works, you will see my basic rookie mistake in scheduling a big hill in the last couple of miles back to where I left my car on the common. Ouch!:
https://www.strava.com/routes/6571622
Didn't manage to follow the planned route exactly, as I'd been a bit lazy preparing my map as I'd planned to let my riding buddy's Garmin do the work. Where I added distance through getting slightly lost, I took off a bit with a shortcut to compensate, and vice versa. Worked out quite well in the end, as I finished on 101.9 miles.

Set off at a decent place and stopped for my first (and only) café stop in Shrivenham at the 57 mile mark after about 4 hrs 40 mins. It came as a bit of a shock when I then got up to leave the pub and found I had come down with "café legs". It also became clear that my return route was not as flat as the outward route, and was being buffeted by some quite strong headwinds at times. I started to ache and suffer, and took the same time to do the remaining 45 miles as I had for the first 57. I know that to some of you, 9 hrs 20 mins is not a great time for a 102 mile ride, but I'm just glad to have got round.

Although it was a real shame I didn't have a riding buddy today, in a strange way it feels like more of a personal achievement, having had to motivate myself and set my own pace, find my own way and battle through on my own. Sometimes I think you get more of a sense of achievement and satisfaction when you have done it all yourself. Jem had already done JOGLE, so had nothing to prove on that score. Having said that, I hope @jembullo is soon up and about and able to come out on the audax next week. It certainly does help to have a bit of encouragement.

Sorry there are no photos ... the system is not letting me download them at the moment. I had taken one of the wonderfully named "Freke Arms" at Highworth, which was once again responsible for planting an annoying earworm that lasted for the next 40 miles ... "Ah, Freke Out! dit diddly dit, Le Freke, c'est chic!" .... etc .

I have absolutely no idea how I am going to get up the stairs tonight. Cheers, Donger.

 

[cosmicbike]

Well done @Donger

I still carry that monkey...

 

[Stonechat]

Got a huge monkey off my back today. Debut imperial century (which had been on my "to do" list for the last two years) now done and dusted. It wasn't pretty to watch, but I got through it.

Well done Donger. If you do any 100 mile Sportives you will often find a big hill near the end. White Down at 18% gradient (and which I did on Friday) when done after 95 miles seems twice as hard