KEEF
Veteran
- Location
- BURNOPFIELD
I decided to go swimming today 
instead of cycling so my bike did not get wet.
instead of cycling so my bike did not get wet.
Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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Simontm
Veteran
I'll catch up eventually! Tuesday no ride as it tipped down all day. Now commuting, not bothered but when I have a choice?
Wednesday ambled out with no real goal ended up going through Kingston, Coombe Lane, Rayners Park, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and through the south side to Tower Bridge with only one tipper truck being an arse at 9 Elms.
Back down the super highway and at the London Bridge lights didn't noticed another bike behind me so apologised for edging out in front of him. Both of us kept a steady pace to Blackfriars where he wanted a closer look at the bike as he couldn't work out what it was! He had a smart Pearson and we agreed that it was a dangerous ship to 'browse' in.
He bombed off while I headed to Trafalgar Square and the West London leg of Ride London so Hyde Park, Kensington, Hamersmith, Chiswick, Richmond Park and Sawyers Hill wasn't as bad as I remembered it- even overtook someone uphill!- Kingston, Hampton Court and then headed home.
Dead chuffed I am the fastest on the Tower Hill-Richmond Park (Ride London) segment this year...granted I am the first to do so this year but I'll take it
38m 2:36
Wednesday ambled out with no real goal ended up going through Kingston, Coombe Lane, Rayners Park, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and through the south side to Tower Bridge with only one tipper truck being an arse at 9 Elms.
Back down the super highway and at the London Bridge lights didn't noticed another bike behind me so apologised for edging out in front of him. Both of us kept a steady pace to Blackfriars where he wanted a closer look at the bike as he couldn't work out what it was! He had a smart Pearson and we agreed that it was a dangerous ship to 'browse' in.
He bombed off while I headed to Trafalgar Square and the West London leg of Ride London so Hyde Park, Kensington, Hamersmith, Chiswick, Richmond Park and Sawyers Hill wasn't as bad as I remembered it- even overtook someone uphill!- Kingston, Hampton Court and then headed home.
Dead chuffed I am the fastest on the Tower Hill-Richmond Park (Ride London) segment this year...granted I am the first to do so this year but I'll take it
38m 2:36
Racing roadkill
Guru
A short social effort today.
https://www.relive.cc/view/1060030145
My mate Terry in front of a huge gun.
Me in front of the big gun.
lol.
48 miles, the weather wasn't summer like though.
https://www.relive.cc/view/1060030145
My mate Terry in front of a huge gun.
Me in front of the big gun.
lol.
48 miles, the weather wasn't summer like though.
AnneW
Über Member
- Location
- City Centre, Manchester
We think they were painted after the hole appeared!!
AnneW
Über Member
- Location
- City Centre, Manchester
Thank you.
I'm fine and dandy and my bike is now fixed - so happy to be back commuting again today.
Puncture repaired and wheel straightened for £15 at my LBS.
AnneW
Über Member
- Location
- City Centre, Manchester
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
OK, I'll try this more succinctly and see if it survives: that graphic is only one way and potholes also form where sections of base with too-different flexibility meet, such as ordinary roadway and an inspection cover slab. That looks like what happened there.
Simontm
Veteran
So my ride yesterday wasn't much. Up through Chessington, Epsom, Ashtead, over to Leatherhead, Cobham, home. What was noteworthy was the idiot JM Scaffolding lorry that mistimed and misjudged his overtake of me on Copsem Lane heading into Esher.
He started to overtake here when a car came round the corner so he started heading back in when I was still half way down his side. With nowhere to go I slammed the brakes on and he just missed me.
Unfortunately the lights were against me so I couldn't catch him up to have a word. 
Apart from that it was a very nice ride
27miles, 1:37
He started to overtake here when a car came round the corner so he started heading back in when I was still half way down his side. With nowhere to go I slammed the brakes on and he just missed me.
Unfortunately the lights were against me so I couldn't catch him up to have a word. Apart from that it was a very nice ride
27miles, 1:37
- Location
- Egham
Wow! A dry morning! Must pedal off. And of course, the weather won again. Never mind, a pretty good twenty nine and a quarter miles on the fixed and again leaving home at the peak of the rush hour. I will not learn, age I guess.
The casual inspection while riding around Holbeck revealed nothing much had changed around there. These days not much ever happens there, and once the Hol Beck flood management stuff is finished, even less will happen. No complaints. Around the twiddly stuff to Office lock and along the towpath to Viaduct Road and the absolutely average ride out, across the Ring Road and continuing along the A 660 all the way to the Dyneley Arms. By which time I had ridden up into the cloud and things were becoming a little damp, the view through the camera lens was about as good as the view through my glasses. Down Pool Bank in Braille.
Only having one gear, and limited time, the shorter and flatter road to Otley made sense. One day, maybe I will climb the hill to Farnley on the fixed. Just not today. Once in Otley, time to leave the place. Back on the A 660 and again, the image of so many return rides, all the way to Headingley again, the Kirkstall diversion and back to Office Lock, that tiny bit of Hunslet and home. Still damp, still grinning.
And still the map
The casual inspection while riding around Holbeck revealed nothing much had changed around there. These days not much ever happens there, and once the Hol Beck flood management stuff is finished, even less will happen. No complaints. Around the twiddly stuff to Office lock and along the towpath to Viaduct Road and the absolutely average ride out, across the Ring Road and continuing along the A 660 all the way to the Dyneley Arms. By which time I had ridden up into the cloud and things were becoming a little damp, the view through the camera lens was about as good as the view through my glasses. Down Pool Bank in Braille.
Only having one gear, and limited time, the shorter and flatter road to Otley made sense. One day, maybe I will climb the hill to Farnley on the fixed. Just not today. Once in Otley, time to leave the place. Back on the A 660 and again, the image of so many return rides, all the way to Headingley again, the Kirkstall diversion and back to Office Lock, that tiny bit of Hunslet and home. Still damp, still grinning.
And still the map
Simontm
Veteran
A quick scoot out. Up to Cobham through Plough lane
Over to the Muddy Duck then Ockham and up Hungry Hill
Over to Woking and Addlestone where the level crossing was down a lot longer then I remembered as a school kid, up to Weybridge, Walton, Hurst Park then home.
Quite a warm ride with the added bonus of some nice sports cars as I was near McClaren's - someone on Strava has made a segment called 'what was once a successful racing car team' harsh
35m in 2:13
Over to the Muddy Duck then Ockham and up Hungry Hill
Over to Woking and Addlestone where the level crossing was down a lot longer then I remembered as a school kid, up to Weybridge, Walton, Hurst Park then home.
Quite a warm ride with the added bonus of some nice sports cars as I was near McClaren's - someone on Strava has made a segment called 'what was once a successful racing car team' harsh
35m in 2:13
Racing roadkill
Guru
https://www.relive.cc/view/1060915290
I went for a little Jolly into the forest today.
The old bake house Tea rooms in Beaulieu
Dorset Apple cake and a coffee.
Cheeky little bird.
Hungry cheeky little bird.
Cheeky hungry robin red breast
Fawley power station.
Calshot
Supermarine S.6B, built for the Schneider Trophy race of 1931.
Just over 100Km done, the weather wasn't too bad either
I went for a little Jolly into the forest today.
The old bake house Tea rooms in Beaulieu
Dorset Apple cake and a coffee.
Cheeky little bird.
Hungry cheeky little bird.
Cheeky hungry robin red breast
Fawley power station.
Calshot
Supermarine S.6B, built for the Schneider Trophy race of 1931.
Just over 100Km done, the weather wasn't too bad either
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
This ride had been at least 5 years in the making, and turned out to be highly enjoyable. Every time I've used the Channel Tunnel, I've looked up wistfully at the hill above the terminal site at Cheriton and thought about riding up there for a reccie, then riding along the coast to Dover. Yesterday we checked in to a hotel in Cheriton in the late afternoon, so it was game on. I can't say I enjoyed the first mile, as it required getting across a massive, fast roundabout on the A20, where it joins the M20 motorway. Then you have to somehow turn right off the A20 into Newington just after the bridge carrying trucks queueing at the tunnel terminal. I resorted to dismounting and running my bike across the road when I finally got a gap in the traffic. To my surprise, the instant you turn off the A20, and while still within sight of the line of trucks above on the bridge, you suddenly enter a quiet little Kentish village that looks like something from "The Darling Buds of May". This was the church, only 200 metres or so from the Channel Tunnel queues:
Between Newington and the next village, Peene, there was the surreal sight of a little local railway museum, complete with a funicular carriage being used as a shed on the hillside above. I pressed on along the steep little hill that becomes Crete Lane West, and eventually leads to a couple of viewpoints above the loading yards of the Channel Tunnel terminal.
I was quite surprised to find that you could also clearly see the French coast in the distance from there, over the rooftops of Folkestone.
It was quite a nice descent down past some friendly members of a local cycling club heading in the opposite direction, and as soon as I managed to turn right onto the next main road, I hung a left onto the next climb, up Crete Lane East, and up onto cliffs with great views to Dungeness away to my right. Another local cyclist pulled up alongside, and we chatted until I turned right to take another look at the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne.
I didn't go over to the tableau with the names of "the Few" on it this time, but I stood and admired the statue of the resting pilot, with the port of Calais and Cap Blanc Nez clearly visible 26 miles away across the sea.
From there I took a turn that I had spotted on Google Street View, out onto a coastal path that was signposted as being part of NCN 2. The cyclist I had been chatting to warned me it was rough, but it was actually VERY rough. With my bomb-proof tyres and tubes, I was confident to ride for a couple of miles over huge chippings and rough stones, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone running on skinnies. This fulfilled another of my ambitions to ride along the white cliffs, and it didn't disappoint.
Then followed about a mile of dragging myself through dense woodland on (clearly) the wrong track .... which just kept getting narrower and more overgrown. There is quite a labyrinth of overgrown roadways up there .... I suspect they were old military tracks leading to the WW2 gun emplacements and pillboxes on the cliffs. I had come across a point where the path parted in 3 different directions, and guessed wrongly in the absence of any signposts. At times I had to stoop to get under branches that were hanging just 4 feet from the ground, and I also got badly nettled. When I spotted a chance to turn left through some more nettles, I took it, as it was heading downwards, and I knew the Folkestone to Dover road was down there somewhere! Eventually, I found the main road, and discovered that I was right on the outskirts of Dover (I had glimpsed the edge of the Western docks from above). Sped back to Folkestone, where there was a wonderful sweeping descent into town and down past a Martello Tower into the area called The Warren. Picked my way through town to a dead end by the Georgian sea-front flats and signposted as the way to the funicular cliff railway, but no sign of the main coast road. Nothing for it. had to turn around and head up a steep little hill up the cliffs instead to regain the main road. From there, I remembered from Google Maps that I just had to follow the coast road to Sandgate, then hang a right at the pub called The Fountain, and climb back up the hill to Cheriton and my hotel.
Sat for a moment listening to the sea on the front at Sandgate, then found the hill surprisingly comfortable after the others I had done earlier. What a great little ride. Loved it all ... even the adventure of getting lost on the cliff path. Apart from that, I navigated my way around without any maps or satnav ... just a memory map made by studying Google Maps the previous day. Rather good fun actually. We've arrived at a holiday cottage in Durbuy in the Belgian Ardennes now, and judging by the view from the balcony, the next week's cycling isn't going to be too shabby either!
I'll keep you posted. Cheers, Donger.
Between Newington and the next village, Peene, there was the surreal sight of a little local railway museum, complete with a funicular carriage being used as a shed on the hillside above. I pressed on along the steep little hill that becomes Crete Lane West, and eventually leads to a couple of viewpoints above the loading yards of the Channel Tunnel terminal.
I was quite surprised to find that you could also clearly see the French coast in the distance from there, over the rooftops of Folkestone.
It was quite a nice descent down past some friendly members of a local cycling club heading in the opposite direction, and as soon as I managed to turn right onto the next main road, I hung a left onto the next climb, up Crete Lane East, and up onto cliffs with great views to Dungeness away to my right. Another local cyclist pulled up alongside, and we chatted until I turned right to take another look at the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne.
I didn't go over to the tableau with the names of "the Few" on it this time, but I stood and admired the statue of the resting pilot, with the port of Calais and Cap Blanc Nez clearly visible 26 miles away across the sea.
From there I took a turn that I had spotted on Google Street View, out onto a coastal path that was signposted as being part of NCN 2. The cyclist I had been chatting to warned me it was rough, but it was actually VERY rough. With my bomb-proof tyres and tubes, I was confident to ride for a couple of miles over huge chippings and rough stones, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone running on skinnies. This fulfilled another of my ambitions to ride along the white cliffs, and it didn't disappoint.
Then followed about a mile of dragging myself through dense woodland on (clearly) the wrong track .... which just kept getting narrower and more overgrown. There is quite a labyrinth of overgrown roadways up there .... I suspect they were old military tracks leading to the WW2 gun emplacements and pillboxes on the cliffs. I had come across a point where the path parted in 3 different directions, and guessed wrongly in the absence of any signposts. At times I had to stoop to get under branches that were hanging just 4 feet from the ground, and I also got badly nettled. When I spotted a chance to turn left through some more nettles, I took it, as it was heading downwards, and I knew the Folkestone to Dover road was down there somewhere! Eventually, I found the main road, and discovered that I was right on the outskirts of Dover (I had glimpsed the edge of the Western docks from above). Sped back to Folkestone, where there was a wonderful sweeping descent into town and down past a Martello Tower into the area called The Warren. Picked my way through town to a dead end by the Georgian sea-front flats and signposted as the way to the funicular cliff railway, but no sign of the main coast road. Nothing for it. had to turn around and head up a steep little hill up the cliffs instead to regain the main road. From there, I remembered from Google Maps that I just had to follow the coast road to Sandgate, then hang a right at the pub called The Fountain, and climb back up the hill to Cheriton and my hotel.
Sat for a moment listening to the sea on the front at Sandgate, then found the hill surprisingly comfortable after the others I had done earlier. What a great little ride. Loved it all ... even the adventure of getting lost on the cliff path. Apart from that, I navigated my way around without any maps or satnav ... just a memory map made by studying Google Maps the previous day. Rather good fun actually. We've arrived at a holiday cottage in Durbuy in the Belgian Ardennes now, and judging by the view from the balcony, the next week's cycling isn't going to be too shabby either!
I'll keep you posted. Cheers, Donger.
Stonechat
Guru
- Location
- Staines, Middlesex
Went down to Hailsham to collect the new Enigma Excel (Titanium) bike
After having it set up, went out for a shortish ride. There was dampness in the air so did not linger
On the way home it bucketed down when on the A27.
Did well to miss it.
AddedBottle cage, pump and bag etc at home.
Actually a shade off colour today, so first full ride will have to wait unti Club Ride on Sunday.
