Your ride today....

[PatrickPending]

Another my ride yesterday...well Sunday in fact - and the longest since my broken hip and right humerus last year. Blaby - Great Glen - Houghton on the hill -- Tilton onn the hill - Alexton - Stockerston - stoke dry - Lyddington - Harringworth - Fotheringhay - Nassington - Blatherwycke - Lyddington - Stoke - Hallaton - Tur Langton - Wistow - Home. Not all good as noticed a crack in my frame when I stopped for a rest at Laxington...rode gingerly home.... currently investigating getting a titanium frame repaired . Shame, lovely bike but I guess I wont be riding it for a while. Got a nice tow from a group of cyclists on the way to fotheringhay (around King's cliffe, apethorpe) which was nice - was rather tired when I got home. I think the previous days 13km run didn't help....still aside from the frame it was a nice ride.... Phiti - fotheringhay church - scaffolding wasn't there last time I cycled there...

 

[Elybazza61]

Another utility ride today - this time a 10 mile round trip to Tesco in Ely as I really needed to do a proper grocery shop rather than pick up bits from the Co-op. How do I get my groceries home on a bike you may ask? My lovely neighbour came to pick up my bags of shopping as he was already in the area and dropped them off home for me.

Was really warm out - rode out at lunchtime in a mix of cycling and ordinary clobber, namely lycra jersey and jeans. Was a bit of an icky combo, but I didn't fancy pootling around Tesco all afternoon in full get up. Loads of cyclists out and about including the local plumber.

Rode out up Downham Common and California and thence onto the B1411 Ely Road. Then over the A10 and up into town and round to Angel Drove via the Prickwillow Road. This was my commute to the station over the Winter, so nice to do it in warm sunshine and with no traffic. Took me just a shade over half an hour into a brisk little headwind. Shopping over, I came home via Fore Hill (didn't quite make it all the way to the top as my knees were kind of shot by this time) and Brays Lane before joining the Downham Road. The new Leisure Village was really busy and the aroma of fish and chips was tempting me to stop... Home in half an hour too, so a good little ride.

As an aside, the stand of hazelnut bushes I'd noticed the other day were a bust. They'd already been picked clean. And I somehow managed to get oil on my new cycling mitts.

You need one of these for the shopping

We have one for sale in the shop

 

[Reynard]

You need one of these for the shopping

View attachment 370649

We have one for sale in the shop

That wouldn't be big enough to transport one of my yellow sticker hauls... Though it'd be just right for pootling to and from the co-op...

 

[Katherine]

so a good little ride.

And I somehow managed to get oil on my new cycling mitts.

Neat washing up liquid if you can apply it before it dries on. Otherwise, get a refill tin of lighter fluid and use a few drops at a time, use a toothbrush if necessary and keep dabbing it with a clean cotton cloth until it's all out and then wash as usual.

 

[Reynard]

Neat washing up liquid if you can apply it before it dries on. Otherwise, get a refill tin of lighter fluid and use a few drops at a time, use a toothbrush if necessary and keep dabbing it with a clean cotton cloth until it's all out and then wash as usual.

Ooo, thanks for the tip.

 

[Old jon]

Another good day for a bike ride, though they almost all are for me. Gears today, and as I left the end of the street I realised that I had no route in mind. I would not call it frantic but there was some thinking going on and by the time I turned off Jack Lane by the old library some sort of route had been thunk. Or should that be thunked? Anyway.

Navigate to Office Lock then ride the towpath to the exit on Viaduct Road, followed by Headingley and across the Ring Road, turning off right handed onto ( forgotten, so fudge ) what becomes Church Lane. Pass the church, over the dam and the next left to climb past and above Bramhope to the top of Black Hill Road. And grin all the lovely way down.

When the A 659 is reached turn right cos it always seems easier that way, and pedal along to Harewood Bridge. Cross that and keep on north to the right turn for Kirkby Overblow, and this time ride through the village and on to Sicklinghall. There are some cracking views all along here, and gaps in the hedges so you can see them. A good thing really. I visit Wetherby all too often, a busy town these days that oddly seems to have little to be busy about except the ongoing repairs to the embankment on the way out of town. I wonder if the crew from the bridge repairs upstream are now working on this bit? There must be a limited supply of folk who do this sort of stuff, so maybe they have been very busy indeed. I dunno.

A little diversion brings me to the A 58 and more pedalling brings me to Collingham, or more specifically the bottom of Jewitt Lane. And more uphill to ride. Worth it at the top, scenery again is wonderful. Just synchronise the gaps in the hedges. A grand total of three cars and one pushchair using the road, including my bike, all the way to Thorner. The pushchair pusher was jogging and seemed to be enjoying it. Out of Thorner up Sandhills followed by a right turn onto Skeltons Lane and along Red Hall Lane to rejoin the A 58 in time to swoop down Boot Hill and wander across Leeds to home. A total of 37.8 miles and over 1600 feet of up with a grin for decoration. Great.

A map. A little plastic blob called Garmin does this so well

 

[cosmicbike]

Extended the last couple of commutes, and the 15 miles home this morning resulted in hitting the Strava distance challenge of 1250km. August miles 777.7 miles, or 1251km. And with a day to spare too

 

[pjd57]

A couple of short runs to try out my new bike.
6 miles home from Halfords, mainly along the canal. Bit awkward , not due to the bike. They didn't have the seat post pannier rack I wanted, so I had to pedal home with my bag stuffed inside my jacket.

Then a proper test run. Just 11 miles on familiar paths.
Great on the flat. Bit fiddly getting used to the gears on climbs

 

[13 rider]

Extended the last couple of commutes, and the 15 miles home this morning resulted in hitting the Strava distance challenge of 1250km. August miles 777.7 miles, or 1251km. And with a day to spare too

Well done @cosmicbike

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

We delayed our start this morning as the predicted rain was late. It did clear so I met Jules H in Upton. We took to the passage through the school and on down to Tewkesbury to ride around the southern flanks of Bredon Hill. We took in the western flanks too before heading over to Evesham from Elmley Castle. Our cafe at Hampton Ferry has had a lovely makeover and the menu has been extended. Crucially tho' they still offer their famous Bread Pudding.

Refreshed we rode up Evesham High Street and onto the climb at Lenchwick for Church Lench. Thence we looped by Rous Lench to Bishampton and on over the airfield at Throckmorton. We paused at the ford at Pinvin to watch some fish in the brook. They were panicked by the passage of a car through the ford. Now we crossed to Croome and not long after we parted having had a lovely social ride together. As I rode into Upton I could see a rain storm not far off. As some heavy drops began to fall I dodged into the new cafe at Clive's Fruit Farm. Coffee and cake kept me dry and as time was getting on I headed out again as the last drops of rain fell. Ahead lay blue skies and I arrived home none the worse for that deluge. 67 smiles

 

[NorthernDave]

A grand total of three cars and one pushchair using the road, including my bike, all the way to Thorner. The pushchair pusher was jogging and seemed to be enjoying it.

I've seen the pushchair jogger quite a few times on the lanes out that way and she always seems to be the cheeriest of souls

 

[Old jon]

I've seen the pushchair jogger quite a few times on the lanes out that way and she always seems to be the cheeriest of souls

Have to agree, happy lass and seems to jog that thing all around the area. Wonder how the steep bits work.

 

[xzenonuk]

had a decent ride earlier 27.3 miles and over 1550 elevation, took out the triban 500 se after compensating for cable stretch on the front derailuer, now i gotta do the back one lol

got to northfield in portobello then up a load of hills and ended up in princes street before deciding i should probably head back to queensferry and i seen another triban 500 se heading to queensferry as well, seeing a lot of them their deffo more popular than my mtb

over 200 miles on the road bike i got about 3 weeks ago

edit : i love drop bars now despite riding mtb's all my life

 

[I like Skol]

Headed over the Pennines today to do a few circuits of the Sherwood Pines red MTB Kitchener Trail with my two sons. It turned out to be a day of foresight paying dividends, but more of that later....

We had to drive 60 miles to get there and arrived at around 11am to darkening skies and the start of the rain that was to be a near constant companion for most of the riding . We have ridden the red circuit before, but not for at least a few years so it was effectively all new to us and the kids have grown a lot since our previous visit. I didn't get many pictures at all due to the sodden weather making getting the camera out a bit tricky but did manage to catch the big lad attempting one of the few technical challenges on the course.

There isn't much climbing to do so we despatched out 1st loop with relative ease and including a bit of a play in the stunt park and a couple of runs down the downhill section our mileage when we rolled back into the visitors centre for lunch was a healthy 13.5 miles for a supposed 9 mile loop

We did manage to snap a little vid of me doing the level 1 jumps in the stunt/jump park after I had mastered clearing all jumps and managing to land cleanly on the downhill side.......

Here he comes

And AIR,

Again,

and again,

and again.....

And at this point the amateur cameraman almost loses sight of me behind the trees for jump #5

And filming ends just as I spectacularly clear jump #6

A perfect run with all 6 jumps cleared and landings on the downhill slopes

After a generous lunch in the café (and a clean up of the chairs we had squelched into, sorry about the floor ladies ) Youngest son opted to stay in the car listening to music while I headed out for a second loop with my 14yr old boy. He moaned about being cold, stiff and stuffed at first but after about a mile of riding was soon warmed up and right back on it! We flew round the second lap and I was really impressed by his speed when we were not held back by the younger lad. I didn't take an exact note of the time but I am pretty sure we knocked off the 2nd loop in under an hour and as we packed up for the home trip we had clocked up not much short of 23 miles for the days riding.

It was at this point that the foresight and planning began to pay off.

The unexpected bad weather had left us drenched, with clothes soaked to the skin. Fortunately I had had the presence of mind to insist we all took a change of clothing, just in case! Once changed and reasonably dry and with the bikes packed into the back of the car we set off back towards the M1 and home. In an uncharacteristic display of unreliability my car decided to misbehave just as we were navigating the roundabout to join the motorway. Seconds before committing to the slip road I lost the power steering and then the battery light came on so I continued past the motorway slip and headed back the way we had come and straight into a layby just yards from the roundabout. The problem was obvious the moment I lifted the bonnet, the waterpump had collapsed and thrown off the fan belt while spewing all the engine coolant onto the road . There was no way I was going to bodge this and finish the journey except with the help of a recovery truck, and here was my second piece of foresight, planning and jolly good luck. Just 10 days before due to Mrs Skol getting a new(ish) car and no longer needing breakdown cover we had swapped the policy to my car as a refund wasn't an option.
At 5pm I joined the telephone queue for the breakdown service and after about 15 minutes on hold eventually communicated the problem and accurately explained why a recovery was required so please don't send a repair patrol. A few more phone calls later and by 6pm I had been promised a recovery in the next 60 minutes.
Bl00dy 9pm the truck eventually arrived! It's a good job we had dry clothes otherwise we would have been hypothermic by that time!

Anyway, despite the challenges of getting home and the lateness of finally eating dinner we all agreed it had otherwise been an excellent day and well worth the trouble

EDITED for typos/grammar in the cold light of day

 

[Stonechat]

Extended the last couple of commutes, and the 15 miles home this morning resulted in hitting the Strava distance challenge of 1250km. August miles 777.7 miles, or 1251km. And with a day to spare too

Never hit this target yet.
Mind you , I don't commute (retired)