Your ride today....

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Gravity Aided

Legendary Member
Location
Land of Lincoln
7 miles in 0C temps,wind, sunshine, and lots of fun on the old circuit today, but no other cyclists, just myself and a runner.
 

Jon George

Mamil and couldn't care less
Location
Suffolk an' Good
I should really have plonked myself in front of my PC and done some work, today - instead I went out and rode an unplanned 36 miles North and North-East of Ipswich.
I stopped to watch a barn owl searching for prey out near Debach and, later on, fed a cute pouch the last piece of my chicken and bacon sandwich I bought at Melton when I realised my rations weren't going to cover my needs. At that moment, his owner came out of the shop and requested that he felt left out and I should buy him a packet of crisps. :smile:

This out near Playford.

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And after watching Dr Strangelove last night, I rather enjoyed the outcome of this shot near Waldringfield.

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Oh, and the sun was glorious! :sun:
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
Its been a cracking day for a bike ride, bright sunny and a bit fresh, only the stiff breeze to spoil it a bit, it was slowing me down and making me work in places and making me fly in others. A pleasant and enjoyable ride out to Hatton Locks, I'm establishing a regular route now, a route that I will vary a bit as time passes, 51 miles covered in bright sunshine on mostly dry roads with just the odd frozen puddle to catch out the unwary, though some of the smaller lanes were muddy. crossing Coventry down the the hill by the Craftsman I spun my fixed up to a fast spinning 31mph, about 150 rpm cadence.^_^ An excellent morning out on the bike.
 

Old jon

Guru
Location
Leeds
First ride since Monday. To be accurate, I did pedal away from home on Tuesday, but a mile and a half out and the wind just stopped me. Don't need that. I went and picked up my first ever pair of cycling glasses, and took them out for a 34.4 mile trip today. They really are brilliant, I can confidently report that at one stage in the ride I was accompanied by three goldfinches flitting from twig to twig, while I was gasping for breath up a bit of a hill . . .
Before the glasses the birds would have been light brown smudges.

Usual way out from home, Crown Point Bridge, Oakwood Clock, Boot Hill, Red Hall, Skeltons and Thorner Lanes, out of Thorner up Church Hill, then this fast bit of road with an obliging tailwind.



And from the end of the video to Bramham, Wetherby along West Woods Road and further on to Kirk Deighton for a sandwich stop. Back home via the A 58 in the company of a couple of brief showers and an occasional headwind. Tired I was, but a good ride for me.
 

booze and cake

probably out cycling
......... Tired I was, but a good ride for me.

I was reading this normally and all fine, but then I got to the bolded bit above and in my mind you turned instantly into Yoda^_^
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
I was thinking the same this morning, this morning though was better than Tuesday where the side gusts were pushing the front of the bike around.

That's great to read as I thought the winds were only down here in Eastbourne on my ride out to Birling Gap.
Strong winds, being over weight and very few miles in the legs makes for hard work but the cuppa when I get home compensates for all of that.

On nights and the prospect of 11-12 hour shift along with gusts of 50 + mph given out for my return ride in the morning, i think it will be the car as i fell off the other week on a pothole and dont fancy another tumble atm .
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
On nights and the prospect of 11-12 hour shift along with gusts of 50 + mph given out for my return ride in the morning, i think it will be the car as i fell off the other week on a pothole and dont fancy another tumble atm .

I haven't got round to getting the rear wheel of my fixed into the local shop yet, the result of hitting a pothole at pace in the dark just before Xmas, it runs between the brake blocks but is not very round, I did stay on though.
 

Archeress

Veteran
Location
Bristol
After getting a little stressed at loonie-versity this week I got out on the bike with the full agreement of my mentor after mentioning the half century challenge. I had plotted a route on one of the loonie-versity computers yesterday to get in as many of the green spaces and cycle paths as I could.

But first I had to repair the flat rear tyre on my road bike and fit the new SwissStop GHP II blocks to the rear. About an hour later I was ready to throw a leg over the bike and headed out the door.

The first part of the ride was the ugliest, heading for the Mall at Cribbs Causeway. Pretty soon though I was in the lovely green space of Blaise Castle Estate although my road bike was definitely unsuitable to ride up to the folly, but I did pass the old house which is now a museum.

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After passing the house I had a nice long descent ahead on a path through trees, passing many ponds along the brook. The path was very busy with dog walkers but was also very muddy and I got a huge mud buildup under the crud mudguards. After exiting the park there was a punishing little hill with a hairpin. I knew from here on in I would be climbing quite a bit as I headed for Clifton Downs. The route I had plotted took me on a shared cycle path running behind some Bristol Loonie-versity halls of residence, this path was so steep there were steps at the side for the pedestrians. I don't mind admitting I stopped for a breather before the steepest bit, but halfway up the steepest bit I ran out of go and had to stop. There was no way I was going to be able to clip in and get going again, so I had to do the walk of shame, at least till the slope reduced a bit.

At the top it opened out into the lovely green space that is the downs. It was a touch windy up here that made it difficult to pedal, but I got a lovely but wintery view of my next destination, the suspension bridge.
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I never get tired of cycling over this gorgeous landmark. Shortly on the far side of the bridge I was into the Ashton Court park (the venue of the Bristol Balloon Fiesta) and near my first rest break. It was at this point I got a bit butter fingered and managed to save the ride instead of just pausing it :banghead:, so after the cafe stop I had to start a new ride on my Garmin. Had a lovely sausage and egg bap and a hot cup of tea before heading back out.

There is a great descent from the cafe at Ashton Court, but to prevent cyclists just letting rip and releasing the brakes they have put speed humps in. It's fair enough though as there are a lot of pedestrians in the park. On the descent I got a lovely view of the deer that call the park their home.

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As I exited the park I passed a satellite campus of my own loonie-versity, UWE. From here I joined festival way heading for the harbour side. At the harbourside I saw this little loco standing outside the M Shed Museum. I couldn't help feeling that someone had squished it a bit.
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From here I headed through Queens Square, a nice little green space where there are often small events held in the summer. At this time of year there are just lots of people exercising, running laps around the square. I headed for Castle Park, forgetting that The Welsh Back is surfaced with pave so got a bit jolted around. From Castle Park, I headed for the start of the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, and got my head down for around 5 miles of traffic free cycling heading for my next cafe stop at Warmley. It was great cycling through the tunnel again as it had been closed for so long I had avoided it.
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At my coffee stop I decided I needed a defintie energy top up so had one of their last pieces of cake and a KitKat. I also sneaked a little stiffener into my Americano :shy:.

Heading back along the railway path for a mile or so, I joined the ring road cycle path for the final leg. It's traffic free but the road is a mere 10m away and it is a busy dual carriageway so it can hardly be called peaceful. By now my legs were feeling it so it was now in a get myself home mode. I still had the nasty sneaky hill by the Hilton to come. It can hardly be called a long hill, or even s steep hill, but it is one of those hills that gets steeper as you ride along and you don't notice you're climbing till almost the top of the hill. From here I cycled past my loonie-versitys main campus and headed for the series of parks that are dotted around the "stokes" and I was nearly home.

Popped into Tesco just a half mile from home as my fiance is going out tonight and I needed a meal for one which will not require a lot of effort haha! Then home, lock the bike away and almost straight into a bath where I soaked away for an hour in candle light and had a compilation of tunes from musicals playing on the bluetooth speaker, heaven!

In total 34 miles with 1677ft of climbing. The strava is here: part 1 & part 2.

Hugs
Archeress x
 

Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
I haven't been on the bike for a week for various reasons so seeing a dry forecast I took the chance to cycle the commute.

There was quite a brisk wind this morning which hindered for the first couple of miles climbing over Lyth Hill then helped the rest of the way. With the tailwind and being back on normal tyres I had a few minutes in hand so varied the route by going through Cross Houses on the way to Atcham rather than the shorter but hillier way I normally go.

On the way home the wind had picked up (20 mph gusting to 30+) and there were threatening clouds to the west so progress was hard work and I was having to drop down the gears and plod in places where I'd usually scoot along quite quick. A bit of dodgy driving (pulling out of a junction very nearly into the side of me) wasn't helpful either.

After Atcham there were a few spots of rain which turned into somthing more steady after crossing the Acton Burnell road. I caught another rider on the way into Condover with the greeting "I'm glad I'm not the only one mad enough to be out in this". :laugh: We chatted for a little while before seperating as he was headed over Lyth Hill while I was heading for the short fast route up the main road to get home as quick as possible.:rain:

23.4 miles for the round trip at 13mph average. The Met Office claimed it wouldn't be wet today until about 7pm. I beg to differ!:headshake:
 
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