Your ride today....

[sanddancer]

Well not today. The other night I did 25 miles.
I hadn't rode for about 7 weeks due to one thing or another including laziness
I was quite drunk from red wine at midnight and just thought "sod it"
( off road cycle paths I might add although still foolish )
Which brought about my first clipless off at the first cycle style and my second clipless off at another
gutted that I have scraped the brake hood a bit but surprised I didn't rip my new tenn jacket and bib longs
Bit of a scrape on my helmet though.
no the one I was wearing but glad about that otherwise I would of had a nice bump on my right temple

I shall stick to riding sober in future and yes, I am an idiot

 

[Old jon]

Yesterday's gremlins have been banished to somewhere south of Sheffield, I hope. I will repeat the ride from Tuesday at some time, and hopefully produce a video.

Today's route is an old familiar, still loads of fun mind. The usual Holbeck stagger. All it really does is replace one four lane right turn with three other less stressful right turns. My addition may be at fault. A trundle through Hunslet followed, strangely quiet today and all the better for it, then under the railway bridge and up the hill to John O' Gaunts. My usual left to pass Rothwell Cycles ( closed ) and Woodlesford railway station. Cross the river ( Aire ) and canal ( Aire and Calder ) in the opposite order and negotiate the series of rises that take you through Swillington and on to Garforth. The cliff is still a slog, but from the top you have a rather quick road to ride on, through Peckfield, straight on until the next roundabout and turn left for Micklefield. Then right at the crossroads and I treated me to a stop at Lotherton Hall where food was consumed. Eighteen miles ridden so far and my legs were happy for the stop.

Aberford, Barwick in Elmet followed closely by:--



all the way past the old station to the A 64, Thorner, Skeltons and Red Hall lanes and a grin factor 6.5 whizzzzz from the Ring Road to Roundhay. By the time I got home 32.5 miles had been ridden and my hands had warmed up. Brilliant.

 

[mark st1]

Took a detour to the Espresso library again for coffee and a slice of peanut butter cake.

 

[gavgav]

Been struggling to get many rides in March, due to illness and other plans, so took advantage of a calm evening to get in a hilly 22 miler.

Headed out through Betton, Berrington and Cound, before beginning the fairly steep climb up Kenley Bank, pausing for a breather at the top. Bit more climbing up to Broomhall before a nice downhill section and a left turn towards Harnage. Note to anyone taking that left turn, like @Rickshaw Phil , a lot of gravel in the road and so take it very gently, as you gather a fair amount of speed coming down there.

Took the next left, through Harnage and then down through the ford, bit slippy and slidy before another steep climb back up to the road I used to head up Kenley bank. Re-traced my steps for a short while before continuing up another steep climb towards Concord College and Acton Burnell. Had a moment along here, with it being properly dark now, as I clipped a rabbit that darted across the road . Luckily I was climbing and so only doing about 6 mph, but it jolted the bike quite a bit! Rabbit seemed a bit startled but was moving okay on the verge it seemed.

At Acton Burnell I turned right and took familiar roads to Pitchford, Cantlop and home.

22 miles at 11.4mph avg, which I was quite happy with on that terrain (1000 ft of climbing)

My plan was to get another 3 rides in over the Easter weekend, but the awful weather forecast looks like it may restrict me to just Good Friday morning. Here's hoping it's not as bad as forecast

 

[Katherine]

Rubbish ride today. Absolutely nothing in my legs. I hadn't realised that I was still tired from Sunday's long ride.
It should have been a lovely ride on the canal path, which it was really as I enjoyed the scenery etc, but it also was hard work and slow.
Nearly got run over by a pl**ke* who overtook me on the roundabout near home, swerved round in front of me in order to cut left across me, even though I was in primary. Drivers coming down the motorway slip road waited for me as did the drivers coming from the side road that I was passing. I was giving clear signals too. (I've mastered the art of riding around a roundabout and pointing to my exit at the same time).

 

[biggs682]

Another early pre work 11 mile loop this morning starting to feel like a bit of fitness for me level is creeping back into this old body of mine got a long way to go for sure .
overcast and cold but not chilly , less people about than yesterday

 

[derrick]

Had a little jaunt to Cambridge for a late breakfast in the Copper Kettle. Breakfast was perfect washed down with a nice cup of tea.Great ride not to windy or cold, Lovely company, There where three of us all taking turns on the front. Left home about 8am bit of traffic on the road to start with, but when we got through Ware it all died down, After spending about an hour in the cafe back on the bikes and headed of towards London, Uneventful ride back made good time, Back into our local by 2-45 had a few beers. Then we where joined by my better half. Did not come out the pub till gone six. Picked up a chinese on the way home a quick shower then out to another pub for our cycling club night out. But i only drank coke in the evening. All in all another great day on the bike.
https://www.strava.com/activities/524814514

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Hatton Locks the destination, 50 miles the journey, my usual Thursday loop cut short due to the weather. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be though, it started spitting and dribbling in the wind as I rode into Hockley Heath on the way out and was like that all the way to the cafe. Came out of the cafe and it was raining steadily but lightly and stayed like that all the way home. I decided not to do my usual loop but take a more direct way home, leaving Hatton Locks I stayed on the Birmingham Rd to Hatton Village Hall then turned right into Firs Lane, through Haseley Knob and onto the Honiley Rd then left through Temple Balsall and right onto Balsall Street and through to Balsall Common and my usual route into and across Coventry home. A better ride than on Tuesday but I'm still not at my best, I suspect I have picked up a touch of the lurgy, I've not got any specific symptoms but I'm a touch below par all round.

 

[cosmicbike]

Just the commute again today. Amusing to watch a chap taking selfies of himself with lamp posts on the way through Staines at quarter to six this morning

 

[Edwardoka]

(Not today, last Sunday.)
I've not been on the bike for anything other than an occasional commute since failing last year's Imperial Century a Month Challenge on the very last day of December (elsewhere on this thread) because of lame excuses.

With that in mind, and with my recently purchased second-hand Kaffenback scheduled to get converted to a tourer (don't ask me how it's going, my wallet hurts just thinking about it), I decided to ride it to the not-very-local LBS for some bike surgery on the first day of spring, and set off from my house halfway between Perth and Dundee, with my aim firmly set on Glasgow, some 90 miles to the southwest.

The ride started reasonably well, and I was able to hit a steady-but-much-slower-than-usual rhythm on the climb up to Abernyte and freewheeled down the other side, past Scone airport and into Perth.

In spite of anything you might have heard, Perth is not a nice city. The traffic jam and resultant pollution did not make my lungs very happy and I was glad to leave the whole place behind, riding up the beautifully named Necessity Brae while coughing and spluttering.

With the city behind me and a headwind starting to pick up, I headed towards Dunning, stopping along the way to take a photo of the steed for posterity before it gets butchered by the shop

The road out of Dunning is a fairly substantial climb, I've only done it once before, when it was snowing and the road was covered in sheet ice.
I was 4 minutes (~1mph) slower up it this time, which is a damning indicator of my lack of fitness, and I got overtaken and dropped near the top.

Uneventfully plodded through Fife and Clackmannanshire into the teeth of the headwind, legs cramping and posterior hurty, and when I got to Bridge of Allan to discover that the big bakery was shut, I threw in the towel with 50 miles on the clock and the Wallace monument taunting me from on high.

Q. How much fitness can you lose in 3 and a half months of inactivity?
A. ALL THE FITNESS

 

[sanddancer]

17 miles this evening.
Struggled a bit at times probably due to sore throat and blocked nose,
Also eating nearly all of a £1 rolo easter egg before I went out didn't help
I had mostly given up chocolate but it is easter , nearly
still averaged 14+ mph and felt pretty sedate.

My coccyx pain doesn't seem to be getting much better and may have to visit the quacks if it doesn't improve

 

[PeteXXX]

Rubbish ride today. Absolutely nothing in my legs. I hadn't realised that I was still tired from Sunday's long ride.
It should have been a lovely ride on the canal path, which it was really as I enjoyed the scenery etc, but it also was hard work and slow.
Nearly got run over by a pl**ke* who overtook me on the roundabout near home, swerved round in front of me in order to cut left across me, even though I was in primary. Drivers coming down the motorway slip road waited for me as did the drivers coming from the side road that I was passing. I was giving clear signals too. (I've mastered the art of riding around a roundabout and pointing to my exit at the same time).


View attachment 122587

A 'like' for the ride, not the dodgy legs and the pl**ke*!

 

[PeteXXX]

Only just yesterday's ride as it's just gone midnight..

After the usual stupid o'clock finish, I was up with the later lark at about 08:45. A bit of a lay in for me..
After helping Mrs Pete with moving the settees out so she could hoover behind them, (and finding some of the grandsons lost lego i the process) I had a chance to pop out for an hour or so.
All I wanted to do, really, was get some fresh air and stretch my legs a bit. As I headed towards Cut Throat Lane, a nearby byway, I stopped for a quick chat with the local copper on his motocross bike and he warned me that the byway way a bit muddy and slippery, and mentioned that a few bikes had been stolen in the area recently, so keep 'em locked up.
Having done my Police 5 moment, I found the mud he was talking about on a 90 degree bend just before a bit of a rooty climb. Not too bad though, as it's a slow corner anyway. Nice to be told though.

As I didn't have much time to ride, I headed over to Sywell Aerodrome to watch the planes for a few minutes. The Blades, ex-Red Arrows pilots, were just landing and parking up, in formation, of course..

A Flying Fortress propeller, found buried during runway work a while ago.

Outside the Sywell Museum, a Blenheim propeller discovered/recovered from the North Sea

And a Blue Danube Mk1 'Practise' Atomic Bomb c1950 (with a Hawker Hunter' in the background)

Sometime around this point, I had a visit from the p*nct*re fairy. Just a gentle visit, but enough for me to have to pump the front tyre up and aim homewards. After a couple of miles, I pumped it up again. I couldn't see anything in the tyre, so it was probably a glancing stab from her dagger.
I was thinking of changing the tube, but as it started raining, and I only had a few miles to go, just stuck with the occasional pump up to get me home.

One of my usual routes seems to have been 'acquired for development'. Luckily, there were no signs to stop me using the road to get home though!

Back home on just under 10 miles, wet, with a deflating tyre, in time for lunch, a shower and go to w*rk. Boooo.

 

[biggs682]

A nice 25 miles earlier today for me and a cycling buddy so nice to have somebody to chat too as we rode along , a fairly gentle pace but mine was slightly harder being on my Lee Cooper single speed bike , that had its longest outing of the year lets hope we get a few more in for sure

 

[cyberknight]

Can i go for a ride ? like feck i have a 4 year old rolling around the floor whining because she has the wrong colour cup for her juice ,