Your ride today....

[Dave 123]

Due to snow, cold winds and battered legs from circuit training I was in no rush today.
I didn't want to go far, and not too far in an easterly direction cos of that wind! Out of the village and through to Caldecote with the wind on my back, that was nice! Down to old Caldecote and past the church. Up to Kingston where there was a mixed flock of birds in the hedge. I spotted greenfinch, chaffinch and yellowhammer, there may have been others.

In Great Eversden I slowed up at the church

It really is photogenic (unlike me)

Remnants of the overnight and morning snow remained. The lowest temp I saw on my garmin was -1.7°c, but with that wind it felt much colder.

Over the A603 and into Harlton before turning down Washpit Lane and up to Comberton. I cheated by going up Green End then joining Long Road almost at the top of the first hill. Back to Hardwick with sweaty bits and cold bits too!

Almost 15 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1457498907

 

[13 rider]

Been itching to get a ride today .waited the weather to clear a bit .Out the door at 1315 just as it's start to snow oh joy .Did an hour loop including Polly Botts lane climb 14 miles in all conditions from snow to glorious winter sunshine and boy was it windy

Clever use of a fallen tree stump near Bradgate park freshly finished . Time for coffee and cake

 

[cosmicbike]

Crazy weather. My commute in to work last night was 12 degrees C with little wind, the ride home this morning 3 degrees and blowing a hooley Fast commute home though.
Now it's 1 degree and a brief utility ride to town in the snow and bitter wind. Ice tonight so van to work Must get some spiked tyres through the Summer so I'm ready for next year.

 

[Jon George]

With just a touch of cabin fever after not being on a bike for twenty-fours, I decided on a quick ride down to the docks on Patsy #3 The Hybrid to sample the weather for a planned excursion tomorrow. Obviously wasn't thinking too clearly, because I made a massive underestimation of what gloves to wear. I was only out for about fifteen to twenty minutes, but my poor fingers ended up more painful than a painful thing.

Still, the trip through Hollywells Park was pleasant.

 

[Jenkins]

Just a slow ride out this morning to get some fresh air and a bit of shopping prior to having the afternoon in front of the TV streaming the IMSA Sebring 12hr Race. There had been a light covering of snow in the early part of the morning and the wind was bitterly cold and very strong so out came the 29er for a mixed surface ride.
Headed out in completely the wrong direction in order to take a couple of tracks and a back road into Felixstowe...

then along Felixstowe seafront where the North Sea was somewhat rough...

and further round where all the floodgates were unsurprisingly closed

From there it was back inland to Lidl for the shopping and home for a hot chocolate. Only 13 miles, but it was over an hour out.

 

[Elysian_Roads]

Must get some spiked tyres through the Summer

. Misread that at first @cosmicbike, thought that you were anticipating this miserable weather continuing for a few more months.....

 

[Reynard]

. Misread that at first @cosmicbike, thought that you were anticipating this miserable weather continuing for a few more months.....

I had to look twice too, before my brain caught up with me

 

[cosmicbike]

. Misread that at first @cosmicbike, thought that you were anticipating this miserable weather continuing for a few more months.....

I had to look twice too, before my brain caught up with me

Now I've had to read it again

Hoping the Schwalbe studded tyres will be cheaper come the Summer, those and a new pair of Winter boots.

 

[Reynard]

Now I've had to read it again

Ooops, it's catching, isn't it?

 

[Jon George]

Went out for ride this morning to experiment with some different cycling clothing layers. As NASA might say: 'Great data, but not the positive results expected.' I did about 6 miles that felt like 18. (It didn't help that I'd forgotten I'd deflated my studded tyres during the last cold snap. There just wasn't the ice to justify them being so low today.)

This at Foxhall.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

The CC forum ride organised by @13 rider was rightly cancelled to due to ice and snow so I decided to get the ice bike out and head to Nice Pie.

Once I was on the main road it was clear but decided to stay with main roads so headed pretty much directly through the city centre. Once out the other side onto the old Melton Road at Thurmaston and I hit slushy roads. Managed to get to Cossington before having a my first front end slide of the day as I hit a bigger patch of snow turning off the main road, but managed to stay on.

Slushy roads all the way to Sileby and a very slow climb up the drag to Seagrave.

At the top of this climb I could have turned left and headed towards the main road, but decided to go right, through Seagrave and up a back road climb to come out on the same main road but closer to Nice Pie.

Seagrave was just about passable, though I did about 5mph down the hill and through the village and onto Berrycott Lane. I was now at this point thinking of turning back as there was a lot of snow and ice in Seagrave, but as I turned the corner the road was completely clear as I hit the climb.

For those that don't know it, Berrycott Lane is about 1.7 miles long and a couple of hundred feet of climbing, it is a great climb as the steepest bit is at the start and it just gradually gets shallower. Anyway I got up the steep bit at the bottom on perfectly clear roads and then all off a sudden the road just disappeared. The rest of the climb was trying to stay in a track left by a car, but occasionally the snow got that deep I couldn't keep the pedals over it and had to walk. As I neared the top the snow thinned out and I was riding again.

The main road was pretty bad and I still had a couple of miles of going higher to get to Nice Pie so decided to head down Paudy Lane and back towards home.

Normally this road is pretty fast as it is down hill all the way to Barrow, plus I now had the wind behind me, but again I was down to riding in the tracks left behind by the cars, and for some reason the clearest track was in the middle of the road and occasionally on the wrong side of the road. Every time a car came down the road, which fortunately wasn't often, I got off the bike and off the road until they had passed. Took me just shy of 15 minutes to do a three miles segment (200 feet drop in elevation) over 9 minute slower than my fastest time.

As I'm heading down to Barrow I see a jogger coming up the road, I say to him that we must be mad, he looked at me and the bike and said I was worse. By this point I was pretty mucky and the bike was covered in slush and snow.

Once back to Barrow the roads started to clear again and it was a normal ride home.

I got off the bike and cleaned it straight away. I have no idea how I got it home as the slush was frozen solid on the bike. I couldn't see the dérailleur, the ice I got out between the front fork and front wheel was curved and had indentations from the studs on the tyre. The whole drive chain, seat stays and seat tube were covered in ice, in fact pretty much everything had solid ice on it apart from the top tube and the handlebars. Made it easy to clean though as all the dirt was within the ice.

35 miles done at a massive average of 11.9 mph and with hindsight attempting to go up Berrycott Lane in this weather was bloody stupid.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1459114673

 

[Dave 123]

We went for a nice long walk at Wimpole this morning and the bits of ground that weren't bone hard were squidgy and wet.

So, this afternoon I decided not to go out on my mountain bike as I don't want to wash a dirty bike in this weather..... this meant my second ride of the weekend on my Spa. On the rear wheel is a Schwalbe marathon plus, it felt like dragging a rock behind me!

Down through Madingley and past the 3 Horseshoes pub, the car park brim full. On I went through the lanes to Dry Drayton. I stopped at the church of St Peter and St Paul for a photo

Back through to the edge of Hardwick and around to Bourn and Kingston where I saw some Long Tailed Tits.
Back up through Caldecote, the Garmin reading -3.8°c.

16 miles. One numb left foot.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1459458173

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

[QUOTE 5185391, member: 9609"]

Camera didn't capture it well but at times with the wind behind I was riding at the at the same speed as the blown snow in total silence, quite sureal, it would be wonderful to stay within that moment for an hour or a day.
View attachment 400448
[/QUOTE]

I had a similar (surreal) sensation once, in Wales

Not that that natives were friendly, but it was whilst walking over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, it was a slightly breezy day, and the leaves on the water were being blown at the same speed we were walking
A very strange feeling

Coming back. into the breeze was no issue

 

[Glow worm]

11 freezing miles here in the flatlands today. The garmi.n said it was 26 degrees F (6 below! or about -3c). I sought some of the more remote areas hereabouts today for some solitude, though I needn't have bothered as almost no one seemed to be out.

An ephemeral pond looking as full as I've seen it.

At the deserted 'wild' campsite I managed to get a very welcome fire going. Perfect spot for a brew too.

Fire out, I headed off toward Wicken but my hands were frozen despite thick gloves and extra lining. So headed home a little early, upping the pace to keep warm.

On Swaffham Prior Fen, I followed a barn owl which was hunting the verges, for almost a mile. At one point it was
just a few feet away. But by the time I got my camera out though, I only managed the above lousy image (owl just right of pole) as usual!

I've done about 100 miles now on the new bike and I'm really not warming to it yet. Difficult to pin down reasons why, (lots of small niggly ones like the kickstand isn't as good as on my old bike, nor the rack or Dynamo lights and I'm not sure about the handlebars), it's running well enough though, hopefully in time it will be fine.

 

[Jon George]

View attachment 400527

On Swaffham Prior Fen, I followed a barn owl which was hunting the verges, for almost a mile. At one point it was
just a few feet away.

I am convinced they do do this just to challenge our ability to stop cycling and get out some kind of camera to photograph them.