Your ride today....

[SGG on a bike]

Couple of rides today. Early morning with Mrs SGG, who continues to set new boundaries for herself. Only a whisker over an 8 mile run, but a new route for her, she set an average of 9.4 mph - a new PB. It was noticeable that she was a gear up just about everywhere to what she'd normally be and setting a decent cadence, so her fitness is really improving. Sorry, no pics of that one as we didn't stop apart from crossing the A47. Our usually MO is that she goes in front to set the pace while I act as rear gunner, navigator and provider of nonsense.

I headed out for a solo jaunt after lunch and headed across to Somerleyton to investigate some new routes for Mrs SGG and also some untested tracks. For those who don't know already, Somerleyton was the home of Christopher Cockerell when he invented the Hovercraft back in the late 50s. He owned a Norfolk based caravan and Boat Hire company at the time and the Hovercraft came from that. There's a memorial to the Hovercraft and him in the Village (see pic below).

Here's the route I took and a few stats. The average is a little low because of the 2 miles I spent messing about trying to find several tracks at Somerleyton, otherwise it would have been a couple of mph higher.

I had a minor car incident on the way out near to home. I'd gotten up to a decent speed when a car overtook me s-l-o-w-l-e-y, being followed by a Range Rover. The first car the braked, indicated left and started to turn onto his drive, thereby effectively brake testing me whilst the Range Rover was alongside. I can't remember exactly what I said out loud ( not shouty or anything like that, just an exclamation of disbelief), but the lady passenger of the Range Rover clearly heard me and was laughing her head off at my comments. Fortunately, no harm done, just a little frustrating having attained a nice cruising speed and having to get back up there again.

Quite a few cyclists out both times today and there's a definite trend that the early birds are more "chatty" with other cyclists. The roads are starting to get busier too now, but the back roads we usually ride on aren't too bad as a rule.

 

[wafter]

I’m not sure if you intended that to be funny, but it made me bloody larf!

Anyway, a short utility ride for me today on the Brid of Hy, 5.51 uneventful miles to the little Sainsbury’s to buy some groceries, non alcoholic beer and some salted caramel Magnums. Nothing much happened except someone driving a noisy diesel far too close behind me so I just moved to the middle of the road and slowed down. That learn ‘em. Another lovely day, I should have gone for a longer ride but it’s supposed to be a rest day today.
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Ta - I'd suggest it was a stab at gallows humour, considering how the greed of the banks and our enormously flawed monetary system have comprehensively ruined the world

Controversial choice of Magnums (not sure I've tried those) - are they better than the mint ones? Surely not more refreshing mid-ride!

I don't know. Trouble is that this one is rubber and canvas so I don't think it'll break in the way a leather one will. I've done over 300 miles on it before today's ride so I'd have hoped I'd be getting used to it by now.

Positional issue? Where and what exactly is the problem with it - rubbing, bruising...?

 

[derrick]

Nice solo ride to the blue egg cafe. Did not stop though. Just a loop in the sun. 81 miles. Still a bit of wind, but not to bad.
Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/Ej1VmUVDR6

 

[C R]

Same loop as yesterday, but a bit later in the evening, so slightly cooler, and no other cyclists.

A smidgen over 14 miles at 17mph.

 

[Mike_P]

Back on the ABC hunt this evening and straight up to Ripon on the A61, a road that really needs a brown tourist sign marking the spot Hungarian cyclist Attila Valter attempted all three triathlon disciplines at the same time in last years UCIs. Through Ripons southern suburbs/industrial estate come deserted car showroom land and south to the "L" of Littlethorpe with a double bonus of signs; Parish marker smack on the edge of Ripon with fields beyond to the village eventually with standard 30 mph gateway signs

Out of the village following the on road route of NCN688 to Bishop Monkton for, as with Monday, a snack break on a beckside bench. The beck was running very fast which made me suspect the water in it is not wholly naturally sourced. West on the slog up to the A61 crossroads, the glare of the sun distracting from the tedium of the climb and a PR achieved. Straight across the A61 to the "M" of Markington

Another PR on the climb of the village and 25.33 mile covered @ 14.7mph avg 1296ft climbed

 

[footloose crow]

28 May. Always wanted to cycle across Bodmin Moor

I am guessing that relatively few people on this forum have woken up with the thought 'I must cycle across Bodmin Moor today'.

But there it is. We all have our foibles.

The hardest part is persuading Madame Crow to drive me to the Devon border when she is supposed to be Working From Home. The wind today is strong enough to move branches in an ecstasy of waving, plunging and attempts to throw off all of their leaves but I have a cunning plan. More cunning than a fox with two brains, one of which went to Oxford and the other to Cambridge.

The cunning bit is that by starting near Launceston, which is more or less in Devon from where I am sitting, I can cycle all day back home with either a cross wind (and it was jolly cross at times) or a tail wind but most importantly hardly any headwind. It was a good plan but the wind had other ideas and blew from all angles and in a most capricious manner and at times definitely wanted to hurt me. I may have a persecution complex here but it did keep blowing me across the road - but only when there was traffic. Twice would be a coincidence, after that it was personal.

I am waved off in the Coop car park and Madame starts her journey home. It will take her an hour. I am aiming to be home in five hours, that's 100km at 20km/hour including stops. I could do that in imperial measures but the maths is less neat. It is more than a 100km anyway.

A very quiet lane leads out of Launceston with its brooding castle, steep narrow streets and the worlds biggest collection of charity and junk shops. The trees are in full summer foliage now although it is still May. We have had only a couple of wet days since the lockdown started. The lane moves between tall hedges, plunging down through scrubby woods in a green hazed tunnel and then up onto hilltops giving glimpses of the rolling landscape here in the Cornish borderlands. It feels like England, not Cornwall, in its manicured hedges and rectangular fields, tidy farms and well cared for houses. It is lovely - but quite different to what I am used to seeing.

The gradient is noticeable but not tiring. A series of 3-4% gradients with the odd steeper ramp. I stop at an old bridge deep within an oak wood and send Madame Crow a text describing how good it is to be able to cycle up hills without feeling an ambulance may be required at the top. I speculate that living here I could dispense with my two biggest cogs on the back.

Ha! Foolish boy. Around the corner the lane corkscrews its way heavenwards, deep potholes and ruts and skeins of gravel making it harder. This is a consistent 8% for 300 feet with long sections of 12-15%. I am soon breathless, my chest muscles rubbing on the scar tissue from surgery three years ago, an uncomfortable tightness. Legs spin. Breath surges. The top is always another corner away.

All hills end and now it is downhill - a zoom if the road surface was better but this is an anxious, brake grabbing and bumpy descent as I search for the potholes in the bands of dark, treelined shadow and sudden bursts of light. My retinas are not up to this anymore.

Another long hill, more amenable but very hot now in the full sun. The inner band of my helmet itches and the sweat tastes salty as it trickles down into my mouth. The wind has been playing around, coming from the left, then the right, then straight ahead. When it dies down I guess this means I am getting a tail wind.

I am nearly 1000 feet up now and the land around is open moor, gorse speckled heather with small fields cut into it where the soil is thicker or someone has found a use for this land. Ahead is the stegosaurus profile of Rough Tor and to its left the more demure ridge of Brown Willy. Brown Willy is higher but Rough Tor is rougher. Obviously.

There is an old airfield up here. The weather must have made it unusable for many days as normally this area is mist covered or sitting gloomily beneath curtains of rain marching in from the Atlantic, just fifteen miles to the north. In today's continental sunshine there are picnics and BBQs and deckchairs as cars and motorhomes are scattered across the old runways, socially distancing. Those motorhome didn't come up the way I did.

The next miles are the reason I wanted to come here today. The lanes drop down into small stream valleys, ferns and gorse covered slopes and the sound of moving water as I cross ancient stone bridges. I can see the giants of Cornwall, Brown Willy and Rough Tor just to my left and to the right the land drops away across fields and woods all the way to the Atlantic, glistening moistly on the horizon. At times I feel as if I am in the Lake District - low stone walls between heather slopes, small white washed and stone farmhouses, lanes that climb steeply and drop abruptly. Gazing at the granite teeth of Rough Tor reminds me of Dartmoor, the bright sunlight turning the usually dank granite tors into grey, dry pinnacles that make me itch to climb them.

St Breward arrives, a straggling village set around a number of greens where livestock would once have been held to protect them from wolves. Now the signs on the greens suggest parked motorhomes may be the bigger problem. From here it is downhill all the way to the end (or beginning of the Camel Trail) at Wenfordbridge. Twenty seven miles done, thirty seven left to go.

The Camel Trail is a trial. I have promised to be home by six pm and that means I need to hustle along the trail but 15-20mph on gravel and small stones is hard on my wrists and backside. I have to slow for walkers and family cyclists, mercifully uncommon on this popular stretch and the trail is downhill (1-2%) so it is full steam ahead whenever I can stand the vibrations. It is with sense of relief that I quit the trail for back lanes leading through the quiet landscape to the west of Bodmin Moor. The road feels velvety smooth compared to that trail. I don't even mind that it is uphill although my thighs are beginning to feel the miles.

I know the way home from here. I cycled along here just two days ago. I keep an eye on the time and my speed and hustle along as fast as I can. It is still hot and the wind seems to be more sideways than helpfully from the rear but the miles pass. I enjoyed the new roads around Bodmin Moor but these lanes are too familiar, the landmarks not coming as quickly as I remember, the hills now a bit of a pain in every sense of the word. I always seem to get saddle sore at about fifty miles - it wears off around sixty - and today is no exception. I have stopped today for no more than a few minutes and the accumalated fatigue is weighing me down.

Home arrives and I have been well under five hours as I promised. Madame seems pleased to see me as she has a number of jobs lined up for the next hour. I pushed my luck getting a lift to Launceston and so remain diplomatically quiet. I am not sure how much longer I can keep pounding out long rides on roads and lanes that are becoming so familiar. This month I have done twelve rides of over 50k and now three of over 100k. The problem is that Cornwall is surrounded by sea and is long and thin. You can only go east or west.

Still, it is a lot better than being locked down in the house. It isn't raining. My bike is still running OK despite the abuse I give it. Only two punctures this month and one creaking bottom bracket, two grumbling wheel bearings.....

By tomorrow I will have dreamed up another plan......

 

[Landsurfer]

Just a short run out this morning ..... along the cut the numbers of cyclists and especially families seems to have dived ..... off to to the beaches hopefully now the Stasi (South Yorkshire Police) have lost their permission to bully and harass.
Anyroadup ..... stunning day ... girls in the pool already .... I'm off for a shower and play "build a better barbecue " for the afternoon ...

 

[Old jon]

Definitely a day to ride the fixed, and another early pedal away in the sunshine. Shortly after leaving Holbeck, the boundary is where the beck empties into the river, ish, I found I had forgotten that Crown Point Road was closed. Which meant a repeat of the start of Wednesday’s ride, to John o’ Gaunts.

Maybe a more adventurous outlook would have done differently, by the time I reached the top what passes for my mind had decided Castleford next. Downhill or flat, it does sound good. And fields and patches of woodland, the river mostly out of sight on my left. Through a bit of town, along Aire Street to Bridge Street, thanks Google Earth but I wanted to know the name of the bridge. And ride up the A656.

Two bridges, the River Aire first and then the bit of waterway that diverts around the weir, both uphill. Followed by a few more ramps as the road makes its way past Allerton Bywater and Ledston Luck on the way to Peckfield Bar. Where I turned right, and a mile and a bit later turned left to Micklefield. Meander through the village and on to the B1217 crossroads. And go straight across, to avoid passing the gates at Lotherton Hall. Ride through Aberford instead.

More woods and other growing stuff on the way to Barwick, oh, and the occasional hill. A nice descent to cross Cock Beck as the road squiggles over the bridge. Then up. To the maypole. More rising road to leave the village, fields to the left and houses to the right. The view over the fields goes a long way but was rather hazy this morning or maybe the sweat was running into my eyes.

Scholes is the last standalone village today, and quiet as well. But it was only about nine o’clock. A stretch of A64 to Thorner Lane, Skeltons and Red Hall Lanes to the A58. And I decided not to ride down Boot Hill, so turned right at the Ring Road to travel to Park Lane, then past the big park gates to the Oakwood Clock. Back across the river and that last leg to the street I live on. Thirty five miles to smile about, better than 1500 feet up and all before the day is really warmed up. Excellent!

Right now, this looks like it was a long ride,

 

[welsh dragon]

Afternoon all. A bimble for me again. 20.5 miles In total. I did the Mach loop then added a portion of my normal ride onto the end.

There were quite a few cyclists out today including.1 woman with 2 kids on bikes aged about 5 and 6. She was in front holding a phone to her ear and totally oblivious to the little ones behind her.

The river Dovey is really low in places. It's quite worrying this early on in the year.

Very hot here again today and it looks like these temps will be here for a while yet.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I was going for this month’s imperial ton ride, but the wind was a nightmare, so I wound it off. This bike, with these wheels, is horrific in side winds, if you give it the berries. It’s fine if you go into bimble mode, so I did. Seeing as though it became a leisurely ride, I stopped off and took some photos.

The war horse memorial in Romsey.

A lovely day, a lovely little park.

Romsey Abbey in the sun.

I seriously wound the effort off, that wind was not funny.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

It seemed like a good idea to ride a fairly standard route today. So I headed for the Hams. Gravel spreading was about to start at Castlemorton but I got through after the sweep up but before the tar. My pace was quite good on the way to Highleadon and continued well by Tibberton and Birdwood. May Hill was dominating the skyline through to Flaxley where I climbed up to Mitcheldean. The run along the two ridges to Linton gives superb views. Wales lay to my left and 40 or 50 miles away Clee Hill could clearly be seen. I jinked to Kempley where I stopped to count 9 Buzzards soaring on a thermal. Into view floated a Red Kite. Red Kites do seem to be popping up all over these days. From Kempley I took the usual run homeward with Mark and Anne B shouting "Hi" as I crested the little kicker on the way to Bromsberrow Heath. I opted to avoid the Castlemorton lanes as I knew the new gravel would be a bit dangerous. Excitement at Hanley Swan today. Big plume of smoke, the Air Ambulance descending right above me, the local part time fire responders setting up hoses and further up the road a Fire Engine followed by Ambulance and Rescue Crew all in speedy and noisy response mode. All hands on deck!! 66 smiles

 

[EltonFrog]

Another utility ride today on the hybrid to buy some stuff I forgot yesterday because I’m incompetent, I took a bridle way rout on the way out I shan’t be doing again because the surface was awful. I really must go for a longer ride tomorrow .
5.37 miles I didn’t do in a car.

 

[pjd57]

Beautiful morning in Glasgow so I decided to enjoy the local countryside on my doorstep.

I can confirm that the farmers are indeed making hay while the sun shines.
Tractors and trailers galore

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

...............
Positional issue? Where and what exactly is the problem with it - rubbing, bruising...?

It's simply the pressure on the sit bones. On a short ride it feels great - really supportive, yet over rough roads you notice how it flexes to cushion the jolts. On the longer ride though the pressure on the sit bones became noticable and athough I could relieve it by changing position slightly the sore feeling just kept on building to the point of being unbearable. This can happen on the leather saddles too but I don't usually get it until much later in a long ride. My thinking is that I've probably just chosen the wrong width. I get on pretty well with the B17N so asked for the Cambium which is most similar to that (which was the C15) but in this case I may have been better off with the wider version.

This is leading up to a ride report: Having thought about it I decided to change back to one of my older saddles; the Brooks Team Pro, which I know is good for distance, and headed out for a test ride.

Surprisingly I didn't notice any soreness from the previous day so rather than just going round the block I headed up Lyth Hill. This showed up how tired the legs were from the week's riding so I took it easy. At the viewpoint I wasn't feeling too bad so decided to drop down to Condover - that would give about a six mile trip if I headed back along the main road. At Condover I thought perhaps just a little further, then thought the same again at the turn for Wheathall, and again at Ryton so suddenly I'm doing the Acton Burnell loop and tired legs are pushing to see if I can go a little bit faster.

A brisk easterly wind meant it was against me for what would usually be one of the quicker bits of the route but I still got along nicely. A wave of appreciation from a lorry driver for letting them past is always nice and although the number of cyclists couldn't compete with last weekend, there were still plenty to say hello to.

The wind did help later in the ride meaning I touched 30mph on the descent from Cantlop and could cruise at around 22 mph from Condover to the main road.

A nice unplanned ride on a warm and sunny afternoon. I didn't feel the need to adjust the saddle during the trip. There was a reminder of why I decided to change this saddle, but also why I regretted doing so. It'll be good to see how I get on with it again over the next few rides.

Edit to add: I've just totted up the rides over the last seven days and I've done 194 miles. Could explain the tired legs.

18.1 miles at 15.7 mph average. No stops for photos this time.

 

[Dogtrousers]

First ride outside since just before the start of lockdown. Testing whether my turbo-attuned legs still work. They do. Hills seemed a bit easier, but it was a short ride - 70km with 1100m of climb.

Given that my last ride ended rather violently and abruptly, by hitting a pothole and doing a lot of damage to my bike (and a bit to me) I'm still not feeling 100% confident.

Tons of groups of cyclists out. Looks like that's the de facto end of lockdown.