twentysix by twentyfive
Clinging on tightly
- Location
- Over the Hill
Your ride today....
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
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bluenotebob
Veteran
- Location
- France
A gentle start to yesterday’s ride .. NE to Gaël with the wind behind me, then N to Loscouët. I checked out a new route north from here which bypasses St Méen-le-Grand to the W and joins the St Méen to Plumaugat road near the Forêt de Lajeu. A two-step descent to cross the Rance then up into Plumaugat. W from here and into the wind .. through Lanrelas and up to St Launeuc. 42km cycled at this point and I still hadn’t decided how I was going to get home .. but plenty of hours of daylight left and a decent chance of doing another Loony Ride (my Loony distance for 2020 is 84km – so I was halfway there).
I continued W to St Vran – then the fun started .. my first time on the road to Laurenan and what a lot of descent/re-ascent… and all of it into a strengthening SW wind ahead of Storm Francis and my knees were grumbling. I was almost at the top of the rise at la Ville d’Anne when I pulled over to let a tractor towing a muck-spreader get past me. Two women were by the roadside talking – as I restarted up the hill, the elder of the two wished me “bon courage” .. the younger one just smiled sympathetically at me with a look that suggested ‘silly old fool’…
Down into Laurenan and a choice .. should I climb up to Goméné and go home via Ménéac, or carry on further west to Plémet? I wasn’t sure what my total distance would be if I went up to Goméné (maybe less than 80km) so I carried on – up and down, up and down .. and finally into Plémet. I’ve not been here before and I wasn’t sure which road to follow out of town in order to pick up the right road to la Trinité Porhoët. I headed up to the church in the centre and finally found some signposts. Over a very busy roundabout on the N164 and up, up, up on the D1 heading for Trinité. Lots of traffic, a bad road surface and crumbling verges .. I did my best to stay as close as I could to the side of the road but it wasn’t easy. A lippy French kid stuck his head out of a car window as he passed and shouted some abuse at me … I was more surprised than annoyed – French car drivers and passengers are usually patient, courteous and friendly.
Eventually into la Trinité Porhoët and I stopped at the riverside for a drink and a breather. Up through the town, onto the D2 and heading for home. I was passed by a mate in an old Land Rover and when he pulled into his drive, I stopped to chat with him for a few minutes. I hadn’t seen him for 3 or 4 years (that woman on ‘Mock The Week’ last night is right: blokes don’t talk to each other very often…) and it was good to see him again. 80km cycled at this point so I knew I had another Loony Ride in the bag – could I make it a metric ton? Some quick calculations suggested that a loop down to Guilliers then back onto the D2 at Evriguet would get me just over the 100, so I ignored my complaining knees and hurtled off towards Guilliers.
Finally back home with just over 103km ridden in the day. Very tired, very hungry and very happy.
It wasn’t a good day for taking photos – mostly overcast with very little sun. The only one that I like is this one of my bike in the centre of the pretty village of St Launeuc.
I continued W to St Vran – then the fun started .. my first time on the road to Laurenan and what a lot of descent/re-ascent… and all of it into a strengthening SW wind ahead of Storm Francis and my knees were grumbling. I was almost at the top of the rise at la Ville d’Anne when I pulled over to let a tractor towing a muck-spreader get past me. Two women were by the roadside talking – as I restarted up the hill, the elder of the two wished me “bon courage” .. the younger one just smiled sympathetically at me with a look that suggested ‘silly old fool’…
Down into Laurenan and a choice .. should I climb up to Goméné and go home via Ménéac, or carry on further west to Plémet? I wasn’t sure what my total distance would be if I went up to Goméné (maybe less than 80km) so I carried on – up and down, up and down .. and finally into Plémet. I’ve not been here before and I wasn’t sure which road to follow out of town in order to pick up the right road to la Trinité Porhoët. I headed up to the church in the centre and finally found some signposts. Over a very busy roundabout on the N164 and up, up, up on the D1 heading for Trinité. Lots of traffic, a bad road surface and crumbling verges .. I did my best to stay as close as I could to the side of the road but it wasn’t easy. A lippy French kid stuck his head out of a car window as he passed and shouted some abuse at me … I was more surprised than annoyed – French car drivers and passengers are usually patient, courteous and friendly.
Eventually into la Trinité Porhoët and I stopped at the riverside for a drink and a breather. Up through the town, onto the D2 and heading for home. I was passed by a mate in an old Land Rover and when he pulled into his drive, I stopped to chat with him for a few minutes. I hadn’t seen him for 3 or 4 years (that woman on ‘Mock The Week’ last night is right: blokes don’t talk to each other very often…) and it was good to see him again. 80km cycled at this point so I knew I had another Loony Ride in the bag – could I make it a metric ton? Some quick calculations suggested that a loop down to Guilliers then back onto the D2 at Evriguet would get me just over the 100, so I ignored my complaining knees and hurtled off towards Guilliers.
Finally back home with just over 103km ridden in the day. Very tired, very hungry and very happy.
It wasn’t a good day for taking photos – mostly overcast with very little sun. The only one that I like is this one of my bike in the centre of the pretty village of St Launeuc.
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Yesterday's ride:
August has been a bit of a disaster for me cycling-wise, with only just over 100 miles ridden up to the weekend. Yesterday was forecast to be the best day of the week; sunny, warm and a light breeze so I set out to get another challenge ride in. I prepared both the Raleigh and the Galaxy and found while doing so that the bottom bracket is worn out on the Raleigh. Good job I was leaning towards using the Galaxy anyway.
Another of my regular routes, taking me the furthest from home I think I've been since the Covid crisis began. I started off at 7am as usual, heading for Condover, Exford's Green, Plealey, Pontesbury, Minsterley, Westbury, Halfway House, Crew Green and Melverley. The first thing I found was that the Galaxy doesn't half feel twitchy after riding the Raleigh with its new set up. It didn't take long to get comfortable with it again though and I made good steady progress on fairly quiet roads.
All the various tinkering with the saddle that has been going on through the year finally seems to be paying off as I found the bike was comfortable cruising at about 16 mph on the flat and climbs nicely too. It ate up the miles to Maesbrook where I took the lane past Waen Wen to Morton and Ball, thereby avoiding a lot of the busier Maesbury road. On the way in to Oswestry the driver of a small lorry overtook a bit closer than I'd have liked then stood on the brakes to take the next left turn.
Perhaps he didn't like me using the road rather than the (slightly inconvenient) adjoining cyclepath. Would have been funny if his load had shifted.
Having got through the centre of Oswestry and past the old hill fort I carried on to Gobowen where annoyingly the chain jammed again on downshift. It's hanging up on the big ring but really randomly. I think I'm going to have to change that ring even though it looks like it ought to have lots of life left in it. Another little annoyance followed a few hundred yards later when a set of temporary traffic lights didn't allow enough time for me to get all the way through before changing to green for the opposing traffic - it's not like I was cutting it fine either.
From Gobowen I took the NCN route to Ellesmere. I was expecting lots of mud but it wasn't too bad this time. No stop in Ellesmere as I wanted to keep the good run going so I avoided the busy areas and carried on through Coptiviney to Welshampton. This lane hadn't been too bad until passing Stocks Farm where it was covered in cow shoot - thank goodness for mudguards!
A break for elevenses was taken on the canal bridge at Hampton Bank with 49 miles on the clock then it was on to Northwood, Dobson's Bridge, Coton and Prees. The climb out of Prees is usually a killer on the legs after cruising on fairly flat roads for miles but picking a low gear it didn't feel too bad this time.
Crossing the A41 took a while as there was plenty of traffic then I had the quiet road to Ightfield and Calverhall (passed the metric century between these two) and some more brisk cruising on the fairly flat roads to Longslow and Longford. I took the tour round Market Drayton so as to keep the distance up then left town past the golf club, not without getting held up by more temporary lights. A lunch stop was taken in a gateway near Old Colehurst Manor.
I'd done over 70 miles by now and the legs were a little reluctant to get going again after this stop. They did ease though and the cruising speed soon wound back up to what it had been as I passed through Stoke on Tern, Ollerton, Eaton upon Tern and Little Bolas. On previous rides this is where I've usually started to flag on the climbs, but today still felt relatively fresh. I took an alternative route to Heath Lanes just because, then had to take another diversion to bypass High Ercall as there is a closure for bridge repairs. That took me to Poynton Green and Roden after which I rejoined the roads I usually take to Rodington Heath, Withington, Upton Magna, Atcham, Cross Houses and Condover. I had a bit of a headwind for the last few miles but nothing especially taxing.
104.31 miles this trip at a very pleasing 14.6 mph moving average. Not my fastest ever century but not very far away from it.
Total time including stops was 8 hours 35 minutes. Chuffed with that considering I haven't really done enough miles recently. The saddle felt good almost until the end and for the first time in ages I felt like the legs could have gone further.
Drink stop at Westbury..............
..... followed by a snack stop near Melverley.
The gates to Cae Glas park in Oswestry.
The rollercoaster descent to Stocks Farm near Welshampton.
Activity on the canal at my elevenses stop at Hampton Bank (apologies for it being badly focused).
An interesting bit of parking near Northwood. I couldn't quite work out how they'd managed to bounce off this particular tree without demolishing the roadside fence too.
A pause at the top of the climb in Prees.
Market Drayton.
The name is a bit grander than the lane it's attached to at Ellerdine Heath.
Last stop before home to finish off the flapjack. Looking at that cloud rolling in from the south I've definitely had the best out of the weather.
August has been a bit of a disaster for me cycling-wise, with only just over 100 miles ridden up to the weekend. Yesterday was forecast to be the best day of the week; sunny, warm and a light breeze so I set out to get another challenge ride in. I prepared both the Raleigh and the Galaxy and found while doing so that the bottom bracket is worn out on the Raleigh. Good job I was leaning towards using the Galaxy anyway.
Another of my regular routes, taking me the furthest from home I think I've been since the Covid crisis began. I started off at 7am as usual, heading for Condover, Exford's Green, Plealey, Pontesbury, Minsterley, Westbury, Halfway House, Crew Green and Melverley. The first thing I found was that the Galaxy doesn't half feel twitchy after riding the Raleigh with its new set up. It didn't take long to get comfortable with it again though and I made good steady progress on fairly quiet roads.
All the various tinkering with the saddle that has been going on through the year finally seems to be paying off as I found the bike was comfortable cruising at about 16 mph on the flat and climbs nicely too. It ate up the miles to Maesbrook where I took the lane past Waen Wen to Morton and Ball, thereby avoiding a lot of the busier Maesbury road. On the way in to Oswestry the driver of a small lorry overtook a bit closer than I'd have liked then stood on the brakes to take the next left turn.
Perhaps he didn't like me using the road rather than the (slightly inconvenient) adjoining cyclepath. Would have been funny if his load had shifted.Having got through the centre of Oswestry and past the old hill fort I carried on to Gobowen where annoyingly the chain jammed again on downshift. It's hanging up on the big ring but really randomly. I think I'm going to have to change that ring even though it looks like it ought to have lots of life left in it. Another little annoyance followed a few hundred yards later when a set of temporary traffic lights didn't allow enough time for me to get all the way through before changing to green for the opposing traffic - it's not like I was cutting it fine either.
From Gobowen I took the NCN route to Ellesmere. I was expecting lots of mud but it wasn't too bad this time. No stop in Ellesmere as I wanted to keep the good run going so I avoided the busy areas and carried on through Coptiviney to Welshampton. This lane hadn't been too bad until passing Stocks Farm where it was covered in cow shoot - thank goodness for mudguards!
A break for elevenses was taken on the canal bridge at Hampton Bank with 49 miles on the clock then it was on to Northwood, Dobson's Bridge, Coton and Prees. The climb out of Prees is usually a killer on the legs after cruising on fairly flat roads for miles but picking a low gear it didn't feel too bad this time.
Crossing the A41 took a while as there was plenty of traffic then I had the quiet road to Ightfield and Calverhall (passed the metric century between these two) and some more brisk cruising on the fairly flat roads to Longslow and Longford. I took the tour round Market Drayton so as to keep the distance up then left town past the golf club, not without getting held up by more temporary lights. A lunch stop was taken in a gateway near Old Colehurst Manor.
I'd done over 70 miles by now and the legs were a little reluctant to get going again after this stop. They did ease though and the cruising speed soon wound back up to what it had been as I passed through Stoke on Tern, Ollerton, Eaton upon Tern and Little Bolas. On previous rides this is where I've usually started to flag on the climbs, but today still felt relatively fresh. I took an alternative route to Heath Lanes just because, then had to take another diversion to bypass High Ercall as there is a closure for bridge repairs. That took me to Poynton Green and Roden after which I rejoined the roads I usually take to Rodington Heath, Withington, Upton Magna, Atcham, Cross Houses and Condover. I had a bit of a headwind for the last few miles but nothing especially taxing.
104.31 miles this trip at a very pleasing 14.6 mph moving average. Not my fastest ever century but not very far away from it.
Total time including stops was 8 hours 35 minutes. Chuffed with that considering I haven't really done enough miles recently. The saddle felt good almost until the end and for the first time in ages I felt like the legs could have gone further.Drink stop at Westbury..............
..... followed by a snack stop near Melverley.
The gates to Cae Glas park in Oswestry.
The rollercoaster descent to Stocks Farm near Welshampton.
Activity on the canal at my elevenses stop at Hampton Bank (apologies for it being badly focused).
An interesting bit of parking near Northwood. I couldn't quite work out how they'd managed to bounce off this particular tree without demolishing the roadside fence too.
A pause at the top of the climb in Prees.
Market Drayton.
The name is a bit grander than the lane it's attached to at Ellerdine Heath.
Last stop before home to finish off the flapjack. Looking at that cloud rolling in from the south I've definitely had the best out of the weather.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Perfect weather for a MTB ride.
Just the one tree down en route:
River still within its banks and planes still landing at the airport.
Can't imagine why I only saw one other person out in 15 miles...
Just the one tree down en route:
River still within its banks and planes still landing at the airport.
Can't imagine why I only saw one other person out in 15 miles...
Infinite Dreams always puts me in the mood for a quick blast.Vegetated all day, went out for a mooch on the shed earlier.
15 miles in a pretty "assertive" and varible breeze accompanied by some nice dub techno and Iron Maiden's Seventh Son
A solo ride today, wet roads, some breeze and a desire to ride the fixed and I was early out of the door with no idea of where I wanted to pedal.
The depths of Holbeck provided the impetus needed, the thought that Office Lock was the next left turn was the decider. Along the towpath to Viaduct Road, the climb up to Headingley and beyond went well. So well I thought I had a tailwind. Past Lawnswood and turn right to ride along Church Lane to Adel dam.
And after that, turn left. Golden Acre Park borders the road here but there is not a lot of park and plenty of trees. Turn left again onto Kings Road and a rain obscured view of Bramhope and Bramhope Moor rising behind it. Turn right to ride through the village and on to the Dyneley Arms and the spin down Pool Bank. Twenty seven miles an hour on a sixty two inch fixed is a bit of a high cadence for me. But good to be able to do it.
So, from the bottom of the hill take the A 659 to Otley and its two maypoles and after a short break it is time to ride up Leeds Road, as ever. This is the A 660, and I rode along it all the way back to the Ring Road. Turn right. This is not my favourite stretch of road but I wanted a few more miles this morning, so aim for the Bridge Inn on the outskirts of Horsforth.
Then to the centre of town via Kirkstall, passing Woodrup’s shop before remembering I wanted a new seatpost. Next time. Home, with the smile, after thirty one miles, a really enjoyable morning.
A familiar looking route . . .
The depths of Holbeck provided the impetus needed, the thought that Office Lock was the next left turn was the decider. Along the towpath to Viaduct Road, the climb up to Headingley and beyond went well. So well I thought I had a tailwind. Past Lawnswood and turn right to ride along Church Lane to Adel dam.
And after that, turn left. Golden Acre Park borders the road here but there is not a lot of park and plenty of trees. Turn left again onto Kings Road and a rain obscured view of Bramhope and Bramhope Moor rising behind it. Turn right to ride through the village and on to the Dyneley Arms and the spin down Pool Bank. Twenty seven miles an hour on a sixty two inch fixed is a bit of a high cadence for me. But good to be able to do it.
So, from the bottom of the hill take the A 659 to Otley and its two maypoles and after a short break it is time to ride up Leeds Road, as ever. This is the A 660, and I rode along it all the way back to the Ring Road. Turn right. This is not my favourite stretch of road but I wanted a few more miles this morning, so aim for the Bridge Inn on the outskirts of Horsforth.
Then to the centre of town via Kirkstall, passing Woodrup’s shop before remembering I wanted a new seatpost. Next time. Home, with the smile, after thirty one miles, a really enjoyable morning.
A familiar looking route . . .
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
A quick spin on the Raleigh this afternoon round my Condover, Longnor, Acton Burnell, Harnage, Berrington, Condover route. Having to push into a brisk headwind on the way out showed that the saddle setup I thought I'd got pretty much right will need a bit of tinkering to work with the drop bars (sighs). Raising it a bit felt good on the way round but I've got some odd aches round the right knee afterwards so yet more fine tuning to be done. I will get it right in the end.
I don't think it's very far from where it needs to be and the new riding position does seem to put less pressure on the sit bones.
The ride itself went pretty well. I had a headwind to Longnor then had it behind me to Acton Burnell and through Cound Moor. There was a bit of repetition on the flag pole at Cound with the Suffolk county flag flying again.
The A458 was quite busy today so I only stayed on it a short time then took the direct lane to Berrington - almost no traffic, but directly into the wind. I knew the run back to Condover would be into the wind too and it was a bit of a slog today. This is where I appreciate the new bars as I can tuck down to make it a bit easier. Changing direction in the village I had a good run up to the A49 then a bit of a wait for a gap in the traffic - those quiet lockdown roads are but a memory now.
A few cyclists out and about this time but the more casual riders seem to be becoming a rare sight again. Maybe because the weather this month hasn't exactly been welcoming to them? Perhaps there will be more out over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend?
23.6 miles this time at 15.5 mph average.
No photo stops this time
I don't think it's very far from where it needs to be and the new riding position does seem to put less pressure on the sit bones.The ride itself went pretty well. I had a headwind to Longnor then had it behind me to Acton Burnell and through Cound Moor. There was a bit of repetition on the flag pole at Cound with the Suffolk county flag flying again.
The A458 was quite busy today so I only stayed on it a short time then took the direct lane to Berrington - almost no traffic, but directly into the wind. I knew the run back to Condover would be into the wind too and it was a bit of a slog today. This is where I appreciate the new bars as I can tuck down to make it a bit easier. Changing direction in the village I had a good run up to the A49 then a bit of a wait for a gap in the traffic - those quiet lockdown roads are but a memory now.
A few cyclists out and about this time but the more casual riders seem to be becoming a rare sight again. Maybe because the weather this month hasn't exactly been welcoming to them? Perhaps there will be more out over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend?
23.6 miles this time at 15.5 mph average.
No photo stops this time
twentysix by twentyfive
Clinging on tightly
- Location
- Over the Hill
I was in two minds. What to do? I hit on the idea of a picnic on Camp Lane with Mrs 26. We took the traditional dodge around the west of Worcester and into the lanes for Wichenford. It's been a while since we visited the dovecot so that made a pleasant pause. We continued around by Sinton Green and Ockeridge to begin the uphill approach to Camp Lane. Onto Camp Lane damsons were readily available. Mrs 26 was in her element. Near the top we stopped for our picnic with stunning views out over the Teme Valley and the Clee Hills. Some Buzzards were also enjoying the scenery and a woodpecker spoke up with high praise. Picnic with damsons complete Mrs 26 collected more for later then off we dropped down into the Teme Valley. We climbed back out to Martley and took the mini Ankerdine run. For a change we went by Suckley and along the Leigh Brook to complete a super outing for just we two. 50 smiles
Funny you should mention that - I got to the breakdown in that tune where everything shifts up a gear when I was just at the bottom of a sizeable hill (Div. road, for anyone local) and got up it faster than I think I ever have done before
Another fasted egg run today. Same 37-mile route as usual but I decided to give the Boardman an outing (for the 2nd time in four months!) in the hope of benchmarking it against my CdF to further investigate the difference in speed to be expected between each.
I'd planned to try and maintain a similar mean heart rate to my last ride on the CdF, although this didn't get off to a great start thanks to my deterorating domestic situation and the MP3 player launching into Iron Maiden's Powerslave upon my departure. As those familar will attest the first three tracks are fast and hard; coupled with the lighter-and-more-responsive-than-usual bike and my less-than-stallar mindset made for a load of PRs on the hills heading away from the house.
I've not ridden the Boardman for a good few weeks but it felt good to get back on it - ridiculously light to move around when not riding, low, compact, stiff, hard and unforgiving over large road defects but potentially more damped of high-frequency buzz.
As with last time it felt fast from the off; something I partially put down to the relatively strong, gusting wind, its direction often difficult to pinpoint although apparently somewhat WSW. Thanks to my lack of discipline my food allergies are really starting to bite and a lot of the ride felt quite disassociated; made all the more dreamlike by the high speeds and wind.
A sufficient amount of eggs were had at the first stop, passing a family of happy cyclists sat having a rest near to the egg man's residence
Next point of note was a kid / young guy in a baggy hoodie on a MTB with unfeasibly wide bars and wobbly back wheel. I passed him with ease on one stretch of road but he caught up and passed me when I was waiting at some lights. Cruising at around 20mph I thought I'd catch him in no time but he was really pressing on. Keeping my pace constant I eventually reeled him in, only to be passed by him again a few minutes later. I maintened my speed and eventually passed him again, this time leaving him for dust as he obviously got bored or ran out of energy - must have been putting out a fair bit of power at times though!
On through Abingdon (where the traffic was bloody terrible again
) and out towards Didcot. Sticking to the pre-determined route meant some bits I'd not ordinarily choose to take the road bike on, its lack of a bell proving sub-optimal on some of the shared cycle / pedestrian paths and meaning I had to ride off-path to avoid the few people who missed / ignored my distant requests for them to give me some room..Back along NCN5 and the first of today's near-disaster experiences; passing some muppet on a bike following a rower down the river. I find these folks are often a bloody menace; slow, weaving about all over the place and fixated on whatever's occurring on the water so paying no attention to what's around them. Also less predictable and quicker to traverse the width of the path than both other cyclists and pedestrians. They were heading in the same direction as I was and taking a nice straight path near the water, so rather than shout and complicate things I elected to pass them on the inside. Typically at the last minute the vacuous muppet wobbled / meandered right across the path in front of me; forcing me to take a face-full of hedge to avoid them. My abject displeasure was made known
Half a mile later I nearly got totalled again on St. Aldates. Some taxi driver on my side of the road had decided he'd do the world a favour by stopping his solitary vehicle to allow an oncoming ambulance to pull across him into a junction. The ambulance was reluctant but eventually it made the turn, only to stop to let some peds across the zebra crossing (somewhat ridiculously IMO) placed just inside the mouth of the junction.
This left a good three feet of the Ambulance's arse hanging out; totally blocking the cycle path and forcing me to squeeze through the two-foot-and-closing gap between its rear and the now-accelerating taxi. IMO this is also yet another indictment of the shortcomings of marked cycle lanes and tbh I should have sought to go around the outside of the Taxi, although at the time I was taking my line I didn't think the ambulance was going to pull across so didn't want to get caught between the two. Granted I could also have slowed down, but I'm sick of the stupidity / selfishness of others curtailing my movements and by this point was well "in the zone" so (perhaps irrationally) hungry to maintain my speed.
Bottom line, if the bloody stupid taxi driver had just gone on his way without stopping for no good reason to let another vehicle across (the ambulance was clearly not in a hurry and there were no cars behind the taxi) everyone would have got where they were going faster and with a much reduced chance of sustaining life-changing injuries
Again I wasn't shy about voicing my displeasure and upon miraculously emerging unscathed from the other side of this automotive arseholery the world had seemingly stopped and everyone was looking at me 
Anyway, sorry that this post has largely served as a vehicle for my ranting; good to get it off my chest though and I'm sure most can relate to some extent!
Upon returning home I found my planned perfect comparison between bikes wasn't going to happen as today's ride had been a bit more intense than the last one on my CdF. FWIW a shade under 37 miles and 500ft at 17.0mph and 148bpm for around 1600kcal burned, while last time on the CdF I managed an average speed of 14.5mph at 137bpm.
FWIW comparing these two rides directly the CdF is around 15% slower than the Boardman, however this difference is going to be less with similar levels of exertion.. while the flipside is that fitting more off-road friendly tyres to the DcF (it's currently on slicks) will slow things down so I guess 15% isn't a bad ballpark estimate of the difference between the two
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That breakdown is just magic.Funny you should mention that - I got to the breakdown in that tune where everything shifts up a gear when I was just at the bottom of a sizeable hill (Div. road, for anyone local) and got up it faster than I think I ever have done before
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
What a difference a day makes!
Same distance as yesterday, same time, but a beautiful still evening ride on the road bike today, ~15 miles.
My but the evenings are drawing in though.
Pic is of the parkland at the NT property of Hare Hill.
Same distance as yesterday, same time, but a beautiful still evening ride on the road bike today, ~15 miles.
My but the evenings are drawing in though.
Pic is of the parkland at the NT property of Hare Hill.
My first ride in 3 weeks, due to other plans and dreadful weather, after I finished a rubbish day, working from home. So nice to have some perfect cycling weather, not too hot or windy or wet.
Headed over to Meole school, where I met ex colleague Paul and he suggested a route over to Ford and calling in to see Tony, another ex colleague of ours, which I was up for.
Main road to Annscroft was very busy and we got hooted at for having the temerity to be on the road
. We then turned off, in the direction of Arscott, but chatting meant we missed the turning required and were heading towards Hanwood, luckily realising not too far from the junction!
It’s a nice general downhill trend all the way to Lea Cross and Nox, but then a climb back up towards Ford, to Shoothill, where Tony lives. He didn’t know we were calling, but his cars were in and his door open, so Paul shouted his name a few times, no sign of him, until eventually he appeared, with his girlfriend, carrying half a tree (as you do)! It had been blown down in yesterday’s gales.
We had a good chat to him, having not seen him since our last “Manager’s Drinking Society” trip out to a beer festival in October 2019. No chance any of those are happening in 2020
We continued onto Ford and then up the A458, traffic not too bad, but the usual close pass from an impatient Land Rover. Turned off onto the road to Montford Bridge and I glanced behind me to see no sign of Paul. I waited for a short time and still no sign of him, so I doubled back towards the junction and then met him finally......his chain had come off along the main road!
We continued on to Montford Bridge, then up and down to Bicton, along Calcott Lane, through Gains Park, Copthorne and Radbrook, where Paul departed to his house and I continued back through Meole and home.
Got back at 8PM and really noticed how much the evenings have drawn in, since my last ride, could almost have done with lights.
Thoroughly enjoyable 18.75 miles at 12.8mph avg
Headed over to Meole school, where I met ex colleague Paul and he suggested a route over to Ford and calling in to see Tony, another ex colleague of ours, which I was up for.
Main road to Annscroft was very busy and we got hooted at for having the temerity to be on the road
. We then turned off, in the direction of Arscott, but chatting meant we missed the turning required and were heading towards Hanwood, luckily realising not too far from the junction!It’s a nice general downhill trend all the way to Lea Cross and Nox, but then a climb back up towards Ford, to Shoothill, where Tony lives. He didn’t know we were calling, but his cars were in and his door open, so Paul shouted his name a few times, no sign of him, until eventually he appeared, with his girlfriend, carrying half a tree (as you do)
! It had been blown down in yesterday’s gales.We had a good chat to him, having not seen him since our last “Manager’s Drinking Society” trip out to a beer festival in October 2019. No chance any of those are happening in 2020
We continued onto Ford and then up the A458, traffic not too bad, but the usual close pass from an impatient Land Rover. Turned off onto the road to Montford Bridge and I glanced behind me to see no sign of Paul. I waited for a short time and still no sign of him, so I doubled back towards the junction and then met him finally......his chain had come off along the main road!
We continued on to Montford Bridge, then up and down to Bicton, along Calcott Lane, through Gains Park, Copthorne and Radbrook, where Paul departed to his house and I continued back through Meole and home.
Got back at 8PM and really noticed how much the evenings have drawn in, since my last ride, could almost have done with lights.
Thoroughly enjoyable 18.75 miles at 12.8mph avg
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itboffin
Guru
- Location
- Marlborough, Windshire
Doing the hopefully last bits of paperwork for my divorce and sale of house today so two rides, 20 this morning and 10 Miles this evening, I can understand why the NHS are prescribing cycling, I will be sad and happy to move away from here because it’s so damn hilly and windy all the time but a great way to get ‘n stay fit. My solution is to move somewhere even tougher and always keep on cycling.
