Your ride today....

[gavgav]

My ride yesterday evening. A cool one, wind not too bad, as I set off along the cycle paths to Reabrook and Heathgates. From there it was onto quiet roads through Castlefields and alongside the River Severn at Sydney Avenue. The river looked fairly high, even though it was difficult to see for sure in the dark, but, upon reaching the weir, my suspicions were confirmed as the flood gates along the towpath were closed.

So, quick think of an alternative route and I decided to head up to the old Dana prison and then along the shared use path on Smithfield Road, into the Quarry. From there it was up through Porthill and on to Shelton, where the traffic lights have gone and down through Mytton Oak to Radbrook.

I then followed Mousecroft Lane, went through Nobold and Meole Village, where I spotted signs to say the road will be closed from 21st Feb, for 3 days, mental note taken…..I’ll probably still forget!!

I arrived home with 12.23 miles on the clock.

 

[ianbarton]

A sunny day, but a stiff breeze. After I had taken Leo for his morning walk, I
decided to cycle to Wem.

There was a strong westerly breeze, so I was cycling into the wind all the way
to Whixall. My heart rate was in the red zone almost constantly until I turned
left at Whixall towards Lowe. I was glad to reach the top of the hill above Wem
and enjoyed coating down to the main road.

A sunny day, but cold and with a strong breeze. I set off from home and cycled
past Tittenley lake, followed by a couple of steep uphills to Moreton
Say. Passing through Willaston and Millenheath I had to wait to cross the A49
with traffic now back to pre-pandemic levels. There was a stiff westerly breeze
blowing in my face. I decided the turn left in Prees, which meant I had the
steep climb back to the church on the return leg.

There followed a lovely downhill section before joining the B road at Prees
Lower Heath. As I approached the a49 for the second time it started to
hail. Luckily it was only a light shower and by the time I reached Wem it had
stopped. There was a short delay at the level crossing waiting for a freight
train to pass. I continued along the street in Wem and stopped at the library
cafe to refuel. Their sandwiches are freshly made while you wait and there is a
good selection of homemade cakes.

After lunch, I set off towards Lowe. The wind was mostly behind me. Approaching
the right turn at Whixall I noticed that my heart rate was 192bpm! I wasn't
feeling particularly stressed, but I have a cold with a blocked nose. My
normal max heart rate, which I almost never reach is 185bpm!

Heading back into Prees the short steep climb back up towards the church didn't
feel as bad as usual. Back over the A49 for the third time, the long slowing
rising hill to Ightfield didn't feel too bad with the wind behind me. From Ightfield
it's mostly downhill with the wind behind me.




Wem high street.

Waiting for the train at Wem.

Bottom of the steep hill up to the Church at Prees.

A busy A49 near Prees.

 

[Spiderweb]

It was too cold to ride this morning so waited until after lunch to get out. A nice steady road ride out to Askham Bryan and Acaster Malbis, 27 miles with an average of 15 mph.

 

[geocycle]

Had blocked today to read something for work, but weather was forecast to be good and weekend looks wet and windy -Again! I couldn’t face another weekend without a ride so hang the thesis, I decided to head to Bowland. First big hill was Jubilee Tower near Lancaster, then brilliant descent to Marshaw. Ice melting at the edge of the road. Climbed up the Trough and met drizzle which at 2 degrees felt unpleasant, down the Hodder Valley past the lovely inn at Whitewell. Then had a wild boar chase, headed up past the boar park before meeting road closed signs, Normally you can get through but this time they were felling a very large tree, so had to retreat. Lunch in Chipping then the third climb of the day up Beacon Fell. Good day for raptors including buzzard, kestrel and barn owl. 52 miles and 1250m of climbing.

Pictures of Jubilee Tower and some trees trying to pretend the Forest of Bowland is a woodland.

 

[Noodle Legs]

**copied/edited from MHCAM chatzone**

Long weekend 2/8 began early with an epic slog up to see the granddaughter in Clay Cross just outside Chesterfield. Using the quiet lanes and paths getting to and through Derby itself, it was lumpy as anything once I got north of the city walls which is typical of Derbyshire! As is also typical with this stunning county, the views never disappoint and it makes all the climbing, huffing puffing and sweating all the more worthwhile! No cake stop today but the sight of my four month old granddaughter as she had discovered her voice (in between chewing her fingers due to teething) telling me a story was sweet enough! Due to work and other commitments this was the first time I’d seen her since Christmas and was taken aback by her rapid growth and development in that short time.

Moving on from my little love fest, I figured in my route planning that I would pull in a couple of nearby Midlands climbs whilst out that way- namely Carr Lane and Hardwick Hall. These both came within 10 miles of my granddaughter’s place and although challenging, they were not the most brutal nor the most memorable. On from there, it was another 30-35 miles of constant up and down as I passed through South Normanton, Codnor, Heanor and the pleasant Shipley Country Park, the terrain not really levelling up until I got back down to Shardlow just east of Derby. The fatigue was kicking in and I was silently berating my performance only to then discover at the end of my ride that I’d done 101 miles and over 6,000 feet of climbing. No wonder I was pooped!

A great ride out.

*EDIT* Timelapse video now attached. Doesn’t show whole ride as I left camera on between shots which quickly drained my battery!

View: https://youtu.be/A3urCq8c4cM

 

[cwskas]

We have had a string of really good weather this week and I finally got my trike up and running last Sunday. <-- One of my grandsons fixed three flats I had from a 2 mile section I had done on a trail in the woods.

On February 8, after getting my trike home I did an out/back to see if I still knew how to pedal after 22 days . . . and of course to check everything out. The trike performed quite well and I exceeded my expectations! A much needed ride! 22.8 miles, 13.6 mph, 1h40m moving & 1h47m overall, 127 bpm average HR. Only took 1 picture.

These radar domes are about 5 miles from our home. I have inquired about what the purpose is,
but can't recall the answer. The evening light was nice so I circled back for the picture.

​

On Feb 10, I went into Waco for a regularly scheduled thursday ride with one of the local bike clubs. I had not joined them before but was pretty sure I would know some of the riders and the expected route was one I had never cycled. The other 9 riders are all much faster than me but this was scheduled to be a no-drop ride and there were regular breaks to let me catch up.

It was a beautiful afternoon and if I had been riding by myself I would have taken quite a few pictures, but I was keeping a fast pace and only took time to get one picture and one short video of everyone riding by after the only rest stop. Very patient group, only one of which I had met before. 34.5 miles, 14.2 mph, 2h24m moving & 2h40m overall, an average HR of 139 bpm. That is really working hard for me.

Friday, Febrary 12, I rode with my main local buddy who is slowly recovering from the virus. Very relaxing and again a beautiful day. 20 miles, 2h10m moving, 2h44m overall and average HR of 102 bpm. Very relaxing, just what I needed.

That last is not very clear because it was zoomed quite a lot for a phone. But it was worth a try.

The next two days will be with grandsons who are competing in mountain bike competitions. I plan to take my trike and will see what some of the country side is like. No more trails for me!

More info on the little church here.

Willie

 

[Dave 123]

Just a little bit of a ride today. I aborted due to bloody awful dental pain in the cold wind.
First time on my Spa for a while.

 

[galaxy]

Away working Nights. Deep joy. Brought a bike with me. Got out along the Kennet & Avon Canal and a few local roads. Nice enjoyable 19 miles. Albeit a stiff headwind in places

 

[DCLane]

I spent a very windy morning with the University of Nottingham Cycling Club, or rather son no. 2 did and I spent my morning chasing them round in headwinds/crosswinds: https://www.strava.com/activities/6671620103

Several university students, my son, a decent rider in their 30's plus a couple of oldies helping to raise funds for their Harvey Hadden race series later this year: https://www.yellowwoodcafe.co.uk/events/ride/

No photos, except for the Yellow Wood Café in the 52 Café's thread, as they hardly slowed.

 

[13 rider]

I spent a very windy morning with the University of Nottingham Cycling Club, or rather son no. 2 did and I spent my morning chasing them round in headwinds/crosswinds: https://www.strava.com/activities/6671620103

Several university students, my son, a decent rider in their 30's plus a couple of oldies helping to raise funds for their Harvey Hadden race series later this year: https://www.yellowwoodcafe.co.uk/events/ride/

No photos, except for the Yellow Wood Café in the 52 Café's thread, as they hardly slowed.

How was Terrace hill the only top 100 climbs in my neck of woods

 

[DCLane]

How was Terrace hill the only top 100 climbs in my neck of woods

Steep

I wasn't last up, with one of the students behind me

Son no. 2 was first up

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Friday's ride:

Having been off the bike for over a week (had a trip to Cardiff) I jumped at the opportunity when my brother wanted to get a ride in. After discussion we settled on one of my usual routes of about 24 miles and set out to climb Lyth Hill. Early on we came up against a set of temporary traffic lights which one of the residents warned us may be stuck on red so we hopped off and walked the bikes through instead.

As we were climbing up Lyth Hill Doug asked whether we were heading right over the top. I hadn't intended to but told him that we could if he wanted to head that way. So, my planned route was abandoned. Instead we headed over the hill and dropped down to Annscroft then worked the long way round to Exford's Green and Stapleton before turning along the lanes and climbing towards Pulverbatch. A black cocker spaniel was wandering round on the road as we approached a couple of cottages on this road and for a moment I thought it was going to follow us, but he/she lost interest fairly quickly.

From Pulverbatch we dropped down the hill and took the undulating lane to Wilderley. Doug was doing pretty well so we carried on the climbing to Smethcott then dropped down to Leebotwood (I don't think that Doug has cycled this way before). Reaching the church we were feeling the cold a bit - as well as just having come down a long descent the temperature had dropped quite a bit since we set out, so an extra layer was donned before we headed across the A49 and turned northwards along the old Roman road for home.

We now had the wind at our back and the gradient mostly in our favour as we headed to Longnor, Ryton and Condover. Doug had enough left in the legs to press on a bit so we had a nice quick run along this section, finishing with the dash up to the A49 which was quite busy and seemed to have some impolite drivers on it this time. They weren't bad enough to spoil the good mood though.

24.7 miles at a pretty respectible 11.1 mph average. Doug's Strava reckons we did 1538 feet of climbing.

A couple of shots from the top of Lyth Hill.

Drink stop at Church Pulverbatch.

On the way to Wilderley

 

[AndreaJ]

I decided that the weather didn’t look that bad this morning and go out despite the rest of the cycling group wimping out with all sorts of excuses because they didn’t want to get wet!
I planned to stay fairly close to home so I could head back if the weather got worse. Set off through the village to Northwood avoiding the usual way as it would probably be flooded going the long way to Welshampton via Bettisfield and Breadon Heath. Took the lane by the church to Lyneal then around Colemere and across to Brown Heath. Turned back to Loppington, Nonely, Tilley and into Wem. There was a bit of a traffic jam by the railway bridge which was flooded so cars were taking turns to slowly get through, luckily I was going the other way towards Lowe Hill, Ryebank and Whixall before heading back to Northwood and home.
Having riden over several miles of hedge cuttings I wasn’t that surprised to notice that the back tyre was slowly deflating , as it was fairly close to home I decided to try and get home to fix it in the warm especially as the wind was getting worse. It was a bit disappointing for a brand new tyre though which had taken a bit of a battle to get on!
Lots of puddles, mud and hedge cuttings on the roads. 32.5 windy miles and surprisingly not much rain.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Weather had cleared up by lunchtime and I needed some stuff from Lidl so off I went on a mundane shopping trip, brightened by the swelling buds of daffodils in the verges and some ENORMOUS catkins overhanging the paths! Muddy and mucky off tarmac and lots of large puddles on tarmac; the on-tarmac puddles are the most dangerous as they're more likely to have big potholes and cracks in them so several very wide berths had to be given. Dropped some paperbacks off at the Charity shop then into Lidl for some basics and a couple of treats, and a pleasant ride back squinting into the low and damp-looking sun. It's almost exactly 3 miles there and 3 miles back, but I always stop to look at catkins, talk to dogs etc.
Coming back there were quite a few mums and dads accompanying young (7-8yo ish) kids on bikes on sections of the path; always a cheering sight when they're not in a Chelsea tractor!

 

[gavgav]

Took advantage of my early finish day at work, to make the most of a window of opportunity in the monsoons and before Armageddon arrives with Dudley and Eunice, to get a much needed ride in.

I wanted some hills and so took the steepest route to Dad’s. It wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, as I set off down to Meole and upon crossing the Reabrook, via the small footbridge, it was a raging torrent and as bad as I’ve seen it flood the underpass. With the brook being a tributary for the Severn, it doesn’t bode well for the town and indeed the flood barriers are already going up…

The main road through Hook a Gate and Annscroft was busy but all traffic really well behaved and that’s often not the case along there, before I joined the lane to Plealey. It was then the steep climb up to Oaks, which is about 300 ft in just over a mile, made worse today by a carpet of hedge cuttings, which no attempt to clear has been made. Thankfully some vehicles had flattened the worst of it and with it being wet it helped, so I somehow avoided a puncture.

The descent down the lane towards Pulverbatch, was basically a river, which washed some of the mud off, before a short section back on the main road into the village. The wind was behind me on the long downhill section to Stapleton, tempered a bit by having to pull in for 5 cars, but still good fun, if a little wet and muddy.

I stopped off at Dad’s and had a chat to him for half an hour, plus he supplied me with some Worcestershire Hop Cheese before setting off home. It was my regular route back, via Gonsal, Condover and Betton Abbots, now that the roadworks have finished. Some more resurfacing has been done, but not on the worst bit by the Quarry .

20.57 miles at 11:2mph avg and 1144ft of climbing.