Your ride today....

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And, yesterdays ride, flat hunting.

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I've lived here for 20 years but passing signs like this still makes me feel I'm somewhere exotic...
 

buzz22

Senior Member
I headed out to Woronora Dam for a bit of hill work on my Giant CFR. The peace and quiet was just what was needed after a solid week.
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A magnificent day, no traffic and a nice glimpse of the water on the way back up the hill (which was worthy of a quick photo).
A puncture slowed down proceedings on the way out but didn't spoil what was a nice 53km ride.
 

Glow worm

Legendary Member
Location
Near Newmarket
A breezy 16 miles here today in north Norfolk
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Rode around the Holkham estate

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St Withburga church. In all the 25 or so years I’ve ridden these parts, for some reason I’d never explored this part of the Holkham estate before.
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Headed back through the woods alongside the lake - saw a fallen oak ahead, spent ages looking at the rings on the trunk trying to work out how old it was

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After all that I looked at the stump and found someone had done the working out for me ! 177 years old, almost middle aged for an oak.
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A bit further along the lake.
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Finally - the home straight. This part of the world is cycling bliss !
 
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Two rides to report, ala @Rickshaw Phil .
First was the test ride oin the newly-reconstituted Trek Navigator 100, bought for a whopping £10.
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A slow ride, punctuated by many adjustments, as well as tw PCSOs wandering about, plus an actual copper with a sniffer dog and a car, on the Gem Bridge!
Different, to say the least...
It's a good bike but needs that suspension fork binning, pronto...More details of actual thoughts can be found here. Overall, I'm pleased with it.

Today: just a short one, Trek again, two and a bit laps around Burrator Resevoir. Much quicker, but then it's much flatter. Gears better but still need work.

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Much warmer day, and finished off with a large Willy with two Flakes at the dam.
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gavgav

Guru
My Genesis has been up to @Rickshaw Phil ’s for its annual service and had a fair bit of work done to it, with a new chain, cassette and small chain ring, amongst other smaller bits. I’d had trouble with gears and chain coming off, for a while now.

Phil picked me up and drove us to his, for a short test ride. We went up Lyth Hill, across the A49 and then to Condover, Cantlop, Betton Abbots and parted ways near mine. It was cool and breezy at times.

The gears were so much better, like being back to new again and the new brake pads felt more secure plus the annoying rattle on one of the hoods has been sorted.

An excellent job thanks Phil. (9.44 miles)

View from Lyth Hill, of the Caradoc and Lawley
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Donger

Convoi Exceptionnel
Location
Quedgeley, Glos.
Out in glorious sunshine today on our latest cyclocrawl cider sampling ride. Just 17.6 miles with Simon and Tony out to The Bell Inn on the village green in Frampton on Severn .....
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and back via the Anchor Inn on the banks of the Severn in Epney .....
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Well impressed by the large private collection of Jack Russell cricket paintings in the Anchor. I could study those for hours, they are so detailed. Tony had to shoot off after half an hour at the Anchor, so Simon and I rode back to my place for coffees in the back garden with Mrs Donger ..... after stopping off at the local dairy farm for a couple of Wholly Cow ice creams straight from the farm. I'm all for adventurous flavours, but I felt that "Chocolate and Marmite" was a step too far.:stop: It did seem to have been selling well though. I went for a coffee cone, which was quite superb. A very enterprising little business. Along with Simon (who is as follically challenged as me) I overdid the sun today, and am now doing a fair impression of a radioactive lobster. A great little ride, though.
 
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Errands day. The plan was to go to the post, chemist, supermarket, and pick up a parcel.

Then I found some shop keys in my pocket; oh, poo.

So, change of plan: this means I need to go to the other end of the town anyway, so I'll swing by an apartment I need to look at this afternoon, do a couple of extra errands, and then work my way back to my current apartment.

So... Off to the other end of town. Find apartment building. Okay, not pretty but not too bad. Time ride from there to work; 6 minutes. That's a plus point. Drop off keys to amusement of colleague who knows how often this happens. Hardware store, back under railway, along cycleway to village; supermarket, parcel, Post Office, chemist, home with heavy Xtracycle.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
Cycle mate had an off a few weeks ago going over the bars after going into a pot hole so he hasnt been riding , bought his bike around for some fettling to get it road worthy again .We then decided to go for a test ride to see how the bike and his body felt . a steady ride of around 15 miles to the bank house cafe alrewas and back again .
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roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Deadly Sin in the Peak:

Set off after a gluttonously substantial roast lamb leftovers sarnie and meandered to Bosley lights. Thence the main road climb known as "Dumbers" (don't ask me why) and down to Allgreave.

Flash, which claims to be the highest village in Britain and more importantly features an excellent cafe, is the first aim. There's a rather brutal back lane alternative, and I'm feeling good, so can't resist. It hurts.

The Peak is marvellous in dappled sunlight, the moors having their one day a year of actually looking green and it's lovely to see so many bluebells still out, long gone at lower altitude. So marvellous indeed that I can't resist pressing on further to Longnor.

Here the gluttony commences at Cobbles Cafe. Very good fruit loaf.
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Gluttony is for life, not just for cafes, so next stop:

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On to the climb of Dowel Dale, amidst stunning limestone scenery and the ancient fossil reefs of Chrome Hill and Parkside:
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Finally over Axe Edge then the Cat & Fiddle into the inevitable head wind, and return via the lonely Lamaload Road, Deadman's Hill and a what felt like a very well deserved descent of the Brickworks.

85k, 1600m climbing. Perfick!
 
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This was it, I had to make a decision: Forward or back?

I hadn't really planned to come this far: Yesterday evening a good friend had called and got me all motivated about going for a ride this morning. I'm not sure how, seeing as we'd mostly talked about his job, but nonetheless, after getting off the phone, I'd decided I'd go on a ride.

But not too far; let's be sensible here.

A quick 50-60k around the Kaiserstühl, a very extinct volcano in the middle of the Rhine valley; yes, that sounded good; it was flat, I knew the route well, so I could just trundle around in my usual way and get back by lunch with plenty of time to tidy up the apartment, which was frankly getting right out of hand, and sort myself out for important things like work the next day, followed by an appointment to view an apartment.

So why was I in France, deciding whether or not to go exploring right across to the Voges mountains?

I'd woken up that morning with the feeling that following my usual route would be a bit dull, a bit lacking in adventure.

Why Not, I reasoned as I tried not to burn my toast on the grill, go over to Neuf Brisach in France and then find European Cycle Route 15 north, and then follow that to... I consulted Google again, spraying crumbs liberally on the keyboard... "Merckolsheim... and then cross back over into Germany?" it'd make the route a bit longer and a bit different, and it's a canal, canals are flat and you can't go wrong easily. My leg muscles registered disquiet, and my map only went as far as the Rhine, but undeterred I checked google one more time and made a highly detailed topographical representation of the route:

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Two years studying for Geography A-Levels well spent, I think, not to mention GCSE Graphic Design.

Off I went, through the local villages, reached the border and crossed over the Rhine into France, through the curious concrete labyrinth of the planned French town on the other side and into Neuf Brisach, a Vauban fortified town and UNESCO heritage site. It's also a normal town so there were great monuments and grand gateways next to the plumbers and post office.

Following the highly accurate map and some handy signs, I found Route fifteen and headed north.

The distances the signs showed to Colmar were shorter than I'd thought. At first I ignored this but as they kept getting shorter, my Sense Of Adventure began to agitate, whispering:

"it's only a few kilometres, and it's flat..."

"Excuse us" answered the Leg Muscles, "But we've not done anything like this for quite some time, so we'd like to just keep going and head back home, thankyouverymuch."

The distances kept going down: 24km to Colmar... then 20km, then 18... and suddenly the junction of the canal turned up and the sign said "Colmar 15km."

"Look" said my Sense Of Adventure. "15km, dead straight and dead flat. On Tarmac by the looks of it..."

"That's 30km there and back" Butted in the Committee For Being Sensible, "It'll take at least two hours longer. And there's washing up to do, and the bedding needs cleaning, and have you seen the state of the floor?"

"Yes, and we would like to lodge a formal complaint at the treatment we are being given" added the leg muscles. "We are not used to this sort of thing, and..."

"Only 15km..."

"Ow."

"Shutupshutupshutup..."

At this point some cycle tourists passed heading for Colmar.

You can guess what happened next.

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Back to EU Cycle route 15 and north to Merckolsheim. It wasn't far from the junction.

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Quick photo of the junction...

"Strasbourg 49km" said the sign.
"Don't even think about it" said the legs...
 
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gavgav

Guru
Yesterday’s ride. Not been out for many miles this month, due to other plans, so took the opportunity to get a 50k in. It was a cool and cloudy morning, did wear shorts, but for the first few miles I did think it may have been a mistake. Soon warmed up enough though.

I followed cycle paths up to Heathgates roundabout and then, whilst going down Whitchurch Rd, met 2 police cars hurtling along, on both sides of the road. They looked in a hurry for something……turned out to be this, at the roundabout just where I’d cycled through! https://www.shropshirestar.com/news...d-sports-car-and-arrest-driver-in-shrewsbury/

I then took the old canal path and out onto roads to Upton Magna. I was following a group of cyclists, from there to Withington, never quite reeled them in but kept up with their fairly decent pace. Next was the bone shaker road around through Isombridge and out at Longden on Tern.

From there I went through Rodington, Roden and then took the lane to Poynton, almost collected a small dog that ran out of a farm, as did the motorbike following. The lane to Bings Heath was traffic free and I turned out of the wind, for the climb up Ebury Hill, which was nice. A bit of sun had started to break through the clouds now, as I climbed up East Haughmond and then enjoyed the fast descent back to Upton Magna.

I took the Pelham Rd to Berwick Wharf and then Atcham, pausing on the old bridge for a snack and seeing some geese enjoying themselves on the water.
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The lane to Cross Houses wasn’t too busy with traffic, but the short section on the A458 was very busy, before I turned off to Berrington and Betton Abbots. Had to pause on the nice fast section, due to 2 tipper lorry drivers having a chat, blocking the road, which was annoying!

I waited an age to get back out onto the A458 for another short section, before arriving home with 33.58 miles on the clock.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
I was going to go out for a hundred plus miler this morning, but I had a bit of a lay in, so got up a little too late for that mileage. Never mind. Got the bike out of the garage anyway and went for a nice pootle around the London greenbelt and Kent countryside. Showers were predicted but thankfully I managed to dodge them.
About 20 miles in I bumped into an old fellow commuting buddy. He's now a wfh chap so havn't seen him on the commute since before first lockdown. Was nice to catch up.
So score on the doors, a nice 50 miles for the day.
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Charles Darwin's house
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Eynesford Viaduct
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West Kingsdown Windmill nr Brands Hatch
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Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
Two from Friday.

Afternoon: Another breezy day and I was free later in the day than hoped so did a variation of a regular route to try and make the most of the wind direction and time. The knockabout bike was used for convenience and I started off through Condover to Ryton, Longnor and along the old Roman Road to Hollyhurst. This all went pretty well and the wind was mostly helpful. To make a change I took a diversion through Comley and Botvyle which involves a bit of climbing to warm me up.

Having crossed the A49 I doubled back on the usual route through Dudgeley and worked my way round to Smethcott where I decided to carry on climbing and head for Picklescott which is a pretty little place and looks great on a sunny May afternoon. The descent from Picklescott is a nice one with great views and brought me back onto my usual route near to Wilderley Croft.

It was a bit of an effort into the wind through Wilderley and on to Pulverbatch but thankfully the climb into the village was fairly sheltered. Usually when I do the route in this direction I like to head along the main road as it's mostly a fast flowing downhill. This time I thought I'd take the road round Broom Hill to Wrentnall - I'd forgotten quite how much climbing there is doing it this way round.:laugh:

From Wrentnall I headed to Oaks then down the hill into Plealey, having to pause a few times as the road was a bit busier than I'm used to. Picking up a tailwind was nice and in another detour took a right for Longden, through the village and along Summerhouse Lane to enjoy a roundabout way of getting to Exford's Green. I climbed up to Lyth Hill using Green Lane this time - this is a bridleway and quite rocky in places so was slow going but scenic. At one point I did have the back wheel slip and I came down on the saddle a bit hard.:blink:

31 miles for this one at 11.5 mph average. Enjoyed that and the countryside looked fabulous.

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Caer Caradoc from the road to Comley.

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At the top of the climb after Comley and looking back towards The Lawley.

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At Botvyle looking towards the Long Mynd.

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A couple of shots from Picklescott.

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On the descent from Picklescott.

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Later on, at the top of Green Lane.

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Evening: As @gavgav has already reported, I picked him up and we set off to do a shakedown ride with his newly fettled bike. It was a shortish one taking in Lyth Hill, Condover and Cantlop before heading back to Gav's.

The bike seems to work well and didn't need any further tweaks. Mine could do with it though as a squealing back brake on the Raleigh lets everyone know when I am stopping.:shy:

11.7miles for me at a sociable 11.6 mph average.

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