Your ride today....

[HLaB]

I was questioning my sanity on the way out but I had great company and we were all glad we'd made the effort to cycle down to today's stage of the Tour of Britain. It passed us twice. We watched it on its first pass at Franklin's farm and Dairy Cafe, then cycled along to the Northill Road sprint point.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/mDcLm2ey0gg?si=Qn_2r_nv6sWbrOUH

 

[sevenfourate]

Flying to vacation later. So might be last ride for a little while ☹️ Unless we can find bikes for hire 😁

Either way - I was keen for a few miles today. And started early (Timed perfectly!) to arrive back at my home Town seafront just after sunrise……

 

[gavgav]

Hi all, hope everyone is well. Been a long time since I posted in here, but @Rickshaw Phil , myself and 2 friends did C2C last weekend and there is a write up here if anyone should wish to take a look

Post in thread 'Coast to Coast advice'
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/coast-to-coast-advice.300814/post-7488062

 

[wafter]

After another exhausting week today's plan was back to the homestead post-haste... however upon waking oddly refreshed to an absolute cracker of a morning I couldn't let it go un-enjoyed. Out on the Fuji to the other side of the city for a particularly encouraging session on the rings with a good dose of stretches, then back into town to treat myself to a delicious halloumi wrap from the ever excellent Rozana in the covered market.

Everything conspired to make this otherwise unremarkable ride a really pleasant 18-odd miles, perking up the otherwise declining plots on my mileage graph to give around 640 miles on the rolling 30 day and 170 for the rolling week; with 140 of those having been over the past five days.

Feeling pretty good considering this has been accompanied by two kickboxing classes and two sessions on the rings; although I suspect all will be less splendid over the following days as the inevitable muscle soreness sets in.

 

[Elybazza61]

Ride up to Downham Market today via Denver with the better half so a nice chilled 37km.

 

[geocycle]

Not had chance for a ride this week so I was really hoping for some dry weather today. The gods obliged and I headed out to Burton in Lonsdale from where I had plotted a route up Kingsdale. Wahoo described it as an 11 km climb with gradient of 7%, in fact it is several steep ramps with flat sections and even some downhill in between. There are even 4 gates to negotiate which is challenging on the descent. With admirable forethought the mountain rescue team were holding an exercise at different points in the valley giving a sense of security. I lunched in Dent and then exited Dentdale via the head of valley road which is still closed to vehicles but open for bikes now. Back via Ribblehead and Ingleton. 106 km with 1330 m of climbing.

Pictures of view from climb into Kingsdale, Ingleborough, view back down Kingsdale, and Dentdale.

 

[HLaB]

My usual group ride today. My big mate who's not been riding much was out so we kept it a social pace. One of my other mates despite being incredibly fit is recovering from a blood clot so keeping his Heart Rate down to (his zone 2 though is still fast). We also bumped into another couple of mates at the calf. They all went straight home and only 2 of us went the long route. I say straight home but they actually went home by mate who hasn't been riding much, and when I was on my own I bumped into some of them again which meant I had a nice bit of company to town.

Check out this Flyover of my ride on Strava: https://strava.app.link/qNlbhXpWrWb

 

[HLaB]

Despite the good weather there wasn't many people out today. Just 2 in the short ride (and one of them goes out normally in the long ride), 3 in the mid ride and 3 (including me) in the longer ride and 1 of them was stepping up from the mid ride. She coped well with the social pace I set and she's delighted with her longest ride 👏 tbh it would have probably been difficult to control the pace as well with a larger group.

 

[bruce1530]

Today's adventure was the "Tour De 4" - the Chris Hoy ride supporting cancer charities.

I was doing the Red Route (90k nominally, actually 92) and was in wave 4 so starting about 9.30. Almost entirely on roads I'd never cycled before.

Drove into Glasgow (no trains before 9 on a sunday ), parked at the office then a 4k warm up out to the Velodrome in the east end.

It was busy. i don't know what the actual numbers were, but we estimated 2000 on the "red route", close on 1000 on the shorter Blue, and lots more doing the events inside the velodrome complex. A staggered start over about 3 hours.

Weather was dry, wind from the west, forecast for rain later.

First hour was a pleasant run northeast, through the Glasgow suburbs. Sunday morning so roads quiet, apart from thousands of cyclists. 19k in we reach the first food stop at Twechar.

At that point the heavens opened. Grabbed something to eat, and sheltered for 10 mins hoping the rain would stop. It didn't, so on with the rain jacket and back on the road.

5k later we reach the scary bit. The "Tak Ma Doon" road climbs about 300m over 4k. And when I reached the bottom, the rain was torrential - it was like a river coming down it. It was a long slog, but eventually got to the top. It should have been a fast descent, but conditions were awful and I didn't know the road, so took it very gingerly.

Another stop at 34k, at the east end of the Carron Valley reservoir. Rain had stopped by this point. Just as well, as the access path to the food stop was more suited to a mountain bike!

The route is now heading west alongside the reservoir. Some stunning scenery. Mostly good roads, but one or two bits that would take your fillings out! Through Fintry and Killearn to another food stop at Strathblane (66k).

As I arrived at Strathblane, I heard some familiar voices - my 2 grandchildren shouting "Go Papa!"

Extended stop there with the family before starting again on a lumpy section past Mugdock Park, Torrence and Bishopbriggs. The final section back into Glasgow was via the same route we had left a few hours ago. It should have been easier, since downhill, but was a pain due to the traffic levels.

Arrived back at the velodrome, a beer, something to eat, and headed back to the car. 92k on strava, around 100 with the ride in and out.

A great day, and well over 2k raised for Prostate Scotland.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

16 km on the local bike path, a few of them loose dirt.

Doesn’t sound like much but it was done on a 70 pound e-cargo bike and I didn’t turn the motor on.

The hills hurt.

 

[HLaB]

Took today off as the rest of the week doesn't look good and I headed down to a cycle cafe that was reviewed well and located in an interesting village

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharnbrook

It was also the 35,000th mile anniversary of the bike I bought in Nov 18 looking for answers why I was getting slow (it turned out a chronic iron deficiency caused by bowel cancer was the reason)

As usual these days it was quite slow until I got warmed up.

The next 60miles were good though :-)

 

[ColinJ]

It is definitely starting to feel more autumnal now... Sunny spells less frequent; warm rather than hot; sunset earlier and earlier. It won't be long before evening rides would be in the dark!

Rain is forecast here tomorrow (Wednesday) so that will be a turbo day for me, but it was sunny today (Tuesday) so I set out to do a nice late afternoon/early evening ride. I wanted to get 50+ km in and needed a bit extra adding to my chosen route for that so I did a warm-up from Todmorden to Walsden. While I was there I decided to climb up a steep little dead-end road - Birks Ln/Hollingworth Ln, the top of which features on the Pennine Bridleway. It used to half kill me but today it just made me a bit short of breath - I must be getting fitter!

The view was great but I couldn't be bothered to extract my phone from my backpack to take a photo, so I've cropped this from a Streetview picture...

I am going to buy a small frame bag to hold my phone and a couple of other small items so I will be taking more photos on future rides.

Back down to Walsden, then the scenic route via Lumbutts and Mankinholes towards Hebden Bridge, avoiding 5 km of the busy A6033 & A646. Then I dropped to the A646 to Hebden Bridge, and did the steepish climb of Heptonstall Rd/Lee Wood Rd/Draper Ln to Slack. From there I took the very scenic Widdop Rd, past a half full reservoir, and up to the summit of Ridehalgh Ln beyond.

This time I did decide to take some pictures...

The big lump in the distance, ahead left, is Pendle Hill. The more distant lumps further into the distance on the right are one or more of the Three Peaks in the Dales.

A great spot to stop to enjoy the view.

Unfortunately... Some dodgy builders obviously thought it was also a great spot to flytip their load to avoid council waste disposal charges!

I plunged down the descent ahead and discovered that my chosen route to the left was closed off. I went to the right instead, which involves a slightly tougher climb. Again, out of breath rather than half dead - fitness progress. The last time I cycled up there I developed afib which lasted for hours!!

The rest of my route was via Haggate, Worsthorne, and Overtown, joining the A646 at Southward Bottom for a rapid ride back down the valley to Todmorden.

51.7 km in total, with 1,016 m of ascent according to my Elemnt Bolt.

 

[HLaB]

It is definitely starting to feel more autumnal now... Sunny spells less frequent; warm rather than hot; sunset earlier and earlier. It won't be long before evening rides would be in the dark!

Rain is forecast here tomorrow (Wednesday) so that will be a turbo day for me, but it was sunny today (Tuesday) so I set out to do a nice late afternoon/early evening ride. I wanted to get 50+ km in and needed a bit extra adding to my chosen route for that so I did a warm-up from Todmorden to Walsden. While I was there I decided to climb up a steep little dead-end road - Birks Ln/Hollingworth Ln, the top of which features on the Pennine Bridleway. It used to half kill me but today it just made me a bit short of breath - I must be getting fitter!

View attachment 786579

The view was great but I couldn't be bothered to extract my phone from my backpack to take a photo, so I've cropped this from a Streetview picture...

View attachment 786580

I am going to buy a small frame bag to hold my phone and a couple of other small items so I will be taking more photos on future rides.

Back down to Walsden, then the scenic route via Lumbutts and Mankinholes towards Hebden Bridge, avoiding 5 km of the busy A6033 & A646. Then I dropped to the A646 to Hebden Bridge, and did the steepish climb of Heptonstall Rd/Lee Wood Rd/Draper Ln to Slack. From there I took the very scenic Widdop Rd, past a half full reservoir, and up to the summit of Ridehalgh Ln beyond.

This time I did decide to take some pictures...

View attachment 786581

The big lump in the distance, ahead left, is Pendle Hill. The more distant lumps further into the distance on the right are one or more of the Three Peaks in the Dales.

A great spot to stop to enjoy the view.

Unfortunately... Some dodgy builders obviously thought it was also a great spot to flytip their load to avoid council waste disposal charges!

View attachment 786582

I plunged down the descent ahead and discovered that my chosen route to the left was closed off. I went to the right instead, which involves a slightly tougher climb. Again, out of breath rather than half dead - fitness progress. The last time I cycled up there I developed afib which lasted for hours!!

The rest of my route was via Haggate, Worsthorne, and Overtown, joining the A646 at Southward Bottom for a rapid ride back down the valley to Todmorden.

51.7 km in total, with 1,016 m of ascent according to my Elemnt Bolt.

A tasty wee climb with good views at the top 👍 There's nothing here as steep (RWGPS claims 11.6% max on my ride yesterday) and nothing with a decent view, the only thing we could rival you for is fly tipping 🙄

I think this straight after lunch was the biggest.

This one is fun

But as you can tell from the speed you've a decent descent into it

The weather here today (Wednesday) was typically overrated, it was forecasted light rain (morning), with very strong winds and heavy rain continuously in the evening so I chose Tuesday for my day off. I'm glad I did but its just been a strong breeze, 2 light showers during the day and one heavy short heavy shower after tea.

 

[HLaB]

I can't believe its over 11 years since I've ridden that course. I'm quite a bit slower than my pb but not too slow in comparison to the other efforts. And my 2014 PB was in a group of at least 6, all well drilled and taking even turns. Tonight was just 3 and of them only I knew the route, my mate had to stop and ask me directions at one point but I mainly took the front to avoid that.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Rode about 5km this morning. Not much really, but it was a very important ride…

yup… thats two dozen beers in that tub, what a useful little bike!