Last Sunday (22nd Feb): It had been a really nice sunny day with the first hint of Spring warmth. Unfortunately I had things to do so I couldn't get out for a ride until mid-afternoon. By that time I could only spare a couple of hours so the longer Acton Burnell route was an obvious choice to get the most miles done in the available time. It would also be a good shake-down ride for a new rear derailleur I'd fitted onto the Hawk the previous day. I'd finally had to accept that the Alivio derailleur had worn out and the replacement is a Sunrace M90. I could feel the difference straight away as i set out with the shifts now being crisp and precise. Practically as good as on my better bikes in fact.
I had a brisk cross-headwind for the first few miles. The road to Condover was surprisingly busy this time but it was a lot quieter on the other side of the village. The wind had dried out the roads pretty well, although there was still run off from the fields and plenty of mud in places - it would have been quite nice to have had cleaner roads for testing a new component.
After pausing at the crossroads near Longnor for a quick drink I picked up a nice tailwind which allowed for some good cruising speeds on the road to Frodesley then Acton Burnell. I even caught up with a couple of other cyclists on much lighter bikes, which was fun. They weren't rushing though, to be fair.
The tailwind continued helping to Cound Moor and down the long straight there, which, unusually I had completely to myself on this occasion. The climb to Harnage was alright then I found I didn't recognise the flag at Cound. Looking it up later I think it was that of Gambia.
I thought that I'd put off turning back into the wind by heading up to the A458 but it turned out to be busier than I was happy with so I turned off it again at the first opportunity straight to Berrington. Lyons Lane was a real plod directly into the wind back to Condover where I'd hoped I'd have it helping me back towards the A49. Unfortunately though it was a crosswind that felt more like it was hindering instead. It was slightly more favourable for the short stretch on the A49 and helped by being on freshly resurfaced tarmac but by now I didn't have the energy in the legs to really push on.
24.4 miles at 13.3 mph average. 1059 feet of climbing. This was the first ride I'd done in a fortnight so it was great to have got out and I think I got on pretty well.
Pausing for a drink near Longnor and showing off the new rear derailleur.
At the entrance to Concord College.
The view to the Wrekin on the approach to Harnage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday 24th of Feb: The day was sunny and mild for February, although still a bit breezy so pretty good for a planned ride with
@gavgav. Gav was already at the meeting point when I got there so it was a quick exchange of greetings and we set off heading to Montford Bridge, Great Ness, Pentre and the Royal Hill, where we planned to stop for a pub lunch.
There wasn't too much traffic on the main road to Montford Bridge. At Forton we found an unexpected road closure with a group of cyclists paused and deciding whether to risk riding through or not. Gav and I decided to risk it and we got told "If you're not back in five minutes, we'll follow".
We didn't have to go too far to find a couple of vehicles and a couple of guys filling potholes at the road edge. There was room to squeeze past but not without going through a muddy puddle that splashed up the bikes unusually badly.
We'd just set off after this blockage when Gav's rack bag fell off completely at random. It reattached fine and stayed on for the rest of the trip so we have no idea why it did this. The other group caught us just as we were about to set off again but they were going at a much more leisurely pace so we soon left them behind again.
It was pretty uneventful for the remaining few miles to The Royal Hill where we were several minutes early for opening so we took a seat at one of the outside tables and marvelled at how pleasant the weather was. We'd expected to have to sit inside but it was pleasant enough to stay outside, so we asked for food to be brought out when the pub did open. It was good to see that plenty of other people turned up for meals and/or drinks as well, including the cyclists we'd met earlier.
When we were done we ended up setting off not long after the group. We decided to vary the route by heading back through Shrawardine and Montford and it turned out that they did too so when we caught up we had to pick our moment to overtake on the narrow lane. The wind was against us most of the way back so it wasn't quick but it was a pleasant trip back to Montford Bridge. There was a police motorcyclist with a speed radar on the bridge where we crossed the A5.
The climb over to Bicton is not one of our favourites but it went okay apart from a lot of hooting as a driver coming up behind us started on an overtake apparently not having observed the car coming the other way.
Once over the other side we took a right heading for Gains Park, where Gav took me onto some roads and cycle paths that I'm pretty sure I haven't ridden before in order to avoid a set of roadworks. We missed a turning during this so we didn't come out quite where we expected.
Nobold Lane was also unexpectedly closed so we had to double back and ended up cutting through to Roman Road before heading back to where we'd met up. I was a bit slow in the last couple of miles home so the distance was just enough for me this time.
28.8 miles at 12.2 mph average. 1280 feet of climbing. It was a great ride on a lovely Spring-like day in good company.
Just a couple of snaps of Gav from The Royal Hill this time:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday (1st March): My summer job has started again so I took the chance to cycle down for the first day of the season. Being a Sunday there wasn't too much traffic about on the way into town but I did find the Quarry packed, with lots of runners about. I probably should have picked an alternative route in.
The day went pretty well and I soon got back into the swing of things as if I'd never been away from it. There was a celebratory glass of wine afterwards with the rest of the crew before the return journey in the twighlight where the Quarry was still quite busy. The roads still weren't busy on the way back but I had a headwind to slow me down.
Just over 8 miles for the round trip.
