Your ride today....

[Pennine-Paul]

First ride for a month since tearing a muscle in my kneecap area,just a little bimble along the Huddersfield canal from Hudds to Slaithwaite and back.
Can't pedal stood up yet but i've no doubt this will come back over the next few weeks

 

[wafter]

Binned off the usual charity shop trawl as Ivisited one earlier in the week, I'm sick of the route and just wanted to roll around in the sun.

Into town on the tow path, bumping into a mate and stopping to chat for a bit while he had lunch. I then aimed North for a session on the rings, but got sidetracked and ended up travelling out through Marston to climb to Beckley outside the city on a little loop then back.

Gave the rings a tickle in the park; my timing poor as I first got ambushed by an inquisitive child (thankfully with his dad keeping a lid on things) before the schools evidently disgorged with subsequent chaos engulfing the area.

Minced around town for a bit and stopped for a pint before heading home; finally squeezing in a little loop skirting the woods behind a bloke on a Moulton as the sun sank for about 35 miles

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A very foggy morning brightened into a pleasing afternoon with hardly any wind and I was all set to get out straight after lunch... until I got a text from a friend who needed help with a stuck pedal on his son's bike - he'd already broken two hex tools trying to get the thing off so I was very chuffed to be able to sort it for him by getting the crank arm off, applying some strategic heat and making use of my breaker bar. By the time that was done it was mid afternoon. Still time for a bike ride but perhaps not as long as I originally had in mind. I got the Raleigh out and opted for my longer Acton Burnell loop as it's a good one for getting plenty of miles in the time available.

I had a little bit of a wait for a gap to get out onto the A49 and was able to enjoy the brand new road surface, apart from the fact that they have put green cats-eyes across the turning for Condover, which was a bit disconcerting when I hit one. There were a couple of adjustment stops to fine tune the new saddle (not helped by it having shifted during the ride with Gav because I hadn't tightened the clamp properly ). With those done I was happier with it for the rest of the ride.

The lane through Ryton to Longnor was mostly drying out apart from one section where mud had been dragged out of the adjacent fields. The main issue was dodging the potholes. Reaching Longnor the school day was finishing so I got slowed up by the extra traffic and people trying to find parking spaces. I had a pause at the crossroads for a drink then it was a good run to Frodesley and Acton Burnell. I had a small hold up shortly after passing Concord College when I found a lorry blocking the lane then after that I didn't see another vehicle through Cound Moor and Harnage. Flag of the day when I reached Cound appeared to be the St. Patrick's Cross, although it wasn't easy to tell with not enough wind to stir it.

I decided to head up to the A458 this time and enjoyed this fairly flowing section until a driver backed out of a driveway without looking, forcing me to stop. I'm not sure he even realised what he'd done.I had intended to stay on the main road into Cross Houses but the traffic there was grinding to a halt so I took the lane to Berrington instead - it's near-as-dammit the same distance going this way and without the usual headwind I got along the lane faster than I've previously managed.

Lyon's Lane was also good to ride along without a headwind but I did meet two vehicles just on the narrow and steep section (this happens with surprising regularity) so I couldn't make the most of the descent in this direction. After getting to Condover again the run up to the A49 was good - down on the drops I had a nice 19 - 20mph cruise going on. Not too much of a wait to join the main road this time and not much traffic wanting to overtake me when I was on it.

23.5 miles at 16mph average. Great to have a good blast round a very familiar route.

No photos this time.

 

[VinSumRox]

Unusual (for me) solo spin via Melrose, Ancrum, Lilliesleaf and home, lovely weather for riding, quite a few other people out. Got the position just about right on the new bike. 75km and 1050m of up.

 

[geocycle]

A cold, misty start but better weather promised so I headed for the hills. Outwards through Wray and up to the Cross ‘o’ Greet that marks the northern rim of Bowland. Looking into Yorkshire normally affords good views of the three peaks but the mist was still quite dense. Lots of upland nesting birds looking for the best sites including skylarks, meadow pipits, curlew, lapwing and oyster catchers. By now the mist was lifting and it was starting to warm up quite considerably but the descent to Slaidburn down the Hodder kept things cool. Fabulous views and gritstone outcrops. I carried on to Dunsop Bridge for lunch at Puddle Ducks. Unfortunately, they were chaotic, had a massive queue and in the end stopped taking orders. I broke out the emergency rations and carried on over first the Trough of a Bowland and then Jubilee Tower before a late lunch in Caton. 86 km with 1318 m of climbing.

Pictures are from near Cross ‘o’ Greet heading down Hodder valley and heading toward the Trough of Bowland.

 

[HLaB]

Almost perfect weather (at least after circa 50mins) for my group ride today. I woke up to blue skies but in the space of 5mins a blanket of fog had settled. Fortunately, after the meet at some point down the road it quickly lifted. With the two guys that were out I knew I could keep a high tempo too. We met two other mates at the cafe and dropped our tempo then bumped into two other folk we knew and dropped the tempo again.

I got back and watched the Milan - San Remo, if you like cycle races watch it 😎

To give you an idea of how nice it had become, here's a photo from my walk after the MSR.