Have you been out today?

[gerwinium]

Short pootle around York tonight with CrinklyAuntie to try out my new bike 

Nice one The n+1 test ride is always the best bit!

[Butterfly]

Short pootle around York tonight with CrinklyAuntie to try out my new bike 

Yay!

[Tewdric]

Mal Volio and I rode a 300 very similar to the CS3A perm, so Chepstow - Usk - Llanfoist - Tal Y Bont - Brecon - Upper Chapel - Beulah - Tregaron - Pont Rhyd Y Groes - Rhayader - Builth - Hay - Monmouth.  It is a stunning, stunning route with only 13 miles of main road from Rhayader to Builth (which is good for making up  a bit of time..) and the rest being quiet backroads.  The vast majority of the ride is accompanied by scenic splendour, with the Brecon - Epynt - Irfon Valley - Cwmystwyth - Elan Valley - Rhayader bit going off the scale of gorgeousness.  It's a demanding ride for sure, but not impossible - a bit more difficult than the Elenith but not that much more.  It would probably be the best ride on the calender, if it were on the calender! 

[border-rider]

I thought that was very tough

We managed to arrange to have a tailwind nearly all day, but it still took me almost 19 hours 

It was pretty wet in places, but warm, and I think doing it earlier in the year would make it very hard (for me) to get round in time.  We rode it clockwise, and I think that's a much easier way: I tried it anticlockwise last year when I was fitter  - and ran out of time.

Anyway, here's Tewdric with a nice view of the Elan Valley



[we stopped for a meal at a pub in Peterchurch - they asked where we were going (near Monmouth): "That's about 20 miles.  Are you professionals ? " ]

[Ham]

yes. Icluding battling back up hill against a stiff headwind in 42 deg to get the car to rescue mrs ham. It was good

[mike]

had a crap day of work, so went out for a blast this evening and went flat out for my 18 mile hillyish loop, apart from about five minutes where i had to slow down because I was going to barf

lovely evening.

[Tewdric]

I thought that was very tough

We managed to arrange to have a tailwind nearly all day, but it still took me almost 19 hours 

It was pretty wet in places, but warm, and I think doing it earlier in the year would make it very hard (for me) to get round in time.  We rode it clockwise, and I think that's a much easier way: I tried it anticlockwise last year when I was fitter  - and ran out of time.

If I'd tried it on fixed I'd still be in Tregaron wibbling!

[Jurek]

Out with Mice yesterday, Dartford to Whitstable - the scenic route - taking in the following:

The glass-strewn, post industrial, riverside wastelands of Northfleet and Rosherville with their tunnels through chalk quarry sides.

Loads of peeps back-breaking, crop picking in the fields.

A military road, liable to closure at a moments notice, which took us past the 36th Training Squadron of the Royal Engineers – where they teach troops how to dig.

The delightful cobbled descent to the water's edge at Upper Upnor - where we bemoaned the re-naming of Powder Monkey Lane as Admiralty Road. Dull.

A gravelly part of NCN1 signposted Cyclists Dismount which we cheerfully ignored. And no one died.

The climb up to Frindsbury Church - where we elected to go through the graveyard - rather than down The Path Of Deth.

Refreshments in Andy's Snacks in Rochester - where the staff are as obliging as at one time they never were. You know who you are.

Some exploratory riding on roads which fizzle out to nothing. Nothing being Motney Hill.

All of this was conducted under hot and humid skies - we were looking forward to tea and cake from Cafe Bistro 400 in Seasalter.
Cafe Bistro 400, why are you closing your doors and wiping down tables at four o'clock in the afternoon in peak-seasony August? An interesting business model.

Onward, therefore, to the Waterfront club in Whitstable, where numerous teas were drunk and chips were eaten before heading for the station.

The 18:09 was too rammed for us to board with or without our bicycles - we declined Martin-from-Southeastern-rail-customer-services suggestion that we lock our bikes to the station railings and come back and get them another day. I think he genuinely meant well in what was clearly a very busy time for him.

So we got jiggy with the road back across Graveney Marshes - I figured if we pegged it we could catch the 18:52 from Faversham - which we did. Just - it was on the platform as we pulled in.

73 miles of un-rushed riding in fine company for me  .

[Oaky]

Just 10 miles en-famille back and forth on the sentiers cyclable de Vendée between La Parée Preneau and St. Gilles Croix-de-vie.  Picnic in the pines and frites and beer in St Gilles.  6 year old Acorn cycled a good portion of it on her own on her new bike.   

[Andrew Br]

Yes and, in the words of Mark Cavendish, it was "proper hard that".
I did the Dark Peak Grimpeur and, it has to be said, I didn't enjoy it.
Total distance (including to/from Manchester Piccadilly and to/from Marple Station to the start was 80 miles, the Audax distance was (by my reckoning; it includes some miss-routing) 67 miles.

Not far from the start, I met Yahuda Moon taking pictures of us on the climb out of Marple Bridge. He then caught me up (on fixed, nutter  ) and we had a nice chat before he peeled off on one of the downhills.
The route then took us over Holme Moss (my first attempt, I didn't enjoy it) and down into Holmfirth (good fun) before taking us over to Langsett where I stopped for beans on toast and a pint of tea. Then we went over Strines to the A57 (hated this bit, really hated it) before crossing the Ladybower Dam and heading towards Edale (another bit I wasn't too keen on especially as I started to get cramp in my right leg; I've never had cramp on a bike before). In the Edale station cafe I had a bottle of Coke diluted by a pint of water and I added a sprinkling of salt.
Then came the bit that I'd really been dreading, the climb out of Edale towards Mam Tor. It wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared (that doesn't mean that it was easy, I didn't enjoy it). I stopped 3/4 of the way up for a rest before continuing. Surprisingly no-one overtook me on this stretch.
At the top there was the gentle climb along Rushup Edge (rather liked this  ) before the delightful drop to the Chestnut Centre.
I had been mulling over missing the turn there and carrying on into Chapel-en-le-Frith because I knew the lane wasn't pleasant but I couldn't remember why.
It's because of the narrow, gravel strewn surface on the steep descent (obv. after a steep, gratuitous ascent).
Next time (if there is a next time) it'll be via Chapel 'cos routes between controls are free, right ? Via Chapel adds on a few km as well.
By this stage, I just wanted the ride to end but there were still the delights of Dolly Lane to come. Need I say that I didn't enjoy Dolly Lane ?
I missed a turning somewhere in New Mills so I used local knowledge to get me to Marple and the finish pub. Flat bits were covered quite quickly (there weren't many) but hills generally required the lowest gears. I wasn't having fun.
The finish was delightful.
In complete contrast to my only other Audax, people were still there. In fact, I wasn't the last to finish.
I had a couple of halves of Robinson's beers and a couple of packs of sandwiches before catching the train to Manchester and riding back to Bar to meet Helen.
Guess what I had to drink ?

Now that I've finished, I only feel relieved, there's no sense of achievement at all.
I was pondering this along the route and I came to the conclusion I would only have felt satisfied if I'd been able to do the ride easily. I don't get any sense of satisfaction from struggling and I only remember the painful bits.
I need to work on this and the way forward seems to be that I need to struggle more until it becomes easier. It will be painful. I shan't enjoy it.
I'm not sure that I'm motivated enough to do this by cycling on my own so it will either need to be done with a training group or in a ride with a time limit like Audax.

Other points of note: another insect/glasses interaction. This time a wasp pinged off my specs at ~25mph.
My Garmin bodges to stop it cutting out over bumps weren't successful. Seems that I need the extra capacitor trick. This was another aspect that I didn't enjoy.
My knees would like a cassette with more than 25 tooths, please.
The lessons learned on the Tan Hill ride (have food/gels close to hand and use them, carry painkillers) were put into practise with positive results. Thanks BOAB for the painkiller lesson 

I also learned at the finish that there are a series of similar rides and they're on successive Wednesdays.
Given how little I've enjoyed today, it would be stupid to do anymore of them wouldn't it ?

[Bledlow]

50 km this evening, to the Black Horse at Checkendon. A classic pub, and the perfect evening for it. the temperature was just as it should be: the air kissed our skin as we rode. The sun set over Didcot (for the best, I think) behind us as we went up the hill to Nuffield, while I had the immense pleasure of cruising past three men 20 years younger than me, going uphill.

And the beer wasn't bad.

[Chris S]

A nice warm-up to the day with a 50km out-and-back along the Waveney Valley from Diss to Harleston.

This included a sprint finish where I was chased by a dog here: clicky. As you can see, this happened on a section of disused road, now marked on the OS Map as bridleway - but as this hasn't stopped the local farmer putting up Private and Keep Out signs I wasn't totally convinced I wasn't trespassing (didn't know at the time it was a bridleway) and so felt it judicious to avoid any kind of confrontation. So I sprinted for it. For a black lab, he was able to keep up 50kph for a fair distance - fangs out and making Teh Noise Of Terror^tm, totally ignoring the repeated (and frankly ridiculous) shouts of "Come 'ere" from the owner. Eventually, the dog gave up the chase and I managed to get out of sight before stopping to swallow a lung.

I discovered a drawback to riding fixed. You can't unclip and kick a chasing dog in the face; this requires freewheeling capability. I shall have to consider fitting a Zefal.

[Jurek]

I had considered using that same stretch of road when going to catch a train from Diss after the Dun Run - but I had always assumed it was private so ended up on the A143 and B1077 instead  .

[Chris S]

I had considered using that same stretch of road when going to catch a train from Diss after the Dun Run - but I had always assumed it was private so ended up on the A143 and B1077 instead  .

Clearly marked as bridleway on the OS Maps, so presumably that makes it a right of way. In any case, dog owners are obliged to keep their animals under control - I assume this remains the case even if I was off limits there - but I don't think I was - it's the original A143 (as was, before Beeching closed the railway line in the valley, thereby winning a cheap new route for the A143 for his road-building cronies).

Edit: Actually - looking at some old maps, I don't this is true in this case, unlike the Dereham bypass which was definitely a Beeching stitch-up. I just looks like the A143 has been rerouted there - for reasons unknown. The railway line I was thinking of was further north.

[Andrew Br]

The usual Thursday night ride and only three of us turned up. The others are faster than me so it turned into a bit of a blast.
We went out to Knutsford along the outside of Tatton Park and continued on to the Railway at Mobberley for a pint of Black Sheep.
The return was via Ashley and through the posh houses in Hale.
It was a lovely evening but it got chilly when we were sat outside the pub and it was also getting dark when we got back to Chorlton.
Winter's coming.
In the end it was 31 miles and I'm pleased to report that my legs felt better as the ride went on.

[mike]

what a wonderful evening!!!

I had to return a set of panniers to the very kind mr JJ, so strapped them to the moulton and pootled the 10ish miles to their place, where he was doing some sprint training up and down the road (chasing mrs JJ in a car ) while child-herding.  I left them to it, and headed into cambridge via the farm track into Granchester.  A lovely ride into town, then I turned back south and headed out through trumpington.

turning left at waitrose, heading towards the shelfords, I spotted a bikes in front and decided to give chase.  It all got rather more Serious from then on...

I caught her just, by the new traffic lights.  She was on a road bike with tribars and making 22 look very, very easy...  I sat behind her for about 30 seconds then realised it could be interpreted as a bit creepy to be sitting right on her arse, so took a deep breath and went past to do my turn on the front..  she laughed at my little wheels as i came past but I managed to hold it till the right turn in great shelford where, thankfully, she went straight on with a cheery 'bye!'

I figured I might as well go for the full 20 minutes, so 'dug in' and didnt slow down much till the A505 - when I checked the computer when I got home, I'd averaged 21 for 20 minutes 

then a brisk ride up the hill home, in a surprisingly good time!

30 miles, average about 17.  Half pootle, half thrash.  Very, very sweaty

[Kim]

Critical Mass.  This evening was the first time it hasn't clashed with something since I worked out what "pigeon park" meant to non-locals (That's the grounds of St. Philip's Cathedral, for reference).

About 100 cyclists turned up.  Lots of well-loved practical city bikes and fixies of varying levels of bling, plus the usual assortment of hybrids, MTBs and so on.  Obligatory tallbike.  I was the token recumbent.  Naturally I took the opportunity to tell the tallbike rider that he must be invisible in traffic and maybe he should get a flag.

It was almost completely non-aggressive (something which I was wary of, having seen countless reports of shenanigans at the London version), probably helped by a general policy of stopping at red lights, except where the traffic stopped to let us all pass through a junction.

It was by far the best way to cycle around the city centre - something which I avoid doing wherever possible.  Lots of positive comments from pedestrians and drivers - many asking when and where to join in.

I genuinely didn't believe that Birmingham was capable of such a thing   

[LindaG]

40 miles in rain and greyness with Crusty, Daisyhill and Newtoncap.  Pretty flat, with two tea stops  one bacon butty and two wet feet.  Absolutely marvellous.  I was pleased to find that, even after this year of pitiful cycling mileage, I could climb to Osmotherley without having to push.  I ran out of steam on the way home, but it was really good to ride with the gang.  It's been too long.  And I didn't cry once 

[Andrij]

Out the door at silly o'clock this morning on my lumpy training route.  You know you're on the road way too early when the working girls of Forest Gate are still out looking for work. 

Drivers behaved (mostly), the weather was cool enough to prevent overheating, and I picked up pleasant company (a Swains Lane virgin) along the way.  I have another convert.
 

[Doosh]

57 mile jaunt out to Stenson Lock with the local CTC, nice little ride with the weather picking up for the last 15 miles or so. There might have been some CAIK as well.

[mike]

80 miles to the south & east of cambridge with little brother, with a bacon roll at tubby t's and a very nice pint of doom bar in his local when we got home.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/596676

[hugo15]

40 miles in rain and greyness with Crusty, Daisyhill and Newtoncap.  Pretty flat, with two tea stops  one bacon butty and two wet feet.  Absolutely marvellous.  I was pleased to find that, even after this year of pitiful cycling mileage, I could climb to Osmotherley without having to push.  I ran out of steam on the way home, but it was really good to ride with the gang.  It's been too long.  And I didn't cry once 

Bit wet today wasn't it. You were spotted going down the hill into Hutton Rudby as JP and I were climbing up. We'd already been to Osmotherley and were heading home.

[RJ]

Just over 85km through the Moorfoots towards Innerleithen, in (successful) search of an Earn's Cleugh.  Much the longest ride I've done for a long time, and the first on the new bike.  A bit dreich, but at least I didn't overheat  .  Saw buzzards, a sparrowhawk, a stoat, a couple of herons and a couple of wind farms.  Several cyclists, but none looking like the YACF Ecosse Saltire 200 posse.  There and back in 5 hours - 50m a.s.l  -> 400m -> 250m and back again should = ~ 500m ascent, excluding undulations, of which there were several.  Bike felt comfortable and I've yet to use the granny ring in anger, which suggests there's plenty in reserve for steeper hills and/or heavier loads.

All in all, not a bad day out considering ...

Edit:  http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/44934054 says 800m of climbing

[Andyf]

Coming back to day from sister in laws wedding in Inverness(by car), came over the bridge from the Black isle and there was a sign 'warning cycle event' Now there has been torrential rain and flooding all-night and it hasn't stopped yet, I then saw several cyclist in full TT kit and bikes going the other way and this is the A9 which is the only main road through the highlands...................total suicide   

[Red]

Went out to play on Birmingham's finest sustrans routes with Kim to make sure my bike was working well after it's fettling session (better than new in the case of some bits that were made of cheese ). 13 miles of gravel, potholes, thunder, lightning and torrential rain. Brill!