Author Topic: Have you been out today?  (Read 3813649 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #50 on: 31 March, 2008, 11:03:48 am »
Just a couple of errands: the docs to pick up some prescriptions and to the army surplus store for a couple of pair of trousers.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

steveB

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #51 on: 31 March, 2008, 05:14:43 pm »
I've been so busy today, all available land on my allotment is now down to a fine tilth, that I was going to give cycling a miss.  Then I read this thread by wowbagger and I just had to go out.

Only a fourteen mile pootle, the Bristol Channel almost looked blue (well almost), instead of chocolate brown.  The people walking along the prom looked happy for a change, with kids skipping home from school in the sunshine.

It's such a shame that more people don't cycle.  Meandering down country lanes in the sunshine has got to be one of life's pleasures, it's so easy too. 

steveB

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #52 on: 31 March, 2008, 05:29:11 pm »
and the hills (always a surprise).  :)

Especially that nasty little one that rises just before Wedmore, annoying rather than steep.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #53 on: 31 March, 2008, 06:02:21 pm »
A trip to Two Tree Island, about 11 miles.

It was very pleasant.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #54 on: 01 April, 2008, 06:37:12 pm »
I went back to pick the bike up and came home. It's very windy with intermittent rain and I'm not feeling 100% today so that was it. The bike has had

wheels removed, bearings cleaned and greased
bottom bracket removed, frame threads cleaned and copper greased
headset bearings cleaned and greased
bar and stem bolts tightened
new chain and freewheel fitted
crank bolts tightened
gears checked and adjusted, new inner cables fitted, outer ones lubed (and it seems to be changing better, thank god)
brakes checked and adjusted, new pads fitted, cables lubed (adjusted to be way too tight, I nearly went head over bars)
tyre pressure check, rear wheel trued


and then it says at the bottom of the invoice "all is good" which I think is perhaps a bit optimistic, but maybe it just refers to the bike rather than the whole world.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Arthur

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #55 on: 01 April, 2008, 07:26:23 pm »
Crikey, that was a brilliant ride; totally unplanned, but then the best ones often are. It was sunny and mild this lunchtime, so I jumped on the Langster and took off down the A2.

I'd originally intended to do a 20 mile loop, but by the time I got to Keycol Hill I was having so much fun with a nice tailwind and the sun warming my back that I carried on along the A2, which is pretty much arrow-straight, apart from the ugly kink that took me through Shittingbourne. Through Teynham and Faversham, and then down onto the old coastal road that follows the south shoreline of the Thames Estuary.

Graveney marshes were quiet and peaceful, with just the gentle purring of my tyres to keep me company. Through Whitstable, and the horrible speed-humps of Herne Bay, before dropping down into Reculver and along the Thanet coastal path, a concrete and tarmac-topped sea wall which seems to be getting increasingly popular with cyclists.

Of course no ride can be totally perfect, and the faeries whose name must never be spoken were lurking in the shadows, waiting for me. They failed to ruin my cheery mood, however, and I soon had the pinch-flat sorted and I was on my way again.
Hoorah, the local council have put tarmac over what used to be a gravel and stone track leading from the eastern end of the coastal path. It's lovely and fast now.

A short while later, and after 44 miles of continual tailwinds I was in Margate station (bugger riding all the way back into that wind), a cup of coffee in one hand, a Cornish pasty in the other.

Flipping marvellous.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #56 on: 02 April, 2008, 06:35:44 pm »
Got the train to Linlithgow and cycled back, about 23 miles. Took about two and a half hours plus half an hour refreshment stops. Mmm cheese and onion pasties.

ETA: it was quite muddy in places



My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


CathH

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #57 on: 02 April, 2008, 08:42:20 pm »
This evening I went out for the first time since the bronchitis episode.  (I have received the worrying news that a chest weakness is genetic - apparently my great-grandfather used to suffer from bronchitis every Winter.  :()

It was simply wonderful.  I was only out for half an hour, but the sense of relief was incredible.  I can't wait for the shower re-furb at work to be completed, then back to the commutes.  I can't wait.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #58 on: 02 April, 2008, 08:45:24 pm »
huge will-point scoring run tonight - it's mums birthday tomorrow and she thought I'd forgotten, but I appeard on her doorstep with a box of chocs and a b'day card.   O:-)

40 miles on the pompino, home in time for tea :)


Martin

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #59 on: 02 April, 2008, 08:46:09 pm »
40km round trip to Mum's to drop off birthday present; of course she couldn't let me leave unfed and I now feel like a goose that's destined for Fois gras.

I became invisible on the way home at 1700  >:(

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #60 on: 02 April, 2008, 08:47:15 pm »
martin - are we brothers? 

Martin

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #61 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:11:40 pm »
martin - are we brothers? 

dunno; does you Mum shop anywhere but Lidl?

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #62 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:15:46 pm »
I've done a lap of Richmond Park every evening so far this week.  O:-)

Let's see how long it lasts...  :-[

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #63 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:37:20 am »
Yes Only five miles though.. Just about got my breath back.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #64 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:39:43 am »
I've just been to the opticians where my prescription has changed slightly but not enough to warrant new glasses, the doctor's to pick up a prescription, and WH Smith's for a map of the New Forest. Annoyingly, it takes 4 Landranger maps to cover the area, so I bought the OL22 map (1:25000) which is lots better. I will also tear a page out of the Philips Navigator atlas.

Only about 3 miles, but enough to see a really annoying woman in a red BMW estate undertake and cut me up when I was in the right turn lane and then have the temerity to hoot at a van which got in her way on the roundabout. May her piles turn to razor blades.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

steveB

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #65 on: 03 April, 2008, 03:50:52 pm »
Yep, forty seven miles today, this was the weather at the start of the ride.

Stopped off at Cheddar for coffee and cake, took this pic of a very sloping church tower at Puxton and finished off in a pub for a couple of pints of Blackthorn (no scrump on sale unfortunately).  But I did see a very iridescent beetle.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #66 on: 03 April, 2008, 04:54:50 pm »
Mrs. Wow and I took the tandem with trailer for a big shop at Waitrose.

It was actually rather fun!
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #67 on: 03 April, 2008, 07:25:35 pm »
35 miles via a tea stop (with a great chocolate cake). Lovely and warm and everywhere we went seemed to be covered in primroses. Taking a photo of some nearly pitched me headfirst into a ditch when a pheasant took off unexpectedly....  :-\
Abnormal for Norfolk

gordon taylor

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #68 on: 03 April, 2008, 07:39:41 pm »
Forty miles today, into work and back. It's usually only 24 miles but I did a bit of meandering on lanes I'd never used before. Lovely.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #69 on: 03 April, 2008, 08:05:58 pm »
I've done a lap of Richmond Park every evening so far this week.  O:-)

Let's see how long it lasts...  :-[

Good habit to get into.  May be more difficult next time you go overseas on a business trip
Getting there...

diapsaon0

  • Advena ego sum in terra
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #70 on: 03 April, 2008, 08:17:00 pm »
Yep, forty seven miles today, this was the weather at the start of the ride.

Stopped off at Cheddar for coffee and cake, took this pic of a very sloping church tower at Puxton and finished off in a pub for a couple of pints of Blackthorn (no scrump on sale unfortunately).  But I did see a very iridescent beetle.

That looks suspiciously like Weston-super-Mud ;)  I played the organ  harmonium in Puxton Church many years ago.  Good to see the tower still standing!

N
Advena ego sum in Terra

cornelius

  • Three wheels on my wagon...
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #71 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:39:01 pm »
A morning tricycle run in the sun; A teatime fixie frolic around the lanes; and an after dark pootle to a village meeting - great :)
Like Jehu, Son of Nimshi, who drove like a maniac...

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #72 on: 04 April, 2008, 03:29:56 pm »
I forgot my laptop charger and so had to head home for it. Work -> home -> work is not nearly far enough on such a sunny day.

bobmick

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #73 on: 04 April, 2008, 03:47:05 pm »
35 miles on the 'fast' bike (an old 531c Wilson) at 17 mph average which is quite quick for me.  First time I've ridden it this year and it felt so much quicker and more fun than the touring bike that has been my workhorse for the last few months.  Managed 49.3 mph top speed down one hill into Chesterfield.  Think thats my highest speed on a bike!   Weeeeeeeee

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #74 on: 04 April, 2008, 06:41:31 pm »
Mrs. Wow and I on the tandem, Dez on his old Dawes 501, the usual pootle of about 17 miles but pretty slowly even by our standards. Knees, you know.

Very nice weather. Shame winter's coming back for the weekend.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.