Author Topic: Have you been out today?  (Read 3815680 times)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22600 on: 02 August, 2019, 08:28:32 am »
Yesterday's picnic spot:

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Chris S

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22601 on: 03 August, 2019, 11:20:56 pm »
I can only imagine that those who built the great industrial infrastructure of The North, now look down upon us and cringe.

Co Durham has some great bike paths now, but once - someone looked at all those freakin hills and thought - "Yeah, great place for a railway." I was a lily-livered southerner when all this got dismantled. What a crime to perpetrate on our industrial legacy; to pull it all apart so we could build roads instead. But hey, we get some awesome off-road cycling as a result.

We rode down the incline from Stanley Crook, through Waterhouses to Langley Park - and it was a beautiful ride through woods, beside waterfalls, through parks to a gert big road climb to Langley Park, that had me beyond the limit my doctors have told me not to go. From LP, we took the Lanchester Valley Way (another ripped up railway) to the Cafe at Bearpark for some welcome scran (I *think* that's the term), before then taking the NCN 70 back toward Bish Aukland.

The van was parked at the top at Stanley Crook, so it was a world of pain (for those of us with "Issues" at least) to get back up the hill, but I made it without dying at least, though puking was a narrowly avoided possibility.

We're going to be living around there soon. I need to up my game and down my weight before I can consider a push-bike as any kind of sensible option.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22602 on: 04 August, 2019, 08:56:57 am »
a gert big road climb to Langley Park, that had me beyond the limit my doctors have told me not to go.

Story of my life. ;)
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22603 on: 04 August, 2019, 08:38:11 pm »
My annual ride lead from Princes Risborough to Quainton for the Uxbridge Loiterers. Six of us, three of whom rode to Princes Risborough and back to Uxbridge as well!

Coffee stop in Haddenham, lunch at the Green Dragon Eco Farm near Quainton. 40 miles with several big hills, so I was quite worn out by the end. Quite warm but mostly a little cloudy to keep the sun at bay.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22604 on: 10 August, 2019, 01:16:25 pm »
First ride free of [that hateful nostrum] yesterday. After a week of doing SFA spent mostly in front of the computer recovering from previous ride, this one was a bit shaky and tentative, and after ~30 k I turned home. Other than that it was quite enjoyable, although nothing much of note transpired.

Heh. At the top of one climb another cyclist was sitting by the roadside, so I asked if all was OK. Yes, fine, admiring the view - which is pretty good from there with the Black Forest in the distance on one side, the Vosges on the other and rolling hills stretched out in between.  Only in June the air was much sweeter because now, although the maize is still green, most of the harvest is in and the slurry tankers are out; and while the distant view was fine the foreground fields were crew-cut and unnaturally brown. Such spots I prefer to pass rapidly; the bloke must have had no sense of stink.

We mow the fields and splatter
The pigshit on the land...


 'Tis ever thus, in the country.

:D : on the hills my quads no longer feel as if I'm damaging them, and today they merely feel slightly stiff rather than torn.
:( : unless I'm much mistaken, I'll be heading back to the stent shop before long.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22605 on: 10 August, 2019, 06:13:17 pm »
Rode 30 km to a circuit crit, raced for 45 minutes, and train doped back into London to have the bike looked at. Rode 10 km home. Placed OK (middle of the ranks) but I'm clearly not suited to bergs owing to being too fat to stay competitive in the bunch. Though I did gratifyingly claw my way back round in TT style and drop people who'd also fallen out.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22606 on: 10 August, 2019, 07:40:55 pm »
A Potter around Windsor great park with jhonathan notp stopping for lunch at savill Gardens. Our ride included a accent of crimp Hill  :)
the slower you go the more you see

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22607 on: 10 August, 2019, 08:34:06 pm »
Dragged barakta out of bed and took her to Leicester to witness the silly bikes going fast in circles.  Or, to be more accurate, wobbly ellipses with a large directional speed discrepancy.

I didn't b0rk my Achilles, and managed not to get blown off the track (had a couple of close calls, thobut).

Barakta managed a lap on a borrowed trike, and is now suffering for it.  If only you could fit the NHS with non-UCI-compliant aerodynamic aids.

I'm now knackered, which bodes well for doing it all again at Darley Moor tomorrow...

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22608 on: 10 August, 2019, 09:06:51 pm »
Thursday, almost perfect conditions here and my only chance to get out and do a weekly ride for the Cruzbike forum summer TT challenge - everybody stakes out a 12mile route and can enter a time each week, points based on improvement vs week one.

I scrambled to get a ride in this week ahead of the predicted weather.  I was all set to go out when my son had a major seizure just as I was about to leave, that in itself is something we deal with, but he hit the floor on his shoulder hard enough for me to check for a collar bone fracture, and he'd snagged his index finger somehow and it was looking a bit swollen. Quick trip to the minor injuries unit to check for anything serious.

I finally got out an hour after the planned time, fuelled by adrenaline, no warm up, almost perfect conditions (a light headwind on one side of the course). Result - a massive PB by 5:37 vs week 1. I'd set myself a mental target by the end of this series of 30.0km/h, tonight my average was 32.5, not sure where I go from here, conditions can't get much more perfect.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22609 on: 11 August, 2019, 04:04:21 pm »
Group of seven cafe ride. Bit windy but we managed to avoid the later torrential rain.  :thumbsup: Bike fell over outside cafe and is now making derailleur like rattle noises. Can't see anything obvious so will need to get it on the stand tomorrow.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22610 on: 11 August, 2019, 07:01:42 pm »
We were in Edinburgh again this weekend, and Mrs. F wanted to do a route of around 120k as a final ride before her 2-day Ride the North event.

We did the route of the Tour of the Borders event which runs from Peebles.
This turned out to be a very nice route: you are on traffic-free roads pretty much from the start all the way to the finish.
I could have counted the cars on my fingers.

Pretty much all new roads for me, bar the odd section here and there from some Audaxes.
One big hill: the climb out from Talla.

Saturday turned out to be a weather window between the torrential rain of Friday and Sunday, and we got lucky and stayed dry.

I'd definitely recommend this route.
One thing to be aware of is that you pass *nothing* in the way of food stops or shops, except the Gordon Arms pub at the point where the loops meet.
We stopped at the pub on the first passing at about 62k.
It's decent enough, and plenty of cyclists seem to stop there ( because there's nowhere else! )
So plan accordingly.


https://www.strava.com/activities/2607433297/



Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22611 on: 11 August, 2019, 09:30:41 pm »
I'm now knackered, which bodes well for doing it all again at Darley Moor tomorrow...

The wind was back to normal-for-Darley-Moor levels, which came as so much of a relief that we didn't really mind the rain...

Ruthie

  • Her Majester
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22612 on: 11 August, 2019, 10:15:57 pm »
Yeah.  Took the train to Castleton and did a loop via Westerdale.  We retraced a fair bit of the KTTR ride, which brought back many happy poignant memories.  It was the first time I'd met some of you, including that Crinklylion.


IMG_2330 by Ruth Irving, on Flickr
IMG_2322 by Ruth Irving, on Flickr
Milk please, no sugar.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22613 on: 12 August, 2019, 03:56:58 pm »
Moulton Preservation ride round Richmond Park, around 30 representing just about every model ever made, including my Bridgestone Moulton (and one other). Miraculously we evaded the rain until the very end of the ride.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22614 on: 12 August, 2019, 08:47:30 pm »
Yesterday a Potter to Rickmansworth aquadrome with a friend from Windsor . Stopped at the cafe for lunch then set off back down the towpath towards Uxbridge. We meet a cyclist who had a snapped chain which i rejoined then spent a couple of hours at the coy carp pub avoiding some fairly heavy rain before riding back home via Uxbridge and the Slough canal arm :)
the slower you go the more you see

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22615 on: 13 August, 2019, 08:22:53 am »
Yesterday, set out to test my condition but as soon as normal reserves ran out I hit the metabolic wall and crawled home. That's 3 in a row I've cut short.

Back to GP this pm: summat's up. :(
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22616 on: 14 August, 2019, 04:24:10 pm »
GP said, more or less, "Pull yourself together, man! Have some filthy paracetamol and get out there!"

So today I did and was well pleased. 117k and still developing a decent bit of power at the end. Legs sore now but they don't feel wounded as they did with the dreaded BBs on board. Happy.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22617 on: 14 August, 2019, 05:06:50 pm »
Excellent news.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22618 on: 14 August, 2019, 08:18:02 pm »
I spent several hours riding around Windsor in the rain trying to get the bottom bracket on the trice to preform the I am seizing up trick it played on me yesterday spoiling my plan's for a visit to Wolverhampton to visit nobby. Of course it is running fine today  ::-).
the slower you go the more you see

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22619 on: 14 August, 2019, 08:49:33 pm »
I spent several hours riding around Windsor in the rain trying to get the bottom bracket on the trice to preform the I am seizing up trick it played on me yesterday spoiling my plan's for a visit to Wolverhampton to visit nobby. Of course it is running fine today  ::-).

What *again*?

Seized BB, not visiting nobby.  Though maybe they're related?

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22620 on: 15 August, 2019, 08:21:33 am »
I hadn't considered that, you could be right  ;D.
I must get the problem sorted out before the September camping weekend  :)
the slower you go the more you see

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22621 on: 15 August, 2019, 09:32:04 am »
Excellent news.

Thanks, Chris.  It's wonderful to have that nonsense out of the way.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22622 on: 15 August, 2019, 12:18:56 pm »
We were in Edinburgh again this weekend, and Mrs. F wanted to do a route of around 120k as a final ride before her 2-day Ride the North event.

We did the route of the Tour of the Borders event which runs from Peebles.
This turned out to be a very nice route: you are on traffic-free roads pretty much from the start all the way to the finish.
I could have counted the cars on my fingers.

Pretty much all new roads for me, bar the odd section here and there from some Audaxes.
One big hill: the climb out from Talla.

Saturday turned out to be a weather window between the torrential rain of Friday and Sunday, and we got lucky and stayed dry.

I'd definitely recommend this route.
One thing to be aware of is that you pass *nothing* in the way of food stops or shops, except the Gordon Arms pub at the point where the loops meet.
We stopped at the pub on the first passing at about 62k.
It's decent enough, and plenty of cyclists seem to stop there ( because there's nowhere else! )
So plan accordingly.


https://www.strava.com/activities/2607433297/

I was so impressed with this run when I did it in Feb, I dragged some clubmates down there last month.  We started in Broughton, and made our Gordon Arms stop on the 2nd passing of it.  Yes, it can get very busy with cyclists.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22623 on: 16 August, 2019, 08:37:03 pm »
Out today route testing for the club's 100k bunfight next april. Due to Bordeaux regional politics this has fallen to me (there's a first time for everything).
Planning on Openrunner got complicated and today when push came to shove I opted for planB - which worked out really well, except that I am now over distance.

So a gorgeous day for a ride and, after a delayed start fixing the car, I got under way on the bike just before 10 which was great 'cos it put me in the right place to test the picnic site, which turned out to be ideal (even public loos not far away). I thoroughly recommend Alloue in the Charente Limousine as a picnic spot (apart from the number of cars sporting GB plates  :sick: )

Final count for the day 107kms (by my computer which may be a bit optimistic, I will have to do a rollout test and check this) which is the most I have done in a day for a couple of years. About 7 hrs total time (including my picnic and a lot of faffing about), 6hrs riding time. The morning was quick, after lunch was slow (more climbing, hotter and I didn't feel like pushing on).

I learnt that they had refinished the parking at Montrollet, halfing the number of places (which could complicate things if there is a wedding same day) but also that there is a second one hidden away. The lunch place is at 44kms by my count but can be reached in little more than 2 hours (if I can do it anyone can). The climbing is concentrated in a few big slopes and the rest is a lot easier than our club circuits tend to be. Now I have to look at the over distance side, but I know where to reduce that if necessary.

Re: Have you been out today?
« Reply #22624 on: 18 August, 2019, 08:11:49 am »
Up early Saturday to fit in a ride before people arrived for the day. Got bike out of shed and it was raining so got the jacket out of the saddle bag and put on. Went out front of house and it had stopped and remained stopped except a few minutes drizzle. Mostly lovely 60km. Well most of it down pretty much deserted roads so loads of wildlife, deer, buzzards, several yellow/green woodpecker and possibly a barn out at distance. Had to return straight down A12 cycle path into a headwind as needed to get home for guests arriving which was less scenic and a bit of a slog.

Only downside is my left knee started hurting. Wondering if the new cleats aren't in the same position as old or have less float as less worn.