Have you been out today?

[IanDG]

I've been at work today - managed an early morning hour off-road on the cross-check before tho'

[DrMekon]

Had a last minute bike fitting last night as the lbs bike fitter is off to do some 300km thing in Majorca, and he was keen to make sure I was happy as this was his last chance to fettle before I do a 400 on the bike. Plan was to ride 100km to York and back before the kids got up. Left the house before 5, and was confronted by zero degrees. Was planning to skip McD in York (only place open on Sundays at that time), but was horribly cold. An egg muffin and coffee later and I was up for the return leg. Was back just as kids were down for breakfast. Was useful to remember how cold things get overnight. Merino liners for my gloves have been ordered. I'll be taking my primaloft gillet on the 400.

[Feanor]

I went for a 150k loop which is an extension of one of my 'standard' 100k loops.
It takes in BH1 ( B*stard Hill 1 ) from the Snow Roads.

Hell of a headwind most of the way out, and patches of snow on the verges as I gained height.
Very cold in the morning, if the sun went behind a cloud or you rode into a shady spot.
Warmed up by the afternoon.

Lunch stop in Ballater was as slow as the slowest thing you can imagine.
Nice tailwind on the way home along South Deeside.
A lot of cyclists out today.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1140385333

[Marco Stefano]

Close to Wow yesterday, as Juan invited me for a V-CC ride in deepest Essex with bikes supplied by Juan (5-speed Bates BAR for me and Hobbs of Barbican singlespeed for him, both of 50's vintage, I think). Ride was from Writtle to High Roding for lunch & a pint, then return by slightly different route (about 30 miles in all). Cold weather and WARTY-like pacing meant loads of layers (a brief shower of sleet came at one point) but nice quiet roads, some remarkably potholed. The Bates had a really comfy but responsive ride, but anyone complaining about modern brakes ought to ride this as it brings a whole new meaning to riding with anticipation...

Oldest bike? A French infantryman's singlespeed machine with an enormous chain and one brake ('spoon'?) operating on top of the front tyre (white Marathons, oddly) - 1896 vintage, but nowhere near the slowest. Interesting day.

[Cudzoziemiec]

My ride yesterday started a bit like Citoyen's: being late.  But unlike him, I was only a minute or two late and met the others coming down the hill from the start place as I was almost at the top – so I turned round and went straight back down again!

We rode about 65 miles to Sheepscombe, in mostly warm, sunny weather, through bluebells and skylarks.  Not that there weren't less pleasant moments. As I was going down a steep hill into Sheepscombe itself, a blue car came up the lane at high speed. There would have been room for both of us had he just slowed down a little and moved over a foot; but he didn't. avoiding him, my front wheel got stuck in a narrow trench or gully at the verge and I ended up stationary, still clipped in, with my shoulder leaning against the high, steep bank. It was both funny and annoying! Later, after lunch, three riders got so carried away descending the Slad Valley they had to be reprimanded by Dear Leader for getting too far ahead and apparently overshooting a turn. In the interest of honest disclosure it would be wrong of me to deny that I was one of them.

Then on the way back, a new bloke began having problems. Basically, he was exhausted. First, he had two clipless moments due to being so tired he couldn't get his feet out. I only saw the second and it was dramatic, but thankfully injury-free. Every other unclipping fall I've ever seen (or experienced!) has been "stop – oh – clunk!" with a few cuts and bruises, usually on the knee. This one, he actually unclipped, but then somehow toppled to the other side and rolled right over on to his shoulder with his bike still attached to him by one pedal, now almost vertically above him. If you asked a Hollywood director to film a clipless moment, this is probably what they would come up with! Luckily, he was not at all hurt. So someone got busy with an allen key and loosened off the tension in his SPD clips. Just after that, going up a bit of a drag, he had to stop and have a breather. He really did look exhausted but said he had energy and turned down offered snackerels. At this point it transpired the furthest he'd ever ridden before was 35 miles. Perhaps attempting to double that was a bit optimistic. Unless it's an audax, of course. Anyway, he was ok after a rest, and we all got back ok. We might see him again or we might not. 

[BrianI]

Commute (an epic 1.5 miles each way).  Then a commute to yoga class this evening seeing as car is out of action.  Looks like I'll be testing my new yoga mat carrying bag on my back, with the rest of yoga gear in my Ortlieb rear roller classic pannier (circa 1997!)

[Vince]

We rode about 65 miles to Sheepscombe...

Were you riding between Kingswood and Wickwar @ 12:30? Red, Orange and Yellow kit? If so I saw your group as I was going tother way in teh car after taking Mrs Wunja to the nearest Sunday bus stop.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That wasn't us. From those colours it might have been either Bristol South or Stroud Valleys. If they had a representation of a railway arch, it was Stroud Valleys. A black star would be Bristol South, but not all their kit has that.

[Jakob W]

I recently read a piece about telephone boxes repurposed as community libraries. One of the examples mentioned was in Wall, Staffs; as this is just over 9 miles away, I filed this away in the mental 'pootle destination' box. Today I was feeling the itch of not having been out for a while, so I decided to explore. There were only a couple of potential hitches: though the weather looked pleasant, it was changeable - I'd got caught in a downpour and soaked  earlier on. And I couldn't neglect my paternal duties, so I'd have to bring my toddlers with me; this would mean using the bakfiets. Looking at the OS map, it promised a climb up to Aldridge, and then mostly downhill through the lanes from there.

In the event, the weather was lovely - cool but gloriously sunny, with the band of rain and hail that has passed through earlier providing dramatic skies on the horizon. The ride up to Aldridge wasn't particularly exciting - industrial estates rarely are - but traffic was fine, and the lanes were lovely. Wall itself is very pretty, and it does indeed have a telephone box library. The ride did show up my lack of cycling fitness, and perhaps the bakfiets wasn't ideal - there was more up-and-down hidden in the 10m contours than I'd expected, though admittedly a 70kg bike+load is always going to show these up! Despite a pint of hoppy energy drink at the Trooper in Wall I did rather grovel back home; I think I probably averaged about 9-10 mph there and back. The girls slept through the way there, but seemed to enjoy the trip back; as the weather gets better I may have to try and find more mini-rides I can take them on.

[Oscar's dad]

I was working from home for the first part of this morning so commuted to the office ... 20 miles including The Mighty North Hill. Good it was.

[BrianI]

Did the bike 2 yoga class this evening! Really enjoyed it, even if the bike ride was a bit on the chilly and windy side ☺

Sent from my Tab2A7-10F using Tapatalk

[Cudzoziemiec]

I recently read a piece about telephone boxes repurposed as community libraries. One of the examples mentioned was in Wall, Staffs; as this is just over 9 miles away, I filed this away in the mental 'pootle destination' box. Today I was feeling the itch of not having been out for a while, so I decided to explore. There were only a couple of potential hitches: though the weather looked pleasant, it was changeable - I'd got caught in a downpour and soaked  earlier on. And I couldn't neglect my paternal duties, so I'd have to bring my toddlers with me; this would mean using the bakfiets. Looking at the OS map, it promised a climb up to Aldridge, and then mostly downhill through the lanes from there.

In the event, the weather was lovely - cool but gloriously sunny, with the band of rain and hail that has passed through earlier providing dramatic skies on the horizon. The ride up to Aldridge wasn't particularly exciting - industrial estates rarely are - but traffic was fine, and the lanes were lovely. Wall itself is very pretty, and it does indeed have a telephone box library. The ride did show up my lack of cycling fitness, and perhaps the bakfiets wasn't ideal - there was more up-and-down hidden in the 10m contours than I'd expected, though admittedly a 70kg bike+load is always going to show these up! Despite a pint of hoppy energy drink at the Trooper in Wall I did rather grovel back home; I think I probably averaged about 9-10 mph there and back. The girls slept through the way there, but seemed to enjoy the trip back; as the weather gets better I may have to try and find more mini-rides I can take them on.

That sounds like a really fun ride. The kind of thing that gets me wanting a boxbike, though I have no use for one and absolutely nowhere to keep one! I can think of a few forum rides where 10mph would be quite a respectable average.  Most importantly, I hope you found some good books.

[CAMRAMan]

Nothing particularly special about my 8-mile ride home, except for the feckin' snow, that is. FFS, it's nearly May.

I was prepared waist up, but my tights and everything else got very wet & very cold. One silver lining was that there were no dog walkers nor peds on the cyclepaths I use, so my faster than normal pace was OK. Soggy snowflakes in the eye at 20MPH hurt!

[Jakob W]

Most importantly, I hope you found some good books.

Thankfully, yes - among the Dan Brown/Lee Child/etc potboilers there was a copy of 'Is that a fish in your ear?', which I've been meaning to get a copy of for some time.

[T42]

60k, start 3°C, finish 6°C, wind WSW 30 kph gusting 50.  DOA.

[cycleman]

A 19.6 mile Potter locally dodging the showers. Managed to stay dry though it was close at times

[Cudzoziemiec]

I was late to the bridge, or rather the Bridge, for the WNPR because I'd been too wrapped up in my game of brainball (sort of indoor football played with a squeezy rubber brain – a gimmick from a psychologists' conference – and not many rules but lots of goals), getting there just as the 30s were heading off. The 20s were still waiting for someone or something but I headed straight off with the 30s. As mentioned elsethread yesterday, I'd decided to do this on my UTB. Besides, it was standing outside, having been used earlier that day, so was quicker in the rush! But I was dressed up in cycletogs. This was a bit weird, or at least the interface between flat pedals and SPD boots was, but they are by far my warmest footwear and it was going to be a cold night. So where did we go?

Well... the six of us ended up at the Prince in Barrow Gurney, where we met four others, three of whom (a family) had come on their own; the other one was the last of the 20s, who had left before we arrived. But how did we get there?

We certainly went over the Bridge and then up Dundry the easy way before taking a wrong turning on the way down. We certainly went along the edge of Chew Valley Lake and then into Chew Stoke. After that we took lots of ups and downs on some really rather beautiful little lanes, some sunken where we rode through strata of red rock, some high on hill tops. There was a hill fort. There were bluebells and daffodils. Then we ended up at Winford Manor from a new (to me) direction before descending to the A38 and taking the lane with gates. By now it was dark, which adds to the fun on the mossy lane, but even trikey Dave got through the gaps – it's quite impressive the way he handles that thing – and then... we were at the pub!

[essexian]

On Sunday is the charity ride arranged by our local Hospice: Katherine House. I normally try to attend as, well its a good ride, a good reason to ride and it's only £7.50 to enter. Not as cheap as Audax but then, "they" put up signs to point the way, something which someone with my total lack of direction finds useful.

Anyway, as I haven't really done much in the way of distance since my off five weeks ago, I figured I would pop out at lunchtime to do some of the route from Haughton, down Dale Lane (I hate this road so much!), then to Bradley, Church Eaton, Gnosall, up past Norbury Junction and then up to High Offley, before returning back to Haughton via Woodsleeves.

Thus, a nice 22 mile ride was undertaken...well it would have been nice apart from the wind and rain which followed me around the route. A reasonable average of 13mph was also acceptable. What's not acceptable is the pains in my shoulder at the moment. I still don't think its right so I am doubtful whether it will hold together for Sunday's 45 miler sadly.

[Morat]

Went out on Tuesday for our regular "ride from a pub back to the pub". Fizzed around putting tow ball rack on, messing with bunjees etc but still turned up early, with everything I needed. Result!
Oh, apart from the key for the D-Lock I'd used to make sure by bike stayed put.
Darnit.

The long suffering Mrs Morat arrived with the key about 10 minutes after I called her. She's great.

[IanDG]

Out to Arnish Point and the Bonnie Prince Charlie Memorial mostly off road (and the latest Hawkwind album blasting through the headphones)

https://www.strava.com/activities/559916717

Off Road to Arnish by ian, on Flickr

Off Road to Arnish by ian, on Flickr

Off Road to Arnish by ian, on Flickr

More snaps here

[Cudzoziemiec]

Blimey! I thought Hawkwind had disbanded about 1984! Nice photos.

[IanDG]

Blimey! I thought Hawkwind had disbanded about 1984! Nice photos.

Dave Brock keeping the name going.

[IanDG]

40km loop through North Lochs and out to Achmor then home to Stornoway. Cold and windy with a few showers today (8C and 30mph gusts) then out came the sun for the last wind assisted 15km

https://www.strava.com/activities/561044973

N.Lochs-Achmor ride by ian, on Flickr

N.Lochs-Achmor ride by ian, on Flickr

N.Lochs-Achmor ride by ian, on Flickr

[Ruthie]

You seem to have one of those blue outdoor ceilings where you live Windy! 

Funny, that's how I remember it, mostly 

[billplumtree]

Over Dunmail from Grasmere to Keswick again.  Have to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime offer of no motorised traffic, ending in a fortnight's time.  Birds singing, becks rushing, heart thumping; sunshine and snow on the fells all around.  Blissful. 

Traffic, apart from the two buses per hour, consists of equally-cheerful cyclists and a few walkers strung out across the road who respond perfectly happily to an "Excuse me!" shouted from well back.  It's like entering a parallel universe, or going through the back of Mr Benn's wardrobe.