Today's Ride

[PhillB]

Birthday ride today, had spent a while plotting a good 100 mile route and then proceeded to have the most disturbed sleep of all time. Still felt good enough for a decent effort but not the century sadly. Set off 6:30AM; expected it to be cold so wrapped up with balaclava, gloves, shoe covers etc - had to stop 20 mins in and take them off! Could've been a shorts ride.

Around 8AM, suns up but very cloudy - grey sky was an indicator of things to come. Did a short climb and ten minutes later the scenery looked like this;

Really considered bottling it there and taking the right to go home but instead took the left towards the pennines. The next thirty minutes were very harrowing considering rim brakes, repeated steep descents and thick fog. Descended into Wolsingham where it cleared up, then a quick few miles to Stanhope and up Crawleyside - never gets any easier!

Awful horizon there but kind of a bad corner so no time for squatting down to get a level angle Came in at 70.21 miles with 5574ft of elevation. Not a century but not bad either for four hours of sleep and an early start. Ride safe all (and check weather for fog lol)

Happy Birthday!!

 

[PhillB]

After an early kick off for the U18's football team I coach (we got hammered 3-7 at home ) I got home to a bacon sandwich and was in the mood to finish off a restoration I have been working on for the last 2 or three months.

My first ride on a complete rebuild is usually around the block, so I can come back and tighten or adjust something but today it was all good. Well, good enough to keep on riding anyway, I was enjoying it so much, I rode on to, and around, the park and ended up doing about 9km


There are a few adjustments I'll make over the next few days, but I'm very pleased over all. The park was busy, so it was a leisurely ride.

A little cool, but not cold about 14C no wind.

 

[moonlite]

I give up trying to predict, let alone describe, the weather here. It's now officially summer, and we have had some hot days, but today another of those cold winds set in, bringing overall temps down. I worked in the garden all morning (my way of 'earning' a ride later in the day) and got pretty sweaty and dusty; set out for my road ride at about 3pm slathered in sunscreen, only to ride into a band of light rain which combined with the chill wind to make me feel rather cold. That passed after about ten minutes, the sun came out, and it was dry and bright all the way home (although still windy). Didn't stop for pics as it was a route I've shown here quite often: 30km, 300m climbing. Wonder if summer proper will ever arrive!

 

[db95]

I give up trying to predict, let alone describe, the weather here. It's now officially summer, and we have had some hot days, but today another of those cold winds set in, bringing overall temps down. I worked in the garden all morning (my way of 'earning' a ride later in the day) and got pretty sweaty and dusty; set out for my road ride at about 3pm slathered in sunscreen, only to ride into a band of light rain which combined with the chill wind to make me feel rather cold. That passed after about ten minutes, the sun came out, and it was dry and bright all the way home (although still windy). Didn't stop for pics as it was a route I've shown here quite often: 30km, 300m climbing. Wonder if summer proper will ever arrive!

Similar here although being in the UK I expect it to be colder than it actually is, last few rides set off early wrapped up pretty well and within 20 minutes of being out end up having to stop and take layers off. Been trying some autumn/winter kit from the brand Ykywbike on Aliexpress after seeing it get good mentions on some fb groups. Kept me warm when weather apps claim it "feels like -4c" (thanks northern sea windchill), certainly cant complain for I think £20 per pair of bib tights and £18 for a long sleeved jersey. Longevity is the question but holding up well so far.

Short spin out this morning to flush the legs out after yesterday, first ride on the Ryet 3d printed saddle. Seems pretty decent albeit I hadn't levelled it and forgot to bring a multitool with me so kept slipping a touch but otherwise good!

 

[PhillB]

Similar here although being in the UK I expect it to be colder than it actually is, last few rides set off early wrapped up pretty well and within 20 minutes of being out end up having to stop and take layers off. Been trying some autumn/winter kit from the brand Ykywbike on Aliexpress after seeing it get good mentions on some fb groups. Kept me warm when weather apps claim it "feels like -4c" (thanks northern sea windchill), certainly cant complain for I think £20 per pair of bib tights and £18 for a long sleeved jersey. Longevity is the question but holding up well so far.

Short spin out this morning to flush the legs out after yesterday, first ride on the Ryet 3d printed saddle. Seems pretty decent albeit I hadn't levelled it and forgot to bring a multitool with me so kept slipping a touch but otherwise good!

When I see pics like this I wish I lived closer to the sea

 

[Frankenorange]

When I see pics like this I wish I lived closer to the sea

Me too. I did live in Bournemouth for a while and that was amazing. My flat was at the top of steps to the beach, where there was a pub, and the Isle of Purbeck a short cycle away. Then i was in the New Forest so never far from the sea. Closest coast now is about 45 miles as the crow flies which is plain wrong.

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

An almost inconceivable lack of fitness plus the fact my son expressed an interest in going for a ride on his cobbled-together-with-whatever-cheap-junk-I-wouldn’t-mind-too-much-being-stolen university bike, meant the Cannock red route was out of bounds.
We did a couple laps of the Blue route plus a bit from the car park we used. Here’s a before shot:



The downer was I did something to my back which meant the rest of the day walking like the Hunchback. Ouch! The ride itself was very good. The Blue route is a perfect length for doing laps on if I ever regain any fitness. Plus, it flows nicely and is well suited to a retro ride. All the radical gnarly dudes and the E bike jockeys head for the Red route. I stopped for this photo for the light.



Back is still sore but at least I’m walking upright again.

 

[benjabbi]

Quick 15 mile back road and gravel bimble before Sunday lunch. Bontrager behaving impeccably as usual. If someone told me I could only keep this one I wouldn't argue.

 

[Frankenorange]

Very autumnal out. Leaves making things interesting at country lane junctions. Since getting back on the bike i am way more cautious than i was!!

 

[Betsy]

I had an hour to kill at work so as a change to the Peak District.. i went for a little spin around the hood / Kelham Island.

Folks are still squatting here.. it's mainly neo-crusties with colourfull dreads and parachute pants.


The Grind Cafe purveyors of £12 hand reared bacon sarnies on lightly toasted sourdough..


It's semi-pedestrianised so cargo is king..



George Barnsley's


Changing fortunes in a nutshell..
When i was a kid, this was the Sheffields famous industrial quarter, it would hum to the sound of drop hammers.. alas, after the Thatcher government it was all boarded up businesses and crackheads.. crackheads as far as the eye could see.. then it was all sex workers.. come globalisation and the neo-liberalism of the Blair government, the domestic sex workers had their prices undercut by the cheaper eastern european sex worker.. come brexit and the fall in the value of the pound, they all returned home. Now it's all hipsters.. hipsters and sourdough pizza as far as the eye could see..





Kid Acne.. more in the Graff Thread


Micro Brewery


Foundry Coffee Roasters where i buy my fancy washed Rwandan


Russell's Bike Shed



tbc..