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I'm currently on a health kick and that breakfast looks awesome. I had branflakes and a banana for mine
Today's Ride
- Thread starter FairfaxPat
- Start date
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
You alright?not the happiest days of my life, to say the least.anyhow, a ride is still a ride.
moonlite
Kona Fan
Woke up with a slightly sore throat but it's a bright, dry day without too much wind so really wanted to get out there instead of sweating on the turbo trainer in the shed. Had to layer up a bit as the temp was about 5C -- remembered my other half had given me some pretty lairy shoe covers which would do the trick.
Went out on a 40k circuit which is doable in under two hours, with a nice mix of tarmac and gravel. A lot of local roads are closed with big detours as the old wooden bridges are replaced with concrete -- it's a pity from a heritage point of view, but presumably concrete is more robust so the wood has to go. One thing's for sure -- hitting one of these at speed can be scary. Hitting one of those bolts at the wrong angle could be damaging.
It wasn't a record-breaking ride but great to be out in the fresh air and spinning along quiet roads in the sunshine. And once home, the missus delivered a very welcome trio of locally baked rolls with various restorative fillings. Lovely!
Went out on a 40k circuit which is doable in under two hours, with a nice mix of tarmac and gravel. A lot of local roads are closed with big detours as the old wooden bridges are replaced with concrete -- it's a pity from a heritage point of view, but presumably concrete is more robust so the wood has to go. One thing's for sure -- hitting one of these at speed can be scary. Hitting one of those bolts at the wrong angle could be damaging.
It wasn't a record-breaking ride but great to be out in the fresh air and spinning along quiet roads in the sunshine. And once home, the missus delivered a very welcome trio of locally baked rolls with various restorative fillings. Lovely!
@Hombre no matter the weather, conditions or what's going on in life, always better out than in. Plenty of us here always open to a chat too.
Put a 70 mile route on the garmin to test out it's routing feature which was the main reason I bought it. Basically just stole someone elses route on Strava then extended it. Only ended up getting a pretty broken 5 hours or so of sleep, then a 4:30AM alarm and out the door at 5 - took so long to get into the swing of things to the point I thought my watch's HR feature was bugging out
Finally got into it, route was basically a tour of some of the ex mining villages near Durham. Should've really checked the elevation profile beforehand as I ended up being hit by multiple 10/15/20% climbs back to back which put a quick end to the 70 mile plan.
Fortunately the way I'd set the route up made it so that at 35 miles I could either push on for the 70 or return home and finish at around 42/43. Ended up diverting a bit and got it up to 51. In hindsight probably could've managed the 70 but always better to finish strong imo.
Put a 70 mile route on the garmin to test out it's routing feature which was the main reason I bought it. Basically just stole someone elses route on Strava then extended it. Only ended up getting a pretty broken 5 hours or so of sleep, then a 4:30AM alarm and out the door at 5 - took so long to get into the swing of things to the point I thought my watch's HR feature was bugging out
Finally got into it, route was basically a tour of some of the ex mining villages near Durham. Should've really checked the elevation profile beforehand as I ended up being hit by multiple 10/15/20% climbs back to back which put a quick end to the 70 mile plan.
Fortunately the way I'd set the route up made it so that at 35 miles I could either push on for the 70 or return home and finish at around 42/43. Ended up diverting a bit and got it up to 51. In hindsight probably could've managed the 70 but always better to finish strong imo.
Last Sunday's SWXC debut short-cross champs, and round 5 of the series over at Wheal Velocity. A 4-5 minute lap, over 20 minutes or so.
No offs, managed to finish the first of three races on the same lap as the winner, and pipped on the line in the second and third which was massively disappointing but not expected since I had a dropped chain after the rock garden and a delay with a slower rider.
The leaders are lightening quick so to stay on the same lap I have to have a clean race at a hefty pace (for me).
Overall place 7/10 in class which I'll take, and every event I feel that little bit stronger and more confident.
Still miles to go. Next on my development list is bike agility: manuals. I lost oodles of time not doing the double log lift (could do the first but lost all momentum for the second). So practice, practice, practice, with and without a manual machine.
Roll on round 6 in August.
No offs, managed to finish the first of three races on the same lap as the winner, and pipped on the line in the second and third which was massively disappointing but not expected since I had a dropped chain after the rock garden and a delay with a slower rider.
The leaders are lightening quick so to stay on the same lap I have to have a clean race at a hefty pace (for me).
Overall place 7/10 in class which I'll take, and every event I feel that little bit stronger and more confident.
Still miles to go. Next on my development list is bike agility: manuals. I lost oodles of time not doing the double log lift (could do the first but lost all momentum for the second). So practice, practice, practice, with and without a manual machine.
Roll on round 6 in August.
Shortish ride today 3 tea stops. Looked like a big piece of fly paper at the first one ,what with sun cream and preparation, dam green fly . Protein on the move .
Lake side 2nd stop for butties and more tea . Called at a mates house soon after for more tea and cake.
A lovely ride through some of south Derbyshire's finest lanes .
Now to remove the flies from my teeth .
Lake side 2nd stop for butties and more tea . Called at a mates house soon after for more tea and cake.
A lovely ride through some of south Derbyshire's finest lanes .
Now to remove the flies from my teeth .
sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
With the discussion about the climbs out of Hathersage in Derbyshire earlier in this thread, I got to thinking – what if I did a ride stringing all the five climbs together, doing them in clockwise order? So today I did exactly that. It wasn't as painful as I was anticipating, although the second climb was by far the hardest and was properly brutal at one point. It was a bit over 42 miles and 5,800ft of climbing in total.
Of course this involved doing the same roads multiple times but it's all pretty scenic around here so it's not like I minded that bit. Unfortunately it didn't involve a proper retrobike as I didn't fancy dragging an extra 2.2kg up the hills, plus I know the gearing on this bike will do the job. Mind you, it is 10 speed and with rim brakes so it's pretty much ancient compared with most of the other bikes I saw today anyway
I went up to this point (Burbage) three different ways:
and down from here four times:
Here's the obligatory Surprise View shot, from the final climb. Hathersage is seen below, in the Hope Valley.
It resulted in a pleasing sharks-tooth elevation profile, and a decidedly odd looking route (as well as the five climbs I also had to actually get to Hathersage first, which is the first climb and descent in the profile). I actually rather enjoyed it overall. Maybe I'll do it again on a steel bike some time...
Of course this involved doing the same roads multiple times but it's all pretty scenic around here so it's not like I minded that bit. Unfortunately it didn't involve a proper retrobike as I didn't fancy dragging an extra 2.2kg up the hills, plus I know the gearing on this bike will do the job. Mind you, it is 10 speed and with rim brakes so it's pretty much ancient compared with most of the other bikes I saw today anyway
I went up to this point (Burbage) three different ways:
and down from here four times:
Here's the obligatory Surprise View shot, from the final climb. Hathersage is seen below, in the Hope Valley.
It resulted in a pleasing sharks-tooth elevation profile, and a decidedly odd looking route (as well as the five climbs I also had to actually get to Hathersage first, which is the first climb and descent in the profile). I actually rather enjoyed it overall. Maybe I'll do it again on a steel bike some time...
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