Blowing a hoolie, feckin' freezin' and horizontal showers. Tis the season to sweat. Really looking forward to getting Zwift next year. It's been fun using OneLap but I need something more comprehensive.
Today's Ride
- Thread starter FairfaxPat
- Start date
bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
Snow on our hillside this morning, so Minty and I went for a ride on The Beacon
It was good snow, quite grippy but not sticky.
Riding on the forest paths was odd, as if the Gravel was coated in ice so like riding on a layer of ball bearings!
You forget how easily ice packs into spds, but here we are on page 777 so let's just live with it
It was good snow, quite grippy but not sticky.
Riding on the forest paths was odd, as if the Gravel was coated in ice so like riding on a layer of ball bearings!
You forget how easily ice packs into spds, but here we are on page 777 so let's just live with it
MattiThundrrr
Kona Fan
Good stuff, love the snowy trail pics.
A fresh northly wind was a foot today and stayed for all of my time awheel
Using the lanes of Derbyshire and Staffordshire there was plenty to see.
As you can see Tutbury has two castles
One historic and a fairly new one.
Hanbry affords stunning views of the weaver hills
Lunch was enjoyed at Newlands farm.
Today's ear worm.....
Using the lanes of Derbyshire and Staffordshire there was plenty to see.
As you can see Tutbury has two castles
One historic and a fairly new one.
Hanbry affords stunning views of the weaver hills
Lunch was enjoyed at Newlands farm.
Today's ear worm.....
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moonlite
Kona Fan
Thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon, so decided to go earlier than usual. Bit of an odd ride, really: I wanted to take a road route I used to do quite often when I first arrived in Australia -- my brother-in-law had a farm in the hills toward the coast which was quite a challenging ride at the time, but I haven't done it for a couple of years. Set out after breakfast and although I wasn't feeling very peppy, rode out there in good time. It turned out not to be as far as I remembered, so on the spur of the moment, decided that rather than just turn back, I'd take a gravel road through the National Forest to link up with some other popular routes and finish that way.
Problem was, that not-very-peppy feeling persisted and although the road was great and very quiet, I wasn't feeling it much. Still, when you're out there and can't do anything else, you persevere, don't you? So eventually made it onto the old familiar route which was welcome. And immediately encountered something unexpected -- dozens and dozens of kangaroos bounding along in groups, across paddocks, streams and fences by the roadside. Stopped to take some video to share on here. That's proving difficult, as its URL isn't acceptable on this platform for some reason. Let's see if this works.
As I moved on, I hit a bump which rotated my handlebars downwards in the stem. This has happened before and it's extremely annoying, not to mention dangerous, so stopped again and applied as much torque as I could with my folding Allen Key set. Lo and behold, as soon as I set off again, the bloody bars slipped again. Cursing, I applied the brakes, skidded to a halt, failed to unclip, and fell swearing to the ground. Just a little blood -- enough to get the missus all riled up. A truly eventful couple of minutes!
The rest was just a slog home -- the gravel roads in that area are lovely and I do appreciate them, but today it was a case of grimly spinning until the miles had been consumed. Still, after all that, it felt good to stop. And Strava tells me it's the most climbing I've ever done in one day, which is also unexpected.
Problem was, that not-very-peppy feeling persisted and although the road was great and very quiet, I wasn't feeling it much. Still, when you're out there and can't do anything else, you persevere, don't you? So eventually made it onto the old familiar route which was welcome. And immediately encountered something unexpected -- dozens and dozens of kangaroos bounding along in groups, across paddocks, streams and fences by the roadside. Stopped to take some video to share on here. That's proving difficult, as its URL isn't acceptable on this platform for some reason. Let's see if this works.
As I moved on, I hit a bump which rotated my handlebars downwards in the stem. This has happened before and it's extremely annoying, not to mention dangerous, so stopped again and applied as much torque as I could with my folding Allen Key set. Lo and behold, as soon as I set off again, the bloody bars slipped again. Cursing, I applied the brakes, skidded to a halt, failed to unclip, and fell swearing to the ground. Just a little blood -- enough to get the missus all riled up. A truly eventful couple of minutes!
The rest was just a slog home -- the gravel roads in that area are lovely and I do appreciate them, but today it was a case of grimly spinning until the miles had been consumed. Still, after all that, it felt good to stop. And Strava tells me it's the most climbing I've ever done in one day, which is also unexpected.
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bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
A ride through the lanes and woods to get to the spot for my photos of autumn:
I took Tina's bike to complete the series - I wasn't going to change the tyres for a single ride, but needed a little less speed on icy leaves for sure, and bogged fast on soft ground.Autumn in the Wye Valley...
A Weekly trip to Tregagle...
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Autumn is nearly done now, but what a beautiful season for riding, if you avoid slippery leaves and all that rain
Here's Tina's KHS, owned from new, from our shop in 2000.
Last seen action Normandy 2019!
Still wearing its Touring Plumage
Riding in the FoD, 2025
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She thought:
v-brakes aren't much cop if you've got used to discs...
Nice True Temper OX soft tail.
Just rack mounts an issue for touring - ideal for the custom velcro bikepacking setup?
thom04
Gary Fisher Fan
Absolutely freezing (For the UK) but I've not been out for a while & no work today meant it was time for a cycle!
Goats where there shouldn't have been goats
Something for the pylon lovers
The ground was frozen solid all the way up through The Barrow court side of Bristol airport
Trusty steed
A layer of crispy frozen leaves covering deep mud & big rocks made for a fairly treacherous but still rapid descent through Bourton Combe
Goats where there shouldn't have been goats
Something for the pylon lovers
The ground was frozen solid all the way up through The Barrow court side of Bristol airport
Trusty steed
A layer of crispy frozen leaves covering deep mud & big rocks made for a fairly treacherous but still rapid descent through Bourton Combe
basketcase
Old School Hero
After rebuilding the Stumpy, I had to take it for a ride - So we took it, and my wife's Cannondale, and drove up into Alabama, to ride some trails on the Troy university property.
A lot of the trails were like this - Just a nice ramble through the woods. But there were also mazes of very tight singletracks throughout the area.
The "official map" showed a likely lunch spot, at a bench with a view of a small pond, down one of these.
In reality, the track we got suckered into led down into a small ravine, to a collapsed and rotted wood bench, and an overgrown bog.
So, I then foolishly chose what looked like an easier trail back out, along the side hill - Wrong! It quickly turned into a climb that I don't know if I could have done in my 20's - The 24-32 granny on the Stumpy wasn't enough, and I burned out 1/2 way and walked, and that was hard !
Conclusion - I am no longer young, and I definitely need to get out and ride more
A lot of the trails were like this - Just a nice ramble through the woods. But there were also mazes of very tight singletracks throughout the area.
The "official map" showed a likely lunch spot, at a bench with a view of a small pond, down one of these.
In reality, the track we got suckered into led down into a small ravine, to a collapsed and rotted wood bench, and an overgrown bog.
So, I then foolishly chose what looked like an easier trail back out, along the side hill - Wrong! It quickly turned into a climb that I don't know if I could have done in my 20's - The 24-32 granny on the Stumpy wasn't enough, and I burned out 1/2 way and walked, and that was hard !
Conclusion - I am no longer young, and I definitely need to get out and ride more
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