A repeat of 2 days ago, enjoying the last few minutes of sun. Slight detour due to police road block.
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A repeat of 2 days ago, enjoying the last few minutes of sun. Slight detour due to police road block.
Well the road bike had its first outing for 2 years.
It had a mini service and adjustments.
Two new Schwalbe xz tyres and tubes fitted.
Then away I went around the B roads. Very nice too.
Also dug some cold weather gear out as I don't see myself at work for a while.
Aiming for 5 to 6 sessions per week 30 to 40 mins for a couple of weeks.
Would help to drop a stone (14lb) at least.
Good job the Cannondale CAAD 9 is a triple. Hills are tough for unfit old fat lads.
One positive effect of the current situation is the amount of young kids out on bikes as the roads are so much quieter. I saw plenty on my last couple of rides and, as I write this, the young lad down the road is riding past again, parent in close attendance. The stabilisers came off this morning and, apart from the odd wobble, he's doing well without them. One of those moments you'll remember for the rest of your life.
After 2 total isolation days over the weekend,
I've just done a little 25 gentle ride away from anyone in line with government guidance.
Pity not all folks can be as caring and sensible.
Keep it upQuote:
Originally Posted by Stagger
14k along the river road. Very quiet on the roads today.
15 mile ride along Peregrine Trail and into Forest of Dean. Nice loop. quite a few other riders on flat bits. No-one on gnarly bits.
20min recovery ride first thing.
Much colder
Out to the Clent Hills, Romsley and Frankley and back - roads even quieter than of late. A cool night requiring tights and a roubaix top with a strong headwind to start. 26km 500m ascent in just over an hour. Must remember to adjust the gear indexing before the next ride...
25min of hard hilly cycling with very strong winds both head and cross.
Put my tyres back to 10bar, got the gear and helmet on and away I went. Hadn't noticed the breeze for first 12k and was going along nicely on the hoods.
The last 8k was a different story. Down on the drops trying to make myself small (not easy) and attempting to keep a good cadence in to a testing wind.
Throughly enjoyed it and it lovely to be back out riding my bike.
A ride of 3 hours out to the east of Loughborough, including the 100-metre climb of Broughton Hill on the A606, which I wouldn't do in normal traffic conditions.
I particularly liked the sign at the start of the climb:Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/908368
"Reduce your speed": you bet I will!
Hopefully you complied with GM guidelines and reduced speed.
Another tour of my local hills and lanes after work. The now customary route suffered a slight detour to avoid a rather big (and slow moving) 'os as we day around these parts. 26km/500m 1 hour.
Out at 8:25am, back in time for a quick shower before the livestream of the morning service from church at 10.30. The lockdown seems to have prevented the County Council highways department from removing temporary signs that are no longer needed: I saw one warning of Flood, and another warning of Ice.
Lovely ride this morning, out on quiet lanes targeting a few hills. Proper spring conditions now in North Worcestershire - wild flowers aplenty, green lush meadow, trees in blossom and vibrant green of the first leaves.
Approximately 50km/900m in 2 hours.
Cracking day to be out.
Did a small section of previous Tour de Yorkshire.
Garforth, Kippax, Allerton, Castleford, Cutsyke, Methley, Oulton and home via Woodlesford.
25k 350m just an hour.
Pleased with that for a fattie 😊
Today's PDE ride was again what has become my favourite post work wind down. 26km with 500m ascent, mostly quiet lanes and a smorgasbord of different terrain to keep the interest throughout. (Fast flats, long winding downhills, a long steep climb, a short off-road section and a final 5 km power down false flat.)
Had been knocking this out in 1 HR 5 so just under 25kpm average. Today took it to 25.6 and then into a headwind for most of the second half. To break the hour beckons next....
Actually yesterday's bike ride now but feeling good with excellent weather and little to no wind, I set off on my PDE route at full gas. Managed to break the hour by a good minute in 58.42 avg of 26.9 kph.
Somewhat unusual route for my bike ride this morning.
Southwards, much of it off-road, sneaking into Leicester by a bridleway into the Beaumont Leys housing estate. Came across the Walkers Crisps factory, then continued into the city centre after a stop to look at the site of Leicester Abbey. Experienced the weirdness of the city centre almost deserted on a Saturday morning, with the big High Cross shopping centre and most other shops closed; although there were some people in the market area, with a few stalls open on the market.
Continued southward, past the rather impressive stadium where Leicester Tigers were not playing rugby. Then looped round to the east of the city centre, mostly on minor roads; no route planned, just following my instincts to go in roughly the right direction, through residential and industrial areas, and eventually back out to the countryside to Barkby Thorpe and back home. The urban exploration was interesting, but I still prefer the countryside.
Just popped out for an hour this morning but conditions were so good that I couldn't resist an extension to my planned route. Ended up being out for nearly 3 hours, a lovely 67km circuit of the north Worcestershire hills with just over 1000m ascent. Lovely stuff.
Similar ride to last weekend but went and targeted a couple of hills I wimped out of last time including the delights of Winwood Heath Rd. 1km at an average of 10‰ with ramps of 20‰ - 5 minutes of pain.
Strangely saw 3 separate tandems out today all ridden by what looked like husband and wife. One was semi-recumbant - quite an odd looking contraption.
Total of 68km and 1200m. 2hrs 50.
13k to work, 366 emails dealt with and 13k home.
Lovely morning 😅🤣😂
What a perfect day to be out on a bicycle.
Set off to do Garforth, Towton, Tadcaster and back.
Extended it a bit coming back by going to Ulleskelf, Cawood, Sherburn in Elmet, Newthorpe and home via Kippax.
Just great to be out 60k with 800m was a lovely potter around undiscovered Yorkshire.
After a journey to work on the bike this morning (allowed in for 2hrs) my 13k was covered at an average pace of 29.8kph.
Spending my time on emails and smiling at my efforts I hadn't thought about the return journey.
What a kick in the pants. Tough head wind which lead to a return average of 23.5kph
Enjoyable though and really pleased for my double effort.
Not too shabby Stagger.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stagger
I am surprised that a man of your vintage is not operating in miles though!
Not my choice.
Samsung phone.
Used to be a miles & feet man with Garmin but that has died.
So now use gaps on phone.
Plus k makes it look a tad further 🤣😂🤣
HaHa. I know a few people who record their run/cycle in kilometers for that reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stagger
Not that I do marathons but there is a trend for people to refer to their marathon as a 42k run.
What is wrong with miles?
PS. You could probably ask a young person to change your phone to miles and feet if you explained to them what they were first!
Our neighbour and a very good friend were moving sheep this afternoon, on the road outside the village. A cyclist came down the hill fast into some bends and hit Queen the sheepdog and ploughed into the sheep.
He was unconscious and air ambulance job, talk about him doing an unofficial time trial, don't know but police took away his bike computer as evidence.
The lesson being, it's a bad time to take risks, whatever our sport. Queen the dog seems ok but took them an hour to find her, all very shaken up by the accident. No news yet of the cyclist but from a neighbouring village.
I'm a good bit older than Stagger (born in the fifties), but have used kilometres and metres for years. Your OS maps must be very old if they still use miles and feet!Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
HaHa. Yes, I have lots, most of them in the attic, but I do use the Mid Wales ones now and again.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffB
The largest number of OS maps I have are the series where the contours on the map are every 50 feet but the heights are shown in metres. Spot heights also in metres. Having regularly used the latest OS maps for many years it can be confusing using the older series as the numbers on the contours don't follow a pattern.
Although I always use feet and miles for planning and recording running, walking and cycling activities I do confess that when navigating and pacing on the hills I do work to 12 min per kilometer but its still an hour for every 1,000feet of ascent!
When I use a map I work it out in km... Just easier due to gridlines.
But I then mentally convert to miles.
Record everything in miles and feet.
Bumped into Nick Craig on yesterday evening's bike ride. I even managed to keep up with him for... ok, I kept him in view for a couple of minutes!
However, it was nice to see golfers out on New Mills golf course again.
Waited again today for the crowds to go home and went out on a glorious evening ride to the Goyt Valley. 36 miles, 3,500ft in 2hrs20. Hare,Lapwing, Curlew seen but only 2 cyclists. Fantastic views of Chrome Hill on the way back in the evening sun.
A late afternoon bike ride with my son of 15 miles and 1,200 feet. The ride included the mile long Horse Lane near Monyash which has just been resurfaced and is as smooth as a babies bottom. It was so badly potholed prior to the resurfacing that Strava put a warning on the segment and would not show the full leader boards to discourage riders which it feared might come a cropper!
It appears to have been lifted already.
Whilst on cycling, I treated myself in March to a new Garmin for my bike. My previous one, Edge 520 was getting a bit ropey and I was struggling to read the screen. I was recommended the Edge 130 which is half the size of the 520 but amazingly a lot clearer even though the numbers are smaller! It also does a lot less, ie no maps, but I never used that anyway.
I picked it up for £99 on Wiggle including HR Chest Strap. So if anyone is looking for a new device that does the basics excellently, look no further.
65km of North Worcestershire exploring a few lanes I hadn't done in a while out to Rushock and back. Didn't feel in the mood for one of my usual hill focused rides but such is the nature of this area, I notched up just over 1000m of climb anywa. One of those days where I didn't really feel up to much, thought I'd taken it easy but the stats show otherwise with a few PRs on some Strava segments. Lots of other cyclists out enjoying what was pretty much a perfect day for it.
A morning ride of 70 miles and 6'700 feet in 4hrs 45min out to Peak Forest, Chapel, Kettleshulme, Goyt Valley and along the Morridge to Onecote and home via Hartington and Flagg. Today was the busiest I have seen the roads for cyclists and motor cyclists since last summer.
Very hot and surprisingly breezy,mainly headwind, on the tops. Lots of cafes open and most with queues outside. I used none of them but did stop at Parsley Hay to refill my water bottles and stick my head under the, very cold, outside tap!
Went out at 0900 this morning for a ride in the hope of beating the rain. 25 miles and 2,150 feet in 1hr 35 out to Chelmorton from where I could see rain approaching over the Cat and Fiddle. I changed direction and braved the A6 down through Bakewell and back home via Youlgreave where the rain caught me up.
I'd forgotten how moist and cold one can get whilst cycling for 15 minutes in light rain!
On the gravel bike and a mix of road and off road, 30 miles with 3500ft. My longest so far and felt ok, pleased with that, it's the long off road hills that sap the energy from my legs but becoming stronger.