So what do the people do when their satnavs have a nervous breakdown?Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
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So what do the people do when their satnavs have a nervous breakdown?Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Flag down a kind cyclist with a map and/or local knowledge?:DQuote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
A battle with a bitterly cold wind, courtesy of Bella, made for a challenging 35 miles and 2,200feet in 2hrs 36min. All mainly off road on the usual trails and tracks and I was surprised how dry, relatively, everywhere was considering the amount of rain that fell last night.
Heaps of people about, mainly the once or twice a year walkers who have a habit of getting in the way, and a few cyclists. Fortunately the Parsley Hay kiosk was open for a warming Latte.
Overall a good Christmas exercise wise, with a 35 mile ride Christmas Eve, 4 mile run Christmas Day, !0 mile walk with dogs yesterday and todays ride. Hopefully I can keep it up in the New Year.
About 26 miles, northwards through the Leakes and around the glorious scenery of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station and M1 Junction 24. My fingers never warmed up.
Covid Affect
Fell Races/ Bike Miles
2019
20/ 2000
2020
2/ 3800
I'm no mathematician but if 18 races = 1800 miles then if I only manage 1 fell race in 2021 I'll need to be pushing those pedals for 5600 miles. :cool:
Out on the bike at last, only had 1 ride in last 3 weeks. Went up and round the reservoir and back, about 30k. Got into the snow for couple of miles and discovered that cycling off road, uphill, through snow is damn hard work! I felt that today, but managed not to fall off.
18 races = 1800 suggests to me 1 race = 100 miles, so if you want the equivalent of 20 races plus 2000 miles, that suggests 1 race plus 3900 miles. But then, as you say, you're no mathematician.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI
Yeah, it's a horseshoe officially. The ring road bus tootles along the b-roads of Belle Isle to make the link, but i think the inner ring road is more worthy- being a proper dual carriageway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Yep. Sometimes I feel the reverse in fell races - I'm not clambering up that character-building, rocky, craggy, dangerous, high mountain when I could be pootling along this nice green valley by a lovely, cooling, plashing stream.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
South to Kirby Muxloe, then west to Kirkby Mallory. Didn't encounter any more Kir(k)bys on the rest of the ride, but did get a very annoying nosebleed, which I couldn't stop until I got home. About 38 miles, moderately hilly.
A sight which would have gladdened the hearts of Llani Boy or Molehill: within the first four miles I saw two roadkill grey squirrels on the road. They had obviously been drinking too much in their New Year celebrations, and hadn't been watching for traffic on their way home.
A very cold road ride today, but on the Arkose with knobbly tyres, which was hard work with the lack of rolling but handy on the patches of snow and slush still lying on some of the minor roads.
The objective was to visit the Trig on Merryton Low which overlooks the Roaches. Out to Monyash, Longnor and then up into the Staffordshire Moorlands. Had to push the bike the 200yds to the Trig which has a plaque attached to it which commemorates 4 members of the 5th Staffs, C Company, Leek Battalion of the Home Guard who lost their lives in WW2.
Was able to ride back down to the road and then a very cold descent to Warslow then on to Hartington, Parsley Hay for a latte, and home via Conksbury.
30 miles and 3,212 feet in 2hr 26 min. Roads were very quiet and I only saw 2 other frozen cyclists.
Even colder today than yesterday for another tarmac ride on the Arkose. Headed in a generally NE direction down to Rowsley and up to Beeley Moor, No 127 in Simon Warren's Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs. Not a very challenging climb but there was a lot of ice on it from water running across the road and I was pleased that I was going up it and not down.
The object of the ride was to tick the Trig at Harland South which is the high point of Beeley Moor. To get to it I leaned the bike against a drystone wall had a half mile of knee deep, out and back, heather bashing in cycling boots!
More icy roads over to Wadshelf and on to Curbar Gap before steeply down into Curbar. I have never seen so many vehicles parked at or near Curbar Gap and the coffee seller in his retro Citroen Van must have been making a fortune by the size of the queue. And no I didn't partake even though I was frozen.
Down the valley to Baslow, along the 13 bends to Bakewell and up the hill home. 26 miles and 2,500 feet in 2hr 12min which was quicker than expected as I was descending some hills nearly as slowly as I was climbing them due to that horribly dark grey glassy sheen on the tarmac.
People seem to have discovered Curbar, was it the Derbyshire Police drone publicity early last year? I tend to avoid it at busy times and head over towards Eyam or Longstone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Back on the bike today just after lunch in what appeared in the BBC forecast as a weather window. I should have known better!
Out to Monyash with a bitterly cold taily and up to the 515 where a bit of cyclocross over a field, warmed me up a bit, and took me to todays TP known as Parsley Hay Farm.
Back to the 515 and a loop over to Flagg where the weather window disappeared and was replaced with a sleet filled 20mph+ headwind nearly all the way home. Riding up the mile long Horse Lane I kept telling myself that this sort of thing was character building, but those days are long gone I'm afraid!
Anyway 20 miles and 1,759 feet in 1hr 36min on roads that were mostly orange from a cocktail of cowshit and salt.
That sounds like a lot of fun. I think I'll get my bike out in March.
LOL, know exactly what you mean, did my character building 20 years ago and now happy to settle for enjoying fine weather and good views :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
The weather forecast said "snow" so naturally with thoughts of Bernard Hinault and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1980) * in mind I leapt out of bed and was away.Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Alas despite 31 miles (1500 feet) on a circuitous route via Pool/Arthington/Weardley/Eccup to Bramhope, snow there was none - even though my Garmin recorded zero degrees (Centigrade that is). Still 64 miles since New Year's Day (+ 12 miles walking) - who really misses fell running?
* This one race perhaps more than any other underlined Hinault's credentials as "le patron" of the peloton. It represented a day that the Badger, then 26 years old, showcased his ability to suffer for the sport which he dominated; a day that Hinault braved the elements to show the world that he was in a different class from his peers; a day the frostbitten Frenchman gave the metaphorical two fingers to his rivals – and almost paid by losing two fingers of his own.
After more than seven hours in the saddle battling what has been described as the worst weather in Ardennes history, Hinault was the first of just 21 riders to finish the race. The man who came second, Hennie Kuiper of the Netherlands, crossed the line 9 minutes 24 seconds down; the Lanterne Rouge, Norway's Jostein Wilmann, came home a massive 27 minutes in arrears.
There's no two ways about it: Hinault's astonishing win in 1980 is a sporting feat that will probably never be matched again in cycling.
You can always run faster. It's all in the head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Well that made me laugh.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Back on the Arkose on a cold day but with a beautiful blue sky and sunshine. Down into Bakewell then on to Stoney Middleton and Eyam before the climb up to todays TP at Sir William Hill. The last half mile on the bridleway was fun on fresh overnight snow which gave the cyclokings a good grip which could not have been said about the grip on my cycling boots for the last 100 yds on foot.
Along Eyam Edge to the Barrel and down to Great Hucklow, Foolow over the scratter to Monsal Head, Great Longstone, Ashford and up Crow Lane home. A total of 25 miles and 2,533feet in 2hrs 5 min.
No other cyclist seen and I wondered, again, as to whether I should be out. However I saw dozens of cars at "beauty spots" obviously people who deemed the drive an essential journey to be able to take exercise. At least I was doing it under my own steam, I thought, which made any guilt disappear.
And anyway, why would the Government allow cycle shops to stay open for sales and service if they did not want us to cycle!
I collected a reserved book from my local library today (one doesn't enter the library but collects the book in a named bag at the entry door). As the librarian said to me (from several metres away and behind a wall of perspex): people are being told to stay at home but yet libraries are open for people to collect books?Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Our library is shut but they deliver all our books, it's great, we phone up and say can we have 20 crime books and a guy leaves them at the door in carrier bags and we give the old ones back.
We don't get to browse the shelves but they are doing ok so far, keeping us going through lockdowns 👍.
Planning a heist Moley?Quote:
Originally Posted by molehill
In view of the inclement weather I decided to eschew the Yorkshire high mountain passes for salted tarmac notwithstanding that the Cow & Calf looked almost delightfully Dolomite-ish in the sparkling, shimmering snow. The minus 2 degrees also suggested today was the day to break open the wrapper on my new dhb Extreme Winter Gloves which would serve one well in the Antarctic (with or without a bike) although perhaps less well in finding the right gear lever (not a problem with Campagnolo of course, just equipment from the Japanese fishing reel company). Still 34 miles were achieved following Mr brightside's formula that anything with a LS postcode counts as local area which includes Harewood and its House.
It is interesting that in Lockdown Mark 1 Leeds City Council closed all car parks serving leisure parks - resulting in visitors parking their cars on grass verges or the roads, thereby creating hazards. For Lockdown Mark 3 car parks have remained open and the good burghers of Leeds have responded by filling them.
An illustration that if one learns from experience one will be rewarded.:)
Harewood House being the venue for the National Cross Country a couple of years ago...
Carparks may be open, but there were so many of then not travelling locally that East Chevin Road (Cote De Chevin) was blocked by people parking on the side of the road. Exercise from home people.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
A cold but bright day for todays bike ride on the Arkose which was an out and back to todays TP, situate the roadside on Grindon Moor over the border in Staffordshire. A total of 35 miles, 2,907 feet in 2hrs 38 min.
Cycloking tyres made for hard work on the tarmac but were handy for the copious amounts of cow shit on the roads. The farmers are muckspreading hell for leather at the moment around here as they can get on their frozen fields without wrecking them.
The roads very quiet and only one other cyclist seen, or rather two, on a tandem. Car parks at the beauty spots were open but very few cars in them, I suppose because they are a decent drive from major towns and cities.
The highlight of the day was seeing six Buzzards, five of which were perched on roadside trees, looking magnificent with their feathers fluffed up against the cold.
A thoroughly wet, windy and cold day for todays ride on the Arkose. Tarmac for 5 miles up to Friden where I joined the High Peak Trail, which was like riding through porridge as the recent frost had broken up the surface, and followed it SE to just beyond Longcliffe. A left over a stile into OA land where half a mile of tough, uphill, cyclocross over rutted fields got me within 20 yards of todays TP at Harborough Rocks.
Back down to the trail and then I picked up a, new to me, bridleway which took me muddily to Grangemill. Back on tarmac, which was milky white from all the quarry lorries as was I from the spray, and up to Elton before a descent to Youlgreave via Gratton and past the farm that until recently operated a brothel! Along to Conksbury and up the hill home.
A total of 26 miles and 2,425 feet in a very sluggish 2hrs 31 mins.
Ooh but you're 'ard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I lived in Cannock when I was a child (son of a miner) but I must have got soft since I moved up north.:(
A gloriously sunny but deceptively cold day for todays bike ride. I didn't set off until midday to let the roads dry out a little, which they did. Out to Monyash and Longnor before the long climb up into the Staffordshire Moorlands, where there was a little black ice in the shade of some walls, and todays TP named Hill House which overlooks the village of Elkstone.
The 2 mile descent into Warslow chilled me to the bone and I struggled to get warm again for the rest of the ride home via Hartington, Flagg and Monyash.
Apart from a couple of hundred yards on grass to reach the Trig a tarmac ride totalling 36 miles, 3,419 feet in 2hrs 46 min.
Straightforward 35 miles (1800ft) trip along a fast running Wharfe and encircling Harewood House. The only excitement was the warm come-to-bed smiles I received from two young ladies in the middle of nowhere but before I forgot my Covid responsibilities I noticed their Porsche Boxster was broken down and so suspected their motives. A Boxster? Perhaps they were hairdressers? Now every man has his price and I think mine is a 928 GTS 5.4 litres, which surely Mr B will agree is the most seductive car ever built, apart, of course, from the Citroen SM with the Maserati engine. Oh My!
It was a bright, blue-sky day and I saw more cyclists out in the country than since the Tour de Yorkshire. They didn't look like local farmers so must have a broad view of "local area". Certainly the guy dressed in black who was doing around 40k on his De Rosa didn't look as though he would be happy pootling round the car park in Ilkley.
He wasn't followed by a police car though so it cannot have been Boris.:)
If such a person exists he may have his own tests eg devotion to Bob Dylan, absolute knowledge of the 55 films of Claude Chabrol, owner of the complete recordings of Maria Callas,...and intimate knowledge of every page of Stud Marks...Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Of course you will be appalled that we are now allowed to pronounce "Harewood" as it is spelt: http://worldfitt.com/2021/01/02/earl...arewood-house/Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Imagine the chaos if this sort of idiocy ever gets as far as Keighley, never mind Loughborough!
Fortunately Anthony I have never needed a taxi to go to Har-wood and my bike happily goes to where it is pointed.Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
Lockdown must be really getting to you!Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Hope that doesn't catch on in Wales 🤔Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
Hilly ride around Charnwood Forest, with 400 metres of ascent in 95 minutes. Much of the ride was in clag, with the cloud base around 150 metres.
Started on the road over Whittle Hill, then Oaks-in-Charnwood, Warren Hills, down to Agar Nook (which sounds so much better than "down to a housing estate on the edge of Coalville"). Up past the highest pub in Leicestershire (The Bull's Head at Abbots Oak) and on to the highest road in Leicestershire (245 metres) at Green Hill; frustrating to see the sun shining weakly through the cloud, indicating that if it was possible to get maybe 100 metres higher, I would be above the cloud. Back via Priory Lane in Ulverscroft, where I took the two steep descents very carefully in the wet road conditions.
[QUOTE=Marco;671275]
Crossed the West Coast mainline at Tamworth on the new bridge that replaced the nearly new bridge. Twenty plus years ago it was a level crossing with a busy road which was considered a safety issue. A bridge was built to the side and when completed the road was kinked to the side over it and the level crossing was shut. Ten years later they widened the West Coast mainline from two tracks to four, and in order to do this they built another new bridge to the side (directly above where the level crossing had been) and then demolished the ten year old bridge. It brings a smile to my face every time I go over the new, new bridge - and now you know why HS2 is going to cost so much!
2004 to 2008 works (Wikipedia)
Prior to this work being carried out, the West Coast Main Line had four tracks between London and Rugby, comprising a "fast line" and a "slow line" in each direction (the slow lines diverting via the Northampton Loop Line). Similarly, there were four tracks north of Stafford. Although parts of the Trent Valley line previously had four tracks, there was an 11-mile (18 km) long section of track between Tamworth and Armitage that had only ever been double track. When plans for the modernisation of the WCML were being developed in the 1990s, it was realised that these arrangements could not accommodate the faster Pendolino trains as well as slower local services. It was therefore decided to increase the number of tracks between Lichfield and Armitage to four; later it was decided to extend this from Tamworth as well, giving four tracks throughout from Nuneaton to Colwich Junction, north of Rugeley. The two outer tracks are "slow", while the "fast" lines are the two innermost tracks.[4]
Work started in 2004, and access roads were built on the eastern side of the line. Substantial earthworks were carried out and 37 bridges were replaced. A level crossing at Hademore was replaced by two road bridges in early 2007. The four-track railway between Lichfield North and Armitage was brought into use on 29 May 2008. Concurrently, Lichfield Trent Valley signal box was closed and within a month had been demolished. On 8 September the same year, the four-track railway between Tamworth and Lichfield came into use and Tamworth signal box closed.
So 37 new bridges? Don't you just love civil engineers?
[QUOTE=Graham Breeze;671279]At least here they actual built the railway improvements. In my neck of the woods, several bridges were rebuilt, with roads typically being closed for six months, to make way for electrification; and then the electrification was cancelled. :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco