The Missus required basil and chilli for the tart's spaghetti tonight, a very pleasant slow ride to town in autumn sunshine, perfect temperatures now. 30 miles and 2700ft.
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The Missus required basil and chilli for the tart's spaghetti tonight, a very pleasant slow ride to town in autumn sunshine, perfect temperatures now. 30 miles and 2700ft.
Calling the Missus a tart is generally not advised; is that why the journey to town was extended to 30 miles? :pQuote:
Originally Posted by molehill
😂😂 All is well at home, the spaghetti was served on a plate and not in my lap!Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
Conkers and bloody acorns everywhere. Like riding through marbles.
Still managed 45k with 750m ascent around some lanes I'd not ventured down before including the gloriously named Bumble Hole Lane and Snakes Lake Lane. No evidence of snakes thankfully
Crikey. That's nuts!Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteS
A 34 mile pootle around familiar country roads that took me over 2000 miles so far this year.
Out of interest I checked where I stood at 1st October in previous years and found that in 2021 I was
approaching 2300 and in 2020 I was at 3000 and on my way to 3800+ miles for the year.
I might be forced to accept that I am slowing down in my old age.
Even my bike was creaking.:)
My pootle today took me along some of the wonderfully narrow lanes around Osgathorpe and Coleorton. On the way home I rode through Cademan Wood: there are no bridleways or other paths which cyclists officially have access to, but the wood is well used by mountain bikers. The footpaths I was riding along were a bit damp after Friday's heavy rain, but still firm enough for me to ride along; they won't stay rideable much longer into the Autumn, at least not for my 32mm tyres, but it was fun weaving my way among the rocks and tree roots. Cademan Wood is one of my favourite places, ever since I spent hundreds of hours there, surveying for an orienteering map.
One of the joys of cycling is the opportunity for contemplation on the out-of-place items you see in the gutter or on the verge as life passes at a more sedate pace (although I exclude here riding down Curly Hill in Ilkley on the loose gravel at 40 mph meeting oncoming entitled Range Rover drivers).
Yesterday on a fast, unrestricted country road without footpaths - so impossible for a pushchair - I saw a child's drinking cup. How had that got there? Had a child in a temper tantrum ejected it through an open car window? Had a parent in a fury grasped the cup from the child's hand and hurled it from the vehicle?
Life! There are so many mysteries!
A recurring mystery to me is the number single shoes that I see in all sorts of places, some remote, whilst on my walking ,running or cycling travels.
I have long lost count of the single and pairs of shoes I have encountered around our reservoir, how on earth do they get there? Some washed up on the bank (perhaps the reservoir is a major body dumping area?) and many on the forestry track round - who discards their shoes miles from the carpark? A mystery to us.Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Back on the gravel bike round the reservoir forest tracks, picking out some hills to go hard at (which isn't very fast with me) as part of my training for running - some high heart rate climbs without damaging my legs. Came out at 37k and 850m ascent.
37K and 850m.
Haven't a clue what you are talking about Moley!
Miles and feet, please.
Well I'd rather have the metric and save myself the bother of having to do the mental maths of converting it back to imperial! However, I do admit to liking beer in pint glasses...
Distance in miles. Pace in km :D
Climb in feet (of course)
It's strange (certainly in the groups that I mix with) how imperial distance measurement even in the younger age groups seems to be more prevalent with cyclists than runners. I guess I converted a long time ago - it just seems to make more sense when all mapping is in metres.
What I do find annoying though is when you enter a 10k and then they put out mile markers - is it only me?
It's what my garmin thing says and I can seldom be bothered to convert. Must admit I still can't relate properly to metric.
Grab the next young person you see passing and they'll sort it in a jiffy. But make sure its not Chris the Crafty Cockney off the Fast Show, coz he'll nick anything!Quote:
Originally Posted by molehill
If you look at the 2011 Calendar most races are shown to the nearest mile with a few to the half mile. Hardly any pretended any greater accuracy.
If you look at the 2012 (metric) Calendar most races are shown to the nearest tenth of a kilometer. Nonsense.
When the Calendar was metricated the FRA suggested that all RO remeasure their races but hardly anyone did
- they just divided the Calendar miles (which were not the same as statute miles) by 0.62, give or take - and the result is what we now have. Those that did remeasure, like Dave Parry, got a bit of a surprise and amended their race lengths accordingly.
One can argue that it's just fell running and doesn't really matter but given that 0.5k is only 500 meters, with a few short exceptions, I think race lengths to the nearest 0.5k is accurate enough.
Particularly for runners who like to go walkabout in races anyway.:)
So was metrication was a waste of time and money?
No - but civilisation is a slow process.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigfella
Well considering all road signs are still in miles and we drink pints, you would have to say yes to some extent.
Railway distances still include measurement in chains but I suspect they don't teach chains to the mile in enlightened educational institutions:)Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteS
But it is 80 chains to a mile - 10 chains to a furlong - for anyone for whom it has been a while since they were last in a classroom.:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
From my schooldays I also recall the "Rod, Pole or Perch", looking it up now for clarification I see it described by wiki as:
[I]The rod, perch, or pole (sometimes also lug) is a surveyor's tool[1] and unit of length of various historical definitions, often between approximately 3 and 8 meters (9 ft 10 in and 26 ft 2 in). In modern US customary units it is defined as 16+1⁄2 US survey feet, equal to exactly 1⁄320 of a surveyor's mile, or a quarter of a surveyor's chain (5+1⁄2 yards), and is approximately 5.0292 meters. The rod is useful as a unit of length because whole number multiples of it can form one acre of square measure (area). The 'perfect acre'[2] is a rectangular area of 43,560 square feet, bounded by sides 660 feet (a furlong) long and 66 feet wide (220 yards by 22 yards) or, equivalently, 40 rods and 4 rods. An acre is therefore 160 square rods or 10 square chains./I]
Maybe metrication isn't so bad after all!
When my diary is too raunchy to read I calm myself down by looking at the Weights and Measures page.Quote:
Originally Posted by molehill
On the left under UK Imperial Units I can read that there are 4 pecks to a bushel and 8 bushels to a quarter but on the right under Metric Units see nothing other than a 1 or a 0.
Order and tranquility.:)
For those that only understand miles and feet, I have done the hard conversions for you 😁.
On the gravel bike today did some hard uphill. 10.5 miles for 1755 feet.
Thats pretty brutal for a little mole!
It felt pretty brutal - didn't go round the second time 😱Quote:
Originally Posted by Wheeze
As my achilles is already playing me up following a 3 mile slow jog on near flat :( there's more bike hill work.
Out for short ride before dark at local MTB forest tracks, 11.5 miles and 1600ft, had a PB on a climb that pushed me up to 2nd on my age category for the SAGA segment. A solid 11 minute climb but need to find another minute faster in next 3 weeks - before I go up an age bracket!
Trim your jogging distance back to around 160 chains, that's my advice.
Off for a few days fishing this week - rod and pole for perch.
Last ride before away, up the mines on gravel bike gave me 8.3 miles and 1560ft ascent. Quite hard today and last ride wearing running shorts, getting colder so time for the Ron Hills winter gear!
Thought I felt a fraction under par yesterday - got the covid this morning!
Hope you are fully boosted old chap....get well soon.
I don't think the fish will be bothered!Quote:
Originally Posted by molehill
Yes thanks, rather enjoying a day in bed reading books whilst being waited on by the Missus - for once she can't accuse me of "man flu" and tell me to get a grip!Quote:
Originally Posted by Wheeze
First bike ride since mid September today, as I've got a sore toe and walking/running aggravates it. Up to Chelmorton on the road and then across to the High Peak Trail at Dowlow. Down to Parsley Hay and then the Tissington Trail to Biggin. Up Cardlemere Lane to Minninglow and back onto the HPT. Along the trail into a cold easterly to Parsley Hay and then up to Arbour Low. Over the muddy fields that are known as Derby Lane and into Monyash. Up Horse Lane and home via Magpie Mine.
A dry but cold day and the extremities knew about it! A total of 33 miles, the vast majority off road, 1,745 feet in 2hrs 36 min. Great to be back on two wheels :)
Back on the bike again this afternoon on the High Peak and Tissington Trails. Other than it being very cold and having good grip on the fresh dusting of snow, the only occurrence of note was 3 mountain bikers wrapping a 4th mountain biker in a foil blanket at Parsley Hay.
Apparently he is taking Beta blockers for a heart condition and one of the side effects is that it can be difficult to keep warm. This begged the question of why he was out on such a day? Anyway they wrapped him up, put a couple of jackets on him and off they went on their bikes!
It was nearly dark when I got home after my 35 miles, 1'780 feet in 2hrs 35 min. Writing this I'm still not fully warm!
Westwards across Charnwood Forest to the maze of narrow, winding lanes around Coleorton. Told myself at the start that I wasn't going to do any off-road due to the wet ground conditions, but still ended up going along a track from Swannington towards Colaville; well, it was signposted as part of the Coalville cycle path network, and fortunately the surface was firm under a thin layer of mud.
Only 23 miles, but quite hilly, and it's my longest ride since getting back from Singapore six weeks ago.