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Driving home this morning, there was a young man cycling into town on a mtb, no hands, hands in his jacket pockets and earphones in listening to something; plenty of traffic, logging lorries etc about.
I felt like stopping and saying “hey mate, this really isn’t a good idea, it didn’t work for Froome and sure as hell you will come to grief as well”.
A peddle round the back roads in some sunshine, starting to feel more comfortable on the bike and struggling less (but not fast!) 31 miles for 2570ft.
For today's little jaunt to Willoughby-on-the-Wolds and Wysall, I measured the distance both by my traditional method (measuring wheel on OS map) and by Marco's suggestion above. As I had expected, the measuring wheel produces a rather conservative estimate; a little over 21 miles, compared to 22.3 miles from Google maps. I found it a bit fiddly to get a sequence of control points on Google maps that got it to trace the route that I had actually taken.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Yes, Google maps can be a bit fiddly, although once you have used it a few times you do get used to its foibles.Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
It's worth trying Cycle.travel too, as I think it might be more to your liking. Cycle.travel uses OpenStreetMap, and differs in that it actively hunts out quieter and more bike-friendly routes. It is also a bit fiddly with control points. I looked at a route the other day, and it picked a better route than I would have come up with if I was going to take a leisurely ride.
If you set it to 'Any' type of surface it will utilise paths and canal towpaths. This means you can see a route up the Beacon Hill local to you from the east, on paths rather than road, and it will show the steepest part (14.2 percent). It doesn't work on all paths, though.
Set off in the rain, but it dried up after about an hour. A fairly flat route to start with, up the Soar valley and then to Beeby, where the climbing started. Up into the delightful hills of East Leicestershire, eventually reaching 222 metres at Life Hill. The road descending steeply from there had a lot of muck on it, but then a sign at a farm entrance said "Sludge Hall Farm", which presumably explained everything. The little lane from Cold Newton to Lowesby had three cattle grids (including one three-quarters of the way down a long downhill stretch) and a gate; they really ought to take a cycle race along there. Back home via Gaddesby and Six Hills. 43 miles in 4 hours 29 minutes, including refuelling stops; I wasn't in any hurry.
Yesterday I did manage my longest ride this year, loop round the reservoir and mountain road to Tregaron, then Lampeter and home. Gave me just over 50 miles and 5000ft, pleased but a bit achy today!
Nice one.Quote:
Originally Posted by molehill
RespectQuote:
Originally Posted by molehill
Thank you, but had a sore bum at Lampeter - need to purchase some padded cycling shorts as finding my running shorts have their limitations after a few hours ☹
50 miles on a bike in running shorts! Double respect. No wonder you’ve got a sore arseQuote:
Originally Posted by molehill