Today's Bike Ride

[Graham Breeze]

Good work, Graham. Incidentally i'd give Peat Lane 9/10 because of the level of skill required to keep moving on the lower esses. Without the damaged road surface, i'd give it an 8 as traction would be easy to find.

I've done Peat Lane. As you say the problem is the lower hair pins (one of which prevents you seeing vehicles coming down until they are on top of you) and the broken scree covered surface which on a wet day can be like a river: not too good on 25mm road tyres.

Simon Warren can't list everything and in the Pateley Area the others he lists are Harwith Bank (6) Summerbridge and Trapping Hill (7) - Lofthouse.

If a road surface is smooth then getting up it is just willpower, patience and muscle. But Peat Lane and Thwaites Brow in Keighley add another dimension outside your control. If your front wheel gets stuck between the broken cobbles on Thwaites Brow you are in serious trouble.

[Gambatte]

Yesterday I turned 50😊
For the occasion I climbed 50 times my usual hill. Ver short, but steep: length 550m, avg 10%. For the occasion family and friends joined and did part of it, at various times throughout the event. Even some that are not only not into cycling, but also not at all sporty.
Very nice event.

https://strava.app.link/Q5CTja9XOCb

[mr brightside]

I've done Peat Lane. As you say the problem is the lower hair pins (one of which prevents you seeing vehicles coming down until they are on top of you) and the broken scree covered surface which on a wet day can be like a river: not too good on 25mm road tyres.

Simon Warren can't list everything and in the Pateley Area the others he lists are Harwith Bank (6) Summerbridge and Trapping Hill (7) - Lofthouse.

If a road surface is smooth then getting up it is just willpower, patience and muscle. But Peat Lane and Thwaites Brow in Keighley add another dimension outside your control. If your front wheel gets stuck between the broken cobbles on Thwaites Brow you are in serious trouble.

I wouldn't be in trouble, as i don't ride clipped in, i ride cleats. A less experienced, lets say born again cyclist in clips would end up hitting the deck no doubt.

Happy birthday, Gambatte.

[molehill]

Did my longest road ride yesterday at 60 miles and 5500ft, had enough of hills by the end! Went fine and energy levels kept up - I actually remembered to drink and eat a little. But I do find it boring staring at tarmac for hours on end, evben in lovely scenery have to concentrate on the road.

[Llani Boy]

My legs were a little tender today so instead of a recovery run I decided to cycle, rather than drive, to Buxton to drop of something at a friends. I was also feeling guilty about warming the planet yesterday

Not a great deal to report other than the rain arrived around 2hrs prior than forecast. I got to my friends house and was having a nice cup of tea when down it came. It eased slightly after half an hour so I set off for home waterproof less. Fortunately it wasn't too cold, apart from the downhills, but the spray from lorries on the short stretch I did on the A515 was horrendous. Similarly unpleasant was the cow and sheep shit laden spray from all the farmers rice trailers, that were returning from Bakewell livestock market, I met on the more minor roads.

Cycling eh, it can be a palaver!

Anyway, 25 miles, 2'136 feet in 1hr 33min.

[Marco]

I don't normally mention my bike rides, as to be honest there are only so many permutations from my house and they all involve the flat valleys of the Tame, Trent and Mease, which do have some beauty but a lot of flatness (25 miles will give you 1000ft of ascent if you go hunting the 'hills').

This afternoon, however, something unusual happened. Having just come back from holiday, and having a sunny afternoon of 73 degrees Fahrenheit (according to Garmin), I thought I'd just spin my legs a bit. After a quiet ride to Alrewas, I was suddenly aware of hordes of motorcyclists coming from the National Memorial Arboretum, making lots of noise. I hoped heading down the A513 towards Tamworth most would go the other way, and whilst I was largely right in thinking this, there were so many of them (hundreds, possibly thousands) that there were still a lot heading my way.

Leaving the A513, and crossing the River Tame, at Elford I swerved around the 'Diversion' sign, and later the 'Road Closed' sign. In recent weeks we have had 'Road Closed' signs on this road when it has been open, so they are largely ignored (by cyclists and motorists). It is also usually possible to walk a 'Road Closed' stretch with a bike.

After a mile and a bit, I rode around the corner and there was a metal fence across the road - from the hedge to the wall. I did look at the possibility of crawling under at one end, but past the large hole in the road, that was half-filled with wet concrete, there was another hedge-to-wall metal fence with no obvious crawling potential.

At this point I was joined by a Polish cyclist, and I explained to him that the diversion was 9.8 miles the way I'd just ridden, or 10.4 miles via Tamworth. I also remembered that half a mile back there was a public footpath that I had run along, once, with my first running club almost exactly 30 years ago. I suggested that we try this, and amazingly he thought it was a good idea.

Now footpaths change over time, and I could remember that it wasn't a vehicular track, so it wasn't too much of a surprise that we ended up picking up our bikes and putting them onto our shoulders, cyclo-cross style, to walk just over a fifth of a mile across a field of cut sweetcorn. I should point out at this stage that fields in south-east Staffordshire are very stony, and walking in SPD-SL cleats (both of us) wasn't easy. After that we found a sandy path which was rideable, just, and after about half a mile we reached a tarmacked path that took us to the road.

Amazingly we ended up exactly where I predicted, and he was very grateful. I was just shocked and surprised that he'd agreed to walk his bike with someone he'd just met across an unmarked field.

And when I got home I spotted a flint in my new rear tyre but it hadn't punctured it and I was able to remove it

16.44 mles, 400ft of ascent, and a PW (personal worst) average speed of 14.8mph. This did include walking 5mins 15secs to cover just over a fifth of a mile with my bike on my shoulder (at an average of 2.4mph for the pedants)

[mr brightside]

Probably not as bad as the time I had to haul my bike up the infamous beamsley beacon descent ginnel. Nettles and tall grass were constantly trying to claim my bike for their own, I had to literally tear it from their theiving clutches.

[anthonykay]

This afternoon, however, something unusual happened. Having just come back from holiday, and having a sunny afternoon of 73 degrees Fahrenheit (according to Garmin), I thought I'd just spin my legs a bit. After a quiet ride to Alrewas, I was suddenly aware of hordes of motorcyclists coming from the National Memorial Arboretum, making lots of noise. I hoped heading down the A513 towards Tamworth most would go the other way, and whilst I was largely right in thinking this, there were so many of them (hundreds, possibly thousands) that there were still a lot heading my way.

I saw the motorcyclists on their way to the Arboretum. I was on a coach taking Loughborough Male Voice Choir to Malvern, where we were singing in the Priory Church. Going south between Junctions 22 and 21 on the M1, we saw them in a convoy several miles long going up the northbound carriageway.

After our lunchtime concert at Malvern, we had an evening concert in Kidderminster, so were given 2 hours of free time in Malvern before departing. I have never been up Worcestershire Beacon before (although I have been up Herefordshire Beacon); I probably looked rather odd walking up and down in my choir uniform, including a rather lurid turquoise shirt, although I had changed the formal black shoes for a pair of trainers. Anyway, although visibility wasn't brilliant, it was good enough to be able to identify the Skirrid, Sugar Loaf, Hay Bluff, Radnor Forest, Titterstone and Brown Clee Hills, Clent Hills, Bredon Hill and the Cotswolds. In the unlikely event of me not being infected by the flu that my son has brought home, I may be up there again next week.

[anthonykay]

Leaving the A513, and crossing the River Tame, at Elford I swerved around the 'Diversion' sign, and later the 'Road Closed' sign. In recent weeks we have had 'Road Closed' signs on this road when it has been open, so they are largely ignored (by cyclists and motorists). It is also usually possible to walk a 'Road Closed' stretch with a bike.

After a mile and a bit, I rode around the corner and there was a metal fence across the road - from the hedge to the wall. I did look at the possibility of crawling under at one end, but past the large hole in the road, that was half-filled with wet concrete, there was another hedge-to-wall metal fence with no obvious crawling potential.

At this point I was joined by a Polish cyclist, and I explained to him that the diversion was 9.8 miles the way I'd just ridden, or 10.4 miles via Tamworth. I also remembered that half a mile back there was a public footpath that I had run along, once, with my first running club almost exactly 30 years ago. I suggested that we try this, and amazingly he thought it was a good idea.

Now footpaths change over time, and I could remember that it wasn't a vehicular track, so it wasn't too much of a surprise that we ended up picking up our bikes and putting them onto our shoulders, cyclo-cross style, to walk just over a fifth of a mile across a field of cut sweetcorn. I should point out at this stage that fields in south-east Staffordshire are very stony, and walking in SPD-SL cleats (both of us) wasn't easy. After that we found a sandy path which was rideable, just, and after about half a mile we reached a tarmacked path that took us to the road.

Amazingly we ended up exactly where I predicted, and he was very grateful. I was just shocked and surprised that he'd agreed to walk his bike with someone he'd just met across an unmarked field.

And when I got home I spotted a flint in my new rear tyre but it hadn't punctured it and I was able to remove it

16.44 mles, 400ft of ascent, and a PW (personal worst) average speed of 14.8mph. This did include walking 5mins 15secs to cover just over a fifth of a mile with my bike on my shoulder (at an average of 2.4mph for the pedants)

Like you, I normally ignore "Road Closed" signs, and very rarely find that the road is actually so closed that I can't get through with a bicycle. But even without this excuse, I have had plenty of experience of walking with a bicycle along a totally unsuitable footpath (but I wear flat-soled cycling shoes that are not too uncomfortable for walking); although as I get older, heaving my bike over a fence (because it won't go through a kissing gate) seems increasingly difficult.

These cycle-walks often starts with me seeing a "No through road" sign, and thinking, "I wonder where that goes". An important part of the game is refusing to look at a map. But even where I have deliberately followed a track on a map, I have had some interesting adventures.

[PeteS]

After our lunchtime concert at Malvern, we had an evening concert in Kidderminster, so were given 2 hours of free time in Malvern before departing. I have never been up Worcestershire Beacon before (although I have been up Herefordshire Beacon); I probably looked rather odd walking up and down in my choir uniform, including a rather lurid turquoise shirt, although I had changed the formal black shoes for a pair of trainers. Anyway, although visibility wasn't brilliant, it was good enough to be able to identify the Skirrid, Sugar Loaf, Hay Bluff, Radnor Forest, Titterstone and Brown Clee Hills, Clent Hills, Bredon Hill and the Cotswolds. In the unlikely event of me not being infected by the flu that my son has brought home, I may be up there again next week.

Anthony, are you planning on doing the Worcestershire Beacon race? I think that is next week. I have run quite a bit over the Malverns and done the race 3 times. It's definitely a trail race but certainly suits a fell runner with some significant climbs and technical descents. Definitely worth doing though sadly I'm still in recovery and not up to more than a couple of 6k runs per week.
So, today I went out on my own 'ride of the fallen leaves' - Worcestershire hills are not quite Lombardy but enjoyed it nonetheless on dry roads and with warm sunshine. Legs felt more Primark than Primož after a big workout yesterday but still managed a few PRs on Strava segments. 55k with 800m ascent.