I've done a fair bit of cycling in the past in that direction, all the way up to Burton On Trent.... but although i've cycled round Twycross, Congerstone and Market Bosworth, i'd never actually heard of Barton-In-The-Beans....!Originally Posted by anthonykay
You obviously weren't looking at the road signs in Congerstone, as I'm sure one of them would have pointed to Barton-In-The-Beans. But it is a very pleasant area for cycling; a completely rural area, in between the more industrialised and mining areas around Nuneaton and Coalville.
Barton-in-the-Beans was so named because a lot of broad beans were grown in the area. The Baptist Chapel in the village also has an interesting history, having been an important centre of the 18th-century evangelical revival.
No Barton in the beans for me today but plenty of great places names visited including the delightful Bell End and Mearse Lane.
A lovely day for a trip out into Worcestershire. I have not done a great deal on the road bike this year either through lack of time or injury so I planned to do 50k, perhaps 2 to 2 1/2 hours and get a few hills in.
Out through Halesowen and the legs weren't feeling great after the first few hills so I chose to circumnavigate the Clent Hills and loop around to the North through the outskirts of Stourbridge.
Iverley and Churchill and then on to Blakedown (where it is obligatory to sing the Led Zep song Communication Blakedown of course). Chaddesley Corbett woods visited and then off to Belbroughton. Where a look down at my cycle computer informed me I had only done about 200m of climbing. My legs said otherwise.
Nothing for it but to head over to Clent and up St Kenhelms pass. A double whammy here- I shipped my chain as I dropped to the small chain ring on the first steep ramp. No way was I going to clip back in on a 12% slope. I rolled back down and headed up again. On the way up my cycle computer again informed me of my lack of ascent and on the final steep ramp, proclaimed it had a a gradient of exactly 0%. At this point, I threw the towel in and headed home most of which is uphill again with varying levels of accuracy coming from the GPS unit on my bars.
I got back in 2 hours 34 and with 61k on the clock - at least that was accurate. Having uploaded to Strava and corrected the ascent it went from 380m up to a respectable 950m.
Garmin forum reports many people seeing the same issue which apparently is a bug. It only manifests itself when you restart the device midway through recording an activity. I don't think I've done that before but had to today as I forgot to pair my rear light with the GPS before I set off. Obviously won't be doing that again and as the device is end of life, no fix will be forthcoming from Garmin.
Last edited by PeteS; 06-05-2024 at 12:53 PM.
The only women i ever meet in the real world are taken, the single ones are online, but if they don't like the look of your face they don't even credit you with a knock-back. They don't have to do anything apart from register an account and wait for the messages to flood in; you contact them, not the other way around, they act like spoilt princesses. The best thing i can do is learn to be lonely, it's the only course of action with any promise in it, so i've bought a book on enlightenment that's been on my radar for years. This is why i need running so much, it's because i literally have nothing else.
50m up to the craven arms and back on sunday. It looked like a wind free day, but it was business as usual on the moors. I went over askwith moor and greenhow, running the gauntlet of SUV driving day trippers going to swinsty and fewston. It's amazing the risks they take to get past you, sometimes it makes ilkley town centre seem safe and dignified.
Since my son is doing the Fred Whitton today to inspire him I did a 40 mile pootle through Appletreewick and on to Grassington, Cracoe, Rylstone etc. yesterday.
The route includes a nice stiff climb called Hartlington Banks which takes you up to your reward of a very fast descent into Hebden.
No posh bikes outside the Craven Arms but summer has obviously come because the roads were stuffed with open-topped, mid-life crisis porsches everwhere.
As I perambulated past Betty's in Ilkley this sunny morning I noticed a lime green Lamborghini Huracan parked outside. Betty's is where genteel folk take their maiden aunt for high tea - but in a lime green car?
How tacky.
Anyway week 19 and 1100 miles so if I don't fall off another 3000 miles year beckons.
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 12-05-2024 at 12:30 PM.
Isn't the world of marathon running odd? My 50m up to the craven arms on sunday included a hazardous section of weaving in and out of marathon-goers. The runners themselves were easy to miss, staggering up the long chevin like zombies, the difficulty was negotiating the hoardes of drum banging, bell ringing, dancing to music and hosepipe spraying on-lookers. Why they do this i don't know, it's just some quirk of road running i guess. People stood there balling their heads off in dinosaur costumes. The forecast rain never arrived, and the closure of the long chevin meant it was even more dangerous than usual going up the big chevin, with all the idiots in SUVs going that way.
And paying I guess upwards of £50 or £60 quid for the privilege.
£1 a mile with some good grub at the end is my idea of a race!
Took the summer bike out on sunday, up to the craven arms via greenhow hill. As i had my head down battling the now traditional headwind, i noticed a squished snake on the road. I have no idea what species it was, but unlikely to be an adder this far south. In fact there was quite a serving of roadkill, including rabbits, pheasants, hedgehogs etc. plus the snake.
Greenhow Hill. Hmmmh.
Last weekend's ride was 50 miles including the right hand climb from Malham up to Fell Gate and Malham Tarn. Of course it is a matter of pride never to put my foot down but with a 29 cog I do wonder when that will first happen on climbs I used to do without concern - suggesting I am getting past it.
So do I do Park Rash yet again and risk stopping - or rest on my laurels with positive memories?
Campagnolo are a bit restrictive on options with lower gears so I think I might have to replace the whole derailleur - but what price vanity?
Having ridden bikes with 3-speed Sturmey-Archer hubs until the age of 26, it has never hurt my pride too much when I have put my foot down while climbing a steep hill. But in my youth I still tried to pedal up as much as possible on my 49-inch bottom gear.
When you lived in Flitwick, you may have been familiar with the road that climbs out of Lidlington: it has a black chevron on the old 1-inch OS map (Bedford and Luton) which I still have, although the sign at the top said "I in 8", and the chevron is not there on modern OS maps. Anyway, I could get up that without putting my foot down. Obviously there was no hope of pedalling up the 1-in-5 out of Bow Brickhill.
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