Ride Reports

girv73

Tad late in posting this, but then I haven't been around much due to pesky work stuff that won't go away. Every day they want me to show up and do all this mad computer stuff. What's that about!?

Anyway, Sunday past I got out for a glorious 54 miler around the Belfast hills, motivated by shame at missing a few weeks of Sunday rides and terror at the fast approaching 60 mile Bangor Coastal Challenge sportive at the end of June. I even discovered a flippin' cycle track (like a velodrome cycle track) that I walked past twice a day for 7 years without realising! I managed an average of 15mph, over the 54 miles and 1900 feet of climbing.







Route on BikeHike:
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=8464

More words and pictures:
http://www.rainmiles.com/archives/sunda ... 90524.html
http://s333.photobucket.com/albums/m377 ... 009-05-24/

stuaff

lost_in_thought wrote:

Nice one! Were you Mr Popular the next day then?

I have to say, I really enjoy riding around on little country lanes in the dead of night. I'll admit, too, that I often do so without lights. I know, it's stupid, but it adds to the fun and I dive off the side if I hear a car coming...

In fact, I think I've raved before about late night cycling in London...

Maybe it's because I'm often drunk when it's that late... :oops:

Night riding in London. Lovely....apart from the interjections of, er, drunks.....And all the bloody potholes. I think on my next ride down to Brighton I should bring a recording of the word 'Hole!!', there were that many in Sarf London. But the country stuff was nicer. No alcohol required to appreciate it.
And LiT, get some decent lights..........

Biondino, I am mentally unable to let anyone past. Physically is unfortunately a very different matter...can't speak for anyone else!

lost_in_thought

I have decent lights!

Anyhow, I had a big ol' lie-in this morning, and then mooched around before getting my act together and going for a ride. Not a massive one, only 32 miles, trying out the new bibshorts.

I'm also trying to make the best use of all the lovely lanes around here, and headed out towards Colchester. Stunning views, beautiful day, pretty damn warm, few navigational stops as I failed to properly download the route to the edge and so set off and realised it wasn't there! I only got it wrong once, went on an unscheduled 2 mile loop, then nearly did it again! Silly girl. I also ate a bug big enough that I could tell it was in my mouth, if you see what I mean. Ew.

And thanks very much to CJ and JonGinge for the tip about the timer on the Edge - I got through all 500ml of my water! Hurrah!

Also, tell you what, google maps on your phone should be on every rider's list of vital things to bring along. It's excellent.

All in all a really nice ride!

jonginge

Good stuff. Keeping the bibs?

lost_in_thought

JonGinge wrote:

Good stuff. Keeping the bibs?

Yep! The shorts themselves are seriously good, every aspect of them, and the back is fab too - the vent is very effective.

Still don't like the shape of the front, it really hinders the ventilation you get from unzipping your jersey, and is a tad uncomfortable, but everything else is so good that I'll forgive them.

And they were like 50% off, so I won't be sending them back in a hurry!

jonginge

Whoa, 50% off is a great deal.

Just had a look on the assos site, for research purposes you understand, and it looks like the standard bib style you wanted is the old S2 version. You'll probably have trouble getting those now

Kieran_Burns

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Hmmmm.....

I've just realised that a straight run to Ashbourne is in fact not that far. About equivalent to my morning commute, albeit with some hills chucked in)

So the question is: Do I include the loop I have been adding or do I make the direct run and maybe fling in a drag up the Tissington Trail? (as far as Tissington and back?)

I guess what I am asking is: do you get a greater sense of satisfaction getting FURTHER away from home, or from MORE miles? (don't say both!)

I have to say - the thought of CYCLING to somewhere I have only ever driven to really appeals but I can crank up the miles in loops around where I live (following SUSTRANS routes)

Does anyone know how to plot a route and show it?

Guess where I got to yesterday?

I decided to see where I got to the last time and took the more 'direct but steeper' route - it throws in one short steep hill rather than one very loooooong but more shallow one.

As expected I was huffing like a steam train by the time I got to the top, but I'm getting used to the hills now (ish!)

I got to Alkmonton which is my usual far point (when doing a 25 mile ish loop) and kept going, I passed the point I gave up at last time, hit the next village and was greeted by the sight of an old guy with a frosted glass of cola... the git. I had a quick water stop cleaned my glasses and kept on going.

My intention was to get to the big drop off at Ashbourne as I figured it was only a short run further and then I could loop back.

I then hit that sweet spot when cycling, good road, little wind and a great views. I actually thought I'd turned a corner with the fitness at this point (bloody idiot as witnessed later). There was a sign for cycle route 68 to go left at one point, but me being me ignored it and carried on (good thing to as it turned out even thought it was much further in comparison)

Then I hit the ripples in the hillside - by 'eck there's some seriously fun descents to be had, and you can get enough speed up to make a fair way up the other side before dropping down the gears.

I REALLY wish I had taken a photo of the next village - it was unbelieveable. Talk about picture postcard, this place was AMAZING, a little village called Osmaston - it had the village green with duck pond overlooked by the Church - and me cruising through... a private little golden moment.

I then realised I had taken the wrong turn as I hit the main A52 Ashbourne Rd. A very dangerous route for cyclists but I was right on the outskirts of Ashbourne so I thought "what the heck" and carried on again.

Now we get to the bit when I found the limit of the Tricross Sport. 35 mph. It is TERRIFYING at that speed when the whole bike is vibrating like buggery, you are hurtling down a half mile 1 in 10 and you KNOW that there are traffic lights at the bottom.

Yeah I got to the top of the drop off and totally ignored my plans. My 'excuse' was that I had come down the wrong road and wanted to know where I should've gone...

So here I am at the start of the Tissington Trail. What to do?

What the hell. It's 6 miles to Tissington so it's not that much further. I keep going. Cycling up the Tissington Trail is an exercise in patience when it's busy, you need a plough and some people are completely oblivious, and it's always the parents. You ring the bell, come up behind them and then politely ask, they STILL do nothing so you up the volume and THEN they grudgingly get out the way. Just to top it off they then bellow at the kids to "MOVE OUT THE WAY!" Yeesh.

So I get to Tissington and there's a shop by the trail.... ICE CREAM! Nope not yet, get to the village first. Now that is a surreal moment, I've only ever driven to Tissington so to have cycled to the place and be riding through is just odd. Great, but odd. I'd covered 21.5 miles by this point.

Went back to the shop grabbed a couple of ice creams and gave myself a sugar rush, had a fantastic chat with a group of retired folk down from Hull (!) topped up the water and set off back. It was 5 to 5 at this point so the trail was quiet(er) and I got some great speeds up as it's a gentle downhill all the Way to Ashbourne.

Not so on the way out. Dear God. I found the hill. I call it a hill, it was more like a cliff. Feck me; I got halfway up in the bottom chainring and ran out of strength. Even walking up was hard work, but I WILL do that hill at some point, I'm hoping it was more the shock of the unexpected incline. Now I know what to expect I'll get further next time.

Remember I said it was fortunate I took the wrong turn? Well the hill is one way (up) so I couldn't of gone down and you have to loop around to get down the way I should've gone.

Nothing much more to say - apart from one very scary moment on a downhill section when I hit 32 and went into a stretch of gravel on a bend. The whole bike shifted a good couple of inches to the left and I REALLY thought I was going to have a major off. After that I decided I should slow down on the bends - good thing too as the very next one had an even bigger section of gravel which I was able to avoid by dint of early braking action.

Unfortunately as I took a more direct route back I didn't pass the 40 mile mark, but I did manage 38.5 miles in total. I'm very pleased with that especially as I am now throwing in hills to make it tougher going.

I've saved the route, and am quite surprised at the amount of hills!

www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=8859

itboffin

At long last my campag cassette arrived so I rebuilt the CX all campag now with planet-x wheels woooo! pretty and lighter esp seeing as the only tyre I have for the front is a conti supersonic tissue paper thin job :shock: what with me being the king of PF visits

All set up and a quick test ride up n down the road I swapped to the Trek instead, pumped the tyres to 120psi and rolled away, 2 miles in and I was already pushing hard (into the wind) all the way to the first hill :? 6+ mins to cover the mile avg 10mph :shock:

You should see this hill gulp! still the next 10 miles were fun, all downhill only slowing for hidden bends, other than that it was all pretty quick and straight forward ride 32 miles in total nice quiet back lanes for 80% of the ride then 8 short sharp 500+ feet climbs in the last 30 mins, perfect way finish off a PB month

May 791 miles yeh I know I should have added the extra 9 but hey there's always next month

cjcp

Nice, steady four laps of the Park tonight. Lovely evening. Saw one chap getting stopped by the Park Police at he bottom of Broomfield Hill. Looked like he was getting a stern talking to.

boy on bike

Did the BikeRadar sportive yesterday: 30 miles flat-ish, then 40 up and down in the beautiful Peak District (including a 1-in-4 climb in the middle just for fun :? ), then 30 miles back to base. All in glorious sunshine With a start and finish on the Donington track (which is a seriously fast bit of tarmac).

I started off in a group of 10 or so riders and we were bowling along quite happily - then managed to collectively miss a right-hand turn :evil: This broke the group up (I think some of them never did turn round - probably still heading cross-country now!), and there was then an eerie 10 miles or so where I hardly saw a soul - most disconcerting.

On the last 20 miles, I managed to hop on to another fast line, and was going great guns until the last little hill before the end, when I stood on the pedals and got cramp in both my adductors - ouch! Had to stop for a quick stretch before taking the last quarter of a mile a bit easier.

The Loughborough University sports massage team were back at the festival, and I have to say I don't think I've ever had 15 quid better spent - absolutely amazing!

The festival as a whole was really good - great vibe and good to see so many varied bike-related things going off. The dirt jumping was particularly insane!

Oh yes: I think I may have discovered the ultimate on-bike savoury snack:



It's a scotch egg... in a bar!

Rich158

Had a nice early ride this morning, meeting at an old clubmates house at 08:15 we set off into the Kent hills for the best the area has to offer.

The sun was already getting warm even at that early hour on a Sunday and I was basking in the knowledge that the hard work would be done by 11 and I could sit back and chill with some mates on the MTB in the afternoon

Setting off we hit an easy rythm that was to be the order of the day, heading through lanes winding through woodland afforded some shelter from the sun and we hit the first climb, a nice short 20% shocker, which I decided to have a go at, and made it up in 39x23, the legs were feeling good However hearing my buudy crunch his gears I realise a wait at the top was in order, and a short time later he appeared rather sheapishly, haveing hit the steep section and changed in the wrong direction and come to a complete standstill :oops:

More small lanes, came and went with some lovely descents, and one very hairy moment on a 20% downhill where I forgot about the nasty 90 degree right hander half way down :shock:

The hills were dispateched with ease, as befits the wearer of a Team Carrera jersey as worn by Pantani out of the saddle pedal dancing was the order of the day and boy did it feel good.

Finally we hit the final section of A road for a 25mph+ blast back home. 37 miles with about 3000ft of climbing in just over 2 hours for a 16.1 mph average befoer breakfast made for a relatively gentle ride which set me up nicely for the off road action in the afternoon.

Back home the kids were swiftly kicked out of bed, the MTB's loaded onto the car and off to the trails we toddled. Old buddies had come out to play, and the order of the day was an ectremely chilled afternoon on the trails, a quick run and then chatting at the bottom before the inevitable walk back up. Skill levels were pushed, and pjumps that were previously beyond us dispatched with ease.

Sitting back looking at the day, I now have that nice ache in the muscles that tells the tale of a day spent in pursuit of two wheeled action

Kieran_Burns

B O B - do you have the route you took? I can't help but think that you would almost certainly have cycled on parts of my route and very close to where I live.

The only 'sensible' routes from Donington to the Peaks would take you past mine and through a lot of the country lanes I've frequented in the past

Sewinman

Phew, I am a little sore this morning.

I did the sustrans route from London to Bristol this weekend. It goes around the houses a bit, so we covered about 160 miles in 2 days. The weather was absolutely stunning and we had a easterly wind to push us along.

The first day was slooooow, we cycled to Hungerford and it total it was ten hours in the saddle. We got lost a few times and a lot of the route is along tow paths by the canal, so constantly having to stop and avoid dogs etc. That night we smashed back a few bottles of wine in a ‘The Down Gate’ pub in Hungerford, ate T-Bone steak and went to bed at 10pm. The next day was glorious – the sustrans route between Hungerford and Devizes is brilliant, lots of back roads, great views, thatched cottages, no cars. I would seriously recommend that stretch. After Devizes we were back on the canal to Bath. The path was wider than around Reading, so we were much quicker but again it was fairly slow. Stopped for a late lunch outside Bath and observed the pond life in the pub Got to Bristol at 6 and visited a friend who lives in the Clifton area – I nearly died on that hill. I was impressed by Bristol, seemed a pretty cool place.

No mechanical problems at all!

Conclusion – national route 4 is a nice touring route if on a hybrid and not in a rush. If you like your roadie clean and want to avoid a bone shaking ride then incorporate the Hungerford to Devizes stretch into a road based route, as that bit is amazing. All in all - great fun.

vanquished

Late adding this, but 45 miles on Sunday. 3hrs 15 mins, fixed.

I initially set off East, because that's the way the one-way system outside my house launches me. Decided soon on that this was sub-optimal, so about turned, and headed through to Cottingham. There's a back road out of Cottingham that immediately puts you into the countryside proper.

So from Cottingham up to Skidby, and then Little Weighton, and then you get to the radio mast at High Hunsley - the high point of the route (understand, it's flat 'round here, so this is a relative term). Made good time, I felt, considering it was almost all uphill to this point. I also managed to take a fully hi-vizzed up gent on his Trek hybrid: however, he was about three times my age, I'd guess, so morally I can't count that as a scalp.

One long glorious descent, affording views across the Vale of York under a cloudless sky, and I'm in North Newbald, from where I had to join the main road for the short stretch through Sancton and on to Market Weighton.

At 'Weighton, I joined the Sustrans Route 66, heading East, into a solid headwind that seemed to be funnelled by the valley the road runs along the floor thereof. On the plus side, I get to say "I rode my fixed on Route 66" :-)

Up to South Dalton, then through to Lund, and my ex-wife's farmhouse. Stopped there, at 29 miles, for a drink and a banana. This was a mistake, because my legs kinda seized up after that :-/

Initially, I'd intended to take the bumpy route back (Etton, Cherry Burton, Bishop Burton, Walkington), but as soon as I'd set off, I realised that my legs had nothing in them, and so I decided to chicken out and spin home on the flat: took the Bracken road southward until it joined the main road up to Molescroft, and then through Beverley.

The cobbles around Beverley Minster were murder, but after that it was a relatively flat ride.
[/i]

Kieran_Burns

I used to live i n Cottingham!!

Okay, I was a student while at Hull Uni and all the locals hated us, but I was there!

I did a few rides over to Beverley myself... glorious countryside around there

vanquished

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I used to live i n Cottingham!!

...

I did a few rides over to Beverley myself... glorious countryside around there

Yep, the countryside is indeed beautiful: drawing a straight line north you have the Wolds, then the Dales. And you can get to it all surprisingly quickly, once you're out of the mess that is Hull itself.

Kieran_Burns

I used to cycle up to the Half Moon pub in Skidby and have their giant Yorkshire puds.... sat outside on on a hot day with a pint and stop worrying about exams for a bit... bliss.

Christophe3967

Went for a pootle round Hillingdon yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzVnifQs ... annel_page

jonginge

Christophe3967 wrote:

Went for a pootle round Hillingdon yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzVnifQs ... annel_page

Ouch. Hope all are ok. Cat4=crash lottery methinks

itboffin

Chapeux sewinman glad you enjoyed my neighbourhood now you see why I commute into London, my favorite stretch of the canal is through the bedwyns & crofton (2 miles from my house)

Of course had you had joined us on the ML you'd know that

Christophe3967

After the first lap I knew there could be trouble

Sadly the girl - who was wearing British Olympic Development Squad kit - was in a bad way and her Pinarello snapped in two. The race was abandoned as they needed to get the ambulance on the track.

I now have road rash on top of road rash, as I managed to come off the MTB on Sunday :oops:

benno68

Very nasty Chris, hope the lady is ok and you make a speedy recovery from your double dose of road rash.

biondino

Hang on, didn't you manage to land on the grass

Ouch - hope everyone's ok. Watching the video I was convinced no. 101, with the flashy wheels, was going to be the cause of the accident - he didn't look very comfortable at all...

Sewinman

itboffin wrote:

Chapeux sewinman glad you enjoyed my neighbourhood now you see why I commute into London, my favorite stretch of the canal is through the bedwyns & crofton (2 miles from my house)

Of course had you had joined us on the ML you'd know that

The area around Bedwyn was really lovely and that steam engine place was v cool. It was like being in the 'Shire' - the one I imagine in my head, not the day-glo film version. The cycle from Hungerford to Devizes was the nicest cycling experience I have ever had. We were on top of a hill looking at the white chalk horse and my Italian mate was saying it was 'perfection'...from him that means a lot.

You have made a good life choice there.

itboffin

Sewinman wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Chapeux sewinman glad you enjoyed my neighbourhood now you see why I commute into London, my favorite stretch of the canal is through the bedwyns & crofton (2 miles from my house)

Of course had you had joined us on the ML you'd know that

The area around Bedwyn was really lovely and that steam engine place was v cool. It was like being in the 'Shire' - the one I imagine in my head, not the day-glo film version. The cycle from Hungerford to Devizes was the nicest cycling experience I have ever had. We were on top of a hill looking at the white chalk horse and my Italian mate was saying it was 'perfection'...from him that means a lot.

You have made a good life choice there.

Some snaps I took a few years back
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itboffin/s ... 187908579/

Nice erection

Sewinman

@IT boffin

By the way, have you managed to plan routes for your Nokia and then follow them. Or do you just use it to review rides via NST?

itboffin

Sewinman wrote:

@IT boffin

By the way, have you managed to plan routes for your Nokia and then follow them. Or do you just use it to review rides via NST?

Nah I have a handlebar phone cage but the main roads are so bad the phone jumped off and smashed into little bits, not nice as it was brand new at the time

Now I just try a route with written directions and plot the course get lost loads in the back lanes and learn for next time.

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

Went for a pootle round Hillingdon yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzVnifQs ... annel_page

Ouch. Hope all are ok. Cat4=crash lottery methinks

+1. I think that's the section where there's a descent into the right turn, so you can build up speed and go too wide.

Sorry to hear about the road rach, Christophe. Is the bike ok? Not the Giant, right? :shock:

And what was that guy doing on the grass right at the start of the clip?!

Roastie

JonGinge wrote:

Ouch. Hope all are ok. Cat4=crash lottery methinks

But you've gotta start somewhere. Good way to decrease your odds is to stay near the front, methinks...

cjcp

Roastiecp wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Ouch. Hope all are ok. Cat4=crash lottery methinks

But you've gotta start somewhere. Good way to decrease your odds is to stay near the front, methinks...

+1. Was involved in a nasty crash there last year, on the penultimate corner on the final lap. I stayed upright, but some chaps behind me were not so lucky. Kind of put me off riding a carbon machine there.