Ride Reports

itboffin

Look at this road, wait a minute that's no road it's the Kennet & Avon canal



Frozen lock this morning and totally white bike this evening



Now it's just getting silly


Train station this morning, dark, cold & icy - ACE!

roger_merriman

cjcp wrote:

I weigh almost a quarter of your body weight more than you. :shock:

snap!

stuaff

JonGinge wrote:

PS I'm currently at a whopping 67kg

You're fat compared to me (I'd like the extra weight, just as long as it's in the form of muscle!!).

roger_merriman

lovely winter land so, went out for a wood hack with a clubmate.

She was on a nimble cross and I was on lumbering MTB headed into Esher Woods, some nothing too hard though had a few moments with hidden furrows of frozen mud. And the ever favourate, roots.

about 2 maybe 3 inches so about the right amount as it made the woods far more intresting than normal. and very very lovely to look at, we wandered around crossing various roads.

bikes stood up well her bikes frogleg brakes didn't like snow much but other than that all was fine.

with the extra effort, was nice and toasty. get out into the snow if you can great fun if you have nobbly tires.

Trailradar

cold

snowy

icy

dark

short

slippery

FUN!

benno68

Finally got on the bike today, only the second time this year and I was beginning to get agitated. My cleats were bunged up with snow so after sorting that out, the cycle in was lovely although I only did 8 miles.

By the way, I bought some Aldi Compression Thermal Bottoms for £8.99 - definitely worth getting for the money.

Roastie

itboffin wrote:

Look at this road, wait a minute that's no road it's the Kennet & Avon canal

Yowser.

itboffin

and today





amazingly there were other fresh cycle tracks, by the looks of it very narrow slicks :shock:

Roastie

@ITB: Purdy pic.

benno68

@ ITB

I would say "get your skates on", but looking at the melted patches on the left bank I don't think that would be a good idea!

itboffin

isn't mental when you actually look for ice on downhills because it has more traction



this pic doesn't do this hill justice, trust me it's very steep even will full hydro disc brakes locked on I descended at speed.

itboffin

Today's ride from home through the Savernake and then along the Chesildon & Marlborough railway line was the HARDEST 15 miles I have ever ever ever ridden, it all started off good until I got to the old railway path, about 1 mile in the snow changed to this hideous power with zero traction, I almost through the towel in and called for support, but no I MTFU and got on with it :?

The real shame was I couldn't even look around at the lovely scenery because without choosing the perfect line i'd be off AGAIN!!!!

I'm truely shattered now

mkirby

ITB get some snow chains for your MTB looks like you could use them.

Im half tempted to go and get a cheap MTB so i can at least go out and play. but then i wont have enough money nor space to get my road bike

cjcp

Went to Sainsbury's. Even the roads which normally have a lot of traffic are treacherous. As a result, had a very low speed off at the end of my road. Slid quite comically on my back. Bleedin' awful ride.

itboffin

I was so annoyed with that ride than when I came home and dried off I went out for another ride, just 10 miles but on icy roads instead of snow covered trail, much better

Not often you hear someone looking for ice to cycle on

Plus I took a scalp, game on 8)

I posted this on the snow & ice thread as well, but anyway this might be a better place for it.

Happily riding along this afternoon in the snow and ice both on and off road, until I hit a totally different kind of snow, well at least I think that's what happened, see pics in post above.

Tell me what you think could have caused this.

the trail path was the same maybe slightly less tree cover, and perhaps the depth of the snow was an inch more at the most, reasonably packed in the middle down to 2 inches and 10-12 inches elsewhere, soon as I hit this section the bike became completely unmanageable, the rear just span wildly gripping nothing and the front jarred 45 degrees left/right/left etc etc you get the picture, before long I was out of gears and sweating wildly, exhausted and broken I had to keep stopping to catch my breath :?

How I envied the walkers with their simple no effort method of travel

Anyway I struggled on for five miles of this torturer before noticing the two other bike tracks were in the fresh deep snow, so I tried the fresh "powder" at what do you know back to manageable handling, but frankly by then I was spent, finished the last couple of miles ago the horrific busy A346.

itboffin

I'm pleased to report that today's social ride along the Ridgeway was great fun, even though the snow in places was and I kid you not, waist deep :shock: I believe Attica has some "action" shots.

Now then what is Attica doing here ...?


Grinning like a nutter until............

Oh well least she had the good grace to visit after the pub stop

I may have lead the troops along a very deep snow filled field then downhill into even deeper snow drifts, most comical all round, and I apologise to all for slowing down the pace by continually jumping into the snow drifts

Still everyone looks happy


Real men don't need suspension and flat pedals :roll:

benno68

Great pics ITB, it's warming up down here (+2) so I'm off out for an hour

Nothing as exciting as your ride as I've only got a road bike in working order.

pigeon42

Cracking piccies (although I don't think they do justice to quite how deep the snow was!!)

Thanks for a great ride today!

itboffin

I'm still smiling and if it snow heavy again, i'm going back up with a sledge or perhaps a snow board

Jay dubbleU

We were smiling at that point - that way before the scary ride down to the pub - after that we were grinning - brilliant

benno68

ahh - that's better. 28 miles in 1hr 40, light snow to cool me down - certainly blew the cobwebs away

Had a scary moment with a pothole that jumped out on me and then a VW Beetle who thought it was a good idea to overtake me at a mini roundabout and then take a left - clever lady - still I thoroughly enjoyed getting out.

itboffin

Today's route alas not on bikehike :evil: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ridgeway379073

Bikely sucks lots

Christophe3967

itboffin wrote:

Today's route alas not on bikehike :evil: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ridgeway379073

Bikely sucks lots

Good work old chap, but let me ask you this: how many people did you see skiing :?:

Richmond Park: the Aviemore of the South.

pigeon42

Good work old chap, but let me ask you this: how many people did you see skiing

2 actually - it looked like a very civilised way to move about the countryside (but not even a quarter as much fun as we were having on the bikes )

Christophe3967

pigeon42 wrote:

Good work old chap, but let me ask you this: how many people did you see skiing

2 actually - it looked like a very civilised way to move about the countryside (but not even a quarter as much fun as we were having on the bikes )

Two in RP too. Its catching.

I'm sure the park's police will put a stop to it once they find out....

itboffin

You haven't lived until you've cycled in snow this deep



Snow drift anyone?

benno68

An interesting cycle home today. In my wisdom I decided to put an extra few miles on the clock, I think I looked quite elegant sliding 20foot along the snowy surface of Cyncoed Road on my ar$e - my first fall since I was a nipper, my front wheel just went from under me. Hmmm...Michelin Krylion's aren't great in snow - I had a couple more near off's along the way

I aborted my intended route and ended up doing 11.7 miles - took me 1hr 4 mins :oops: Maybe I'll win the slowest commute of 2010.

Even managed to get up Llandough Hill which was an achievement in the snowy conditions.

attica

Benno68 wrote:

Michelin Krylion's aren't great in snow

not sure another tyre would have saved you

Hope it's just your dignity that you hurt

benno68

Attica wrote:

Benno68 wrote:

Michelin Krylion's aren't great in snow

not sure another tyre would have saved you

Hope it's just your dignity that you hurt

I'm fine thanks. It was a lovely slide to be honest - luckily I had waterproofs over bib longs plus I've got a fair bit of natural padding to cushion the fall

Dignity...?

roger_merriman

my local club had been for a MTB ride, on the weekend but I was working.

So today after much waiting I took the MTB out, was a little more snow and wetter.

started from home so Hampton Court (ish) up to edge of Esher and on to the edge of the common before heading under the A3 and into more woods, lots of dog walkers at this point, but all fine.

was very lovely and wintery up to telagraph hill, fun decent down to the road.

on to Epsom common/woods which where lovely with one of the open railcrossings.

then a little road work before getting to stane street (old roman road) where it got a lot worse, with wet snow and mud. was a hoot but i was shattered by the time I got to the bottom of box hill.

I climbed up the side, watching the kids, in the snow before arriving for a cup of coffee?

ah no all shut as you'd expect. oh poop!

did like the heathrobbingson snow board. workman boots attached to some plastic plank...

so I rang wife etc and then shot down the hill trying not to drift too much...

I was fairly shattered by the end as I had forgot boxhill would be closed so was running out of fuel...

about 30 miles in all and far too many hours on a MTB, but fun I might go again when it's less snowy for a quick blast.