Today's Ride

[Markybeau]

Re:

Mixed weather. Heavy showers, moving through overcast sky, breaking into sunny intervals. About 17°c, so nice. Strong breeze at times but not unpleasant.

Had a mechanical issue throughout the ride. For some reason, after a proper cleaning, and fitting a new chain, the bloody freehub started slipping under load. How to keep a low torque spin throughout, so couldn't push. Makes you concentrate - like riding with a slipping clutch, it's annoying but you can work around it.

Knocked out about 20 miles. Found a restricted byway I've missed a couple of times.

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Friday's mud has vanished along with the heat, replaced by a fresh breeze and much cooler 12-13 degrees. The trails are quieter too and normal suburban attitudes have returned. On the one hand I was called a ****, again, very first thing as I was pootling towards the woods, but then later on was told "that's a really cool old-skool bike". People are people!

Anyway, perfect conditions for riding. Red-5 was on form :mrgreen:

 

[Markybeau]

Re:

Very windy today...(insert punchline here)

Cooled down a bit from the last few days. Got out for an hour and a half, but it was spoiled by the fact that I'm a poor mechanic. Spent half an hour chasing a problem around the bike.

Still 12 miles managed and I'll sort the issue in the morning.

 

[al-onestare]

The sun has disappeared but the breeze has eased off a bit. Went exploring and didn't anything interesting so headed back into the woods. Downhill sections are few and far between so I waited for a runner to get ahead of me so I could give it some beans. Time for a quick snap.

Really itching to get further afield so I think it's time to get the Esatto operational again.

 

[Markybeau]

Re:

With the technical issues resolved I can get on with the riding again.

25 miles, late afternoon. About 19°c.
Breezy at times.

Managed to miss the rain. The ground a little softer, very little mud. Followed a long bridleway that, unusually for around here, bisected several fields. Normally we only get footpaths doing that, and the bridleways tend wander around the edges.

Another bridleway, barely used, my legs tingling from nettle, bramble and thistle attacks.

Very quiet. Normal service is resumed.

 

[mk one]

Bored today with not much on so went out for a quick ride.

Just took it steady and had a great ride. It was very muggy and quite warm when the sun was out. Lots of wildlife out around the lakes, always nice to see.

Great times...

 

[rwm1962]

Pleasant blast out in the drizzle.

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Some fairly decent rain yesterday evening and I guess a shower or two during the night meant some nice action this morning. Very light breeze, 13-14 degrees and as echoed above, very quiet. Next time you go into the woods, forget ticks and overgrown trails, watch out for moths :shock:

 

[Markybeau]

Re:

Ride in. Took my time and experimented with the route. Proved very enjoyable, but inefficient, adding too much time on.

Had a moment, losing the front on wet metal bridge. Caught in a brief light shower, making the surface slick. Pedestrians unexpectedly popped into view, I braked, front wheel tucked and I clouted the railings. Fortunately uninjured and minimum damage - cheap foam bar wrap had a chunk taken out of it, and a small scrape on the bars. Pedestrians were a bit spooked. No harm done.

Lovely morning. I was disappointed that the end point of my journey was the office.

Cool, about 15°c. Light shower. Light breeze.

 

[Markybeau]

Re:

Ride home was a feat of endurance.

A ride of many seasons.

I found a hill! All 300ft of it.

Continued up the Lea, towards Ware, looking for the North-West Passage. Saw a dismantled railway listed on the map and heard it calling me.

Then it started to rain, light at first, before chucking it down. 'It'll blow over', I thought. The blue skies peeping through the cloud in the distance, staying there, in the distance... Bollocks.

Bit the bullet after spending half an hour standing under a tree. Fortunately I had my waterproof jacket with me.

Found the most massive thistles I've ever seen, over 6ft tall.

Later both wheels locked with mud. Had to drag the bike for about 50 metres, to a place where i could deal with it, without it happening again. Spent another, god knows how long, cleaning it up to a point where I could ride it again.

These are the rides that memories are made of...or some crap like that.

I'm home now, so, of course, it was a brilliant ride.