Today's Ride

[mk one]

Nice and warm today,

The drizzle held off today and i had a bit of spare time so went for a quick ride. Very warm, even in shorts and t shirt and the lack of breeze made for a more demanding ride, especially up the hills through the close woods. The rear tyres tread is getting a bit worn, last pic, and that adds an extra quarter of a stroke to every normal stroke due to spinning out, makes it more fun on the descents though

Lots of people out again, one positive from all this i suppose, though only saw one other mountain biker, e bike granted but still had knobblies on, and a couple of gravel type bikes who were probably slip sliding as much as me.

Great ride again, hopefully the weather will stay dry, went over Peak after ride and it was nice dry and sunny, need some of that here

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Cooler start, 10 degrees rising to about 11 by 08:20. The sunrise was epic, turning the sky a brilliant deep orange and pink but it lasted barely 5 minutes so by the time I could stop safely it'd passed. By the time I hit the top of the downs it was back to cloudy, grey, damp conditions. Once again, the main roads were choc-a-block, but notably, there are far fewer walkers and cyclists about. For now at least...

 

[mk one]

Warm again today with a cool breeze.

A dry day again today so making the most of it. It was mild, a slight breeze, turning stronger by the end of the ride, made it not so muggy, though stood around in the wind i started feeling the cold. Great riding weather again.

Went for a longer, and originally planned, steady ride. Some of the usually wet tracks were quite dry and most of them are fun to ride faster so steady went out the window, i can feel it now im home though.

Beautiful through the natural woods around here, still some leaves on the trees but most have fallen and are covering the trails, just a carpet of red and orange.

A lot quieter today, which was nice, and just adds to the beauty of the woods.

 

[al-onestare]

Yep, the last remaining colours are putting on a good show.

Finally my weapon is back from the LBS. The combination of workshop backlog, obsolete component specifications and a worldwide shortage of parts resulted in an 8 month wait. Was it worth it? You betcha!

Now I can finally ride the roads at some "speed". Much as I've loved the single speed challenge, gears and bigger wheels mean I can cover many more miles in a similar amount of time. So, up to the downs again this morning, through and over to Otford, back through Shoreham to Crockenhill with the blast back to HQ. Slight chill to start, around 9 degrees rising to 10 as the sun broke through the cloud with a gentle breeze.

 

[kaya]

Re:

I spy with my little eye something beginning with THM

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

I spy with my little eye something beginning with THM

I think you need your eyes tested

Cool 10 degrees rising to about 11 by 09:00, slight breeze, very isolated tiny showers on the downs, grey high cloud. Super ride, a solid 35 mile loop through Orpington, Badgers Mounts, Knockholt, a 20% blast down Sundridge Lane onto Pilgrims Way weaving up to the top before heading back to Warlingham, Chelsham onto Addington and suburbia to Hayes, Bromley to HQ.

Pretty much perfect road riding conditions and the legs, lungs and soul feel a million % :mrgreen:

The sun is shining over Toy's Hill and Emmett's Garden where I volunteer. Mr Kite or one of his/her friends decided to follow me for a bit which was cool.

It's not very clear but on the very far horizon are the last set of the Kent downs before you swoop towards the south downs. You can't see it but you can hear it down below is the M25 which was choc-a-block clockwise.

 

[mk one]

Plans for today were cancelled so went out for a bike ride instead.

Sunny blue skies and warm out of the cold wind. Though in this mixed up 'Wonderland' we currently exist in, the tracks were actually wetter than the other day, despite it staying dry since then :?

Not sure why but thought it would be a good idea to do one of my loops the other way round, lots more up hills which i planned on walking up. As it turned out i had enough in me to make 2 of the 3 big hills, pretty pleased about that, the third is so steep at the start, even if there was a run up, which there isnt, it would need a lot younger and fitter version of me to remotely stand a chance of climbing it. Half way up it eases slightly, that for me was the start

At the furthest point of the loop i am at the edge of the Pines tracks so i rode the Blue track backwards until you can leave that and head onto the old trails that lead to and through the desert area. From then on it was a mixture of amazing singletrack and sandy tracks, deep soft sandy, very hard work. The rewards though apart from the great tracks, is the sense of solitude, you really are miles from anything, in every direction

Another great day riding, mixed with wonderment and adventure.

 

[PeterPerfect]

Re: Litter

Love the sign re the litter.

Every neighbourhood should have them.

 

[kaya]

Re: Re:

I spy with my little eye something beginning with THM

I think you need your eyes tested

If you click on the pic and look at the row of buildings on the left he's in the window on the left hand side waving

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

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