Today's Ride

Markybeau · May 28, 2021

24%. That's right 24% - the likelihood of rain today. Good. I left my waterproof jacket at home as a risk worth taking. It pissed down this afternoon. Bloody marvellous.
11°c this morning
18°c this afternoon.

The view across the River Don towards Old Denaby. Local legend has it there are tunnels that run from the vicinity of the hill in the background to Conisbrough Castle about 2 miles away.

That's me done for the week. Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend.

hookooekoo · May 30, 2021

Went out for a quick ride on my newly rebuilt retro mountain bike. Was only going to do half a mile or so on road, but I was enjoying myself so I went for a quick thrash in the local park. It's been a while since I've ridden a bike that wasn't fixed wheel, so I kept forgetting that I was allowed to stop pedalling, and I hesitated slightly each time before freewheeling, subconsciously expecting to receive an abrupt reminder to carry on pedalling. Having 21 gears and nobbly tyres was also a novelty. I haven't ridden a mountain bike for a very long time, and I was amazed at the steep inclines I could tackle. No mud today though. I need to keep it clean until I've taken a few pictures with it gleaming. Transmission was smooth, and shifts were crisp, but the chain and cassette were new, so I would've been disappointed if it wasn't. Only bad thing was that my knee was hurting when I got home. Just as well I didn't join the Peaks ride, as it's obvious my knee hasn't fully recovered from the ride I did earlier in the week.

K_50 · May 30, 2021

I went on an afternoon ride yesterday, armed with a couple of IPA's and a good book.
First down to the harbour

Then I went a little further, and found this improvised bench, which was the perfect place to sit and read

Or just enjoy the view

CassidyAce · May 30, 2021

Not a particularly long ride today - just under 24 miles - but a hugely satisfying one. I decided to head towards Wye and find the hlaew (ancient burial mound), from the time of the Jutes, that I had been looking for four weeks ago. This time, however, I went armed with precise map coordinates.

On the way there; beams of sunlight through the cloud:

A snapshot from the trail:

The trail ends near the village of Godmersham, and then it was a road ride for perhaps four miles, including a lengthy uphill stretch. Eventually, there's a chalky path at the side of a little used road, and a brief walk of no more than 100m took me to the hlaew. It might look just like a mound of earth - and it is a mound of earth - but roughly fourteen hundred years ago people were buried there, with ceremony. I spent a little time pondering their lives, lifeworlds and their reality; doubtless different but, equally, self and other is a fleeting illusion.

I gave my best wishes to the departed and then departed myself, further up the hill, to this:

After admiring the view for a while, I hightailed it home for dinner.

slackboy · May 31, 2021

An actual retrobike ride today. The bontrager is now bouncy so took it out for 25 mile spin on green lanes and a bit of proper offroad. Much happier with the bar height with new stem too.

al-onestare · Jun 1, 2021

Looks like we've skipped spring and gone head-long into summer - that's fine with me

Comfortable 11 degrees, rising to about 13/14 in the sun, a little chilly in the sheltered valleys, blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way. A beautiful morning ride, nice and quiet with all those troublesome holiday-makers back in city

I mixed up a route taking in Gear Hill before shooting right (a great blast down) towards and then up to Madron on the B3312. I prefer going up it this side than the other way. A solid 20 miles with lots of climbing, here's a quick peak back towards Pendeen lighthouse.

Next week the G7 come to town St. Ives so I'll check that out to see if I can spot any Russian spies.

mk one · Jun 1, 2021

Another glorious day.

For quite a few days now it has been blue skies and sunshine, not a cloud to be seen. The trails were pretty hard packed anyway and are now getting very dusty, still quick running though. Early morning start to avoid the midday heat, but ended up enjoying the ride and relative quietness, once out in wilderness a bit more, so ended up out until gone midday. The ride was fairly open at the start but thankfully by the time the sun was stronger i was mostly in woods, and slightly cooler.

Sat at the Ancient Oak for a bit, apparently 1500 years old, while watching a model flying club flying their jets around, tried to get some pictures but just meaningless dots in the vast blue sky, surprising how loud they are for their size. Past a couple of swimming spots, that im sure will be busy later, and was tempted myself but decided to push on.

A nice steady ride on a beautiful day.