Today's Ride

[K_50]

Yesterday's ride, listening to some tunes through a ghetto mounted Bluetooth speaker (as it's too unsafe to wear earbuds when riding) was just the ticket after a tough week at work.








And since I ended up being in the neighbourhood, I decided to pay a surprise visit to an old friend

 

[rwm1962]

Still only riding to work & back (about 14m round trip) but getting fitter even if still limping & got a PB on the last uphill mile home! I'm lucky to have a mostly off road commute. I followed the River Derwent & then a small tributary, the Spen Burn to our village. There was a massive coke works where the Derwenthaugh country park is now - closed in the 1980's. And iron works prior to that.

 

[Markybeau]

Saturday morning at the lock. Quiet, peaceful, calm. Just the one boat passing through this morning.

 

[Markybeau]

Good to see so many photos of people's rides. Some great pictures!

I spent much of the day doing errands, chores and babysitting for eldest sprog, while she was lying in bed most of the day and achieved just one thing. However, that one thing was giving birth so she gets absolutely all the bragging rights!

Needless to say, riding time was limited: precisely one hour and thirty minutes max. So I decided to head to Whitstable and just go as fast as I could: 15 miles; max speed: 32.17 mph; average speed: 12.06 mph, which I thought was pretty good since four or five minutes involved picking the bike up and carrying it, first, because some traffic lights refused to turn green, and second, when getting the bike on and off the particular stretch of beach, which involved climbing steps. A fair amount of up and down hills on the way.

The only photo stop was at the beach.
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Congratulations Grandad!

 

[slackboy]

On the way to Skye for a week so stopped off in fort William for a ride along the canal and back through Nevis range

 

[al-onestare]

It's been more than a year since I threw a leg over a mountain bike and got on the single-track. The single-speed A'ha has been good and the Esatto has eaten up the miles on the road but nothing beats that buzz of conquering a climb, bombing down a hill or making a save to stop you going OTB

Saturday afternoon's weather was distinctly better than the morning and the forecast so I joined Stuart and Rod for a jaunt around the coastal paths. It took in a few new side routes and a few sections that are screaming for some sessioning including steps and drop-offs that are just about doable on a 26" hardtail, ridden by a 40 something wannabe Dario Cioni

It was a case of the 3 ages of MTBing, a 1997 26", a 2021 29" and 20something 27.5" and I'm pleased to report the Hot was more than capable and the 29er Trek was as big and soulless as a lump of coal. I'm also pleased to report that tubes 1, tubeless 0. Poor Stuart got a puncture 60 seconds into the ride and tried 3 different solutions during the ride involving patches and plugs, and none of them held meaning he had to bail just after the top of Carn Brea where this picture was taken.

I carried on for another hour or so skirting up and down the hills, a truly wonderful afternoon that brought back a lot of memories of riding with the author of this thread, the main man Pat. I had the same post-ride feeling I had back in Fairfax in the Gestalt Haus when I sat down with a can of Thatchers, covered in cuts from the over-grown brambles and ferns, thinking to myself, this is why...

 

[Bcxbcx]

I've not got many photos because it was pissing it down for a good chunk of the day. But Yesterday after finishing upgrading my 2017 Orange Four, I took it out somewhere decent to see how it rides.
I rode a mix of my favourite bits at Afan, then headed over to Cwmcarn and rode the Twrch trail for the first time in 3 years.

I randomly got a cheer from some ebikers at one point, in the rain and mist at the top of a trail, as I was the only other person they had seen, and I was on an "analogue bike".
I wasn't really sure what to say to that! .

 

[al-onestare]

And they called that analogue? It's positively digital!

 

[The History Man]

Developing a local loop for regular riding to get fitter before going further.

 

[slackboy]

Up on Skye now so rude not to do the classic sligachan route. Gorgeous day.