Todays ride

[ton]

did a nice 2 day ride from Kirkby Stephen, back to sunny leeds.
started on some very muddy fields before reaching better stuff below mallerstang
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... dRAC6DKcZS

climbed up onto lady anne highway, before a good descent into hawes.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM ... AkazjlRY-q
climbed the road to the top off fleet moss, which nearly killed me, then took the roman road down to Bainbridge

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... c0JiOaXkeb

road work to aysgarth before a nice climb up kidstones pass, then a ace drop to kettlewell for some liquid refreshment, before the final push of the day up darnbrook past malham tarn and the steep descent into malham

top of malham in the dark.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM ... Jxrw00W3Qp

saturdays 60 mile death slog killed the urgency off a bit, so a nice 50 mile canal bash back was enough.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... LD7Mv_mH_s

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM ... XliGeN5zku

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... zmtT1B9I4S

[fatbikephil]

Thought I'd get this one in before Scotroutes comes along with some stunning snowy mountain vista...
First proper bike ride in two months and should have probably done something easier but couldn't resist the temptation of some early season snow.....

An oft used circuit round my local hills up to 725m. A mere dusting of snow but its a start...

[ScotRoutes]

Just a low level spin around the lochs today.

[summittoppler]

After an early winter here in Snowdonia, the weather was perfect for a brew at 3200 ft...
20191110_122510 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20191110_121300 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20191110_110936 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20191110_101105 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

[fatbikephil]

Wow, proper snow!

[Shewie]

First trip out on my bike this weekend, just a few laps of Ennerdale, exploring all the side tracks then a very blair witch esque camp to finish

Some thoughts I've come away with, I need some glasses as anything above 20mph makes my eyes water, my handlebar bag made my brakes mushy so need to think about a different setup (might try some Mickeys), my usual hiking clothing wasn't warm enough on the bike, I really struggled to get warm in the shade filled valley at around 0*c.

All good fun though, nearly stacked it into the river on my way out yesterday, greasy tree roots keep you on your toes

IMG_0262 by Shewie, on Flickr

IMG_0265 by Shewie, on Flickr

[benp1]

Good stuff Shewie, I find I learn something on most of my trips!

Surprised you find hiking clothing too cold? I like using general outdoorsy clothing on the bike, I find it works well. The only tweak is I use MTB shorts generally, but have also been on many trips with normal outdoorsy shorts too.

[Shewie]

I was surprised too, I wore a HH Lifawool long sleeve top with Montane fleece over the top, Montane wind shirt over that, full length tights and shorts on the bottom, lower half was okay but my core was pretty chilly.
I probably wasn’t working hard enough to generate much heat due to lack of fitness and just getting over severe man flu.

[whitestone]

A really, really windy ride over the tops from Settle checking out some potential bivy spots for the winter bivy ride.

Currently feeling bartered!

[PaulB2]

Today’s ride was 3 very soggy hours of going nowhere fast. I need to invest in some mudguards!

[benp1]

I was surprised too, I wore a HH Lifawool long sleeve top with Montane fleece over the top, Montane wind shirt over that, full length tights and shorts on the bottom, lower half was okay but my core was pretty chilly.
I probably wasn’t working hard enough to generate much heat due to lack of fitness and just getting over severe man flu.

Was your lifawool top was damp from sweat? Might have been cooling you? Synthetic is often better for biking baselayers. Does sound strange based on your outfit though, would have suggested it looked pretty good, man flu is a good explanation

[benp1]

After an early winter here in Snowdonia, the weather was perfect for a brew at 3200 ft...

That looks vaguely exciting. Was there last twixmas and was hoping for weather like that. Lakes this year, hoping for snow/ice/neve

[ScotRoutes]

P1060205 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060214 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060218 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060219 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

[summittoppler]

Top drawer Colin!

[fatbikephil]

Fair play Colin, you win this round
I was wondering if the plateau was ski-able.... Unfortunately I'm heading south west this weekend so I'll have to wait for the next lot....

[ScotRoutes]

Must have seen 50-60 folk up the mountain today - mostly on skis. It was busier yesterday too.

[RIP]

Nowt much, just a toddle round delivering Crimbo cards. People must get very confused because I do alternate years sending and not sending them. I'll send some, then the next year realise how silly it is and not send any - if I see someone regularly they don't need a card, and if I never see them then a yearly card isn't going to do much to maintain relations is it? It also costs a blasted fortune, and if I want to bung to a charity then I'll give them 100% not 5% off a card. But everyone else will send me one that year, so then the next year I feel all guilty and send them again, but get none in return because people didn't get one from me the year before. Who'd've thought it could be so complicated to be festive.

I do like it when Flickr says "herding pandas" at me while it's doing something.

[Boab]

First real non-fettling ride of the new bike. Took the bottom bracket off on Saturday and then used less torque to do it up again, the bike no longer rides like it has a dragging brake; which is nice. I also put bar tape on, badly as per normal, but the bike now looks complete. Time to get some serious miles in...


https://www.strava.com/activities/2921295922

[pistonbroke]

Penistone to Peniscola
It's 4 years and 3 months since we took a deep breath and moved all our worldly goods to Spain. None of this dipping the toe by buying a bolt hole, doing it up and slowly merging into ex-pat life abroad, we couldn't afford to do it that way anyway. We jumped in at the deep end, bought a do-er up-er smallholding, joined cycling and running clubs and threw ourselves on the mercy of like-minded souls who have, without exception, adopted us and accommodated our linguistic and cultural cock-ups.
Days like today are the reason we turned our lives upside down. We were out before dawn to drive an hour south to a seaside town where MrsPB had signed up for a trail run. I wanted a few hours on the bike so went out around bits of the course that were accessable. The first food stop was at an Ermita 300m up in the hills above the town, there followed a series of jeep tracks leading to a just about ridable downhill that ended on a secluded beach. It was 20° and no wind but I thought better of having a swim, it is December after all.

The trail followed the coast back to Peniscola but Trish had beaten me to it and already received her trophy for winning her classification, we had a celebratory coffee and cake and got back home just after lunch.

[PaulB2]

The planets didn’t align for the winter bivvy so made do with a wet, cold loop out to Market Drayton. The longest ride of the year at 51 miles and I need to find a better route back that doesn’t involve as many A roads

[PeterC]

I know they are relatively tame and not big miles and more of an overnight trip here and there but have i missed any belters?

I would also recommend the Lookout. Visited there about 5 years ago an amazing location, if you go try and take a pair of binoculars or something, apparently it is a good spot for dolphin and whale watching ( though we didn't see any).

If it's cold just take a candle and if it'sreally cold you could alaways light it Seriousley, although the lookout itself is basically a concrete pillbox type construction the wooden annexe is wood. When we were there it had been snowing the night before and it fely cosy enough.

Another option on Skye would be to visit Camasunary (goood views out to the Small Isles), either from the east from Kilmarie or down Glen Sligachan. If you do make it there either go for a hike up Sgur nan Stri (fantastic views of the Cuillin) or a walk round to Loch Coruisk (ditto). Should mention though that i have not been to the new bothy at Camasunaray, only the previous one.

Word of caution, I was there around easter and I was taken aback by how busy it was as it had been about twenty or so years from my previous visit and a far cry from when I used to live there in the late seventies, possibly not as bad as north Wales though?

[benp1]

I popped out for my own winter bivy on saturday night. Couldn't get up to the ones further up the country but still wanted to 'take part'

Rode about 15 miles to spend the night in a bird hide with no glass in the windows, was very windy and a quite chilly, was pleased about the roof when the rain came though. Managed to bag about 10 new VV tiles on my 32 mile ride home so quite pleased with that, they're right at the top right corner of my next max square so a bit of a pain to get to in normal circumstances.

[Boab]

Had enough of trying to drag the gravel bike through the current slop, this was the state of a bridleway I ride last week:


So I've been out on a couple of road rides this week, which have involved less mud, less pushing, and fewer punctures, which has been nice. Although I need to do some experiments, as I think my 16:8 intermittent fasting is not overly compatible with long(ish) pre-work rides and cold weather. Both Monday and this morning I noticed that my fingers and toes started to get cold about two thirds of the way round, followed my the fronts of my thighs. I was nice and toastie up to that point. I'm now wondering if not eating means the body can't generate enough internal heat, so is pulling the blood out of my fingers and toes, hence why they're getting cold.

Anyway, a couple of photos from this morning, one of those ride where you're dipping in and out of the fog. When you're in it, it's a bit crap, but when it breaks and the sun shines, it's hard not to feel blessed to be fit and healthy and able to get out:


Nearly home at this point, with my fingers curled up under my palms in my gloves:

[PeterC]

Your top picture just looks very similar to the terrain and conditions that I have locally. Not been offroad from the house since early October when we had some shocking rain (doesn't usually get that bad till late november)and unless it freezes hard think it will be early march before the ground drys out enough. I've tried, but one field road I turned on to I made 25 metres before the bike ground to a standstill, thankfully I had a couple of tyre levers to scrape the mud away (not a branh in site).
Compounded by the fact the tractors are/were doing the post harvest deep ploughing so everything is really churned up. Even the roads are filthy with the stuff coming off the tractor wheels.

[MuddyPete]

A week of MTBing (C2W Monday; ride and beer with Reg on Tuesday; C2W and work Christmas party Wednesday; unexpectedly FAST ride followed by curry and beer Thursday) culminated with a bit of a micro-epic on the C2W near Woburn today. Mild rain and fog steamed up my glasses so I couldn't see: took them off and still couldn't see, but in a different way.

Heavy rain saturated the bridleways giving sloppy, gritty clag to wade through.

Brakes failed completely at the top of a very long, steep hill (Bow Brickhill). Trundled into an embankment to stop, adjusted stuff then carried on OK.

Stop/start progress with overheating/chilling as I added and removed soggy layers.

Glad to arrive at work for hot shower and cuppa tea .

Edit - then C2H in the dry (but minging) kit left in my locker from Wednesday, through all the cold, dark slipperyness. I need food!