Todays ride

[faustus]

Tough job that Scotroutes! Good work!

Job? I don't get paid for it, I do it out of love

Next month's plans include fitting a new deck to the bridge over the Eidart. Folk who know it will appreciate my nervousness

I assumed it was voluntary - just a nice thing to be doing

[GregMay]

First fully independent ride for my daughter on her pedal bike (She's 4). Never used stabilisers, always balance bike. To say I am chuffed is an understatement. Now to point her at some sick jumps!

Managed to get enough mojo together to go for my first MTB ride in a month. Was good. Easy on the ups, then down lovely local tech. Surprising PR, which made me happy. Only seeing other riders on e-bikes, made me sad.

[arkay]

First fully independent ride for my daughter on her pedal bike (She's 4). Never used stabilisers, always balance bike. To say I am chuffed is an understatement. Now to point her at some sick jumps!

Managed to get enough mojo together to go for my first MTB ride in a month. Was good. Easy on the ups, then down lovely local tech. Surprising PR, which made me happy. Only seeing other riders on e-bikes, made me sad.

Why does it make you sad? If it gets people out who otherwise wouldn't be riding, then it's a good thing. Or if it means people ride further and have more fun on a day out, then it's a good thing.

I have friends who have e-bikes. Many have normal MTBs too. On an e-bike they just tend to ride twice as far and get twice as many fun descents in. I can assure you they still feel like they've had a decent workout.

Sometimes I go for a day with a mate with him on his e-bike. He might go off and do an extra lap of a fun bit while I have a rest, or mess up going up and down a few times. Nothing to be sad about IMHO.

Anyway good news about your daughter. Mine is 9 and she took a long time to get confident on a pedal bike - it wasn't really until she was 8 that she got the hang of it (Bikeability at school helped). Like you we started on a balance bike - stabilisers are a dreadful invention as they just tip the bike over unless you have a billiard-table flat area to practise on. My son has just turned four and is a daredevil on his balance bike. He still prefers it to his new pedal bike at the moment but hopefully it won't be long.

[GregMay]

Because it does.

[Boab]

100 km yesterday morning, linking up bridleways and byways with vast tracts of tarmac.


Got home to laden skies, but the we lucked out and it didn't rain.


Another 100 km this morning before work. We were all given an extra hour and a half before starting work, due to some sort of kick ball game that was on yesterday. :shrug: I got wet, then wetter, then utterly soiaked, then dry, then wet, then dry, then wet...

[sean_iow]

Another 100 km this morning before work. We were all given an extra hour and a half before starting work, due to some sort of kick ball game that was on yesterday. :shrug:

They can play every Sunday if it means I can have an extra hour and a half off every Monday for riding

[summittoppler]

Had a leisurely ride to where I've bivvied a few times before at Cwm Eigiau yesterday for lunch. I wouldn't mind saying that I doubt anyone else has eaten mussels here!
20210711_120951 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210711_131943 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

IMG_20210711_153310_775 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210711_141015 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

[ledburner]

you have to have an Alias Bikepacking Gourmet,
but spell checker suggested Backpacking Grommet. , but then I've claimed that

edit: typo(s) corrected again..

[summittoppler]

We all know it's been too hot to do anything, I've actually had my bags packed for a few days know with the intention of a bikepacking trip but CBA. I've got a few more weeks off work so plenty of time left...
Went down the beach at Conwy, a lovely ride on a really low tide. Plenty of jelly fish out and about, good to see the prehistoric tree stump and crack open a beer.
20210720_140239 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210720_142846 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210720_141326 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210720_140520 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

It was like someone let the plug out!
20210720_135624 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Riding on a bed of mussels and cockles
20210720_141834 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

[macinblack]

Out on my local loop, the top half of Notts, which I have done hundreds of times. I always have a sense of unease in one section, as if I'm being watched...

[Verena]

Out on my local loop, the top half of Notts, which I have done hundreds of times. I always have a sense of unease in one section, as if I'm being watched...

[ScotRoutes]

A very warm ride up to Loch Eanaich and back. Lots of stopping and chatting. Then back to the pub to rehydrate. Glad we set out in the morning, before the peak of afternoon temperatures.

[Boab]

I'd planned on doing an Icknield Way double this weekend, setting off on Friday night and getting back this afternoon. Tuesday's thunderstorm and accompanying torrential rain, coupled with the forecast for the weekend put me off. So I decided to go for a long ride after work on Thursday and finally headed out over an hour later than planned, due to poor show at work. The evening was glorious:


So I went down some byway I've not been on for a while:


One of the reasons I was looking to spec a dynamo hub on n+1, was so that I didn't feel anxious that my battery is about to immediately expire. The battery needs replaced, so I ended up running it on lowest power and could barely see where I was going. I assumed if I ran it brighter, I wouldn't make it home, as it had already been on for three hours before I needed to use it to see. How does everyone cope with battery anxiety...?


Saturday's weather wasn't so bad, really muggy and humid, with one shower just after lunch. I awoke at 06:30 today, and it was less actual rain, and more a cloud having a bit of a lie down. I opened the back door to the let the cat out and he meowed disapprovingly and went back to sleep on a chair. So I waited, for three hours, for the cloud to bugger off. It got brighter, but was still disappointingly wet, I headed out anyway. Cloud up, jacket off, cloud down, jacket on, cloud up, jacket off, cloud down, jacket on, etc, etc, etc...

I decided to stick to proper gravely type byways and bridelways and try and avoid any with long grass. The first one I arrived at has been wrecked by the rain earlier in the week. Not only had all the gravel been washed away, revealing nasty ruts, but a big tree was down as well. The barriers you can see through the tree, are where half the byway was washed away in a bit of a landslide last year. I fear this one my end up being closed:


The cloud did eventually decide it had had enough of a lie down and got backing into the sky where it belonged. This meant the humidity dropped and it became a bit fresher, which was nice:


I continued, detouring round byways and bridleways that I knew would still be wet or muddy, and was thoroughly enjoying the multi-surface nature of the day:


By this point it had pretty much dried out, so I started to take in a few more of the unkempt bridleways that were in the area. I noticed that someone had spray painted a load of orange arrows on one and pondered on what that was all about. I eventually got to one of my favourite byways, but in a shock development, it was busy with multiple walkers and dog walkers, plus a horse, so no chance of going all hooligan and ragging it:


I decided to skip a detour into a local village, as I thought I had enough water and snacks to last until home. The next bridleway I hit, had loads of these mysterious orange arrows, all pointing in the opposite direction to where I was going. Shortly there after, I found out what was going on, as I had to slow right down, and in some cases stop and get out the way, to a succession of horses; turns out there was some sort of organised ride going on. Thankfully I didn't meet any of them on some of the narrower, overgrown sections, or that could've been entertaining. Thankfully the next bridleway, one of the longest in the area, was completely empty, we even got a bit of blue sky:


Along with the blue sky, the humidity put in another appearance and I suddenly found myself without enough liquid. The bridleway was switching between overgrown hell and nice and open:


I eventually popped out the other end and started to scope out village halls, sports pavilions and churches, for an elusive outdoor tap. There wasn't one to be found, and the only local shop that I know of between where I was and home, was also shut. Nothing for it, but to knock the speed off a bit and try and cruise the last twenty or so kilometres back to the house, keeping an eye open for anybody out gardening who I could ask for some water (no-one to be seen).


I'm not sure I've enjoyed necking a pint of water as much as the first one I sunk when I got back to the house. While I should've diverted into one of the local towns, or villages, and filled up, it was interesting to monitor the onset of serious dehydration and the effect it had. If I'd had a water filter, then there would've been a couple of easy fill up points, so maybe it's time to finally buy one and start getting used to finding my own water, cause I'm pretty sure I'll have to do that on a few of the rides I'd like to do.

The thunderstorms arrived at about 16:30, and it's was on and off torrential rain for an hour or so, but no repeat of Tuesday's monster storm. Given the photos coming out of London, it looks like we go off lightly today, although it's been raining fairly steadily for a while now, so I guess the dry, hard trails are no longer, again. So apart from three, or so, hours this morning, I'd probably have got away without a soaking, or a thunderstorm. Given where I was mentally after work on Friday though, I'm still glad I decided to postpone till next weekend. While 100km on Thursday evening and another 115km today, don't make up for ~460km of the Icknield Way, it'll have to do.

[fatbikephil]

Well another roaster today so set off on the Straggler to make the most of it. North a bit then west took me onto a new trail I've been meaning to do for a while - up the Braes of Doune! Gravel tastic in the main with just a few chunky bits.



About 7 miles of this then a few more miles of windfarm track.

Cruised through Callander, which was packed to the rafters with tourists, wondering where to go next. On a whim I did the 'Trossachs great trail" further west to Brig O'turk. It is, and empty apart from some fellow gravellers and a few e bikers.
Just after Brig O'Turk I stopped for an ice cream and a coke supplied by Cris Hoult on here who lives just off the Dukes Pass forest drive. We chatted a bit about the Highland Trail and then I left him to supply more ice cream to hot tourists.

Now where? West obviously. It had been fairly cloudy to this point but now the sun blazed down in earnest. Fortunately a lot of the road round Loch Katrine is in the woods and at the far end I turned east into a light but cool breeze. Through QE forest by various means, dust starting to cover everything. The Aberfoyle Co-op supplied more food and drink and which I consumed sat round the corner in blessed shade noting my somewhat burned thighs and arms. Then up the big climb through the forest and much hooning on the forest drive including the mandatory overtake of a couple of cars. Annoyingly I got a puncture. The usual one where you note that the back tyre is going down due to a slow puncture and you should pump it up but before you do you hit a rock and do a proper job. After a fairly rapid tube swap I was off for more hooning on the Loch Venechar cycleway. Then back roads and cycleways home from Callander. I knew this would be a chunk longer than my usual Trossachs bash but got a shock when I got home to see it was five to nine and I'd done 210k!



Straggler in its new superfast guise looking lean and mean. And very dusty.

[sean_iow]

Today's ride was just my commute. After 2 sunny days riding the rocky hills of the Gower on a rigid singlespeed the obvious choice for 7 miles of flat road/cycle path was the full sus. I'm lending a tarp to a friend who happens to be the one who sprayed the Spearfish frame and he's never seen the finished bike in the flesh so thought he'd like to see it built up.

The roads were wet from the nights rain so instead of my usual road ride I turned off onto the cycle path to avoid getting wet from the spray from the cars....



It was well over a foot deep for some 20 to 30 yards Not an issue for a seasoned bikepacker but sub-optimal for the ride to work, luckily I keep a pile of newspapers in the office so at least my shoes will be dry-ish even if my socks wont, being summer the heating isn't on so no point putting them on the radiator. Called in at site on the way past, they are repairing the harbour walls, the flow in the channel from the river makes working off the pontoons interesting, they'd wisely added extra mooring lines. It's a shame we don't have an outside tap at work as it would be much easier to rinse this before it dries on

[atk]

Dark Peak 100 audax yesterday. Started off "sub standard, where's my sunscreen" and quickly became "sub standard, where's my lightning conductor/i wish this jacket was more waterproof/why didn't i pack gloves and a puffy vest".

Started off nice. There's a #chillestrideever couch half way up Holme Moss now. Excuse the framebag-from-another-bike:



Obligatory photo:



Met a couple of riders from the Northern Roll crew on Holme Moss. They were a great laugh, doing their first audax. Ended up riding most of the route together. Took the whole thing easy after the rain, roads all looked a little greasy:



For a change it was nice to have some company on these type of rides. We dawdled at controls, stopped a lot to talk to other riders, enjoy the view, adjust layers etc and ended up an hour past the final control cut off. Then it absolutely threw it down as we were riding back from Marple.

Still, one of the best days out I've had on a bike in a while. Now excuse me while I go burn my shoes.

[summittoppler]

Had a bit of an explore around some forestry around Llyn Crafnant yesterday. Was good to get away from house DIY for a bit...
IMG_20210729_190725_905 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

IMG_20210729_190725_886 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

[Verena]

Short commute to the office on the other side of town.

Lunchtime, made my excuses, checked my phone and saw that Chris Hinds on the GB Divide was just about in Brecon! Mad dash to where it showed he was (petrol station), then several more dashes around town, to the various spots my phone said he was at. I mean, how hard can it be to spot a man wearing a live GPS tracker with a fully laden bike in a very small town??! Well, somehow I failed, and next I knew he pinged up well outside of town .Crushed, I returned to my desk and sneaked glimpses at my phone to see Donnacha Cassidy and Josh Ibbett pass through as I was tied to my laptop.... I mean, the ONE day I had to actually go into the office rather than work from home !

Commute home. As I passed the chip shop, I spotted two laden bikes, slammed the brakes on and bounded over "Hi, are you on the GB Divide???" No, they weren't of course, had never heard of it and looked at me a bit strange at first. Then we had a good chat. Two young lads, en route from somewhere south all the way to Scotland, both had quit their jobs so they have all the time in the world... they still had shiny eyes and were utterly awed from having come down over the Gap and camped by the reservoirs last night. Bikes heavy with frisbees, flip flops, and they said they were even carrying books with them... living the dream!!

[summittoppler]

I got dropped off in Dolwyddellan yesterday with the intention of a bivvy with fine views into Ogwen valley. Things started off well as I pootled my way along fire roads faffing with the camera. However after a few hours I felt a twinge in my lower back which soon had me in complete agony pedalling and walking. Phone call home saw me get picked up at 9:30pm!
I'm currently at home in bits tbh. Really annoying as I don't even know how I done it!
20210802_135105 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210802_152134 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210802_160731 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210802_192833 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20210802_200807 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

[Bearlegged]

Looks like a lovely day out apart from the back issues. Hope you're feeling better soon!

[RIP]

Commiserations Jeff . Backs are buggers. Get someone to walk over it in stilletos - works wonders. Failing that, McKenzie.....

[summittoppler]

Cheers Its a good job I did bail as I think it might have been a rescue job to get me off the hills if I stayed!

[Fat tyre kicker]

Knowing when to quit is a good skill to have at times...

[pistonbroke]

Having a warm weekend in Burgos for the start of the Vuelta. I wanted to recce a new section of the Spanish Divide route so MrsPB and I had a morning ride along the Rio Rudron before returning for the stage finish. The riding was superb, huge vistas and just enough tricky stuff to keep it interesting. We watched the prologue time trial last evening, it was still well over 30°at 9pm when the last rider started.

[summittoppler]

OK, this will be a bit different than the previous pic ^^

After my bout of sciatica which had me using crutches a couple of weeks ago, I managed to get out for a ride. I felt normal once again and a bit wet!
IMG_20210817_171919_685 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

IMG_20210817_171919_691 by Jeff Price, on Flickr