The "Photos From Today's Ride" thread...
Discussion
Bike in Plants Hill Wood by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I don't usually stop on local rides these days, as my fitness seems to have improved, so I made a special effort to stop on my ride this morning, to take a photo.
I fancied a bit of a harder workout yesterday so had a try at three different routes up the Fulking Escarpment.
This one was for horses and hikers only.
This route was doable, despite the Garmin flashing up the magical 33.3% at one point. The herd of cows ambling down the hill were not helping my climbing
This one involved some walking/pushing the bike. Getting the restart technique right after having to put a foot down is not easy!
This one was for horses and hikers only.
This route was doable, despite the Garmin flashing up the magical 33.3% at one point. The herd of cows ambling down the hill were not helping my climbing
This one involved some walking/pushing the bike. Getting the restart technique right after having to put a foot down is not easy!
Daveyraveygravey said:
I fancied a bit of a harder workout yesterday so had a try at three different routes up the Fulking Escarpment.
This one was for horses and hikers only.
This route was doable, despite the Garmin flashing up the magical 33.3% at one point. The herd of cows ambling down the hill were not helping my climbing
This one involved some walking/pushing the bike. Getting the restart technique right after having to put a foot down is not easy!
That looks Fulking steep. And Fulking muddy too! Good effort... This one was for horses and hikers only.
This route was doable, despite the Garmin flashing up the magical 33.3% at one point. The herd of cows ambling down the hill were not helping my climbing
This one involved some walking/pushing the bike. Getting the restart technique right after having to put a foot down is not easy!
croftsj said:
3 ways up Walbury Hill/Combe Gibbett today, glorious albeit a wee bit icy on the descents.
Bleugh! 
I ain't going back there any time soon. Last time I rode the Gibbet, a hundred miles took me over 15 hours and cost me a frame. In fact, I've virtually given up road riding since August as a result of the self doubt brought on by some pretty poor decision making on that ride...
At the risk of spamming the thread, here are some from a few recent rides...
03 Nov. Mucking about with the "Fireworks" setting on a bridge over the M3. A full 4 second exposure, using the railings of the bridge as a 'tripod'. Cones are due to the "Smart" motorway roadworks around Fleet Services/Jct 4a.
18 Nov. An hour or so earlier, the top half of this Silver Birch was still attached to the rest of the tree. It never really occurs to me to suspect that any of the trees where I'm riding could simply topple in a gust of wind, but here's the evidence.
18 Nov. I love sunny Autumn/Winter days. A wee drop of sunshine can make you feel a whole lot warmer than you really are...
What a difference an hour and a half makes (1) Sun, in a bright blue sky, and this could easily be Summer picture, not mid November.
What a difference an hour and a half makes (2) Same spot, but the sun is down, there's a bit more cloud, and it really feels cold and unwelcoming.
28 Nov. Moody dusk shot on the timer - camera propped up on the concrete floor. It's the spectator area at the 'Bear Pit' on the army training area at Hawley. And no, I didn't ride it down those steps. I won't even try after a local MTBer who's far more talented than I am came a cropper on the steps recently.
03 Nov. Mucking about with the "Fireworks" setting on a bridge over the M3. A full 4 second exposure, using the railings of the bridge as a 'tripod'. Cones are due to the "Smart" motorway roadworks around Fleet Services/Jct 4a.
18 Nov. An hour or so earlier, the top half of this Silver Birch was still attached to the rest of the tree. It never really occurs to me to suspect that any of the trees where I'm riding could simply topple in a gust of wind, but here's the evidence.
18 Nov. I love sunny Autumn/Winter days. A wee drop of sunshine can make you feel a whole lot warmer than you really are...
What a difference an hour and a half makes (1) Sun, in a bright blue sky, and this could easily be Summer picture, not mid November.
What a difference an hour and a half makes (2) Same spot, but the sun is down, there's a bit more cloud, and it really feels cold and unwelcoming.
28 Nov. Moody dusk shot on the timer - camera propped up on the concrete floor. It's the spectator area at the 'Bear Pit' on the army training area at Hawley. And no, I didn't ride it down those steps. I won't even try after a local MTBer who's far more talented than I am came a cropper on the steps recently.
Hawley Common heathland. Looks nicer in this picture than it really is. Not the most exciting MTBing area locally, but I've been trying to use a two-year old lap from the Grim Duathlon race as training for the Brass Monkeys racing I've entered this year. This loop'll take care of the endurance aspect of racing, and hopefully help with pacing my efforts. I'll be hitting up some single track sections elsewhere, to ensure my bike handling skills are also up to the job.
I love the way that frozen trails look. I don't like the way they ride quite as much. This flat stuff is fine, but berms and worse still, frozen tyre tracks through muddy puddles on bends? It doesn't leave the choice of line up to the rider, so much as drags you round like tram tracks...
Ah! The crisp skin of thin ice on a puddle...
...a temptation I'm afraid I cannot resist!
Possible design flaw with my Giant Anthem - riding through icy puddles like this throws icy water onto not only the front mech, but right onto the cable as it appears from under the bottom bracket. If it freezes there, I find I cannot change down from the big ring at the front when I need to tackle an incline. It rather spoils the fun of stomping through the ice on the puddles...
29th November - On for a nailed-on PR, and possibly some Strava bling on a long XC segment when I had to come to an urgent stop...
...this Bovine Saboteur was leading four calves down the gravel track toward me. The mother and calves ahead of her had turned off across the field with her brood, but this madam wasn't happy with my proximity. She was 'mooing' her head off, and moving toward me. I recognised the sillyness of staying where I was, accepted that I was outgunned, and withdrew to a safe distance until she was out of the way. Bloody ruined my segment time though!!!
This army OP/watchtower was almost complete when I took the photo. Barely two hours later, after I'd heard a lot of clanging and crashing from the site while I was riding the nearby single track, it was completely gone by the time I rode home.
I was just leaving the training area, and the sun had gone down, when I heard a pair of Jackals tearing round the army 'High Speed Test Track' I'd just crossed. Sorry about the quality of the image - the truck was moving pretty swiftly given the terrain,and there was insufficient time to set the camera up for a better shot.
...this Bovine Saboteur was leading four calves down the gravel track toward me. The mother and calves ahead of her had turned off across the field with her brood, but this madam wasn't happy with my proximity. She was 'mooing' her head off, and moving toward me. I recognised the sillyness of staying where I was, accepted that I was outgunned, and withdrew to a safe distance until she was out of the way. Bloody ruined my segment time though!!!
This army OP/watchtower was almost complete when I took the photo. Barely two hours later, after I'd heard a lot of clanging and crashing from the site while I was riding the nearby single track, it was completely gone by the time I rode home.
I was just leaving the training area, and the sun had gone down, when I heard a pair of Jackals tearing round the army 'High Speed Test Track' I'd just crossed. Sorry about the quality of the image - the truck was moving pretty swiftly given the terrain,and there was insufficient time to set the camera up for a better shot.
That would have made the Yellow Time Trial interesting!
https://www.strava.com/segments/7761239?filter=ove...
https://www.strava.com/segments/7761239?filter=ove...
Silver940 said:
That would have made the Yellow Time Trial interesting!
https://www.strava.com/segments/7761239?filter=ove...
The Jackal shot was taken closer to the Aldershot Road - track junction between Norris Hill Copse and Hussars Copses, directly West of the small lake on the map. The one at the northern end of "CattleGrids". Still a wee bit scary to think that I was on that track a few seconds earlier. Lots of army activity out on the Long Valley area right now, but riding the single-track stuff doesn't seem to interfere with their exercises so I'm still going out that way as I've gotten bored with Grim Duathlon laps of Hawley Heath, and want something different from repeats of the same old Minley segments.https://www.strava.com/segments/7761239?filter=ove...
Cheers for the steer to "Yellow Time Trial" though - I'll 'star' that one and have a crack at it when it's less busy on the test track...
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