The "Photos From Today's Ride" thread...
Discussion
The picture is at Candes St Martin where the river Vienne meets the Loire.
A beautiful day in the Loire valley today - 22deg in mid-October - and I only saw 5 other cyclists out. Passing many vignerons along the riverbank you can only smell fermenting wine
This is part of the "Loire a Velo" route and in August you would literally see 100s of other cyclists out on this section of the route.
Edited by rdjohn on Wednesday 11th October 17:14
First time I started a commute in the dark this morning
On the lane that heads to Steyning Bostal, an owl hooted at me, and 100m later, a cockerell crowed!
This is where the South Downs Way splits heading east, the new route goes straight down to the A24 and a busy/stressful crossing, the old route heads down across the slope and an old crumbling bridge into Washington. Heading west as I do in the morning, the old route is a much tougher climb, it holds the water and the mud has a real cloying ability to stick to your tyres/stays/brakes and it also has smooth slidy chalk and a couple of killer gradients. This memorial to Lord and Lady Dovedale I hadn't seen before, used to go to Dovedale as a kid.
The easier route up from the A24, just before this it's steep and leafy but Tarmac, so if you can keep the rear turning, it gets easier after this.
Came home via Monarch's Way, just to the north of Cissbury. If you ride around here but haven't done this crazy dip, it's worth looking it up
That track on the right is the descent, it seems to keep getting steeper and it feels like you can accelerate forever! The climb out is quite hard, constant gradient on crumbling tarmac, mud, grass and chunks of flint. Made harder by a chicane at the bottom so you can't carry much of the speed from the descent into the early bit of the climb
On the lane that heads to Steyning Bostal, an owl hooted at me, and 100m later, a cockerell crowed!
This is where the South Downs Way splits heading east, the new route goes straight down to the A24 and a busy/stressful crossing, the old route heads down across the slope and an old crumbling bridge into Washington. Heading west as I do in the morning, the old route is a much tougher climb, it holds the water and the mud has a real cloying ability to stick to your tyres/stays/brakes and it also has smooth slidy chalk and a couple of killer gradients. This memorial to Lord and Lady Dovedale I hadn't seen before, used to go to Dovedale as a kid.
The easier route up from the A24, just before this it's steep and leafy but Tarmac, so if you can keep the rear turning, it gets easier after this.
Came home via Monarch's Way, just to the north of Cissbury. If you ride around here but haven't done this crazy dip, it's worth looking it up
That track on the right is the descent, it seems to keep getting steeper and it feels like you can accelerate forever! The climb out is quite hard, constant gradient on crumbling tarmac, mud, grass and chunks of flint. Made harder by a chicane at the bottom so you can't carry much of the speed from the descent into the early bit of the climb
Rented a bike for the day whilst on holiday in Mallorca. Full carbon frame and 105 groupset was great compared with my alloy Norco with Tiagra groupset.
Climbed up to the Sanctuary of Sant Salvador. Great climb, descent was interesting with the brake levers on the other side. Plus the Pinarello frame must be quite short as I kept hitting my foot off the front wheel when turning!
Climbed up to the Sanctuary of Sant Salvador. Great climb, descent was interesting with the brake levers on the other side. Plus the Pinarello frame must be quite short as I kept hitting my foot off the front wheel when turning!
I went to meet my Dad for breakfast which ended up being my longest ever ride.
Four in a field by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I've ridden past these WWII anti aircraft gun placements a few times without realising what they are.
Four by anti aircraft gun placements by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Four in a field by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I've ridden past these WWII anti aircraft gun placements a few times without realising what they are.
Four by anti aircraft gun placements by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
t, I've got to ride back up this" Craikeybaby said:
I went to meet my Dad for breakfast which ended up being my longest ever ride.
Four in a field by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I've ridden past these WWII anti aircraft gun placements a few times without realising what they are.
Four by anti aircraft gun placements by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Whereabouts are they?Four in a field by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I've ridden past these WWII anti aircraft gun placements a few times without realising what they are.
Four by anti aircraft gun placements by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Last week I was out and about on local MOD training areas, and although they are no longer well defined, and have trees growing around them where it would have been open land when they were dug, I get to ride through a WW1 era training trench complex. In fact there are two of them that are incorporated in some way into MTB XC race laps that have used the venue. There are a couple more too, more 'hidden away' so to speak. Some even have the odd original piece of support metalwork, or barbed wire posts still in place. Strange, thinking about all the lads who trained in them before being shipped to France 100 years ago, and that many of them would never come back. Now it's no longer obvious what they even were to most people who pass through. They make for great trail features, too...
This was taken just after I'd acquired my 4th puncture in 30 miles.
I realised why we don't take road bikes on cycle paths at this time of year.
To add insult to injury, the wind blew my bike over and scratched the frame.
The ride over the bridge was lively with a fairly strong tailwind though...
I realised why we don't take road bikes on cycle paths at this time of year.
To add insult to injury, the wind blew my bike over and scratched the frame.
The ride over the bridge was lively with a fairly strong tailwind though...
yellowjack said:
Craikeybaby said:
I went to meet my Dad for breakfast which ended up being my longest ever ride.
Four in a field by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I've ridden past these WWII anti aircraft gun placements a few times without realising what they are.
Four by anti aircraft gun placements by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Whereabouts are they?Four in a field by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I've ridden past these WWII anti aircraft gun placements a few times without realising what they are.
Four by anti aircraft gun placements by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Last week I was out and about on local MOD training areas, and although they are no longer well defined, and have trees growing around them where it would have been open land when they were dug, I get to ride through a WW1 era training trench complex. In fact there are two of them that are incorporated in some way into MTB XC race laps that have used the venue. There are a couple more too, more 'hidden away' so to speak. Some even have the odd original piece of support metalwork, or barbed wire posts still in place. Strange, thinking about all the lads who trained in them before being shipped to France 100 years ago, and that many of them would never come back. Now it's no longer obvious what they even were to most people who pass through. They make for great trail features, too...
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff