Todays ride

Share your rides with us.

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RIP
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Re: Todays ride

Post by RIP »

Yes will deffo do that next time Stu.... not been for a while but had a phase of dropping in there regularly a couple of years ago, only on weekdays of course, cos dead easy to get to Rugeley on the train from here. Will be back. FTD isn't up to much (apart from the bit just after the caravan site area) but I rather like the Monkey, specially Lower Cliff. Used to like nipping into the eccentric Red Lion at Rugeley afterwards - some VERY strange things used to happen in there.......
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

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middleagedmadness
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Re: Todays ride

Post by middleagedmadness »

RIP wrote:Yes will deffo do that next time Stu.... not been for a while but had a phase of dropping in there regularly a couple of years ago, only on weekdays of course, cos dead easy to get to Rugeley on the train from here. Will be back. FTD isn't up to much (apart from the bit just after the caravan site area) but I rather like the Monkey, specially Lower Cliff. Used to like nipping into the eccentric Red Lion at Rugeley afterwards - some VERY strange things used to happen in there.......
Weekdays are best for me normally mate working 4on4off when I do get weekends off its family time
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PaulB2
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Re: Todays ride

Post by PaulB2 »

I need to convert them to tubeless when I get the time but at the moment it's a case of jumping on the bike when I get a free pass and getting some miles in.
spindicator
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Re: Todays ride

Post by spindicator »

Quick morning loop around Blackdown. Pausing for some coffee at Temple of the Winds.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/m ... feQVq5BZBn
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whitestone
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Re: Todays ride

Post by whitestone »

The Forest of Bowland is somewhat lacking in bridleways, there's Salter Road across the northern part and a small smattering or lines near to Dunsop Bridge. The latter have a bit of a reputation for being boggy so I thought I'd see if the effects of the dry summer had managed to last until now. Time for the fat bike :-bd I'd fitted some Jones Riser Loop bars so needed to check they were OK.

From Dunsop Bridge there's a tarmac estate/farm track leading in to a couple of hidden valleys each with a farm. A quick detour into the right hand valley to pick up a VV Explorer square then up the left hand valley to the first of the big climbs. It begins steeply up a rough farm track which eases as height is gained. Just because the angle is easier doesn't mean the riding is any easier, the track ends and it's a case of crossing a boggy field, just really draggy. Once through a gate there's a flattish area of rushes - the fat bike made this bit somewhat easier. The descent is steep and drops straight to the farm in the previously mentioned RH valley.

On the first climb at the top of the track and before the boggy stuff started.
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No time to rest as the next climb begins in a couple of hundred metres, it's unrelenting though I have to stop to let a couple of quad bikes through. I don't think I've spent so long in bottom gear :shock: The upper part of the climb is across the moor and mostly a push.

At the top of the big climb there was a small Christmas tree to lean my bike against :???:
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Everything is a bit vague on the tops but apart from the occasional ditch it's all rideable. At one point I thought I'd lost the bridleway as the marker posts all mentioned "footpath". It wasn't until I got to a gateway and this sign that I knew I'd been right.
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The descent dropped down the right hand skyline via what I assume is an old turbary road, very fast but with some deep and hidden erosion slots so you needed to take care. Apart from a couple of short bogs it's pretty dry and unlikely to get boggy, it just needs a more weather proof means of getting to it.
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Then it was just back along the road to the start. I got a few odd looks at the fat bike from the masses of road cyclists heading the other way on a charity ride :grin:
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frogatthefarriers
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Re: Todays ride

Post by frogatthefarriers »

I took my car in for an MOT last Thursday. Put a bike in the back to get home on, about 9 miles. On a nice bit of downhill cycle path I got farmered. Hedge cuttings, front wheel puncture, OH Sh*T. Foot down elbows down knees down. Head down hard enough to crack helmet from back to front.
Dog walker phoned ambulance. Hospital, scan, x-ray, fractured rib, broken cup in pelvis that the hip bone sits in, chest drain. Crutches for 6 weeks. Sore as a sore thing.
Don't know why they think it's all right to leave hedge cuttings all over the road. I don't when I have a my hedges cut.
Now I'm afraid for my October BAM. 46/48. I'll probably have to cheat somehow.

Does this count as type 2 fun?
Konia kują, żaba noge podstawia...
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Mariner
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Re: Todays ride

Post by Mariner »

Rotten luck hope you at least feel better soon.
I hate all this 'had an accident stuff' but in this case think I would be angry enough to at least give it a go.
Does this count as type 2 fun?
Heard a new one today - it doesn't have to be fun to be fun.
Zazen - nothing happens next this is it.
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RIP
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Re: Todays ride

Post by RIP »

Sorry to hear about it Frog - that was a bad 'un :sad:.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
frogatthefarriers
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Re: Todays ride

Post by frogatthefarriers »

Thanks chaps. I usually heal quite quickly so I don't expect to be laid up too long. Its just that I'll have to cheat with my October BAM - maybe 1 mile to our village hall field and doss in the tool shed. I really really don't want to break my run of nearly 4 years
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RIP
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Re: Todays ride

Post by RIP »

"cheat" - nah, reckon you're all good surely?

Bike? check. Ridden to bivi spot? check. Not at your home address? check. Not paid campsite? check. Overnight? check. Unsupported? check.

Run unbroken :-bd.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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JohnClimber
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Re: Todays ride

Post by JohnClimber »

Not a bivi, but a bumble and a float.

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Along the canal

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Then cross country to meet the River Alt (Merseyside's 2nd biggest river)

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Going with the flow

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Spinning around

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Back on dry land, after a slip on the mud and and my right leg went in above the knee

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Then a 90 minute spin home again (with wet socks and shoes)
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RIP
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Re: Todays ride

Post by RIP »

That does look like a hell of a lot of fun I've got to say! :-bd I'd be continually on edge I think, expecting the whole shebang to up-end into the drink though.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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JohnClimber
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Re: Todays ride

Post by JohnClimber »

RIP wrote:That does look like a hell of a lot of fun I've got to say! :-bd I'd be continually on edge I think, expecting the whole shebang to up-end into the drink though.
I can't believe how stable the Caribou (Alpacka Pack raft) is when loaded with a bike and gear up front.
It is designed to carry weight up front........ I've never felt "out of my depth".
Although Mark and I are having some fast moving water training this Saturday which could get interesting at times.
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PaulB2
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Re: Todays ride

Post by PaulB2 »

I went out on my second ever off-road night ride with a group from a local shop. Riding clipless on technical terrain in the dark with insufficient lighting, dodgy eyesight and bad technical skills was not my best ever idea it has to be said. I lost a cleat bolt somewhere which made life even more interesting until someone worked out why I couldn't unclip. It was fun though and I got to ride some parts of Cannock I've not ridden before though I have no earthly clue where I went. I also now know that in an emergency you can use a disk rotor bolt as a cleat bolt.
BobCatMax
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Re: Todays ride

Post by BobCatMax »

PaulB2 wrote:I went out on my second ever off-road night ride with a group from a local shop. Riding clipless on technical terrain in the dark with insufficient lighting, dodgy eyesight and bad technical skills was not my best ever idea it has to be said. I lost a cleat bolt somewhere which made life even more interesting until someone worked out why I couldn't unclip. It was fun though and I got to ride some parts of Cannock I've not ridden before though I have no earthly clue where I went. I also now know that in an emergency you can use a disk rotor bolt as a cleat bolt.
I like those kind of rides. when everything feels like its doomed to fail but doesn't and you get some good stories out of it.

snuck out at lunchtime on Wednesday with a view to head south instead of North with a specific plan. Streat Bostal, swiftly followed by Ditchling Beacon.

This was taken at the top of Ditchling..

Image
Image Image
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FLV
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Re: Todays ride

Post by FLV »

Short ride today. Just an hour.

But it has let me finally make up my mind to swap the salsa warbird.

Originally bought to use as a cross between a road and a mountain bike. The reality is that I just don't get on with drop bars. I know plenty on here do but it's not for me.

Nice to be out in the sunshine between showers though.
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whitestone
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Re: Todays ride

Post by whitestone »

Today’s ride was on the fat bike up in to Mossdale to tick off a couple of VeloViewer Explorer squares and to ride a track recommended to me by Stuart Cowperthwaite. A long pull up in to the hidden valley – there’s no surface outlet for the water in the beck.

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Most of the water disappears here, down Mossdale Caverns:

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This was the scene of the worst caving accident in Britain, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/t ... 94268.html. It’s a sombre place even without that foreboding weight.

Things lightened up with a great bit of moorland track - htrider would love it, moderately nadgery :grin: , a bit cheeky since it’s a footpath, about 3km in total. The first bit was a steady climb to a footpath junction. Along the top was mostly rocky at first but became grassier as it went on. Surprisingly all rideable apart from a couple of gullies. One of the best bits of biking in the South Dales, really enjoyable.

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Then got to one of those stupid bridleways that just ends in the middle of nowhere (probably the boundary of lord knob's estate) but which gave a great descent.

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ton
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Re: Todays ride

Post by ton »

is that up from coniston Bob?
turns to a fp and takes you over to howe stein eventually.

went over there on my introduction to the RSF in 1990. remeber the old boys stopping for a drum up at the boundery stone at the top.

dont see many bikes up there.
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fatbikephil
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Re: Todays ride

Post by fatbikephil »

:-bd Good one Bob. The Mossdale cave disaster is one that's passed me by. The article makes for grim reading...
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whitestone
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Re: Todays ride

Post by whitestone »

Tony, that's Sandy Gate, This heads round above the intake wall towards Kettlewell YHA then down Rain Slack to Kettlewell. There was one set of tyre tracks in the first part of the path but I think they must have headed back down to Conistone via the turf road.

Phil - indeed, the original YD300 went past the memorial on the moor that marks their resting spot beneath. I also realised today that Britain's worst ever road crash occurred less than five miles from Mossdale at Dibbles Bridge nr Hebden.

Apologies for the grim subject matter.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
ericrobo
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Re: Todays ride

Post by ericrobo »

Bob, what I've done quite a few times, is to get to the top, (this is about a kilometre past Mossdale, and ST from the hut) over the fence where the BW becomes a FP , then some rideable but trickyish ST down to the good track... then over to Scarhouse Res etc. and over and down to Arkleside...
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JohnClimber
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Re: Todays ride

Post by JohnClimber »

A local 29 mile 2 hour blast this morning

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Look Mum, no hands
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PaulB2
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Re: Todays ride

Post by PaulB2 »

JohnClimber wrote:A local 29 mile 2 hour blast this morning

Image
Look Mum, no hands
What handlebars are those? Cowchippers?
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summittoppler
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Re: Todays ride

Post by summittoppler »

I went up Drum (770 metres) yesterday as an old school friend came up to north Wales from southern England with some mates. Shame a couple thought shorts and a poor jacket with no extra layers were sufficient!

Image20181110_153521 by Jeff Price, on Flickr
BAM: 2014, 2018 & ......
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whitestone
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Re: Todays ride

Post by whitestone »

Not an MTB or gravel, CX or even road ride. Apparently I didn't ride. Let me explain ...

I went for a steady ride on the road bike up the Dale, over to Settle and back home. Normally this is 95km or so but I thought I'd find an extra loop somewhere to get it over 100km. (one of my monthly challenges is to do at least one 100km ride) Anyway, after a nice cup of coffee in Settle I headed home. My initial thought was to head down to Bolton by Bowland which is on the way to Clitheroe then cut back to the direct route. Then I had a thought.

Near us is a steep hill, it's the only road climb in the immediate area that I've never ridden up in the seventeen years we've lived here. I've been down it a few times but never up. Why? Well the junction where you'd turn off to get to the climb is 1km closer to our home than the junction at the top and I'd only ever go past the bottom junction on one of my alternative commute routes home so I never really bothered. Today would be different.

As I was riding back I'd even thought of a natty name for the Strava activity: "I Knocked the Bastard off!". OK, apologies to Sir Edmund Hilary and all that but it's known locally as "the bastard" so it sort of all makes sense. So through the village, turn right by the Post Office, joke with the community speed watch group that "They won't catch me!" and get to the foot of the hill. In the right gear and go! The bottom half is steady then it steepens to 25%, it's bad enough in a car, legs feel strong and I power through it (swoon) even managing to chat to a bloke walking down the hill who I can hear yelling encouragement as I near the top. Then it's just a 12% slope to the top. Wayhay :-bd

Turn right and head up the hill to home (we've a lot of hills round here) and I notice that the Garmin has switched off. At 98km :shock: Get home and go to download the ride and ...

Nothing. Zip, Zilch, nada.

Not only that but the device has completely reset. No bike profiles, no activity profiles, units set back to stupid.

~X( x( x( x( x( x( x(

And breathe.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
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