Road, Off Road, Group, Solo and a bit of running!

I probably say this a lot but...that was another great week of cycling (and a bit of running!)

During the week I've enjoyed a lot of walking with Mrs L and our splendid dogs. I also had a couple of runs. The last run I did this week was the best I have done in ages. 

My only bike ride in the week was also pretty good but I lost my data so I can't show anyone what I did. The reason is the WiFi dead spot in my side entrance. For the rest of the week I sat on the front wall until i could see the data sync! First World problems eh!!!

On Saturday morning we arranged to meet at the swimming pool again. Only two groups this week with the theory being that the weather forecast was poor and people have finally been able to get away on holiday. Our group picked up a 7th meeting Mark at Loddington. I think this was okay. We had a mixed ability so there was plenty of distance between riders most of the time.

The star rider of the group was clearly 17yr old Amy Bird. Way too quick for us old men and the sprints for village signs were often no contest. I got a couple of signs off her...yes you guessed it, with some downhill assistance.

It was good to see Mike back from his adventures on those big Tour de France hills.

Ian's aero shell fogged up at one stage.

This was quite a hilly route right from the start. We skimmed Leicestershire and Rutland at times going through The Langtons, Weston on Welland and Sutton Bassett.

All that silly racing for signs meant I was pretty tired by the time we made it to the tea rooms in Geddington. We caught up with group one there who looked a bit ruined. The explanation for this was that Graham on his Trek wonderbike had set a blistering pace! Calories were put back in with the magnificent croque monsieur they serve!

 

Having burnt all those extra kcal I was able to have some guilt free quality ales. Rothwell Wine Time has a great selection of German and Belgian ales. This was the pick of the bunch! 

I advertised a Sunday off road ride and selected more of a gravel ride at the request of Mark C who considered testing his shoulder. However overnight rain put people off so it was only me and Andy P today. Uncle Bob apparently had his bike in pieces or he would have joined us too!

Before I could set off I set the barbecue up to smoke a pork shoulder all day. This is my first go at this and I'm excited to see how it works out. I also hope I don't ruin a perfectly good joint of pork.

I met Andy on the market Square in Rothwell. I wasn't late for once (its 30 seconds from my house!)

We had a quick chat and decided to make the route more interesting. So first stop was Rushton and the bridleway to Pipewell. From there it was onto East Carlton Park and then the bridleway to Ashley (pictured.) With that overnight downpour you would think ploughed fields should be avoided. However this part of Northants drains quickly and the ground was dry and firm!

The view between East Carlton and Ashley is stunning! Then the descent of the hill is a great deal of fun.

In Ashley I've missed the bridleway I wanted a few times but with the help of Andy's OS subscription we found what will be a firm favourite for years to come!

Andy rode this hill. It was too much for me and I probably need a dinner plate rear cog!

Once over the hill there's another glorious descent!

The other side of that is a great section through to Wilbarston. It was quite overgrown in places though and my legs are still tingling from the stingers!!!

From Wilbarston we headed through Desborough airfield and then through to Arthingworth on more firm field tracks. At Arthingworth we were a bit wary of the cows but another rider assured us he'd passed through safely recently so we headed on towards the Brampton Valley Way.

The tunnel today was very busy with families walking and cycling. I'm sure the kids will feel they've been on quite the adventure. 

Andy and I picked up the bridleway to Harrington and back into Rothwell making this almost exactly 30 miles. We said our fairwells after the first ride in ages without mechanical issues of any kind. Big thanks to Andy for being great company and helping find that bridleway in Ashley. For me that was the final piece of the route that is now as good as it gets in Northants.

In other news I was reading on Instagram about my friend Damian's incredible long distance run. Have a read of his blog. This would make a challenging long bike ride. He RAN this Damian!!! 

Damian Carr Ridgeway ultramaraton

Okay thats it.

Happy Pedalling 

Summer miles and summer smiles

Another lovely week riding bikes and one 5k run. I've been out on road and off road, solo and in an appropriately distanced group.

My first ride of the week was a bit of a workout. After a slow start I wanted the most bang for my buck so did some hill repeats. These are not everyone's cup of tea but weirdly for a fatty who can't climb, I like this!

My 2nd session of the week was my standard 17 mile circuit. I had a false start having set off off without my spares and pump! How could I forget something so important! Anyway this ride was what I needed on so many levels and set me up nicely for the day!

Saturday was my biggest ride of the week. Not a monster but a lovely lumpy spin to the west of Northants.

The first thing to say is that 17 of us met up. However we split up into groups of no more than 6 and stuck to that strictly. 

At East Haddon we had a regroup where all 3 groups were together. By there our group had become 5 as Justin just needed to do his own thing. He'd also done the early birds and finished on way over 70 miles so I don't blame him for taking this approach!

Out of East Haddon we headed towards Brington but didn't get there. We turned right before Brington on a road I've never seen before. It was a lovely little track but Ian's words of warning were: "piddly little roads like this always lead somewhere horrendous!" He wasn't wrong it led to the biggest hill of the day!

Andy P had put the route together and I loved the section from this hill back to East Haddon, through Ravensthorpe and onto Guilsborough. A brief respite from the hills through Cottersbrooke and then full on again up Station Road into Brixworth. Andy's autoroute went a bit bizarre in Brixworth and we briefly lost Richard until he reappeared the other Brixworth on the road to Holcot! Having lost a rider last week there was great relief as we feared mocking from the other groups.

The cafe stop was Manvell Farm fishery and tea room. This is a superb place to stop with plenty of outdoor social distancing space and room for about £30k of carbon fibre!

Great cake selection.

Top quality sausage, bacon and egg bap!

From the tea stop it was a short ride home. Amy and Marcus Bird joined me as far as Loddington. On the Mawsley Road we were exposed to road rage from a driver who clearly thinks two abreast is an affront to his right to drive unimpeded to his urgent destination. I do hope he was in time to collect his daily mail. The excessive beeping was unnecessary. I guess for some people, living in a bubble means something different!

Pleased with my ride I treated myself to some quality ales from Wine Time in Rothwell. That Kasteel Belgian blonde is divine!!!

On Sunday it was a short drive to Lord Pendred's magnificent country residence. Andy, Uncle Bob and I set off for a 36ish mile off road adventure.

At the point of this picture all was well. I was thinking we'd make good time and be back for lunch. Banter was flowing and we'd covered topics such as George the local bull, Bojo, Trump and the comeback that hoovers with bags are making! With the heavy overnight rain suddenly things got a bit muddy!

Going up a hill, Andy's Sram rear mech jammed and then snapped. Andy hates Sram and will replace with a preferred brand! With the usual unhelpful banter he converted to single speed and we made it another 100 metres. Then it went again! 

Taunted by kites!

At this point I noticed my rear was going flat again. Oh no tubeless don't let me down again!!! I tried pumping up and sealant was leaking out of the valve hole. I tried tightening the valve but this made it worse! Also due to a recent repair there was a lot of fairy liquid involved. As Andy was knee deep in his 3rd repair attempt I decided to switch to a tube...at this point the problem became obvious...the valve had torn away from the rubber rim strip! Putting a tube in and then inflating led to an off road foam party!

Andy had to call international rescue and bring in the Lady Sue. He did invent the single speed scoot until we got to the designated meeting point. Bob and I rode back to Denford. Coffee and cake was provided by Andy's parents and I even had time to chuck a lure unsuccessfully in the river! Oh well somedays things go wrong! Andy very kindly hosed the bikes down too.

wonky telegraph poles and the Pendred scoot!

As soon as I got home my thoughts turned to ordering a new tubeless kit. However I realised the tube I'd fitted had a removable core. So I filled that with Stans sealant instead. This isn't as good as tubeless in terms of weight but just as effective in terms of puncture prevention. It seems silly to worry about a few grams of weight when I need to lose 10kg in lard!

That's all for now!

Happy Pedalling 

Another great weekend of cycling and a special feature: favourite ride photos

This weeks blog features a couple of rides, a tubeless update and some very special guest photos! Let's get to it!

After the embarrassment of my tubeless fail and concurrent lack of the necessary kit I set about making sure all of my bikes were sorted out. I started with problem; that rear tyre on my MTB.

First job was to replace the rim tape. Clearly I'd gone jungle fix last time with duck tape!

This swalbe specific rim tape is the right stuff 

Tyre back on, loads of sealant in!

It's really important you don't lose that valve core. I remove them because you can get air in quicker to seal the rim.

The trusty lemonade bottle, mole grip, track pump set up.

All sorted!

I did all that before work on Monday morning as I wanted my MTB for coaching the Cyclones on Monday evening. I then put fresh sealant in all my tubeless tyres. This was not happening to me again!!!

After a bit of a quiet week riding wise it was Saturday again and time for another group ride. We met up in the swimming pool car park and headed out into the Welland Valley. Again it was a big group, so in accordance with guidelines we headed out in groups of six.

Rushton hill was a warm up for what was to come.  We then made our way through Pipewell and onto East Carlton, through Middleton and up Bringhurst Hill. 

On the infamous Neville Holt climb all ideas of separate groups dissolved briefly as everyone took it at their own pace. There was a regathering and reorganise at the top before that lovely descent into Medbourne. The groups got a bit split up again heading towards Glooston. Thankfully Mark Baird was dragging me along and then we picked up Justin to make three. Then we lost Mark but Rob appeared from behind a hedge and we were a different three. With a breeze behind us and less hills we flew through the Langtons and on to Ashley. 

Things slowed down a bit up the hills through Stoke Albany and on to Desborough. Then it was a loop back round through Pipewell and Rushton, through to Glendon and our coffee stop at the Fox and Peony.

we were more socially distanced than this picture suggests

Over the coffee we discussed the dreaded cramp. Bruce told me he had started using a magnesium supplement and it has really helped. Then he gave me some to try on my next big ride. Top bloke - cheers Bruce!

On Sunday I had no takers to join me for an off road ride so I headed out solo. I didn't really have a firm plan, more a rough idea of where to go.

There was no way I was going out without all the right kit. It's a bit weird really that I was caught unprepared last Sunday. At work they refer to my rucksack as Hermione's bag. Everyone knows, if you need something, ask me I probably have it in my bag! Anyway this week I made sure I had a spare tube, pump, multi-tool, tubeless repair worms and a pair of pliers in case I needed to get a tubeless valve off! I was also relieved to see despite some big sealant bubbles on the tyre I'd barely lost any pressure since Monday.

pressure

Sealant bubbles

Track from Rushton to Pipewell

Oh look there's Matt P in Desborough Greenspace

Bridleway heading towards Arthingworth

same...it's a lovely track!

still the same

cows!!!

I was in two minds heading into Arthingworth; either go back up to Harrington or down to the Brampton Valley way and through the Kelmarsh tunnel. Then I saw the cows standing on the bridge which is part of the bridleway and my decision was made for me. Tunnel it was...then there was also cows in the field heading to the Brampton Valley Way. These were not trouble as they were not on the track...the same could not be said for the numerous cow pats I rode over!!!

I left the BVW and headed up to Maidwell. On the other side of the A5199 there's a lovely road which becomes a gravel track and then a well trodden bridleway. I turned right at Bluebell Lodge and headed up a steep hill to a spot dedicated to it's former landowners. A stunning view was worth the steep climb.

From there I doubled back to the gravel roads that eventually lead to Hanging Houghton. Heading back up the hill I was overtaken by two blokes on ebikes. I like to see this. Those clever inventions have opened up the countryside to people who might otherwise struggle. We had some banter, I said I hoped their batteries ran out, they asked if I needed a tow!

This bench is clearly a place of reflection. A lovely view plus behind it there's a gate with little brass plaques on it. 

At the top of the hill I went across the road and behind Lamport Hall. Another field had signs of cows but I went through without seeing them. Beware of the bull on the gate! I'd outfoxed the bovine beasts this time!

Well that's the rides. Now for the pictures. I'd asked people to send me their favourite ride photos.

Here's mine, I'd ridden my brother in law's bike to Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia. A kangaroo watched me take this photo!

Mike Corbett on the Col de la Croix de Fer! 

This set of photo's is from Sarah and Steve Hollis and their awesome looking cycling holiday...I don't think they're back yet!

Bairdy on the most fun snow day! Geddington Chase I believe!

The C&D gang at Lord Pendred's French residence

Mark at the monument to Henri Desgrange - first organiser of the Tour de France

Also from Bairdy, the view from L'Alpe d'Huez

Not all views...Mike Deely and the Rocko boys enjoy some quality Belgian Ales in Mol

Mike Deeley and me (right at the back,) before a CX race...this picture says a thousand words!

From yesterday, Nat and Andy P had a ride with Sam P in Yorkshire

Also from Nat, she met some ponies earlier in the week in the New Forest

Richard G conquers Tendre! Big smile mate, well deserved!

I think you'll all agree that's some great pictures. Thanks to everyone who contributed, if anyone else wants to send me a picture then I'll keep adding them every week!

In other news, some more big rides happened this weekend. My ride of the week goes to Gary Carter. 

Look at that average! I can't do that on a short local ride, to smash out 19.2 mph for 180 miles is herculean! Chapeau sir!

Happy Pedalling!