Cycling 2026

[Nickslikk2112]

Wasn't sure weather to pop out before or after watching cycling today. Forecast was for showers and gusty winds. Decided on before as it looked set fair for an hour or so.

Ten minutes in it started raining. Great, it soon turned to hail. Luckily it seemed as if I was heading away from it and thankfully so I was, but still got wetter than I would have liked. After that, set fair again, and if I'd had my wits about me I'd have buried myself up the Training Centre climb as I just rode normally up it and finished 2s shy of my best time. Ah, well.

As I turned to head for home, the skies turned black and the hail started again, I struck lucky again in that this time it was passing just to the South of me. For small mercies etc.etc. Managed to get 20 miles in which finally gets me a 500 mile month for the year. Looking at the weather now, I should definitely have waited.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17888514360

[Slim]

Well I was all clothed up and ready to go out at about 1045, when the rain started coming down in bucketloads outside! I had been led to expect "a chance of showers". I waited half an hour, the sun came out and off I went.

I did pretty much the same route as last time except that I took the long detour via Shardlow both ways, rather than just the way back. I took a different road into Aston this time, which also added a few km. So I didn't go nearly so far to the west; I got as far as Hatton before turning and coming back the same way.

Nice to go through Shardlow and along Derby Road. Always makes me think of my very first car trip into work at RRA from Leicester, nearly 37 years ago now.

Annoyingly the battery on my bike computer died. I had a GPS watch on though so I was able to record the second part of the ride. Stitched the two parts together when I got home although there was a gap. I measured it carefully for spreadsheeting purposes.

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Back on 101.19. That's nine fondos this month, making this Nonuple Fondo March. The last 18 of this year's 23 rides have been fondos. I've only ever done nine in a month once before, October 2024.

I took the Boardman which was slightly delinquent, because the rear tyre has worn through to the green anti-puncture strip. Must replace it soon.

Very tedious headwind going west, but delightful when I turned east. The wind noise ended abruptly and it was as if I had rolled onto a conveyor belt.

Saw a headless duck on the road near Isley Walton. Wondered whether a sparrowhawk had decapitated it, but it might have been killed by a car then relieved of its head by a corvid.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17914660887

[dom]

A wet and windy Sunday morning first delayed and then shortened the weekend spin. Saturday had been bright but cold but my cycling partner had another appointment so we delayed until Sunday.

So instead of cycling I did the local parkrun on Saturday morning. I hadn't done a 5k since the beginning of October and I was a little apprehensive. I did complete it ok if s little slower than I'm used to.

My legs though were very sore when I got up on Sunday. It was painful to walk and especially to go up and downstairs. Luckily cycling didn't generate any pain but the wind and rain meant it wasn't a particularly pleasant trip. It was good to get out for a couple of hours and keep the damaged legs moving

[Nickslikk2112]

Definitely think that having my saddle about 3mm higher than it was and with new cleats on my shoes that it is just putting a bit more strain on my knees, especially the left one. But, I will leave as is as lowering the seatpost to get the saddle down could well end up with that sinking feeling.

Yes, it was out today, I had thought about stretching it out to 45 miles, but, with having got to 500 miles for March, I thought I'd do s shorter ride to save the legs for April, especially as there is a day less in April and I have a weekend away too.

Also avoided the hills today to try and preserve what energy I have. Can't say as I feel as if I took it steadily though, the wind was just a bit more nagging than I thought it would be as a headwind.

I did however set my PR on the Training Centre Climb today after missing out on Saturday. The wind was in the same tailwind orientation even if not as strong, but I knew I had a tailwind today, so I buried myself at the start of the climb before holding on for dear life. Got it by two seconds. Don't think I'll try and better it again...

https://www.strava.com/activities/17924291571

[Nickslikk2112]

Got April underway today. Thought I might not as the roads were gridlocked after a crash on the Chesterfield Inner Relief Road. There are cycle lanes up the side of the road I live on but they're always blocked with parked cars and I didn't fancy weaving my way through, luckily it had cleared sufficiently by the time I went out.

Did the same ride as last Thursday but without the Longshaw extension as I wanted to get back to watch the Dwars door Vlaanderen - much easier to watch cycling than do it.

Seemed harder work than last week, think my lungs are fading, didn't help in that was a lot of stop/start cycling today, it's the starting up again when you're going uphill that's the problem. Especially when I had to get going at roadworks in Dronfield and then after having to stop at the site of a Motorcycle crash in Holmesfield.

Thankfully the road down to Cutthorpe is now open again, so it let me get my average speed up to 16mph for the ride. Just. As I then got slowed down by traffic from the still closed road. Led me to an uphill diversion to get up to 35 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17936876304

[Nickslikk2112]

Well, it was a nice day today, a little on the coolish side, but that soon disappears when you're slogging uphill, but nice and sunny and just a light breeze. No cycling to watch either so I didn't have to rush back, not that I stayed out that much longer than normal because my legs were running out from puff.

I decided that today I would complete the ride I didn't do when I went out to see the Tour of Britain a couple of years ago, that day it was cool, windy and drizzly and I didn't fancy slogging my way out to Stanage Edge and back. Today I completed that slog and a slog it was!

Lovely views though when I was coming back down from Stanage, all along the Hope Valley and then over to Kinder Scout. Should have stopped to take a pic or two, but I was enjoying the descent too much and any good picture spot was full of Mountain Bikers taking a breather.

Back on 42 miles, longest of the year so far, but the old legs can tell I haven't put much hill work in yet this year and Strava reckons only two hills were worthy of being categorised!

Here's the Bianchi with Burbage Edge in the background. We're above the Daffodil line here.

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https://www.strava.com/activities/17949555207

[Thenop]

^^ what a gorgeous looking bycicle that is. Lovely.

[Slim]

I was pretty weary this morning, having had a tiring excursion to London yesterday. Really didn't feel like riding a bike, but with rain expected tomorrow I thought I ought to get the April campaign off to a start.

I would probably have done about 50km but I wanted to keep my run of fondos going, so I decided to do a Twycrosser, with an excursion down into Warwickshire, down the Dad's Army route.

I took the S Works to make it as painless as possible. Nice dry day for it. I also thought it would be a good day to try my new cycling shoes for the first time. They certainly feel light and comfy, but after about 3.5 klicks I realised that the cleats on both of them were slopping around. I hadn't brought an Allen key with me (stupidly) so I headed back to the garage for a shoe change pit stop. It's possible I never tightened them properly when I put the cleats on at Christmas. Or perhaps a bit of carbon paste will help. The shoe bottoms have a very polished finish. Perhaps some rubber grip tape might do the trick.

Anyway - I felt a bit knackered over the last 20km or so, but it was mostly a nice run out in sunny weather. I went down past Nether Whitacre until I decided I'd gone far enough to clock up a fondo. Didn't need to be exact, the upward leg of a Twycrosser is highly adjustable. I tuned it to 100.65km by taking a route through Sibson and Shenton, then detouring via Burgoland.

So that's 19 fondos in a row, and 19 this year. 2326km so far this year which is well on course for my target of 8597km.

I listened to 5 Live.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17952739204

[Nickslikk2112]

Thought I'd get a bit of a ride in before it got too windy. Could have stayed out longer as it's still not that windy. I think 32 miles was enough though, felt a bit ropy yesterday, didn't know whether it was the effects of a hilly ride or just being under the weather. I think the latter.

Headed out to Tibshelf and back, after setting my best ever time on the Training Centre Climb today I set my second slowest. Had to stop at the bottom because a Clee Hill Plant Hire mobile crane complete with escort vehicles was pulling out into the road. It travelled up more slowly than I would usually ride it, but thankfully was able to turn left at the top straight away, otherwise I'd have had to have unclipped and get back going again on the steepest bit of the climb.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17974588085/

[Nickslikk2112]

Thought I'd get a bit of a ride in before it got too windy. Could have stayed out longer as it's still not that windy. I think 32 miles was enough though, felt a bit ropy yesterday, didn't know whether it was the effects of a hilly ride or just being under the weather. I think the latter.

Headed out to Tibshelf and back, after setting my best ever time on the Training Centre Climb today I set my second slowest. Had to stop at the bottom because a Mobile Crane complete with escort vehicles was pulling out into the road. It travelled up more slowly than I would usually ride it, but thankfully was able to turn left at the top straight away, otherwise I'd have had to have unclipped and get back going again on the steepest bit of the climb.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17974588085/

[Slim]

Last night the weather forecast for Saturday looked like this:

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So I hatched a plan. I'd set off at about 0930, put up with a relatively mild headwind going south for 50km, then turn and let Storm Dave blow me home. Oh it would be fantastic, I thought. I'd barely have to pedal on the way back. I might struggle to maintain control of the bike, but what the heck. I'd be flying along. Perhaps I'd see the occasional horse or cow flying through the air.

Well - I took the usual southbound route as far as Kimcote, then I went exploring a bit. Over to Shearsby (which I'd done before) and up past Bruntingthorpe (which I hadn't). Then I turned for home.

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Sure, I had a definite tailwind (more of a sidewind for part of the ride), but the promised 40+ mph did not materialise. It actually turned out to be a pretty ordinary ride. Still - another fondo in the bag; back on 101.79 km. I seem to have settled nicely into a fondo-only lifestyle.

Cold in the morning, nice and warm in the afternoon. Had to remove a few layers.

Took a different way home after Ellistown, over the last few km, than I usually would. While out in the car a couple of weeks ago I noticed that Richmond Road, a back road connecting Ellistown and Donington le Heath had been resurfaced - I hadn't used it for years because of the state it was in, but it's fine now.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17976441928

[Slim]

The plan today was to go eastbound. Very decent sunny weather and a decently late sunset so I thought I'd make it as far as my Cycling Happy Place east of Waltham amd tick off the last two neighbouring counties - Lincs and Rutland.

I had to go through Loughborough again of course but the traffic wasn't too bad and I've got the correct route through the town memorised nicely now.

I did something different a few km short of Waltham. There's a shortcut called Landyke Lane that I've never tried. It's a single track lane and I've always assumed it would be too rough - gravelly, gritty and/or muddy. But I finally gave it a go today, it's fine. Might be a bit more hilly but it's very doable. Probably saves a km.

Both the shops at Waltham were closed. Not surprising really, today is the day that people of a certain religious disposition call "Easter Monday". But I felt confident that the shop at Buckminster, a few km further on would be open. It is operated by people of a Muslim persuasion. It wasn't. What's the point of having people from other cultures run village shops if they aren't going to open up on Easter Monday??

Anyway since I didn't have much food with me and I'd already consumed more than half of it, I decided that I'd cross the Lincolnshire border a few km further on, then go down as far as Rutland, then turn back for home.

I decided that I'd return home through Melton Mowbray. Better chance of finding a petrol station with a cheese & onion pasty to spare or a shop in the town itself. There's a road from Buckminster signposted to Melton. This was delightful - nicely surfaced and very quiet. It is the B676. Of course given it's a bank holiday it might not always be like that on a Monday afternoon.

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Didn't find a petrol station so I went right into the pedestrianised part of Melton and stopped at Costa Coffee. Years since I'd done that, nice to reacquaint myself with that habit. I had a toasted cheese & ham croissant, an almond croissant and a coffee. Just the job. Melton fell out of favour as a cycling destination because the route along Six Hills Lane to the north is nicer (and flatter).

Met the usual route near Six Hills, then took the Paudy Lane / Weston route back toward Loughborough. The town was much quieter than last time, no hold ups. And this time I managed to find the correct way through.

Back on 132.78km. Beautiful sunny day and a rather nice day out on a bike. The sun was still pretty high in the sky when I returned to the garage. If I'd taken enough food with me I could have stayed out longer.

Lots of aircraft out today, loads of contrails picked out in the bright sunlight.

https://www.strava.com/activities/18003366273

[David L]

Nice 30 mile trip out on the road bikes today.

We left home after lunch around 1:15pm and headed north and into the Cotswolds to experience some hilly terrain. From Witney we passed through Crawley, Leafield and into Wychwood Forest. On to Chadlington then Churchill where we stopped briefly to sit on the bench outside its lovely church. It was glorious in the afternoon sunshine sheltered from the cold wind. Here I removed my water bottle to take a few sips as we sat watching the world go by. I placed the bottle at the side of the bench. We set off after around 20 minutes in the direction of Lyneham and it was only after about three quarters of a mile that I glanced down to see an empty bottle cage - doh! I counted my blessings that I'd realised before the ride back to retrieve it would've been considerable.

Sarsden, Lyneham then crossing the Cotswold Line level crossing at Ascot under Wychwood. I then made a navigation error and took a left turn rather than right to Leafield which pissed off the wife because I'd ignored her when she said we needed to go right at the junction (men, eh!). That meant we had to either turn around or go back through Wychwood the way we came. We carried on and re-traced our tracks back home to Witney.

No pub stop so we rewarded ourselves by opening a couple of bottles of my home brew (Hazy IPA by Mangrove Jack's).

[Nickslikk2112]

Was a bit late getting out today, spent too much time on this year's ISA allowance and making sure I'd got it set up correctly. I may have been an Accountant but I was a shit one and don't trust myself to do things right...

Not much of a cyclist either, but it was nice to get out again and work on the tanlines. Didn't feel like 18C though, the stronger than light wind SE certainly took the edge of things, probably for the best.

When I tried checking the roadworks website before going out it wouldn't load. Hence I ended up finding four sets of unexpected traffic lights. Idiot me went through one set twice...

For only the second time in my cycling life I went out through Ashover, as occasionally seen in the TV series Peak Practice. I thought I might end up needing medical care the way some cars came round blind bends towards me. The potholes were a bit grim at times too.

Then on to my first visit to Beeley Moor of the year and the ceremonial three laps round the triangle. Why I do it I don't know, but I do. It helps flush out the birds for the twitchers who congregate up there. Over the course of my ride I saw three pair of Buzzard, unless it was the same pair following me round, sensing fresh meat.

https://www.strava.com/activities/18012598594

[Fishy]

Got out today.. first time in 2 weeks due to abysmal weather.. today nice n warm but with still a big of a breeze..

Did the same route as last time as wanted to explore the country roads that I found last time and got a big lost in....

Sorted that and then headed on to the village of Tarbolton and then in thro Monkton and Prestwick and back home along the sea front. Head wi d on the route home but all in all an enjoyable ride