2023 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos
- Thread starter Saratoga Dave
- Start date
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Wait, tornados in the UK?
DaveMatthews
Well-Known Member
R.O.C.K. in the USA?
Prairie Dog
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
- City
- Red Deer
Thanks Dave, feeling much better thanks in part to the current mild conditions.
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
It's mostly a statistical quirk, but the UK gets more tornados than America.
I've seen a few nearly forming myself , but ones big enough to even take a roof tile off are very rare and big ones are non existent
RabH
Well-Known Member
I managed to get a bonus ride today and what a ride it was, just amazing from start to finish!
All week the forecast had been looking sketchy for today, with torrential rain and stormy winds the past couple of days it was certain there would be flooding! Last night was very stormy, so much so I struggled to sleep but the winds were forecast to calm down around 4am and possible dry spells in the morning! I had told my sister I would take her to the park so a morning ride was out of the question! So I took her to Callander Park in Falkirk at 9am and we enjoyed a nice dry walk, there was a lot of flooding on the road there but not as bad as I expected!One of the big trees in the park had blown over, probably last night!
On our way back home things were starting to clear up and blue sky could actually be seen, a rare sight these days
When I arrived home I checked the forecast and it was only showing a 10% chance of rain, good enough odds for me so I had my lunch and set off with no real route in mind! The wind was a direct westerly around 15mph and the sky to the west didn't look very promising, it wasn't going to stop me! With the temp around 5C I knew I could use my back roads again with no threat of ice! So I headed SE on the back roads to Allanton and then turned south for Carluke! I then headed east on the A721 towards Carnwath, this road is just brilliant when you have a tailwind and although there are many climbs the descents are just fantastic!I stopped for a snack just after Kilncadzow and grabbed a couple of photos, anybody lost a car seat?
This is looking back at Kilncadzow and pretty much sums this road up all the way to Carnwath!
I enjoyed the fast descent down to Harelaw and stopped for another photo with the Pentland Hills way in the distance!
Then its a another great descent towards Carstairs and then on to Carnwath, I was going to turn north here and take the road up to Braehead but I decided to take the road to Auchengray which is a proper rollercoaster of a road! The sky was clearing up nicely now, although it looked really nasty to the south, thankfully I was heading NW! I stopped for another couple of photos here and decided not to count the sheep, I'm sure I will sleep well tonight without counting them!
One of the awesome descents on the road to Auchengray!
Quickly followed by a climb and another nice descent, its just so much fun to ride this road!
Soon after I reached Auchengray and took the back road to Braehead, another amazing road and you can see where it goes in the distance!
This is at the top of the climb looking back towards Auchengray!
Then I had the big climb up to Braehead!
This is quickly followed by another fast descent down the back road which leads to Forth! As soon as I arrived in Forth I took the back road up to Climpy, a big climb but once you reach the summit you have this to enjoy!
This is quickly followed by another great descent which brings you out at the main A71 but I wasn't using that today, choosing to go straight ahead through the junction heading for Shotts! I was actually expecting to hit a big flood on this road and thought I may have to turn back but my luck was in and it was a mere puddle surrounded by lots of debris! I have a feeling they had pumped the water out as its nearly always flooded! I arrived in Shotts and headed north past the golf club and shot down the big descent before stopping for another couple of photos, this one shows the Blackhill transmitter masts which bring us our tv and radio signals!
I even caught the sun peeking through the clouds!
I then took the main road to Kirk of Shotts and turned north past the transmitters, another rollercoster road to enjoy!
Looking west here with the Roughrigg Reservoir in view!
From here I continued down the back road to Plains, yet more amazing descents to enjoy! I arrived in the village and turned west for home with only a couple of miles remaining! What a brilliant day that was, I really didn't expect the conditions to be so good, it was a real bonus ride! Of course my bike was absolutely filthy but it got its final wash of 2023, Sunday was going to be my final ride but I will have a rest and maybe get out on Monday which is looking better at the moment! Here's hoping the weather will be kinder in 2024 but I really shouldn't complain about it though as I have been very fortunate to get out as much as I did, I know many of you aren't so lucky!
My final stats for 2023!
5893 miles from 87 rides which is an average of 67.73, my second best ever! 2012 was 72.28, what a year that was! Elevation gain was an astounding 378,238ft which is an average of 4347 ft, my best ever by quite a margin! So all in all a really good cycling year, who knows what I would have done if the weather had been kinder!
Wishing you all the very best for 2024, where did 2023 go?
@Prairie Dog I'm glad you are on the mend now mate, I don't know how you can ride on that ice...I just wouldn't have the bottle!
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Chargeride
Well-Known Member
Booked four days in Wales, was going to try bits of the new off-road trail.
The weather reports have gone from dry but cold..to pissing down every day.
Im now the resident moaner.
The weather reports have gone from dry but cold..to pissing down every day.
Im now the resident moaner.
Stefan Mikes
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, Poland
Congratulations!My final stats for 2023!
5893 miles from 87 rides which is an average of 67.73, my second best ever! 2012 was 72.28, what a year that was! Elevation gain was an astounding 378,238ft which is an average of 4347 ft, my best ever by quite a margin! So all in all a really good cycling year, who knows what I would have done if the weather had been kinder!
DaveMatthews
Well-Known Member
Nicely done sir!View attachment 168709
I managed to get a bonus ride today and what a ride it was, just amazing from start to finish!
One of the big trees in the park had blown over, probably last night!
View attachment 168711
On our way back home things were starting to clear up and blue sky could actually be seen, a rare sight these days
I stopped for a snack just after Kilncadzow and grabbed a couple of photos, anybody lost a car seat?
View attachment 168712
View attachment 168713
This is looking back at Kilncadzow and pretty much sums this road up all the way to Carnwath!
View attachment 168714
I enjoyed the fast descent down to Harelaw and stopped for another photo with the Pentland Hills way in the distance!
View attachment 168715
Then its a another great descent towards Carstairs and then on to Carnwath, I was going to turn north here and take the road up to Braehead but I decided to take the road to Auchengray which is a proper rollercoaster of a road! The sky was clearing up nicely now, although it looked really nasty to the south, thankfully I was heading NW! I stopped for another couple of photos here and decided not to count the sheep, I'm sure I will sleep well tonight without counting them!
View attachment 168716
View attachment 168717
One of the awesome descents on the road to Auchengray!
View attachment 168718
Quickly followed by a climb and another nice descent, its just so much fun to ride this road!
View attachment 168720
View attachment 168721
Soon after I reached Auchengray and took the back road to Braehead, another amazing road and you can see where it goes in the distance!
View attachment 168722
This is at the top of the climb looking back towards Auchengray!
View attachment 168723
Then I had the big climb up to Braehead!
View attachment 168724
This is quickly followed by another fast descent down the back road which leads to Forth! As soon as I arrived in Forth I took the back road up to Climpy, a big climb but once you reach the summit you have this to enjoy!
View attachment 168725
This is quickly followed by another great descent which brings you out at the main A71 but I wasn't using that today, choosing to go straight ahead through the junction heading for Shotts! I was actually expecting to hit a big flood on this road and thought I may have to turn back but my luck was in and it was a mere puddle surrounded by lots of debris! I have a feeling they had pumped the water out as its nearly always flooded! I arrived in Shotts and headed north past the golf club and shot down the big descent before stopping for another couple of photos, this one shows the Blackhill transmitter masts which bring us our tv and radio signals!
View attachment 168727
I even caught the sun peeking through the clouds!
View attachment 168728
View attachment 168729
I then took the main road to Kirk of Shotts and turned north past the transmitters, another rollercoster road to enjoy!
View attachment 168730
Looking west here with the Roughrigg Reservoir in view!
View attachment 168731
From here I continued down the back road to Plains, yet more amazing descents to enjoy! I arrived in the village and turned west for home with only a couple of miles remaining! What a brilliant day that was, I really didn't expect the conditions to be so good, it was a real bonus ride! Of course my bike was absolutely filthy but it got its final wash of 2023, Sunday was going to be my final ride but I will have a rest and maybe get out on Monday which is looking better at the moment! Here's hoping the weather will be kinder in 2024 but I really shouldn't complain about it though as I have been very fortunate to get out as much as I did, I know many of you aren't so lucky!
My final stats for 2023!
5893 miles from 87 rides which is an average of 67.73, my second best ever! 2012 was 72.28, what a year that was! Elevation gain was an astounding 378,238ft which is an average of 4347 ft, my best ever by quite a margin! So all in all a really good cycling year, who knows what I would have done if the weather had been kinder!
Wishing you all the very best for 2024, where did 2023 go?
@Prairie Dog I'm glad you are on the mend now mate, I don't know how you can ride on that ice...I just wouldn't have the bottle!
Prairie Dog
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
- City
- Red Deer
What a way to cap off the season RH and with impressive stats to boot. Glad to know that you are back in the saddle after that brief hiatus.@Prairie Dog I'm glad you are on the mend now mate, I don't know how you can ride on that ice...I just wouldn't have the bottle!
Ice rides are no problem as long as you have appropriate gear for the task. Full credit goes to the 252 XL carbide studs per wheel along with extra-large contact patch that the tires provide. I do get a few strange looks as I pass pond skaters.
BlackHand
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Western WA
View attachment 168709
I managed to get a bonus ride today and what a ride it was, just amazing from start to finish!
Congrats Rab! Great year, your rides are inspiring!My final stats for 2023!
5893 miles from 87 rides which is an average of 67.73, my second best ever! 2012 was 72.28, what a year that was! Elevation gain was an astounding 378,238ft which is an average of 4347 ft, my best ever by quite a margin! So all in all a really good cycling year, who knows what I would have done if the weather had been kinder!
Wishing you all the very best for 2024, where did 2023 go?
BlackHand
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Western WA
Well, I had the day off (use it or lose it vacation day!) so I got my own bonus ride in. Despite gloomy skies and damp roads from raining most of the night the weather was too nice to pass up a ride. The thermometer was approaching 60F when I left the house and stayed in the mid 50's the whole ride. It was nice to just have light layers on and not worry about rain gear.
Since I try to work in new roads every ride, there was a lot of winding through suburbia for the first 10 or so miles.
You can piece together some stretches of trail, usually along wetlands where it was too costly to develop. The geese did not like my bike going down "their" trail.
But eventually I ended up on Seattle Hill and descended down to the edge of the Snohomish River valley. The road is fast with mostly no shoulders, but still great to be out in the "country".
I believe these are blueberry fields. There are several blueberry farms along here. Very little snow on the Cascades, we're not off to a good start for next year's snow pack.
Dirt farm ahead!
When it was time to start to loop back towards home I turned up Elliott Road at almost exactly the halfway point on my ride(the sharp crook in my ride map just below the word Devil on the map). The road climbs up along a creek, and it's common here to see trees covered in moss along creeks. But these hardwoods looked extra furry - when I got a better look I realized the hardwoods were colonized by ferns almost up to there tops! Sorry for the slightly fuzzy shots - no shoulder and windy climbing road so it was a hold the phone up, click, and pray kind of situation
From here it's a series of ridges to go up and over as I work my way west and south to get home. Pretty much always going up or down though nothing crazy.
Despite all the development there are still some horse farms scattered through the Bothell & Brier area.
Managed to get back just before sunset! I was pretty liberal with the assist but it was still a good workout. Very satisfying to end the ride at 45 miles and 4500ft of elevation gain - that ratio is my personal target for a 'hilly' ride
I was starved when I got home and ate everything lying around which turned out to be leftover curry, a quesadilla, barbecue chips, a grapefruit, and several cranberry pistachio biscotti! If Im not around for a few days you know why !
Despite a slow start to the year, 2023 turned out pretty nice and I hit a good groove commuting the last 4 months. Strava tells me I logged 250 rides for 3617 miles and 262,483ft of climbing.
Since I try to work in new roads every ride, there was a lot of winding through suburbia for the first 10 or so miles.
You can piece together some stretches of trail, usually along wetlands where it was too costly to develop. The geese did not like my bike going down "their" trail.
But eventually I ended up on Seattle Hill and descended down to the edge of the Snohomish River valley. The road is fast with mostly no shoulders, but still great to be out in the "country".
I believe these are blueberry fields. There are several blueberry farms along here. Very little snow on the Cascades, we're not off to a good start for next year's snow pack.
Dirt farm ahead!
When it was time to start to loop back towards home I turned up Elliott Road at almost exactly the halfway point on my ride(the sharp crook in my ride map just below the word Devil on the map). The road climbs up along a creek, and it's common here to see trees covered in moss along creeks. But these hardwoods looked extra furry - when I got a better look I realized the hardwoods were colonized by ferns almost up to there tops! Sorry for the slightly fuzzy shots - no shoulder and windy climbing road so it was a hold the phone up, click, and pray kind of situation
From here it's a series of ridges to go up and over as I work my way west and south to get home. Pretty much always going up or down though nothing crazy.
Despite all the development there are still some horse farms scattered through the Bothell & Brier area.
Managed to get back just before sunset! I was pretty liberal with the assist but it was still a good workout. Very satisfying to end the ride at 45 miles and 4500ft of elevation gain - that ratio is my personal target for a 'hilly' ride
I was starved when I got home and ate everything lying around which turned out to be leftover curry, a quesadilla, barbecue chips, a grapefruit, and several cranberry pistachio biscotti! If Im not around for a few days you know why !
Despite a slow start to the year, 2023 turned out pretty nice and I hit a good groove commuting the last 4 months. Strava tells me I logged 250 rides for 3617 miles and 262,483ft of climbing.
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Stefan Mikes
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, Poland
What a feat, congratulations!
Stefan Mikes
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, Poland
WGM Beltway via Klimatyczna Cafe and Podkowa Shopping Mall (11,001 km YTD)
A Surprise Ride (7.2 km)
I could have waited for Dec 31st for my final 2023 ride but I decided to complete my yearly goal on Saturday the 30th even if raining was forecast. I set my sights on Klimatyczna Cafe in Leszno first. The crosswind in open fields was dangerous, and I had to hold on my Roadrunner bar-ends hard not to collapse unexpectedly! When riding into the wind, my speed dropped to 15 km/h, which ought to tell you the story about the wind speed!
While I was sitting inside the cafe, it rained hard. When I left Klimatyczna, there was sunshine again...
Then I rode South, that is, against crosswind. The place name means "Fat Place"
Then I rode a brand new Grodzisk Mazowiecki (WGM) Beltway. Grodzisk Mazowiecki is not a small town, and it is the home to the biggest producer of chips/crisps in Poland (@Chargeride I'm sure Lay's crisps are available in many British stores!)
Just as I left the photo place, I was confronted with a short but heavy rainfall and the strongest squall on the trip... But I dried out soon! Without any further issues, I reached my favourite shopping mall in Podkowa to make some extra shopping. So I arrived home with 11,001 km YTD...
To discover I missed... washing capsules Groaning, I mounted my e-bike again...
I have decided to stop riding this year! But... there is a 100 km gravel group ride on Monday, Jan 1st, 2024
My e-bike and traditional bicycle rides in 2023
A Surprise Ride (7.2 km)
I could have waited for Dec 31st for my final 2023 ride but I decided to complete my yearly goal on Saturday the 30th even if raining was forecast. I set my sights on Klimatyczna Cafe in Leszno first. The crosswind in open fields was dangerous, and I had to hold on my Roadrunner bar-ends hard not to collapse unexpectedly! When riding into the wind, my speed dropped to 15 km/h, which ought to tell you the story about the wind speed!
While I was sitting inside the cafe, it rained hard. When I left Klimatyczna, there was sunshine again...
Then I rode South, that is, against crosswind. The place name means "Fat Place"
Then I rode a brand new Grodzisk Mazowiecki (WGM) Beltway. Grodzisk Mazowiecki is not a small town, and it is the home to the biggest producer of chips/crisps in Poland (@Chargeride I'm sure Lay's crisps are available in many British stores!)
Just as I left the photo place, I was confronted with a short but heavy rainfall and the strongest squall on the trip... But I dried out soon!
Without any further issues, I reached my favourite shopping mall in Podkowa to make some extra shopping. So I arrived home with 11,001 km YTD...To discover I missed... washing capsules
Groaning, I mounted my e-bike again...I have decided to stop riding this year! But... there is a 100 km gravel group ride on Monday, Jan 1st, 2024
My e-bike and traditional bicycle rides in 2023
- The longest trip: 263 km (a gravel ultramarathon race)
- The longest ride on a single day (a trip to Toruń): 208 km
- 4 e-bike Strava KOM records.
Prairie Dog
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
- City
- Red Deer
I’m afraid that my stats don’t quite measure up to either what @RabH, @Stefan Mikes or @BlackHand have accomplished but I did manage to surpass my totals from last season which only inspires me to continue to look forward to the road ahead. Those 200-300ft elevation gains are particularly impressive fellas. On a personal note, it was an incredible season both on the road as well as on the trail as I was finally able to knock off a few epic mtb rides from my ever-increasing bucket list. The highlight of my year inevitably was a trip to Japan which was amazing.
To cap off the year end off, I took to one of the local trails last night.
To cap off the year end off, I took to one of the local trails last night.
RabH
Well-Known Member
Happy New Year everyone, I wish you all the very best for 2024 and hope it will be a good year! 
@Prairie Dog Don't do yourself a disservice, those are amazing stats for your neck of the woods and that was another stonking ride in the snow! I think I can say with some degree of certainty that you (and your wife) would blow my stats out of the water if you lived over here!
@Stefan Mikes Congratulations on passing 11000km Stefan, amazing achievement!
I got my year off to the perfect start with a fantastic metric century on very quiet and amazing roads! It was one of those rides where everything just clicked into place, like it was meant to be!
Despite starting off with a rear wheel puncture, turned out to be a failed repair on my part...strange how the patch lasted for so many rides before failing though and at least it was sorted in the warmth of my room! On Saturday we got hit with a crazy snow storm that dumped 3" of snow in an hour and within an another hour it was all gone! This of course led to lots of flooding which had thankfully subsided today!
The wind was mainly from the south and around 15mph so I elected to ride south into the wind and have it behind me on the way back, especially as it was forecast to get stronger as the day progressed! I used the main roads down to the Clyde Valley as I knew they would be quiet today, especially at 9.30am!
Garrion Bridge in the Clyde Valley with the River Clyde flowing very quickly below!
Coming out of the valley I had a long climb ahead and into a headwind, not a steep climb though so I cruised up through Shaswburn and on towards Blackwood! The road levels out for a bit here, this is looking north with Stonehouse in the distance!
It was nice to have the sun beating down but it didn't really provide any warmth but it did make the fields look so much nicer!
I reached Blackwood and used the cycle path for a bit and had very nice views to the south!
I then enjoyed the lovely wide cycle path at Lesmahagow, they really did an execellent job of this one!
Soon after this I finally had a nice descent to enjoy down to Uddington where I turned NE towards Rigside, with roads like this to enjoy with a nice tailwind I was in cycling heaven!
Just after this its another big climb up to Rigside, the start of the climb can be seen in the distance in the last photo! Once in Rigside I stopped for a snack and grabbed another couple of photos!
You can see a quarry in the distance here which has been returned to its former beauty now that they have extracted all the aggregates!
I was now heading towards Hyndford on the main A70 and this is one of my favourite roads to ride when its quiet like today, not a single truck to be seen!
Now I had another climb but it was a breeze with a strengthening southerly wind now, this is at the top of the climb looking back down!
You can see some threatening clouds forming and rain was inevitable at some point, this was from the same spot but looking across the fields!
I continued towards Hyndford but had to stop again to grab these photos, the second and third one shows the River Clyde which meanders for many miles down into the Clyde Valley!
I reached Hyndford and crossed the bridge over the river and stopped for these photos, the first looking east and the second looking west and you can see the lovely descent I enjoyed a short time earlier! It doesn't look much in the photo but I was doing 38mph down it today!
After crossing the bridge the road rises up sharply to Lanark but I turned off before the top to use the quiet road through Carstairs Village, this is another fantastic road and it has been resurfaced a couple of months back so it was just sublime to ride and some lovely scenery to boot!
Soon after this photo it started to rain as I passed through Carstairs, thankfully it wasn't heavy though! From Carstairs I took the back roads up to Yieldshields, a lot of climbing which kept me warm in the worsening conditions! At Yieldshields I took the back road to Carluke and on to Morningside, where I discovered the back road I wanted to use had been closed! I was pretty sure it was because of flooding and luckily I got to enjoy the fast descents down into the village! Then it was time to climb again, up the back road to Allanton which joins the road that was closed! Thankfully as I was passing through Allanton the sky cleared and the sun made an appearance again, then I headed up the 2.5 mile climb towards Kirk of Shotts and turned just before the top to enjoy my favourite local road to Hareshaw!
This road is just amazing and I wish everybody could get the opportunity to ride it, its pretty much all downhill and was resurfaced earlier this year after being neglected for decades! At one point it passes a big farm and there's always stones all over the road so you have to be careful, today the road was flooded at the farm but I managed to avoid the flood by turning into the farm and bypassing it! I only had about 5 miles remaining and arrived home a very happy bunny, what a ride that was and even the rain didn't spoil it!
@Prairie Dog Don't do yourself a disservice, those are amazing stats for your neck of the woods and that was another stonking ride in the snow! I think I can say with some degree of certainty that you (and your wife) would blow my stats out of the water if you lived over here!
@Stefan Mikes Congratulations on passing 11000km Stefan, amazing achievement!
I got my year off to the perfect start with a fantastic metric century on very quiet and amazing roads! It was one of those rides where everything just clicked into place, like it was meant to be!
Despite starting off with a rear wheel puncture, turned out to be a failed repair on my part...strange how the patch lasted for so many rides before failing though and at least it was sorted in the warmth of my room! On Saturday we got hit with a crazy snow storm that dumped 3" of snow in an hour and within an another hour it was all gone! This of course led to lots of flooding which had thankfully subsided today!The wind was mainly from the south and around 15mph so I elected to ride south into the wind and have it behind me on the way back, especially as it was forecast to get stronger as the day progressed! I used the main roads down to the Clyde Valley as I knew they would be quiet today, especially at 9.30am!
Garrion Bridge in the Clyde Valley with the River Clyde flowing very quickly below!
Coming out of the valley I had a long climb ahead and into a headwind, not a steep climb though so I cruised up through Shaswburn and on towards Blackwood! The road levels out for a bit here, this is looking north with Stonehouse in the distance!
It was nice to have the sun beating down but it didn't really provide any warmth but it did make the fields look so much nicer!
I reached Blackwood and used the cycle path for a bit and had very nice views to the south!
I then enjoyed the lovely wide cycle path at Lesmahagow, they really did an execellent job of this one!
Soon after this I finally had a nice descent to enjoy down to Uddington where I turned NE towards Rigside, with roads like this to enjoy with a nice tailwind I was in cycling heaven!
Just after this its another big climb up to Rigside, the start of the climb can be seen in the distance in the last photo! Once in Rigside I stopped for a snack and grabbed another couple of photos!
You can see a quarry in the distance here which has been returned to its former beauty now that they have extracted all the aggregates!
I was now heading towards Hyndford on the main A70 and this is one of my favourite roads to ride when its quiet like today, not a single truck to be seen!
Now I had another climb but it was a breeze with a strengthening southerly wind now, this is at the top of the climb looking back down!
You can see some threatening clouds forming and rain was inevitable at some point, this was from the same spot but looking across the fields!
I continued towards Hyndford but had to stop again to grab these photos, the second and third one shows the River Clyde which meanders for many miles down into the Clyde Valley!
I reached Hyndford and crossed the bridge over the river and stopped for these photos, the first looking east and the second looking west and you can see the lovely descent I enjoyed a short time earlier! It doesn't look much in the photo but I was doing 38mph down it today!
After crossing the bridge the road rises up sharply to Lanark but I turned off before the top to use the quiet road through Carstairs Village, this is another fantastic road and it has been resurfaced a couple of months back so it was just sublime to ride and some lovely scenery to boot!
Soon after this photo it started to rain as I passed through Carstairs, thankfully it wasn't heavy though! From Carstairs I took the back roads up to Yieldshields, a lot of climbing which kept me warm in the worsening conditions! At Yieldshields I took the back road to Carluke and on to Morningside, where I discovered the back road I wanted to use had been closed! I was pretty sure it was because of flooding and luckily I got to enjoy the fast descents down into the village! Then it was time to climb again, up the back road to Allanton which joins the road that was closed! Thankfully as I was passing through Allanton the sky cleared and the sun made an appearance again, then I headed up the 2.5 mile climb towards Kirk of Shotts and turned just before the top to enjoy my favourite local road to Hareshaw!
This road is just amazing and I wish everybody could get the opportunity to ride it, its pretty much all downhill and was resurfaced earlier this year after being neglected for decades! At one point it passes a big farm and there's always stones all over the road so you have to be careful, today the road was flooded at the farm but I managed to avoid the flood by turning into the farm and bypassing it! I only had about 5 miles remaining and arrived home a very happy bunny, what a ride that was and even the rain didn't spoil it!
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Art Deco
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Selinsgrove Pennsylvania
Any miles ridden on snow or ice count double, no matter what the odometer says ...
Prairie Dog
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
- City
- Red Deer
Hazard Pay - Additional pay for performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship.Any miles ridden on snow or ice count double, no matter what the odometer says ...
You may have a point, Art. This large dent on the front of my helmet occurred a result of my front wheel hitting a large root off camber that was not visible under the cover of light snow. As a result, my helmet hit the tree and knocked me off the bike. Fortunately, I was fine and the helmet absorbed all of the impact. Speed obviously was not a factor as I was paying extra attention due to the sketchy trail conditions at that moment .