2025 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[stompandgo]

What body of water is that?

 

[Chargeride]

Irish sea

 

[Chargeride]

Just visited Preston, a city about 30 miles up from us, built on the River Ribble.
My goodness, you can see what the Victorians built, now its a decaying corpse of itself, the architecture, the parks ,the tree lined paths.
Stunning hilltop mansion estate, just abandoned to the kids wrecking it.
Squatters in massive Victorian houses.
Obviously theres a lot more to the place than that, but the addition of souless corporate blandery, half demolished neighbourhoods and boarded up beauty.
Well it can all be fixed I suppose.

 

[Chazmo]

Squatters in massive Victorian houses.

Now that’s a recipe for deterioration. Yikes.

 

[Chargeride]

The Ride to Preston
I made a lot of mistakes at the start of the ride, getting across this bridge was ludicrously difficult.

Can some one tell me why cows love to congregate around the fence, I had to throw the bike over the fence while the big one watched my every move.

It never gets easy

OK so I made it to the rivers edge and followed a path all the way to the city, there were two huge bridges and one was a cycle path, it took me directly to the
Estate, I didn't know if the delivery guy was admiring or sizing up my bike, he gave me along cold stare

I have no idea of the history, it seems to be maintained and the fountain working is a good sign, but the building is just left to be destroyed.

I have no idea why I posted this pic.

The main shopping street, that black guy on the right jumped out of his skin when he saw me, I think he was expecting a hit

We just loved Greek pillars back then didn't we, but why is it boarded off.

There seems to be a new approach of pretty young police officers in the UK, I'm not complaining, but I sort of feel they like the uniform, this whole square felt scruffy, and out
of shot were several police vans with their lights flashing.
The saddest thing for me is that war memorial on the right had a large sign, 'please respect this memorial'

Around the corner was a very run down squatter area, I didn't film it but, they ran out and were shouting at me, it didn't feel threatening, more too many drugs.

I scooted off only to find it was a complete dead end, so I waited till they got bored and wandered back in, then I nailed it past, which started them off again.
It was like a zombie movie.
Preston is well known for large Indian immigration and the jokes are always based on the smell of curry, I'll have to say many areas did stink of curry, really pungent.
I guess everyone gets used to it.
This whole area I was in was very run down and slightly sketchy feeling, but 40 years ago it was full of the nicest Lancastrians you could imagine.
Absolute friendly, salt of the Earth people, the ones left here all look a bit lost and unsettled , their part of the city has completely changed.

It was this guys birthday, he was smoking a spliff and we were both watching the kids smashing entire window frames out to let them fall to the ground.
I'll have to say, given the sprawl of classes and races in the area, it was white locals who were doing it.
The whole city was based on a long gone industry, the money has left and its probably destined to be rebuilt by Indians, they were everywhere enjoying the sun and the parks and
brushing the streets outside their houses.
I'm only showing a tiny part of Preston here, I might go back to get a bigger picture.

 

[stompandgo]

What kind of camera and lens do you ride with?

 

[Chargeride]

Just an old gopro hero8, thats superview mode

 

[Chazmo]

Hey, @Chargeride how much does your HaiBike weigh? It’d be a bit of a struggle for me to toss Fättie over a fence.

Great pix, by the way!! Lovely ride.

Oh, and yeah, unfortunately the way some people ride, it’s true that e-bikes have developed a rep and scare some pedestrians. Usually it’s the morons who have their heads buried in their phones.

edit: Oh, and what was difficult about the bridge crossing? Were your handlebars resting on the side of the bridge? Wow, that sucker is narrow.

 

[stompandgo]

Just an old gopro hero8, thats superview mode

Your pictures and commentary tell great stories. Thanks for posting them.

 

[Chargeride]

Hey, @Chargeride how much does your HaiBike weigh? It’d be a bit of a struggle for me to toss Fättie over a fence.

Great pix, by the way!! Lovely ride.

Oh, and yeah, unfortunately the way some people ride, it’s true that e-bikes have developed a rep and scare some pedestrians. Usually it’s the morons who have their heads buried in their phones.

edit: Oh, and what was difficult about the bridge crossing? Were your handlebars resting on the side of the bridge? Wow, that sucker is narrow.

It was the wooden strut across it about 12 inches high, you couldnt get past the bike to lift the front wheel over, I had to climb over the bike, lift the wheel.
Then climb back to do the same with the back wheel.

It weighs 53lbs

 

[Chazmo]

It was the wooden strut across it about 12 inches high, you couldnt get past the bike to lift the front wheel over, I had to climb over the bike, lift the wheel.
Then climb back to do the same with the back wheel.

It weighs 53lbs

Oy. You’re talking about that plank at the end of the bridge, right? What do you think? Is that to keep the cows off it?

Well, 53 pounds is a haul, Charge, but I’m glad you were able to manage it. That’s significantly (20 pounds) less than my RipCurrent. I’m not quite sure how I’d have maneuvered my bike to get over that. Probably do that same as what you did. As for getting mine over the cattle fence. Well, I might’ve given up there.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It was the wooden strut across it about 12 inches high, you couldnt get past the bike to lift the front wheel over, I had to climb over the bike, lift the wheel.
Then climb back to do the same with the back wheel.

It weighs 53lbs

Well, 53 pounds is a haul, Charge, but I’m glad you were able to manage it. That’s significantly (20 pounds) less than my RipCurrent. I’m not quite sure how I’d have maneuvered my bike to get over that. Probably do that same as what you did. As for getting mine over the cattle fence. Well, I might’ve given up there.

The issue I often experience here are the lifts at train and metro stations. While some are big and nice, others (made for wheelchairs only) require me to raise the bike's front wheel so the bike is on the vertical. Sometimes, a lift is out of order so I need to carry the e-bike upstairs or downstairs. With an e-bike of 56 lbs (Vado 6.0), it is not easy.

That's why I appreciate my Vado SL (37 lbs without extra batteries). When I meet deep sand on my rides, I prefer just to carry my Vado SL, even if I can barely walk... Same with staircases.

 

[Chargeride]

The biggest issue is the wheel turning as you lift, the drop on the other side is the biggest effort and the front tyre banging into the fence pushing the bike further away from your balance point.
I have thought of a simple device to hold the headset stiff that can be engaged and disengaged quickly.

Or stop going down trails with gates.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Or stop going down trails with gates.

Or, come cycling to Poland, where there are no trails with gates

 

[Chargeride]

I use them instead of going the gym

 

[Chargeride]

Fun facts about Preston.

It where the creator of Wallace and Gromit was born

Karl Marx visited and called it the next St petersburg.

It was established by the Angles and the name means Priests settlement

Flemish weavers started the weaving tradition that eventually turned it into a powerhouse of the industrial revolution

Its football team was the first winners of the English champion league and they won every game in 1889

It was mentioned in the 1086 Domesday book

It was the first town outside of London to use gas street lamps

In 2014 it was named the wettest city in England

Its church spire is the tallest non cathedral in England

The first KFC in Britain1965

Its football stadium is the is the oldest continuously used football league ground in the world.

Its temperance society coined the term teetotal because the speaker stuttered the word total and mixed it with tee totally, a term used to describe something fully done.

Butch Cassidy's parents came from Preston and he developed their strong Lancashire accent

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

It where the creator of Wallace and Gromit was born

You had me at No. 1. A very funny guy, that creator.

 

[Chargeride]

yes and of course Wallace was meant to have a Lancashire accent, but the voice actor could only do Yorkshire.
They are basically the same to the untrained ear.

 

[RabH]

A blustery overcast day but I was determined to get a longer ride done, despite the threat of rain also! I did get lucky though and managed to stay dry for 56 miles, my plan was to head over the Forth Bridge again and when I got home I discovered the bridge had been closed because of Greenpeace protesters abseiling off the bridge... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp868llxlnxo

I had a nice 25mph tailwind to enjoy on the way out so I was flying along, I stopped after passing through Linlithgow for a snack and grabbed this photo looking north with the Ochil hills almost totally hidden due to the murk!

A couple of miles from the bridge crossing I stopped for these photos, some pricey equipment on display today! They all looked brand new...

It was a bit blowy on the bridge but at least it was safe!

At the other end of the bridge now!

I spotted an aircraft carrier berthed at Rosyth so made my way down to try and get a decent photo, it was a bit too far away though!

It was a good position to get a good photo of the new bridge though!

Now it was time to turn into the wind and it was blowing hard now, 30-35mph gusts at times! I always like to stop at this little stream that surrounds a business park in Rosyth!

I turned into Limekilns a short time later hoping for a better view of the aircraft carrier, it was still a bit too far away though!

These yachts will have a wait!

I enjoyed the ride along the coast road on lovely smooth tarmac!

I then used the cycle path to the Kincardine Bridge and made my way to Carronshore and into Falkirk, at Glenn Village I tackled the big climb I was flying down earlier in the week! 45mph going down and 10-15mph going up!The rain started on the way up and it helped cool me down nicely!

Looking back down the hill, no chance of seeing the Ochil hills today!

The 2nd climb, the easy part!

The final climb, its a beast!

After the climb I had this awesome descent to enjoy though, 41mph into the rain!

Another big climb soon though, I stopped for a couple of photos before the big climb up over Heights!

The rain continued to fall but it wasn't cold so I was still enjoying my ride!

At the summit now and looking forward to the descent down into Blackridge!

I had changed my first battery at 50 miles and my second battery was taking a pounding due to the wind and the climbs, its the first time I've had range anxiety for a while! From Blackridge I took the back road into Harthill and then the back road to Shotts, avoiding the bigger climbs as much as possible to save my battery! As I started up the climb to Hareshaw I had 32% left and by the time I got up (using only eco mode with a struggle) I had 29% remaining with 5 miles to go and I had enough to get me up the final climb to home with 24% showing! If you hit 20% the battery drops like a stone so that was my worry! I noticed my odometer had just passed 40000 miles so I grabbed a photo! My actual mileage is 40262 as I had a display issue that lost some miles...

I had quite a bit of rain for the last 25 miles or so but arrived home in the dry, it was such a great ride and I was glad I didn't let the forecast put me off!

 

[Chargeride]

I sometime like the idea of a bit of rain if Im prepared, is that your little ceremony stopping at a trading estate stream