2026 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

I was waiting for your first acoustic ride, Rab!

 

[Catalyzt]

I usually do not offer birthday wishes to anyone as:

• Getting older sucks
• Birth day is a day like any other

We should wish one another all the best on any single day and all year long! And you Chris know the best I am fond of you very much!
Besides, you could do a simple 63 (!!!) mile road ride just to prove you can still do it You know, ECO, two batteries...

65 here (1961).

Happy birthday, Charge!

Stefan, I felt very much the same way you did until my medical emergency last summer when my heart stopped for 10 minutes.

Now I have two birthdays-- and we plan to celebrate both every year!

I'm in the final lap of 68 years old... but also one year old. I expect nothing but total and complete acceptance for any and all future immaturity!

I'm just back on the bike from a wrist injury, and hope to add some ride reports soon... though I might toss in something from my usual acoustic adventures on the Raleigh Competition in NYC this summer, right before the injury.

 

[Chargeride]

Plenty to choose from

A bridleway this steep with cobbles, slightly dodgy

Still cant bring myself to wade, not trusting the bike yet.

Incredible path through deep gulleys, loads of left over industry and water infrastructure from another time

All abandoned to slow collapse

We reached a stile and the farmers wife came over, I said I just need to get to the next one then I can get across the dam.
'Its very steep' she said
'No problem for us'
'Well OK , but be careful'
She wasnt exaggerating

This is the Pennine Bridleway, these cobbled roads are up to 300 years old

These flat block paths are even older

You have to live here for a 100 years to even get a raised eyebrow.

Wheelbarrows are a hot item it seems

The way back had to be climbed up to ,but it was worth it.

Rolling descents that give enough speed to make the next rise...pure bliss.

That sign says 'dont follow your sat nav, you will get stuck'

Our churches and pubs are slowly being turned into houses, flats and mosques, it is end of era stuff.

 

[Chargeride]

So this sign was put up with reference to the entire rail network, either by mistake or to test the waters.
It doesnt mention folding ebikes and it looks like this ban is incoming.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

That sign says 'dont follow your sat nav, you will get stuck'

A very interesting sign to put up. Friendly warning, ploy to keep people off their land, or some of both? How many have really gotten stuck?

But taking the sign at face value, what does that say about sat nav? Is there an easy way to tell the system that you got stuck here? Would anyone bother? Would the companies act on it?

 

[Chargeride]

Its because the path is a byway, which allows all traffic, but its not suitable for anything short of a proper offroad vehicle.
We had someone turn around in front of us presumably following sat nav, it usually happens if they are trying to find an alternative route and head off themselves down the back roads, causing the satnav to route down an unsuitable road.
In fact that path was only suitable for motorbikes as it was completely overgrown down to a single track

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Its because the path is a byway, which allows all traffic, but its not suitable for anything short of a proper offroad vehicle.
We had someone turn around in front of us presumably following sat nav, it usually happens if they are trying to find an alternative route and head off themselves down the back roads, causing the satnav to route down an unsuitable road.
In fact that path was only suitable for motorbikes as it was completely overgrown down to a single track

Sounds plausible. But seems like sat nav should warn you that its suggested route includes a segment that might need an offroad vehicle.

Like Google Maps warns me now that a route might go through restricted right of way like a gated community or private road.

 

[Chargeride]

Ive never checked, but there are still lots of people not using google maps.
But a byway is a fully legal to use road by anyone, even a semi truck or a bus.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Loads of bridleways or byways near me that are perfectly legal for me to ride but I check the OS map for the contour lines first because some are almost vertical!! Even a pony would fall over backwards...

 

[fooferdoggie]

Cow car with a pasture and cows on the dashboard no less.

 

[fooferdoggie]

This is part of a huge Mausoleum /creamatorium and chapel. full body and cremation internment not something you usually see in the middle of the city.

 

[fooferdoggie]

 

[fooferdoggie]

nice little wildlife area. saw a nutria or beaver in there.

 

[fooferdoggie]

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

One beauty of a good GPS mapping app: You can do pretty good recon of a potential route just by zooming in on it in satellite view. You can easily see gates, bike infrastructure or lack thereof, single vs double track, etc.

As @Rás Cnoic suggested, even better if you also have a topo (contour) layer to look at. Love topo maps.

RideWithGPS offers all of this and much more — including the ability to map out the route and see the profile in advance. Probably plenty of other apps with these capabilities.

 

[Chargeride]

These signs are common in the UK because roads turning into piles of rocks or medieval 4ft wide catches people, usually truck drivers out when they are following satnav.

Theres even official versions, surely even the States has these.