Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

85 km group ride today where my Brother- in- law went down on some black ice. He landed on the hip that has already been replaced so perhaps he dodged a bullet as he was able eventually to gather himself and continue although the ride took 5 hours instead of the usual 3.5.
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I think someones been using a magnet on an electric drill.

Anyway, due to lock down I though Id check out a route Ive looked at a few times, which is a potential track all the way along the edge of the river Ribble, so I shot up to the rspb sanctuary.
(royal society for the protection of birds), because it gives the closet access in the van to check it out.
I started getting a clue of what it involved straight away as the track led out into the most desolate mud pit I have ever seen in my life, probably not the best time to visit and Im not one to be scared by isolation, but by the time I had got the bike stuck in the most hideous pit of slimemud imaginable, a real sense of foreboding started to take over me.
I left the bike stuck up in the mud and hopped on grass divits till I could get a look at where the path could be, the pictures dont do justice to what a godforsaken landscape it is.
hsk1.jpg


A sudden feeling of detachment spread over me and I kind of wallowed in it for a bit, then I noticed the last car leaving the car park in the distance and it was till another mile down a dirt track from there to the road.
Across the river is an enclosed radar dish that added to the feeling of oddness and I was the only person there, a bit of comfort was phone signal, so if I slipped in to anything I could call for help, but I think it would have required a helicopter to reach where yours truly , the idiot had walked to.

hsk2.jpg


Very eerie indeed, huge flocks of various birds kept lifting off around me and all I could think of was Hitchcocks 'The Birds'

hsk3.jpg

To cap it all the collection of house and farms near the entrance have got real Deliverance vibe, lots of flags and large black sheds with no windows, no entry signs everywhere and no one walking about , in fact I only saw two bird watchers the entire time.
Its probably perfectly splendid in the summer with visitors, but I had ridden and walked well past the public area and tbh I have no desire to go back.
 
Chargeride said:
I think someones been using a magnet on an electric drill.

Anyway, due to lock down I though Id check out a route Ive looked at a few times, which is a potential track all the way along the edge of the river Ribble, so I shot up to the rspb sanctuary.
(royal society for the protection of birds), because it gives the closet access in the van to check it out.
I started getting a clue of what it involved straight away as the track led out into the most desolate mud pit I have ever seen in my life, probably not the best time to visit and Im not one to be scared by isolation, but by the time I had got the bike stuck in the most hideous pit of slimemud imaginable, a real sense of foreboding started to take over me.
I left the bike stuck up in the mud and hopped on grass divits till I could get a look at where the path could be, the pictures dont do justice to what a godforsaken landscape it is.
View attachment 78272

A sudden feeling of detachment spread over me and I kind of wallowed in it for a bit, then I noticed the last car leaving the car park in the distance and it was till another mile down a dirt track from there to the road.
Across the river is an enclosed radar dish that added to the feeling of oddness and I was the only person there, a bit of comfort was phone signal, so if I slipped in to anything I could call for help, but I think it would have required a helicopter to reach where yours truly , the idiot had walked to.

View attachment 78273

Very eerie indeed, huge flocks of various birds kept lifting off around me and all I could think of was Hitchcocks 'The Birds'

View attachment 78275
To cap it all the collection of house and farms near the entrance have got real Deliverance vibe, lots of flags and large black sheds with no windows, no entry signs everywhere and no one walking about , in fact I only saw two bird watchers the entire time.
Its probably perfectly splendid in the summer with visitors, but I had ridden and walked well past the public area and tbh I have no desire to go back.
Click to expand...
holy moly ! Not the usual chargeride post. 😨
 
Chargeride said:
I think someones been using a magnet on an electric drill.

Anyway, due to lock down I though Id check out a route Ive looked at a few times, which is a potential track all the way along the edge of the river Ribble, so I shot up to the rspb sanctuary.
(royal society for the protection of birds), because it gives the closet access in the van to check it out.
I started getting a clue of what it involved straight away as the track led out into the most desolate mud pit I have ever seen in my life, probably not the best time to visit and Im not one to be scared by isolation, but by the time I had got the bike stuck in the most hideous pit of slimemud imaginable, a real sense of foreboding started to take over me.
I left the bike stuck up in the mud and hopped on grass divits till I could get a look at where the path could be, the pictures dont do justice to what a godforsaken landscape it is.
View attachment 78272

A sudden feeling of detachment spread over me and I kind of wallowed in it for a bit, then I noticed the last car leaving the car park in the distance and it was till another mile down a dirt track from there to the road.
Across the river is an enclosed radar dish that added to the feeling of oddness and I was the only person there, a bit of comfort was phone signal, so if I slipped in to anything I could call for help, but I think it would have required a helicopter to reach where yours truly , the idiot had walked to.

View attachment 78273

Very eerie indeed, huge flocks of various birds kept lifting off around me and all I could think of was Hitchcocks 'The Birds'

View attachment 78275
To cap it all the collection of house and farms near the entrance have got real Deliverance vibe, lots of flags and large black sheds with no windows, no entry signs everywhere and no one walking about , in fact I only saw two bird watchers the entire time.
Its probably perfectly splendid in the summer with visitors, but I had ridden and walked well past the public area and tbh I have no desire to go back.
Click to expand...
A Proper off-road mudder... well done! ;)

1612482972319.png
 
What a quiet amble in the late afternoon looked like a week back. No reason to hop on any of the bikes prior - all who were a bit rusty from having to sit through endless days of subfreezing cold which was anything but conducive to rambling about on a bike. Maybe in a car with the heater cranked up to maximum, but definitely not on a bike. Hence the wait until the temps shook off the cold and adapted a more cosy warmth indicative of biking weather.

It was a nice, impromptu ride. I think about 9 miles? (14.4 km) Can't remember except that it was nice to escape the homemade shackles of pandemic living and go feel the warmer wind in my face and the toasty yet fading rays of the winter sun on my back. Anyway, I do remember my toes getting cold towards the end as I headed home. I did stop to chat with a neighbor, which my toes did not appreciate and would increasingly remind me, via various and sundry simulated pins and needles being painfully jabbed in my frozen lower digits, to get back on the bike and get home. I do remember walking into the house with toes resembling blocks of ice. Now, why my "Little Hotties" (that's what the manufacturer calls their chemically enriched shoe inserts that are supposed to "heat up" by virtue of a chemical reaction when partnered up with a human foot) failed to "activate " is beyond me. But fail they did, in spectacular form. I may have well just inserted my feet into ice trays for all the chemical warmth these "Little Hotties" managed to produce. Which, was to say, zero.
IMG_20210130_154014_4_copy_612x816.jpg

But enough of the moaning and complaining. At least I got in a pleasant ride before The Great February Snow Storm dumped a foot of snow on our area a day later. Well, it was projected and faithfully promised to be a foot of snow. Just like the "Little Hotties", the projected snow fall failed to deliver what the meteorologists promised. We got a measly 4". One third the amount promised. The only saving grace was the wind the following days. Little amounts of snow can add up to impressive levels when the prevailing NW winds take charge of rearranging the fallen snow into big white drifts, especially when helped by the big snow plows of the county road crews. Take those endeavors, throw in yet another warmish gift-of-a-cycling-day-in-winter temperature rise, toss in copious amounts of snow melt dribbling across the gravel roads, mix in some mud, potholes, and slush, combine a bit of passing road traffic tires to smash the wet cold mix into an icy consistency, and pile on the sunshine to turn it all into a very wet, very muddy, totally fun bike ride. I think I rode 15 miles (24 km) - I'd forgotten to turn off the gps app on my phone at the end of my ride (I got distracted. It happens) and subsequently, for the next several hours, kept recording my "miles" as my phone took a car ride and then later recorded walking around the farm in my pocket until it reminded me it was still on. So no stats from me today. Way too embarrassing.

IMG_20210205_143840_1_copy_979x1305.jpg

But I will share this picture. Oh, and this one below as well taken a few days before the snow. The creek was frozen over where the water was still. Being late afternoon in a hollow there was precious little winter sun to illuminate the shadows, but you can still see the shimmer of ice coating the ponded water in the background. I have no idea what this looked like after the snow because I went a different route. I wasn't going to chance this gravel road because at the time I took this picture there was still remnants of a brief inconsequential flurry from a week ago still lingering on this tree shaded gravel road in the form of compacted sheets of filthy dirty ice scattered in random ambushes on the heavily shaded, definitely feral, always challenging downhill section leading to the 100 year old little concrete bridge over the creek. I didn't want to risk that hill after a snowfall that actually could be measured with a ruler. It will probably be June before that snow is melted. Mark my words. We have more snow forecast for Monday but a nice, warm(ish) day promised for tomorrow. Bike riding weather.

My bike isn't quite dirty enough. Let's see if I can rectify that tomorrow...

IMG_20210130_160446_1_copy_979x1305.jpg
 
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