zed4130

anyone like just getting away for a day, i use to do this alot in between long rides, i loved it, i use to pick a place around 40-50 miles from my house some times less, and then off i go,

paul

positron

generally much nicer to do in the UK than here in the US... I miss the 60 mile ride to London from Cambridge, especially since the majority of it was very pastoral.

Here in DC, there is so much more sprawl and congestion

zed4130

its funny i was thinking its probably easyer over here, as places much closer being a small island ,

paul

Nigeyy

Count me in as thinking cycling in the UK can be easier to pick a nice route.

Generally speaking -at least from a north eastern US perspective -the roads here are nice, but in relative terms there aren't a lot of them. If I want to cycle from my house (close to Boston) to somewhere 40-50 miles away, chances are I've already cycled where I'm going. There just isn't that many different ways to get there (plus, many of the more major roads are pretty darn ugly, truth be told).

In the UK on the other hand, the density of villages in most of the countryside allows for many ways to get to the same place over 40-50 miles ("oh, I think I'll go through Lower Dodderingham-on-the-Heath via Little Dementia this time....").

I miss cycling through the villages -and at one time you were always guaranteed to come across that newsagents that sold Dandelion and Burdock in glass bottles and Walls Ice Cream.

positron

Ha Ha, too true. My personal favourites were the twin villages of Little Snoring and Great Snoring.

On route to see the Time trial start of the TDF last year, my companions and I rounded a corner to nearly collide with a pack of probably 60 hunting hounds being trained by a man on a bike . They had been hidden by a copse along the road!

zed4130

its true there are some funny named villages here in the uk , but full of character,

Machka 

I do this most weekends.

Here was last weekends set of day trips:

Saturday: My father and I packed up and headed out by about 8 am. We drove out to Cline River, 44 kms east of Saskatchewan River Crossing (on the Icefield Parkway), found a place to park, unloaded the bicycles, then set off.

It was gorgeous out there ... blue sky, bright sunshine, and fairly warm (it reached 27C/80F in the afternoon). And the scenery was spectacular.

The ride started with quite a serious climb which topped with a herd of mountain goats, including a few babies. Yes, of course I took photos!!

And then the wind began. We faced a strong west wind all the way to Saskatchewan River Crossing. We were pedalling downhill at 15 km/h! Nevertheless the scenery was beautiful, so we stopped frequently to take photos ... and to catch our breath.

Saskatchewan River Crossing was a nice break. We had ice cream, rested a bit, took off a few layers, and applied sunscreen. Then we headed back ..... and the wind was behind us!!

We FLEW!!

We were climbing hills at 18 km/h ... faster and with less effort than we were doing on the downhills going out. You know you've got a strong wind when ....

It took us about 3 hours to go out, and about 1:45 to return back to the van. My father decided to call it a day there. But since we were at 88 kms when we got to the van, I decided to wrap up the day by finishing a full metric century. So I got something to drink, and sailed down the road, with the wind still behind me for another 14 kms. Total: 102 kms.

I had a great day out there!!!

And here are the photos to go with the story. Enjoy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7605871338498/


Sunday: Today's adventure was car-free. I rode 65 kms round trip to one of the local beaches.

Because it is a "long weekend" (sort of) here in Canada, and a very hot day in the part of the world, the beach was packed. There was a long line of motorized vehicles at the entrance and park official were only allowing these vehicles in as someone left. So there was a bit of a wait ...... for them ..... but not for me! I rode up to the front of the line and asked if bicycles could go in, and the official grinned, and said, "Yeah sure!" so in I went!!

I found an empty bench in a reasonably quiet area of the beach, and spent a lovely hour or so soaking up the sun, reading my book, and occasionally splashing in the water. A lovely day!
Oh yeah ... it reached +31C/88F today ... wonderful cycling temperature!!

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This coming weekend I'm hoping to do another day trip in the mountains with a local cycletouring group.

zed4130

wow that sounds like a great weekend ride and cool pics, head on winds suck, after my nice ride over to swanage i come back through sandbanks the posh area of poole in dorset , there always seems to be a massive head on wind, funny though if i go the other way it's the same lol, i dont care though wind ,storms ,the usual english rain lol, ill ride forever as cant stand cars or public transport , human power all the way ,
paul