Category: Routes and Rides

Section on routes and rides, hope to include maps and pictures.

New Dee Crossing.

The new cycle path between Burton and Deeside is open and word is spreading about it.

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Coming out at Zone3 it is best to stick to the signed route.

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There is no easy route out of the the Zones other than the signed route. I ended up at Tata Steelworks. I will post a gps link up when I download it.

Dee Cycle Path by frankkinlan at Garmin Connect – Details

Best viewed with the OSM overlay set. Cant post an embedded map as the blog can’t accept <iframe> commands.

There going to be some great routes out to Chester and Wales from now on.
One way or another you need to get over the River Dee if you are venturing into Wales.  Follow the signs for Chester to use the Dee Cycle Path.
If you have a  routable  OSM map in your Garmin you should be able to follow the cycle paths by Route number.

Thanks to DodgyD for the OSM mapping update.

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Garmin Connect – Early Season TT

Garmin Connect – Untitled.

Proved to be a bit of a disaster as I punctured 5 miles from the start and things just went from bad to worse. Found out that you can’t transfer a course from a Garmin 800 to a 705 so virtually no one on the ride had a Course to ride to.
Turned out to be a nice day. Learned a few valuable lessons about kit preparation, don’t rely on old tubes. If it’s worn or holed bin it.

Wild Wales 2011

The route for this years Wild Wales has been out out for some time and I hadn’t given it much thought. I sat down a couple of nights before the ride and tried to enter it. It’s written in handlebar shorthand and needs to be viewed with an OS map. Three hours later I was done, briefly put anything with double chevrons on an OS map was in the ride.

It’s two years since the last Wild Wales which ended in torrid conditions with a ride of 20 miles back through sheep slurry. This year a crud catcher went on the back. I also lost my dad the week after. In fact the funerals of father and father in law were within 24 hours of each other.

Then it hits me I haven’t been out in this neck of the woods  for two year.  I’m getting up the small 10% stuff in the middle ring but haven’t tested myself on the really steep stuff.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110252799

First test of the day was trying to get money into the temperamental parking meter. Then I discovered I’d come out with 2 righthand gloves so no gloves on the ride.

Not as many pictures this year,  can’t find the ones where you could see the sea after the first Control.

A large queue was forming at the start but the new swipe in system meant you were in and out in seconds.
Setting out on the ride I tagged on the back of a group with Janet and Lowrie in it.  We seemed to be following a chap on a mountain bike so I moved up near to the front, where Geof Dutton AKA “The Dog” jumps on my wheel.  Geoff never misses a wheel that’s why he is know as the dog.
Wild Wales 2011 by frankkinlan at Garmin Connect – Details

Had to stop to take a picture of the Llama,s  they were really curious about what was going on, running up to the fence to see a group of riders go by.


Stopped before this steep descent as the valley looked really sharp and detailed, it hasn’t come out in the picture, must be the new Oakley,s.
What goes down must come up and the first climb had the rear wheel spinning out.  The next stretch looked even worse.


 Dave Newby the front Northender still on the bike.

Dave Newby has to dismount on this stretch taking the Doc with him.
Stopped here just after Llyn Brenig to remove the rain Jacket.

 Control at Llansannan 

Got a bit lumpy after this turn, opted to walk the steepest section getting back on the bike when a septagerarium/octagenarium came past me.
More nasty short sharp climbs had riders falling on them. On those I opted to walk there were guys hardly advancing on me at 2 mph in Keo,s.
Ros,s fella went down on a particullary bad descent and had to take the road back to the start.
A chap on a Planet X went down and broke his bike and another of the Sunlight went down twice, falling on the same turn.
It was about 1:3 in places and you could feel the high spots in the rim as you tried to make it to the bottom in one piece.

Got caught out by the route, saw a sign saying 20%  so got 30 yards up it and bailed off. Couldn’t see what was beyond the bend and the Garmin hadn’t told me I was off Course. Two guys went past, one of them saying “No shame in walking” only to see them at the next control as I was leaving.
Chris (who was riding to the routesheet) called me back as I had missed one of the fluorescent arrows.

Later part of the ride, there was a couple offering drinks by one of the reservoirs but most were just flying by. It was one of those parts where you just had to make the most of the road. It doesn’t get much better than this.

It was easy to make a mistake in the final section of the ride, even on the gated road section which featured in the previous ride.
Following  a Bala sign had me off Course and retracing my steps had me meet up with a chap that had rode the Etape. Chatted about Audaxes and such as another group went by and took the wrong turning through a farm. God knows where that led to but it wasn’t Bala.

Weekending 29 Aug 2011

Monday : morning spin class at West Kirby followed by some sign removal. Called in to see Brian about some car work but he was fully booked up so ended up doing it myself with only one skinned knuckle.
Only 4 in the spin class including a chap wearing a beanie hat and what looked like a fleece.
Called in at Vita where the winner of the Kuota Kebel was getting sized up for the frame.

Tuesday : Early start as it is MOT day.
Car fails MOT and I have a couple of hours to kill in Birkenhead. Writing this on the IPhone in McDonalds to kill some time. The plan is to do some more sign removal in the afternoon. Maybe fettle the bike for the Wild Wales.
As it turned out I spent most of the afternoon with Barry in the Vita shop doing a bit of post ride analysis.
It’s a good job I spent 9 hours signing the 86 miles route or the event wouldn’t have happened, the route sheet was unusable and this wasn’t picked up until it was time to sign the route.
Had a comment about a lack of marshals, I did suggest one for the Backford Hill crossing   as it is dangerous. Apart from Barry and Phil they only had help from 2 others. On any event you need bodies to run it. Marshals for Sportives cost money they don’t stand by the side of road waving you on for free.
You don’t get marshals on a club ride.
I know you’ve paid to enter but this was a true “charity” event, not an event organiser event with a charity tagged on.

Try riding an Audax.

Signage, there is only so much road furniture you can tie wrap a sign on. If you steam past a sign on a downhill section at 30 + mph I can’t help that. The chap I rode with did it but didn’t hear the shouts  and I was only 50 yards behind him.
This was approaching Heswall, missing out the lower loop.

There was a chap averaging 12 mph on the big loop who knew we we would have all packed up and gone home by the time he would finish but insisted on continuing.

There,s the rub, the first rides I did had a charity tag but wern’t as such.  Vita with a touch of naeivety dive in at the deep end but by and large pull it off.

Steve rang the shop on Monday to  see how things went,  it went off better than I had expected. Good trade supportfor a good good cause meant  the 1 mechanical got a lift back in a nice Merc. Neil Pryde and Barry manned the feed station at Delamere.

Spent 3 hours tonight removing signs and that was with the help of Val driving. Got as far as Delamere before it went dark.
Bumped into the Northend doing Keith Boardmans 5 mile TT,s  at Benty Heath Lane.
It’s dark around 8:30 pm now so cyclists need to start using lights. I know, it’s only August.

Keep the feedback coming as we  (we) need it to make next years event better.The  rides the ride but this years loop to Hoylake was unessesary, perhaps a bigger loop into Cheshire.  Feedback needed on the short ride as it sent you on roads I wouldn’t have sent you on. We can come up with a good route that doesn’t involve A roads. The new Wirral Circular coastal springs to mind.

Weekending 31 July 2010

Monday: Website down over the weekend so time for a fresh start.
Time again to go on the wagon and take alcohol out of the equation again and start afresh. Booked some spinning classes and pressed on with all those little bits of jobs that need sorting.
Tuesday: Tex,s morning spinning class which unlike the others  are likened to a 45 minute climbing session. If your spinning at 200rpm instead of 60 you will get your tension increased.

Of out to look at curtains which involved calling in at Eureka Cycle Sports. No curtains but it did allow me to put a coat of paint on the front door.

Becky’s evening spin class at the Oval, notable for the entire back row filling up with me on the front. You could almost feel them wishing for a row of corner bikes. Filled up a bit more before the start so it didn’t look so obvious.

Becky has a new class at West Kirby on Monday at 7.15 pm after the 6.00 one.
Sweated buckets, weights, shower and then home. Incidently the showers downstairs must be the worst around. Mould in the grout, dirty, next to non existent suspended ceiling. A hygiene hazard at best.

Started to read “Eats Shoots and Leaves” a 2004 best seller so hopefully the punctuation should improve. That is if I find the bit that actually says what the rules are.

Wednesday: Up early to clean and fettle the bike. New Dura-Ace brake blocks in the rear as the old ones were beginning to pick up, had them a while as they have an old price on. Lost a kilogram to boot.
Headed out to the Eureka with an eerie quietness to the roads, there was no school run as the schools have broken up for the holidays.
Not too many there when I arrived apart from a couple of Northenders. It soon filled up later on with the Northend out in force. Opted to go out with the CTC as it is exactly 5 years since I started going out with them.
Saw Ray who is on his 52nd 100 miler this year.

Todays ride was to Handley and should be here.

‘http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/102160746&#8217;

Met up with Colin Bell who is the brother of Dave Bell who I served my apprenticeship with at Associated Octel.(now Innospec)

The route was through the lanes including a few I hadn’t been on before, finally ending up at the Calverley Arms, avoiding the A41.

Good service, my baguette was nice and so was the pint, it would have been rude not to have one.

The pace had slowed a bit so much so that at the cottage with a pond in the garden on a bend at Huxley, I went off the front.
Route back was Waverton, Christleton, cycle path through Chester coming off it at Blacon, Upton and across the A5771 and back up Woodbank.
Plenty to talk about at the Eureka, Garmins as usual and the Ventoux popped up once or twice during the day without my prompting.
74.6 miles, couldn’t go that extra half mile so to say.

Kev Charlie and Bob at Chester

Seen a request for pictures of Charlie Dipple on Facebook but can’t get in touch due to a blocked facebook profile.  Here is one of them. Comes out bigger than the original when I paste it here at least when I edit it.

Thursday: Barbara,s Morning Spin class at West Kirby . Delayed 15 minutes because another class was using the amplifier. Hot class sweated buckets, called in at Vita on the way home to pick up some Nuun salt tablets as I want to replenish the salts lost but not the calories. Shop full of new Bianchi,s to look at and start at a resonable price in a shop that has a £12,000 bike on display.
Tesco,s for the comic and a sandwich and a trip to see my mum.
Booked a pm class at West Kirby, tried the Nuun tablet which guess what? tasted of salt.

Friday: Lost 2 kg since Monday mainly by knocking the alcohol on on the head. The scales say my body composition Water % has gone up from 43.9% to 44.7 in 4 days. Time to finally put it all in a spreadsheet.
There have been complications mainly insomnia which was probably why I hit the bottle again.  Will have to see how it pans out as I don’t really want to see the quack at this stage.
More later, off out to the Eureka for lunch.
Headed out to a cash machine and then down Town Lane practicing bunny hops on the sleeping policemen. Works quite well once you’ve done a few.  Called in at Aldi for a punnet of plums and headed out to Eastham Ferry calling in at CycleSurgery for a Sky waterbottle.
BLT toastie at the Eureka where there was another one having Garmin problems.
Vision is one of them, if you can’t see the screen of a normal computer you are going to be in real trouble with 705 or 800 on the move.
I’ve just switched to prescription glasses so a ride is now like seeing HD for the first time.
The FourSquare app on the Iphone has locked up for the last week.
Called in at Vita on the way home then back via Landican lane to practice more bunny hops. That was until the bottle toolbox forced it’s way past the tang on the carbon fiber bottle cage. Forced the pump out of it’s mount, hitting the crank every  revolution.
I don’t know how many vans Gunform have but got buzzed by another at the Woodchurch flyover making a beeline for the motorway. That’s the second time it’s happened to me. Someone there is riding their luck.

Called in to McGarvey,s Opticians to see how the custom Split Jackets were coming on. Well they were in but awaiting the case and the rest of the bits you get with the real thing. They are a better fit than the Radars on the Kask Vertigo.

Probably worth doing a post on prescription sports eyewear at a later date.

Had a drive around looking to pick up bits for the kitchen installation to no avail. What was noticeable was  riders in team kit, so here goes Discovery Channel, Astana(brave), Team Altura(plain kit) and US Postal.
Saturday: Stayed steady, Alcohol units 0, disrupted sleep. Time for a ride as the suns out and it’s the last day of the holiday.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102829216#.TjRLKsE8bAc.wordpress

40 mile ride around Wirral with a few bikes shops and motorbike shops thrown in. Still looking for a new pair of shoes. Met up with Dave at the Eureka who ordered a bacon sandwich with a brown crust and a white top with the crusts cut off tongue in cheek.  Low  and behold that’s what he got apart from the crusts being cut off.
Lot’s of the big hitters were doing short rides as it is race day on Sunday

Sunday: Work so no ride, weekly total 141 miles. Alcohol units 2.

Weekending 03 July 2011


Liverpool Chester Liverpool 2011
Nice day for a nice ride.

Should have rode the 87 mile event as I was back by 11.45

Bumped in to Paul from work, still waiting for his bike on the cycle to work scheme.


 

Nearly everyone freewheeled down to the midpoint where the speed differences started to show on the climb out.
Quite a few stop at the tollbooths to rest/regroup.
It’s always great to ride through to tollbooths for free.

 

Big ring after this and I’m flying. Met up with Team Wallace and Grommit who bummed a free ride from KFC. At least they didn’t have the cheek to do the tunnel unlike the usual suspect Liverpool clubs.

Marshalling was  a bit hit or miss with riders getting waved through red lights even though the ride organisers stressed not to do it.
Likewise riding 3 abreast on the Chester High Road before theThorton Hough turn off is not sensible.
The traffic calming islands just exacerbate the situation.

Nice section of the ride going through Thorton Hough, pity the oak tree outside the Smithy had to be cut down. 

Pretty much on my own at this point but grabbed a wheel from a handy chap on a Pinarello who was on the 87 mile ride. Looked to be behind schedule if I had caught him up.

 

The gated lane with 5 gates, could have done with marshals on these but it went ok. CTC have this down to a fine art.

The stop at Chester had me meeting up with Team Wallace and Grommit and heading to the Claire House Gazeebo for some sun tan lotion.  Saw one of the Vita Cycles Team heading out on the Delamere loop.

 

Had a bit of fun in the tunnel on the return leg, tucking in behind a guy using tri bars doing 30+. Surprised to see bottles being discarded in the tunnel with about a 1/4 mile to go, it’s not that steep a climb and it’s not the Tour.





Weekending 21 November 2010

I’ll cut to the chase, I’ve spent most of the week in work with an extra shift to pay for the toys.  I’ve also spent some time playing with the Edge 800 and reading some of the first reviews of the device.
Sunday proved to be my first outing with the new Edge with it being recognised as soon as I took it in the Eureka. I’ll be doing a page and a dummies guide in due course but first impressions are favourable with a few differences compared to a 705.
iframe> Rode out to the Eureka to pick up a ride. No time for a breakfast just a cup of tea. Ended up going out with the CTC to the Lock Gates Cafe. It was quite a large group with the headcount coming to 28.

 http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/57470507

Anyway a fair bit happens on a 5 hour ride, I’ll update the post in due course. One thing that did come out of it is the Edge 800 is going to sell like hotcakes now it has OS mapping.  You can download Isle of Man OS map for free from the Garmin site.  Had some sync problems with the cadence sensor which may be a bug as it didn’t detect it until I rescaned for it after a stop.

81st Eureka Anniversary Ride

Brought forward to Sunday 29 August  due to there being no Wild Wales.

There are 3 rides available, 81 miles, 50 miles and a new 33 mile ride.

81 miles : Start at 9:00 with lunch at Holt

50 miles : Start at 9:30 with lunch at Holt

33 miles : Start at 10:00 lunch at the finish, the Eureka Cafe.

Every year a mile gets added to the route, I started on the 50 mile route on a mountain bike a few years ago when 50 miles seemed a lot even if it was flat.

Entries from the Cafe. I’ll try to do a Garmin Course nearer the event.

http://www.eurekacyclistscafe.co.uk/

Weekending 27 JUN 2010

A really short post this week as I’m doing a course in Manchester.
Monday was a day to forget as it was an early start with a hectic schedule with 4 hours of travelling.
I’d have been quite happy to call it a day after Tuesday having completed the part of the course that is most relevant.
Wednesday meant missing the England game to try and catch up on the fault-finding exercises we were falling behind on. Cheers and groans echoing through the building when England scored and missed.
Wednesday evening was spent revising to make sure I don’t blow up in the practical exam.
Work at the weekend so that’s 12 shifts on the bounce.
Missed the Tour Series at Chester and missed the TV prog on ITV4, damn.
Thursday was a bad day, I’ve always prided myself on being able to work things out on my own, but like life things are better as a team.  There was a practical Profibus network faultfinding exam that I litterly blew up on. Things did not bode well for Friday so at the end of it I asked what my options were. Spent that evening working through the exercise, the trouble being if you make a mistake there is no one there to correct you.
Friday: Haven’t got to pick anybody up so save about 40-50 mins of travelling to the course. It’s  not an excuse but it has been a factor.
Had a good go as the other option was not siting the exam or worse. At least I had avoided a complete meltdown. As it happened I turned up at 10 to 8 for 8:30 start.
It was to no avail as despite Andrews efforts the tutorial was just too much a gap to bridge.
The thing was Andrews lad and Paul are part of the same network on the internet, it’s a small world.

Saturday: Work.Logged on to find out I’d  failed both sections of the Course. It’s not the end of the world as this is not my primary field of work. But for some it is.
Then get told this is a tough course by those that do it for a living.
Watched the US go out of the World Cup but prepped the bike as I have got Sunday off thanks to Ian at work.
Sunday: Ride day, If I don’t stop writing this blog I’ll miss it so more later.
Went out with the CTC’s A ride but suffered a blowout on the cyclepath  at Upton. This was on the new wheels so I ended up using my only tube. Called in at the Bikefactory for a replacement. Headed off to the Ice Cream Farm at a great rate of knot’s only to realise I am front of the group. Got there about 15 minutes early. After splitting with the group 3 of us rode on to The Pheasant at Higher Burwardley.
This proved to be an excellent location with superb views over the Cheshire plain.
Had a nice pint of Spitting Feathers and then it was back to the Eureka via the Roodee and the River Dee cyclepath.

The Pheasant

Lots of summer cyclists out today, typically on mountain bikes they have taken out of the shed or garage.
Eureka and then home for the match, missed 30 mins and 2 goals for Germany.
Wished I hadn’t bothered only good thing was Keith Boardman told me the National Champs were on Eurosport 2 and it was going to be hard.
True to his word it was hard with Team Sky getting the first 3 places.
Only about 12 finished on the same lap. Millar blew up too boot.
The ride was great, had the front tyre explode when it popped off the rim while out on Brian’s ride, had to stop at the Bike Facory for  tube and then headed off the Ice Cream farm at a greatrate of knots. Thinking Iwas behind proved not to be the case and I ended up 15 minutes early. It proved to be very quiet out with everybody staying in for the match. 60 miles but it didn’t seem like it.
One other thing, it was a day for replica kit races, I passed team Astana ( two guys on Treks and Astana kit) on the way out to the Eureka. Saw more replica kit out there and passed a chap in 2010 Garmin Kit on the way back to the Eureka. Broke a couple of “Rules” mainly not having the right replica socks.
Nice weather a great day and another grandchild due.