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+++Rides 2023+++Add yours here+++
RonS:
Another work week done, another week closer to the bike trip.
John, I wish you speedy recovery from your hip surgery and look forward to more of your wonderfully described and photographed rides. I recall another post somewhere where you were contemplating an autumn tour of the maritimes, maybe 2024. If you want company, count me in!
PH, I spent 2 1/2 weeks in Japan in 2018, when my daughter was there with the JET programme, teaching English. I was smitten, and vowed to return, with a bike.
Camping is popular in Japan, and, better still, there are almost limitless opportunities to free camp, and have washing facilities nearby.
I did forget a few items on test ride #1, like spare shoes, some of the camera kit, and a couple of odds and ends, but it was mostly complete. Chalk up the compactness to compression stuff sacks.
My cooking kit is fairly basic: Pocket Rocket stove, a pot, a bowl a plate and cutlery. I don't anticipate using it too much. Tasty filling food for cyclists is everywhere and inexpensive.
I hope the tent will withstand UK conditions, because the North Sea cycle route is on my bucket list! I will actually be in the UK in May. The daughter that worked in Japan currently works in the Cotswolds. It won't be a cycle tour, though, other than a few day rides.
Andre, 2 spare batteries and an extra memory card already in the bag!
Best to all
Ron
PS Post 100. I'm a Full Member!
Andre Jute:
Congratulations on becoming a full member, Ron. Heartened to hear about "2 spare batteries and an extra memory card already in the bag!"
PH:
First full days ride of 2023 and I certainly felt it. I’ve been getting out with the local CTC group Thursdays and Sundays, though this time of year they keep the rides fairly short and local. I’m trying to build some mileage and fitness so although these 40 mile two café rides are sociable, they’re not helping that.
This weeks Thursday ride was going out in a direction I like, the Vale of Belvoir (Pronounced beavor) so adding a loop could include a few more hills than I’ve done of late, and a World famous Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. In case this fame hasn’t spread to the international readers of this forum – It’s a bit different to most other pork pies in that the meat is cured, giving it an unappetising grey colour, though the taste is (IMO) superior. So unique that it has geographical protection, that is you can only call it a Melton Mowbray is that’s where it was made. It actually came about as the by-product of another geographically protected product, Stilton Cheese (Which you can’t make in Stilton! These things are complicated!!) Cheese = wasted whey = keep pigs to use it = what to do with the pork? = cure it and stick it in a pie for the huntsmen.
So, the CTC group met in a café a few miles outside Derby, I caught a couple of other riders on the way and we chatted along the mucky riverside path. Good sized group, 14, about the limit for this club, when there’s more we split into two groups. After coffee, out along some country lanes, past the power station burning the last of the coal stockpiled decades ago, a bit of cycle track along a main road and back onto country lanes. The group then turned back towards Derby and the intended lunch café.
Although that sounded tempting, I turned left when they turned right. A gentle, almost unnoticeable, climb for the next ten miles, followed by a blistering half mile descent to lose that hight gained. There was a major road improvement in the area a few years ago and some of the country lanes have been cut in half by the major new highway, with limited ways to cross it. A bit tough for the local motorists, but there’s various byways and bridleways now only possible on non-motorised transport so a plus for cyclists.
Up to this point I’d been travelling East, I now turned South, into the rolling hills, then dropping down into the vale. The views are pleasant without being exceptionally scenic, the weather as grey as a MM pie with the odd threat of rain, a few spots but not enough to get wet. Last few miles into Melton on a main road that thankfully wasn’t busy.
And a Pork Pie.
Pie-shop by Paul, on Flickr
The first couple of miles out of town were again on main road, then turning into a housing estate had me wondering if I’d plotted the right route, no fear as there was a lovely country lane out the other side. In the next ten miles I don’t thing I saw more than five cars, though it’s a popular lane with walkers and dog-walkers. And rolling, up and down, no flat at all, I was finding it quite tough and weighing up what the train options were. There’s little to say about the next twenty miles, very pleasant without being spectacular, through some lovely villages. Riding on country lanes and a few sections of cycle track.
Then into and through the only urban area of the day other than Melton, the town of Loughborough, which you can transverse all on cycle track. This was realistically my last train option, 20 miles from home, but I was feeling OK and now off the hills and a flat finish, so I plodded on, though watching the average speed drop!
The last section was a 50/50 mix of quiet lanes and track, some of it rough and mucky. It had become dark and I was glad I’d brought my powerful light to supplement the dynamo lighting, though leaving the bar bag at home had been irritating, I’ve still to work that compromise out. Last ten miles on the Cloud Trail which is converted rail track, then a section of canal, followed by ex-canal which passes my door.
82 miles, and 1,000 meters of climb, less than it felt, though it’s all concentrated in the middle third. I’d used the Nomad, I’d known it would be mucky in places. That’s the longest ride it’s done, very comfortable, some sections I would have expected to be faster on the Mercury, but all in all, the right choice. The only issue was on some of those tracks I was picking up a lot of muck under the front guard, that would grind away for a while, I stopped and pocked some out after one particularly bad section. The clearance under the guard maybe isn’t enough for a 40mm Almotion on these sorts of rides, I have a 35mm marathon somewhere I might swap and see how that feels. A more radical solution would be converting to 650B, it’s a bike with a lot of options!
Gravel by Paul, on Flickr
For any Strava users interested - The route is here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/8456902725
kwkirby01:
That sounds like an agreeable ride, Paul and perfect for the Nomad as you have it configured. Aside from speed, would you have noticed much difference had you used the Mercury?
What size is the Nomad frame? To my eye, it has better proportions than the images in the brochure. Kevin
PH:
--- Quote from: kwkirby01 on January 27, 2023, 12:30:04 pm ---That sounds like an agreeable ride, Paul and perfect for the Nomad as you have it configured. Aside from speed, would you have noticed much difference had you used the Mercury?
What size is the Nomad frame? To my eye, it has better proportions than the images in the brochure. Kevin
--- End quote ---
Both my Thorns are 610L, though the geometry is different. I think the 700c bikes look better proportioned in the larger sizes, though 26" wheels look better in the smaller. I'm undecided about the aesthetics of 650B.
The bike comparisons are subjective.
I could have done this ride on either. I'd have been flying on the Mercury and done it in half the time, no, not really! The Mercury would have been faster and more fun on the sweeping descents on good roads, the Nomad (Particularly the 40mm Almotions) was more confidence inspiring on the mucky ones. I'd have taken more care picking my line on the rough tracks with the Merc... Mixed routes are always a compromise, if I do this, or a similar ride, on a dry summer's day, I might choose different compromises and use the Mercury. I do feel more through the saddle and bars on the Nomad, I'd have been surprised if that wasn't so. I was glad to get home and step off the bike, though I'd never thought about needing a break, any aches today are from exertion rather than discomfort. That's it really, the Mercury does feel more sporty and the Nomad more of a plodder, I can't say why, I'm not even going to disagree with anyone who says it's imagination!
Bike Calculator, which I find a reliable comparison even if the numbers seem a bit off, suggests I'd have been home 7 minutes earlier on the Mercury, that sounds about right, though it doesn't account for the Nomad probably being faster on the rough tracks. As they're set up, on reasonable roads, I'd expect there to be 15 min per 100km difference, that's quite significant on a 200km+ Audax, but wasn't yesterday.
http://bikecalculator.com/
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