I missed spinning class today again. It’s becoming a bad habit and bad habits need to be broken, so I decided I am going to try harder to cycle at least 2x (perhaps 3x) a week, no matter the weather.
Well, let’s make an exception for when is raining shall we?
So, it was about 6pm here and the sun had long gone. It was a really dark night today. Should I, perhaps, have chosen a more moon lit night to record the ride? I can always record it again.
Before you start watching the video, I have a few confessions to make:
I lied! I am a member of a secret Ninja society (in my dreams at least).
I am not, however, and never have been a thief, unless stealling female hearts count (in my dreams at least).
I was a bit overdressed and when I got back home was dripping sweat. The weather has been very mild this week, but I prefer sweating a little than to feel cold… and once you’re out, you never really know what you´re going to get in this country.
The sound quality of my speech at the start of the video was pretty bad, so I voiced over it in editing.
This was essentially the same 21 Km route (with a few minor changes), I did with my children last weekend.
With that said, let´s go ride!
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How many of you, reading this post, have kids? If you do, perhaps this post will resonate with you.
One of the most difficult things for me, when my kids are staying with me, is to get them outdoors. By that I mean, to get them to do an outdoor activity like going out for a bike ride. If it is not going out for shopping or for a nice meal, all they want to do is to stay home and interact with their “screens” (Tables, Smartphones, PlayStation, TV, etc.).
It had been a while since I had a bike ride with them and today was such a nice day that I had to “put the foot down” (whoever watched “Inside out” with their kids will remember this). Well, in my case, “put my foot down” was followed by a bribe… the promise of a nice meal in one of our local pubs, the Peacock Farm, which they love (food is really great).
I guess cyclist parents want their kids to like their sport of choice, as much as football or rugby parents want their kids to like theirs. The competition with the screen is tough though, but there is nothing that a bribe won‘t get you these days with them. We thought them, perhaps, too well to negotiate in their favour.
Nevertheless it was a great day out… sunny and colourful. Hope you enjoy the video.
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The wonderful British Autumn season… Leaves are turning yellow, red and falling.
Last time I recorded a ride to Windsor was in the beginning of Autumn and the recording was over 1h long and probably no one watched it until the end, so I thought it was about time to record it again, but this time on a time-lapse photography fashion which compresses the entire ride in just a few minutes.
I have also separated the rides to Windsor and from Windsor in two different videos.
From Bracknell to Windsor.
From Windsor to Bracknell
Took a slightly different route on my return, a bit faster and more urban (more roads).
Hope you enjoy it and if you do, please like and share or at least click on the stars below to let me know how I am doing.
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Decided to try something new… This is my first, and possibly last, attempt to create something people have called a “Bike VLog“. I´ve been watching a few over the past weeks. They are generally edited “best moments” of someone riding a bicycle to work or for pleasure.
My choice was to record my ride to Windsor yesterday, something I do quite often. I thought of recording this ride especially for the people who don´t live in the UK, as Windsor Castle is a major tourist destination here.
The problem is that it took me more than 1 hour to get there (I usually to do it in 40 to 45 min) and I don´t have the time (nor the will) to spend hours editing it. If you ever wanted to know how it is to ride in England, this long video might offer some insights.
In all Bike VLogs I´ve seen the riders usually narrate the ride and talk about their day and their lives. They share a bit of their lives with the audience and it is kind of interesting. So this is what I tried to do… keep talking. That is not a problem for me (I am a big talker), but as I ride alone most of the time, this was quite unusual. Not sure how interesting it will be for you to listen to my “bla bla bla” for 1h, but I am not here to judge myself. I am sure there will be plenty of people out there doing this for me already. Please be kind, I am taking myself out of my comfort zone here.
OK, let´s get on with this then… I recorded the ride from the South Hill Park, a landmark of Bracknell to Windsor Castle, a landmark of Windsor. I also recorded a little 10 min walk I did around the Windsor Town Centre for those that might be interested of knowing a bit about this tourist destination and then a recorded my way back to Bracknell, which was even longer as I amazingly managed to get lost a few times. Not used to do all this talking while riding and I got distracted and missed a few turns.
From South Hill Park in Bracknell to Windsor Castle
This was the route I took… I was not in a hurry and there are faster routes to Windsor.
Walk around Windsor Town Centre
Ten minutes walk pushing my bike around the pedestrian zone of Windsor.
From the Chocolate Theater Café in Windsor to Bracknell Town Centre (Princess Square shopping centre)
This was the way back from Windsor to Bracknell, via Legoland. Got distracted with all the talking and missed a few turns which took me to some places in town I wasn´t very familiar with, but I was happy for the mistakes as it gave me the opportunity to explore a bit.
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For a while I wanted to record and post about one of Bracknell´s greatest attractions for cycling, the Mountain Biking trails in the Swinley Forest. I took a young friend to the trails yesterday, but I made too many stops and I wanted to get a continuous footage of the ride / trails.
The Green and the Blue Trail begins and ends here.
Just as my luck would be as I arrived in the Swinley Forest it started to rain. If you read / watched the post and video about my Bath Two Tunnels ride under rain you must think, this guy loves to ride bicycles when is raining… No, I don´t! But I live in the UK and you can´t escape it here. It´s a beautiful country, but rains a lot. I don´t think I need to write what already exists available in the web, so I did some copy and paste from some of these resources. All credit goes to the authors and the links are available. From the Bracknell Forest Council Page: “Swinley Forest is an area of the Windsor Estate between Bracknell and Bagshot to the west of the A322. Owned and managed by The Crown Estate, it comprises 1000 hectares of mainly Scots Pine woodland. Three cycle trails in line with the International Mountain Bike Association industry standards are available for you to enjoy in Swinley Forest. The green, blue and (*) red cycle routes all begin from The Look Out Discovery Centre and provide a range of challenges for families cycling for fun to highly skilled riders. Further information about the cycle trails is provided by The Crown Estate on the Royal Landscape website. Please visit The Look Out Discovery Centre’s outdoor activities page for information about how to get there, about car parking charges and bike hire available from Swinley Bike Hub. (*) A small part of the red trail is currently diverted owing to the presence of ground nesting birds.”
I found out through Google that there is a Mountain Biking group called Swinley Riders. They are a lot of information available in their WEB site: http://www.swinleyriders.co.uk/. Will try to get in touch with them.
Swinley Bike Hub. Bicycle rental.
If you are visiting and don´t have a bike, you can rent an excellent one at the Swinley Bike Hut. Rental Prices, according to their web site is £15 for 2 hours (includes helmets) and £5 for additional hours. 2 Hours is sufficient if you only want to do the green and blue trail. Please check their web site for any pricing changes.
If you want a map of the trails, there is one in PDF format here.
OK, enough info, right? I did the green and the Blue trails today. When I have time, and hopefully the weather improves, I will try to update this post to include the Red trail too. The data below is from my Garmin Edge 810 and does not coincide with the data given in some of the resources above.
Green Trail:
Very Easy – For total beginners, families and small children.
Distance: 0.93 Km or 0.56 miles
Time: 3 min 57 sec.
Average Speed: 11.7 kph
Max. Speed: 23.7 kph
Elevation Gain: 8m
Average Heart Beat: 176 bpm
Max. Heart beat: 186 bpm
Calories: 65 C
Blue Trail:
Intermediate – Not for complete beginners. Quite a few climbs and some will actually get your heart pumping and leave you breathless (see the charts).
Distance: 8.65 Km or 5.37 miles
Time: 44 min 32 sec. (I am somewhat out of shape. I managed to do it around 30 min in the past)
(If you don´t like reading, scrool down for the videos)
Few weeks ago I was watching the Cycle Show on ITV4 and they brought a piece celebrating the 20 years of Sustrans in the UK. They recorded a portion of that show riding on what is known as the Bath Two Tunnels Greenway circuit, a 13 miles (21 Km) long circular route around Bath.
Bath on it own is already worth the trip, but what is interesting about this route are the two re-purposed railway tunnels, that had their tracks replaced by paved and smooth shared pedestrian / cycle way.
With just over 1 mile, the Combe Down tunnel is the UK´s longest pedestrian / cycle ONLY tunnel and possibly the longest in Europe as well.
Sign of the National Cycle Route 4 in Reading
That sparked my interest! I was already thinking of riding the route 4 to Bath or Bristol, so, naturally I had to go check it out. The plan was to leave Bracknell and ride to initially to Reading and take route 4 from there.
The trip was done in 2 days.
In day 1 the plan was to ride from Bracknell to Pewsey, which is half way between Reading and Bath. On Day 2 I would complete the trip to Bath. Pewsey is a small town and there aren´t a lot of places to stay for the night. The only B&B in town (well, the only I could find) was already fully booked as there was a music festival happening in town that weekend.
The Bruce Arms
I didn´t take my tent with me, but took an air mattress and a sleeping bag just in case. As I was getting closer to Pewsey I was stopping and asking people for places to stay and was already thinking I would have to sleep under the stars that night. Thankfully I met a nice gentleman, whose name I unfortunately can no longer remember, who suggested a small change in the route and a pub along the way where I may find accommodation.
Small Caravan in the Bruce Arms, my home for the night.
The Bruce Arms has actually a good camping ground, with all facilities available, but as I hadn´t brought my tend, Matt, the owner of Bruce Arms, kindly offered a small caravan for the night.
I did just under 80 Km that day and the beer was well deserved.
Day 1 video is below
Things to watch out for on this ride:
The NCR4 between Reading and Bath follows mostly the towpath of the rivers Kennet and Avon as well as the canals. The towpath is smooth in a few places, but mostly very bumpy. Lots of loose gravel and exposed tree roots. In places the path is very close to the edge of the canal especially when you go under bridges, so be careful.
Lots of gates, I mean, lots really. It´s a very rural area and you find cattle roaming around. Make sure you don´t leave any gates open.
Don´t take too much on your rack as you will have to remove the cargo to overcome some of the gates and obstacles along the way. If you use quick release panniers you won´t have a problem, but if you have to unload and load again you´re going to be pissed.
On day Day 2 the ride was shorter, just 62 Km or 39 miles. Initially on minor roads and then back on the towpath.
The Honey Street Café
I left the Bruce Arms without breakfast, so the plan was to ride a few miles and find a nice café along the way. I was thinking I would find one in Pewsey few miles down the road, but it was Sunday and pretty much everything was closed. So I continued on my way until a small village called Honey Street where I found the Honey Street café. definitely a great place for tea or breakfast.
Honey Street Café Garden
Their garden is full of flowers and is right alongside the canal and the food is also delicious. To my surprise they had freshly squeezed Orange juice and it tasted almost the same as the Spanish juice during my Pilgrimage couple of months ago. I had the Big Boaters Breakfast which is essentially a double English Breakfast. I truly recommend this small café.
From that point on I was back on the towpath and would be pretty much towpath all the way to Bath.
Caen Hill Locks. View from the top.
If you have time there are many points worth stopping along the way, but the Caen Hill Locks in Devizes is one of the most impressive.
As you approach Bath you´s pass by 2 aqueducts as well (bridges of water over water). The Avoncliff aqueduct near Bradford on Avon is the first and a few miles later the Dundas Aqueduct near Bath. Although I didn´t, there are nice cafés and pubs nearby for a stop if you want.
The day 2 video is below
Things to watch out for on this route:
Same as above
Lots of vegetation on both side of the towpath, sometimes completely covering the view ahead.
A lot of traffic with cyclists and pedestrians (remember if was Sunday and it was a nice day. Work days the route is likely quieter)
YHA Bath
I had booked 2 nights in the Youth Hostel in Bath, which is almost on top of Bathwick Hill. The hostel is great, one of the best I stayed. Rooms and facilities are very clean, staff is extremely friendly and always ready to help, breakfast and dinner are really good. The room I stayed had 5 bunk beds (10 beds) and everyone has a locker, but you have to remember to bring your own lock to secure your stuff in the locker. The hostel is only about 15 – 20 min walk from Bath´s historic town centre or there is a frequent bus service right in front (Bus 18 or U18). The only problem with the hostel really is that is on top of the hill and after having ridden 62 Km on a loaded bike that hill is a challenge.
Bath Abbey
I won´t go much about how nice Bath is. Go there and see for yourself… It´s worth it!
Well, as I mentioned at the start of this post, I went to Bath to ride the Two Tunnels circuit and so I did on the next day, under heavy rain. unfortunately 2 sunny days seems to be the limit of nice days in a row in the UK 🙂
Pulteney Bridge in Bath
I´m working on the video for the Two Tunnels now and will add another post about it here shortly.
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Right then… created this video as a request from a family member who, after watching my previous video (with the camera mounted on the bike itself) asked me if I could produce a video of me riding it.
Keeping in mind we are all amateurs here, OK. Don´t go expecting Hollywood style production. Having said that, I think my friend Gyuszi did a rather good job with the camera. Thank you Gyuszi!
Here it is Rafa!
Few comments… after seeing me from an “outside” perspective, I noticed that I appeared to be too “cramped” in the bike. Believe me, that is not how it feels at all. Nevertheless, I noticed also a few improvements I can do, which I think will make the ride even more comfortable, such as reducing the size of the steering bar and trying somehow to change the position to a less reclined one. Not sure yet if this is possible at all on this bike, but I´ve managed to gain about 3 cm in hight just by pumping more air into the suspension.
Hope it can be useful to others as well. Thanks for watching!
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On the 31st of March I rode from Bracknell to Ryde… a “ride to Ryde” 🙂
I was initially planning to have someone drive me to the Hover Port in Porthsmouth, catch the Hovercraft to Ryde and then spend a few days cycling around the Island, but I felt a bit hypocritical and suddenly “Ride to Ryde” started to appeal to me.
Had a look in Google Maps and it suggested a 65 miles or just under 100 Km route. I knew I could easily do that in a day and I was right.
I planned to leave early in the morning, but these plans never seem to work. I packed the panniers the day before, but a number of small things contribute to leaving only at around 11am.
According to Garmin it was a 7h and 53 min ride to Porthsmouth, but I did stop a few times for water and food.
Had just left home. Nice day for a ride.
Weather conditions were not ideal. It was sunny when I left, but in the middle of the afternoon the weather changed and, in addition to the cold wind, I had to face rain and even a 20 min period of hail storm on the bike, which wasn´t much fun. If conditions were better and I was in a hurry I could probably do it under 7 hours even with a few short stops.
I did not weigh the load on the bike, but I estimate it must have been about 20 Kg all together, between contents in both panniers, camping equipment and front bag.
The first part of the ride I was already very familiar with. Down to Crowthorne, then Sandhurst in the direction of Farnborough on the Blackwater Valley Path which is a ride I do recommend for everyone. You ride alongside the Blackwater river and the many lakes and ponds often with vegetation on both sides. Very suitable to families riding together with Children, however, you have to consider it is for the most part not a paved cycled way, so it can get muddy after rain.
Half way there
As I approached Farnham, the Blackwater river turns north ways and as I was riding south I had to leave the cycle path to urban roads, which initially are low traffic, but after Farham Google Maps guided me to the A325 which had an intense traffic of cars and heavy load vehicles. If you are taking this route, please be careful and make sure you have good mirrors in your bike. You will need to be aware of what’s coming behind you because the A325 is not a major A road, so there isn’t much space on its sides and some vehicles approach at very high speed at times. Definitely not a place to take your children for a bike ride.
Traffic remained intense and with no cycle paths until I got close to the A3, which I rode along for just a few miles, eventually crossing it and taking some rural lanes as per Google´s guidance.
As I entered the A3 I realized that I had forgotten to start the camera, so a bit to my disappointment I wouldn´t be able to produce a time lapsed video of the entire ride as I intended.
The video below is from that point all the way to the Porthsmouth´s Hover Port and it does give an idea how the ride was. By then the worst weather conditions had already happen.
One of the issues you get when you start to rely exclusively on technology for navigation is that when there is no phone signal, there is also no access to the internet if you have not cached the map on your phone.
As I was riding on those small lanes, letting tractors and a few vehicles pass (in places there was not even enough space for a car and a bicycle side by side), I lost the signal and realized that I did not know where I was and which path to take in the next crossing. Obviously, per Murphy´s law, I took the wrong path, but thankfully it wasn´t long before I realized I was going the wrong way and the signal eventually returned as I climbed up a little hill. If you zoom up the map above you can see the little “bump” about a mile after I crossed the A3.
Feet are about to become muddy
To correct the mistake Google suggested taking some bridal paths that were quite muddy, which is not fun when you are pulling about 20Kg of stuff on the bike. Lucky me, only a few meters were really bad, the rest were dry and rideable.
By then I was starting to get a bit tired and at the point I quickly appear in the video I wasn´t really looking forward to climbing the hill in front of me. I initially pushed the bike on foot, but luckly, the wind, which was strong all day, helped on that climb for a change and I was able to complete most of it riding.
Several Cycleways around Portsmouth
Once the hill was behind there was a long descent and at the end the surroundings started to turn very urban again. I found that the urban areas on the outskirts of Porthsmouth and Porthsmouth itself have quite a good number of cycle lanes with cycling permitted bus lanes as well.
Sunset in Portsmouth
As I approach Porthsmouth in an area called Cosham, the sun was setting and there is a nice cycle lane alongside some of Porthsmouth´s water channels and the scenery was really nice, despite the strong and cold wind.
The rest of the ride towards the Hover Port practically crossed the centre of Porthsmouth, but most of the path is cycleable in safety, with only a few stretches on streets with high traffic. By then night was falling and thankfully I had just missed the Porthsmouth rush hour.
There is a Hovercraft service to Ryde every 15 or 30 minutes so I did not have to wait long to be able to board and had to remove all panniers and bags from the bike, but the bike was loaded safely and everything arrived in Ryde in good order.
Took me a while to find the B&B I was staying, even though it was very close, because by mistake I started Google Maps with the route planned for a car, so it took me a long way around the place and the street of the hotel is single way, contrary to my direction.
It was a challenging ride for me, because of the less than ideal weather conditions. Very windy, it rained for about 1/4 of the way and even had to endure a hail storm on the bike for about 30 min, but it was fun nevertheless.
This is not a ride I would recommend to the uninitiated.
Thanks for reading. Few more pictures…
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.Hovercraft
Transfer from Portsmouth to Ryde aboard the Hovercraft.
