Five whole days without riding left me with a big weekend gig and luckily the weather was unseasonably fabulous.
Ride 1 – Some new roads and a familiar route home
Riding the same roads all the time is getting the better of me. I’m sure I wouldn’t make a good regular cycle commuter. The sun was out and I fancied exploring some roads I’ve not cycled before; answering the question “I wonder where that lane goes.” So I did.
I took the quickest route into Bishop Auckland and out to South Church. There at the mini roundabout by the river is a road that climbs the hill to Auckland Park I know where it comes out, but I’ve never been up there before, so I went. The road passes under the railway and emerges by the roundabout at the bottom of the Auckland way. Just before I got tot he end, I turned right, taking the lane out to Coundon. In total the road climbs 300ft in just a mile and a half. Through Coundon a last-minute decision took me to along the A688 to Rushyford, passing two cyclists using the footpath on the way, and turning right through Woodham and past Aycliffe to Middridge and out through Shildon to Redworth.
At Redworth I took the back lane to Royal Oak on the A68. It’s a narrow, hedged country lane, but that didn’t stop a post van squeezing past me with millimetres to spare. I appreciate the man has a job to do, but I passed his parked van and son he was forcing past me again. Twice isn’t a joke, so as he was getting out of his van I shouted something polite meaning that I wouldn’t let him pass me again. He didn’t.
I crossed the A68 at Royal Oak onto the roman road that goes all the way down to Piercebridge and on to Barton. It’s a road I’ve wanted to cycle for a long time and I really enjoyed it, getting up t speeds of more than 40 mph on two occassions. I followed the road down to the B6279 and turned for Staindrop.
I caught a guy out for a ride in the sunshne and rode along with him for a few miles chatting about training, this summer’s sportives and the weather. At Ingleton he suggested I motor on, so I did. I stopped to take photos of Raby Castle and he caught up. We rode into Staindrop together.
I had coffee and flapjack (how would I ride without them?) at the Laurels Coffee Shop on the green and made my plan to cycle straight back up the A688 to South Church again. From there I turned into Bishp and retraced my outward route home.
Ride stats: 41.0 miles; 2,049 ft; 02h 43m 55s
Ride 2 – The Bat
Standard ride on a non standard day, he weather was beautiful. probably a minute or so faster than my last bat, because of the GPS failure that time.
Ride stats: 15.2 miles; 976 ft; 01h 00m 45s
Week’s total: 56.2 miles; 3,025 ft; 03h 44m 40s