Finally back out on the Creo 1 road bike for a Durham Villages loop

 

Finally a cracking weekend of weather here in  the North East of England. Yesterday we had a day out to Alston where we jumped onto the steam train to Slaggyford and had a walk back to Alston, 4.5 miles. After lunch we had a walk up to the town, around the shops then back down to the station. The drive over and back was also spot on with some fantastic clear views over the dales and moors. 

Today I decided to drag my Creo 1 road bike out for a spin. Looking back on Garmin it is 12 weeks today since I last been out on the roads! far too long. I did one of my loops which I call the Durham Villages route as I worked in most of the villages I pass through when I was a younger lad in my days. The traffic was lovely and quiet at 7am on a Sunday with the sun blazing away. It did not tale long for the temperature to rise from 11 to 17 degrees. It did cloud over for a while which made it more bearable for me. There was no wind at all compared to yesterday hike where we were touched 35mph gusts. The bike went well and only had a couple of close passes by idiots! Once back home I gave the bike a wash and nocked off three months of dust, charged it up and squirted some new fresh Stan's into the tyres. More on this in todays Fresh Goods Sunday @ 4pm. All in 31.3  miles in 2hrs 4mins with 1800ft of climbing. Below  are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

One of my regular loops of County Durham's old railway lines

 

Yet another local ride on one of my local loops taking in two of County Durham's old railway lines on my Specialized Cro 1 gravel bike. I must admit I have fallen back in love again with my original Creo which I just love riding. I checked on the Spec app and the bike has now done just under 7,000 miles (11,200km) and it states the battery maximum capacity is still 100% ! I have defo had my moneys worth out of this one. Onto the ride, the weather was a good old mixed bag again from cloudy, overcast, strong winds, odd peak of sunshine and feeling a little warmer. The old railway lines are still bone dry, dusty and fast going under tyre. There was a few other out but not many. Below are a few snaps from the ride,, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Spin down to Sunderland / C2C and back up

 

Another day and another ride in. I had to go to Chester Le Street this morning for a few bits n bobs so parked up at South Pelaw and joined onto the old railway line / C2C at the Lambton Worm. They have finished patching the track and I have never seen stretches of patching like it in my life. You have ramps either end of the patch, totally crazy. Anyway I headed down towards Sunderland and it was all quiet. I was up early and seen a beautiful sunrise for around five minutes then it clouded over. It was not warm and a very strong head wind all the way down towards Sunderland. Nothing really new down this section to speak of apart from the new footbridge going in at Sunderland and the last section of track is still closed with an awful diversion. 

It was still overcast and cloudy coming back up with the Garmin was still reading 12 degrees. Once I was near Birtley the sun decided to come out for the last half mile so I decided to keep on going further up towards Beamish way. I turned and headed back down to South Pelaw and it clouded over again. The bike is going well shame about me, I was struggling the whole ride and there was nothing in my legs, weird feeling to be honest. 

Below are a few snaps from the ride. All in 27 miles in 2hr 5mins with 1100ft of climbing. Enjoy and hopefully more soon -