I took the newly-lubricated X out on roads west that I’ve done a few times in the past, but usually as part of longer routes (eg to Stafford and Wales), and not in the last couple of years (I don’t think).
So after about 5.5 miles of my usual Twycross route I took a right west to Appleby Magna, rather than continuing straight down to Twycross. Really quite enjoyable initially, especially on the quiet road along to Appleby and I found myself wondering why I don’t do that route more often. The answer came later, as I crossed into Warwickshire then Staffordshire – the road between No Man’s Heath and Clifton is just too lumpy. It’s decently surfaced, not crumbly or damaged but just too momentum-sappingly uneven; you can’t just relax and settle into your rhythm.
Anyway. The plan was to do 17 then come back the same way, and that’s pretty much what I did except that when I hit the 17 mile marker I was on a pleasingly flat stretch, so I pressed on gently for another half mile or so.
Despite its flaws, quite a nice route. Nice weather – mostly sunny apart from a cloudy spell when the temperature dropped quite a bit, and not too cold mostly (I wrapped up warm anyway). I did pick up a couple of spots of rain at Heather, a couple of miles from home but the cloud from whence it had come blew over quickly. Happy memories of my trip to Wales along this route a couple of years ago. I’d love to do that one again one day, not sure if that will be possible though.
I was well entertained by the football on 5 Live. Spurs went a bit feral against Bournemouth and had two players sent off so I was pleased to hear them lose to a late goal. And I was delighted that MK Dons, whom I have a soft spot for, perhaps due to my British sense of fair play and wanting to defend people from mean-spiritedness and spite – beat Mansfield to gain promotion to League One. They very nearly changed places with AFC Wimbledon, which would have been quite funny.
My Garmin GPS watch lost GPS coverage 3.4 miles from home and never regained it, so I had to synthesise a Part 2.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2341444014
https://www.strava.com/activities/2341615162
Never had that happen before. I’ve had a watch run out of juice or reboot itself, but never lose satellite coverage so that’s a bit of a mystery. I may end up buying a new one after all, there’s a new range of Forerunners out soon. One of them supposedly has a feature that allows specified contacts to track you in real time but I would assume that it needs to pair with a phone for that, so you might as well just use a phone app. However, the battery life looks very impressive even on the cheaper ones. They double as bluetooth music players as well (again though, I wouldn’t use a watch for that).
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/garmin-forerunner-range/
Anyhoo – that’s May started (May the 4th be with you) and I’m into four figures for the year. 1022 done in 2019.
Looks like rain on Monday later on so if the forecast stays like that, I’ll have to go out a bit earlier. Might have the red Boardman working by then.