I had been thinking of attempting a Fondo yesterday. But two factors conspired to deter me from doing that. Firstly, I had debilitated the condition of my knees slightly by walking for three or four miles in Derby on Tuesday, then attending a standing-only gig in Leicester a few hours later. Secondly I had another gig to go to last night involving a drive to Wolverhampton so I didn’t have that much time, and I didn’t want to be bopping at the front of the stage with sore patellar tendons, either.
But it was a nice day, certainly. I hadn’t been out on a bike since Monday. So I thought I’d do the pub at Burton on the Wolds and back, which would give me about 36 miles.
Wanted to see if I could make it there without referring to a map, and I did. Pleased to have got that one down as it’s a useful route for longer trips out east. Had to ignore a “road closed” warning to get there, though. But when I got to the roadworks at Normanton on Soar it was easy enough to bypass them using the path at the side of the road.
I arrived at the pub at about 11:20 as things turned out which was about 40 minutes before it was due to open – as usual I hadn’t really planned or thought about it properly – so I kept on going for another six miles or so, past Six Hills. Then I turned back. A very pleasant lunch at the pub consisting of a ham & coleslaw ciabatta, chips and a half San Miguel followed. Annoyingly I couldn’t get Google Pay on my phone to work, but I’d brought a debit card as a backup. I must fix that.
Bit of a headwind on the way back. I listened to the Mark Lewisohn Beatles bio again. Home on 48.29 miles.
Despite the previous day’s walking and gigging activities, my knees did really, encouragingly well. I have to wonder if walking them is actually beneficial. They held up nicely at the gig last night as well. I’ll definitely do a Fondo before I’m back at work on Tuesday.
Annoyingly during a lapse of concentration turning left at the lights at Zouch near the Nottinghamshire border, I scuffed my front rim on the edge of the pavement slightly. Nothing I could really describe as damage happened, but the black painted braking surface now has a small scuffed silver patch. I suppose that will wear down my left brake pad a bit quicker.
Having said that though – I have yet to wear down a brake pad. I’ve probably done at least 10,000 miles on the Boardman but all four brake pads seem to have plenty of life in them.
The carbon rims on the Spesh have a weirdly ridged ‘Exalith’ braking surface which is supposed to wear normal brake pads down twice as quick, and you’re supposed to use extra-durable brake pads with them. They also make a conspicuous “weeeeeeeee!” noise when you apply the brakes.
321 this month which is over target, and 2532 done this year.