I woke up unusually early this morning – excited, to be honest, about the UK no longer being in the EU. By about 05:30 I was wide awake so I decided to get up there and then. Had coffee and toast. Donned my cycling clothing and withdrew Neil from the garage at about 06:45.
I was pressured last night by ‘er indoors into wearing a helmet today, for a change. I wore a thin cycling hijab underneath it and a helmet cover on top and it was warm enough. Perhaps I’ll do that more often. This was the first time I’d worn a helmet for a couple of months, if not longer. A woolly hat is preferable for cold weather cycling really, but not necessarily for smooth marital relations. Of course I do appreciate the concern.
Dark out there an hour before sunrise, but delightfully quiet. I’m on call at the moment so pursued my usual strategy of trying to stay reasonably close to base. I decided to head up toward Donington, taking a left to Melbourne then over Swarkestone Bridge, then turn left to go west for a few miles along the long, flat stretch north of the Trent. After that I’d come back south passing close to base, and noodle around southerly parts for a while. But I didn’t have a definite route in mind.
Very windy out there with powerful 40+ mph gusts forecast for a couple of hours around noon. I knew I’d have a headwind going west, but the tailwind on the way back would make up for it a bit. As it turned out the headwind, at least at that time of the morning, wasn’t too severe.
Turned into Donington Park on a whim on the way there, to have a look just after dawn.
I was genuinely thoroughly thrilled to be taking in the sights of an independent country, no longer in the EU. The air smelled sweeter. More British. The countryside seemed more precious, and more noble.
Got as far as Hilton – a bit out of my comfort zone for receiving calls from work; the quickest way back from there is probably about 18 miles – and turned around. I definitely felt the tailwind after that. Rather than coming back down Swarkestone Bridge though I decided to keep going, and keep the tailwind, as far as the town of Donington itself. I stopped at either Weston or Aston for a sandwich and a packet of Skips from a shop there. Hadn’t been along that road before, at least in that direction, and I took a wrong turn out of Aston, but ended up going through Shardlow and over Cavendish Bridge as intended anyway. I hadn’t actually realised that I’d done that until I looked at the uploaded route on Strava.
Back down through Isley Walton and Breedon then to Coleorton through Worthington and Newbold, which I haven’t done for years. I was pretty much busking it at this point but had a rough idea to go over to Packington and tack on most of a Twycrosser. And I did that until I got to Snarestone, having done 60 miles. I was pretty much running on empty by this time, not having had a great deal of sleep last night. But I decided to refuel at the Alpaca Farm caff, then either just make my way directly home from there or turn back to the road down to Twycross and keep going.
I sat outside and had a scone, clotted cream, jam, coffee and a can of 7 Up. And the little biscuit that came with the coffee. Even after ingesting all this I decided to head straight home, but after pedalling a mile or two noticed that I now had a lot more energy and mojo. A rest and refuel stop makes a big difference. I’d come a bit far now to turn back down to Twycross, but I continued to Heather and from there crossed over to Ibstock, from where I thought I’d do a bit of the standard route down south. And I did do that but by the time I got to Barlestone Road, out in the open again and a bit more exposed, the wind had become fierce – just staying on the bike was becoming a bit of a drama. So I came back home the shortest way from there.
Home on 78.56 miles. Nice to have done the February Fondo on the first day.
Almost spring-like weather when the sun came out. But it rained lightly a couple of times, not for long though.
Still no sign of the squeak from Neil’s rear and even the secondary rear disk lever is working properly now – still feels a little sticky but doesn’t jam the brake.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3062535400
My knees are sore now. But I’m encouraged to have done that distance without hurting them too much; the longest ride since I buggered them in April 2018, though only by a couple of miles. With a more carefully planned (flatter) route, lighter clothing / bike and no headwind I feel fairly confident I could do 100 or a bit more.