Twycross Bypasser

I wanted to do 20 or 30. A Twycross Bypasser seemed the obvious choice; not far from home and mostly discreet quiet roads. Not really the right climate for a long ride, meteorologically or indeed socially.

After the brief teaser of spring we had last week, the cold, windy weather is back again. Back on with the tights, the helmet cover and three layers on top. But the roads were dry so I took the X.

I could feel the wind pushing me along a bit going SW down through Snarestone and Norton, so I knew I’d have a spot of bother pushing back on the second half of the ride, up through Sibson, Congerstone, Shackerstone and Heather. And so it proved; a fairly brutal cold headwind.

A few joggers and other cyclists about. The B-roads and lesser country lanes don’t feel much different, but the two mile stretch along the A444 seemed eerily quiet.

The stretch between Shackerstone and Heather is covered with chunks of dried mud and stones at the moment; bloody annoying. The owners are supposed to clear up after their vehicles but they never do, at least not round here.

The sun did come out for brief periods. Which was nice.

Improbably, a discarded underwear sighting about a mile from home, along Heather Lane. White, skimpy and lacy with a little gold bow. I observed this from an appropriate distance, of course.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3228989457

29.06 miles, 476.65 this month; might make it to 500 in March.

A Bit of Exercise

Beautiful day. Bright sunshine and not much more than a breath of wind. I left work early to take up the Prime Minister’s suggestion to suspend myself from house arrest and get a bit of exercise.

I took the S Works again, partly because I had so much fun with it on Monday and partly because I wanted to test the angular adjustment to the handlebars that I put into effect at lunchtime.

Quite a strange experience to be out on a bike in the present circumstances. I thought a simple Twycrosser was the best plan. I decided to do the longer detour that actually bypasses Twycross via Orton, but for reasons I can’t particularly explain, I took the turn to Appleby Magna instead of Orton. I didn’t actually realise I’d gone wrong until I was heading south out of Appleby. By this time I was heading to Austrey on a road I’d never been along before, which interestingly took me past some sort of transmitter tower that I’d often noticed from a distance.

From Austrey I followed a sign to Twycross. That was a rather nice stretch. The bit between Appleby and Austrey had involved a steep climb and descent, so I don’t think I’ll make it a regular feature.

Found myself on the A444 not long after taking the above pic. But today I didn’t mind that at all, the traffic was very quiet. From Twycross I took a fairly typical route home through Sheepy, Sibson, Barton, Odstone et al. Came back home through Ibstock rather than Heather. Ibstock felt a bit more normal, with a few cars and vans running around.

Really a glorious run out in perfect cycling weather; the spring sunshine was almost warm. The first legs out day of the year is always a red letter occasion, though I dare say the tights will make a comeback soon. So nice to have summer bike weather back for a bit; the S Works rolls along beautifully. There’s a twisty pair of curves following a fast descent coming north of Bosworth that’s slightly hairy on the Boardman or the X, but on the S Works when you get down in the drops you go round like you’re on rails.

I saw 8 or 9 other cyclists out, which made me feel a bit more comfortable riding around during what has been termed a “lockdown”. But at no point was I in any danger of interacting with anyone in such a way as to make the transfer of an infection a realistic proposition, and I don’t think I was putting myself at significant risk of hospitalisation.

Back a few minutes before sunset.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3217694615

33.46, 448 this month.

Truncated Twycrosser

Normally I wouldn’t go cycling the day after a long ride, but since it was a beautifully sunny day again, and since my knees didn’t seem to be complaining today, I decided I’d go out for a spin on the S Works while I still can. Who knows if I’ll still be allowed to a month, or even a week from now?

First thought as I set off, at about 16:25: What the Actual Fuck? The saddle seemed far too low, almost as if I was riding a kid’s bike with my knees swinging up round my chin. I’d raised the saddle on the Boardmans (Boardmen?), the X, the Tricross and the hybrid, but hadn’t bothered yet with the Cannondale or the S Works. And although the higher riding position felt odd at first, in the months since I last took the Spesh out, it has become the new normal.

I U-turned to the garage to made a quick and cautious adjustment. It’s a carbon seat post but I don’t think I over-tightened it; I didn’t bother with a torque wrench. And I set off again.

What a joy it is to ride – zippy, effortless and refined. I wanted to be back by sunset and only wanted to do 15 or 20 in any case. I did a ‘Truncated Twycross’ with the left turn to cut across to Congerstone, then Barton. A bit of a cool headwind going east to Barton, but other than that pleasant and spring-like. It’s weird though that there’s so little traffic at that time of the afternoon.

A couple of other cyclists around, and quite a few joggers. I exchanged a smile or a friendly nod with most of them. A lad walking a dog near Bilstone looked a bit afraid when he saw me coming. Two geese in the road at Odstone were unhappy about something, just standing there and doing that odd squawky bark thing they do.

Back just on sunset. Nice run out.

The PM is making an address to the nation in 25 minutes as I type, which suggests to me that fairly Draconian measures are coming – given that he was prepared to announce closures to pubs and restaurants at a mere press conference. So I do wonder, not that it’s the most important thing in the bigger picture, what restrictions affecting cycling might be about to come into force.

Anyway – 20.91, 414 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3210949391

Lincolnshire

Beautiful sunny day today, lovely weather except for low temperatures in the morning, and a moderate wind blowing from the east. Given the wind conditions I’d thought of going south, but instead I decided to head out east, and tick the final neighbouring county box for 2020. I felt that my mood was better suited to an easy, more familiar route.

I set off on the X at about 0925. The headwind on the way out east was annoying, but not a struggle. Got to Belvoir Castle and noticed a lot of cars in the car park there. Plenty of people sitting around having picnics on the benches, even though the cafe was closed, sometimes in groups of four or five. I wondered if they were from the same household.

Normally I’d stop at a pub, or a cafe or a shop but this time I’d brought enough stuff to keep myself fuelled for the whole trip, including a bottle of Mars Drink – which is just the job to keep you going on a long ride. It comes in a bottle with a bidon-style nozzle, unfortunately a bit slimmer than a bidon but I found that it stayed in the rear bottle cage. I do have an adjustable bottle cage actually, which would have been just the job. But I haven’t fitted it to a bike yet. It will go on the Cannondale, probably.

This was the first ride for months that I managed to avoid any running or standing water completely.

Got to the border with Lincolnshire at Woolsthorpe (above), went over it for a bit then came straight back. Stopped at the bench at Eastwell on the way back, six miles later. Conditions had warmed up a bit and I removed my helmet cover and outer layer, and stuffed them into my backpack. I adjusted my hijab to tubular neckscarf mode. Very enjoyable ride on the way back with no headwind. Bright sunshine the whole way. Lovely.

I thought that this was the Woolsthorpe where Sir Isaac Newton was born, and where he was inspired by a falling apple. But apparently that Woolsthorpe is about 8 miles to the south-east of this one.

Pretty quiet out there in the main, but there were quite a few other cyclists on the roads.

The two Energizer AAs I popped in the DAB just before setting off lasted 7hr 40 mins before I switched it off, and I’d guess they still have an hour or so left in them.

That was my 7th Fondo this year; 76.35 miles, 393 this month. 1105 done in 2020 which means that I’m 545 ahead of this time last year. But for how long?

https://www.strava.com/activities/3207804161

A Cold Wind

A sunny afternoon but I had to stay at work longer than I wanted, due to a meeting. I rolled the Tricross out of the garage at about 16:55. I hadn’t been out on it for a few weeks. Had to be back home by about 18:30 ideally, so it was a short one. A ‘Truncated Twycrosser’, the version that cuts across to Congerstone as a short cut just before Twycross.

Tuned in to the Prime Ministerial press conference at 5pm, and heard the announcement that bars, restaurants, gyms, cafes, etc are all going to be forced to close. I confess to feeling a sort of anxious, low frequency dread in these uncertain times. As much for the potential damage to society and people’s lives in the wider sense, as the threat to everyone’s health.

As I turned eastward at Little Twycross, I was confronted by a cold, pitiless wind that seemed to moderate only slightly when I steered northward from Congerstone, in the fading light. Beautifully, poetically morbid conditions. Perfect for my mood.

You might think that getting out of the house on a bike would be a welcome diversion at the moment, but the relative stillness at rush hour was actually a bit disquieting. As I passed the Queen’s Head at Heather in the early evening gloom, I glanced through the window to see a couple of middle-aged men nursing their pints at one of the tables. They looked a bit glum, or possibly a little bewildered. I assume they’d heard the news. But they won’t be in there tomorrow night.

I either miscalculated the time, or wasn’t concentrating properly. I was back a while after sunset. I did have a rear light on, but not even a little silicone strappy blinker at the front.

I only encountered one human being, not counting a couple of passing cars. A young woman walking two dogs near Little Twycross. I’m pleased to report that I maintained a distance of at least three metres. I’m quite sure we exchanged nothing more harmful than a smile.

Seems a bit frivolous at the moment to be counting miles pedalled on a circular route then adding them to a spreadsheet, but hey ho. 18.95, 317 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3201417072

Twycross Bypasser

Lovely sunny day. I left work early, at about 15:20 and decided the conditions were sufficiently spring-like to warrant this year’s first run out on the X.

A bit windy and colder than I expected, unfortunately. I wanted to do at least 25, to get the 2020 mile count into four figures. I did a ‘Twycross Bypasser’ that curves round Twycross to the west, via Orton.

For the first time in months, I went along Mythe Lane at the south-west end of the route. I’ve been avoiding it on the grounds that it would most likely be flooded, but today it wasn’t. There was a bit of standing water around here and there, but it was easily avoided. Rolled over a few shallow wet patches. Nothing to worry about.

The headwind was mildly aggressive for the first half of the ride but I enjoyed it overall. Back on 34.79 miles. Nice to come up through the villages north of Bosworth, hadn’t done that for a while.

I listened to the PM’s press conference on a DAB while I was out. Really surreal times. And out of interest, I’d already been paying particular attention to my proximity to other people. I went within maybe 1.5 metres of joggers once or twice, and passed someone on the pavement at Market Bosworth. I reckon that transferring a viral infection to someone in the open air like that would be extremely unlikely, and therefore even if fully “self isolating” rather than maintaining “social distancing”, I should be OK to get out of the house on a bike once in a while, provided I don’t visit shops or pubs.

But the French government is apparently threatening “punishments” for those who engage in “non-essential movement”, and who’s to say that won’t happen here, in a few weeks? If it does, even an hour on my bike without going anywhere near another person would be impossible.

But at least I’ve got a turbo trainer!

Anyway. Today’s outing takes me to 1010 miles in 2020, 298 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3189187440

Rutland

Glanced at the weather forecast on Thursday night and was pleased to see that only a light wind was expected for Friday. Not only that but it was due to change direction at about 4pm, so that I could have a light tailwind both ways, at least some of the time.

I decided to take Friday off and have a run out eastward. I haven’t been over that way for a while, mainly because of westerly winds. It’s not a lot of fun fighting a headwind to come home. I decided to tick Rutland off the neighbouring counties list.

Unfortunately the forecast had changed by Friday morning, so that the wind was due to change direction at about 6pm. I needed to be back by 6. But the expected wind velocity was light enough that I didn’t think a headwind on the way back would be too bothersome.

I set off at about 10:20. I couldn’t set off much before then as I had to hang around in the house to get some BSP gig tickets, available from 10:00.

I wrapped up decently warm but was a bit too cold for the first hour or so. Later in the day with the sun out I was a bit too warm. So I probably got the clothing balance about right.

The most recent Rutland route takes the usual route over toward Lincolnshire until Six Hills, when it plunges south-east through Asfordby, Kirby Bellars, Great Dalby and Little Dalby. This was the first time I’d turned along the B676 at Cotes without having ro roll through water running across the road, although the fields around there are still waterlogged.

I stopped at a little shop in Asfordby to get a few supplies, including a four-pack of AA batteries. The pair of AAs in my DAB had conked out about 15 minutes earlier. Annoyingly I went through the first pair in about an hour and five minutes and the second pair lasted about the same time. Supposedly Panasonics, and bearing the legend “Power your day!” on the packaging. Not really. I’d expect a pair of the cheapest Tesco AAs to last at least five or six hours in that particular DAB. Quite annoying as they cost me £2.58 for the pack of four. I have to wonder if they were counterfeit. I could get a pack of 12 Duracell alkaline AAs for £5.99 from Amazon, and a pair of those gives me about nine hours of 5 Live.

Normally I would take spare batteries with me but I’d put a fresh alkaline pair in just before setting off, which would normally last over nine hours. I can only guess they were part-depleted. I do leave half-empty ones lying around my mancave sometimes. Clearly I need to sharpen my battery management skills.

I’d forgotten that the road down to Rutland from Six Hills was so hilly. A bit galling to be descending a series of long inclines, knowing that I’d have to push back up them. But it wasn’t too bad. Quite nice to do that run again. One thing it does have in its favour is that it’s extremely quiet, or at least it was yesterday.

Got to the Rutland sign by about 2pm. I penetrated Rutland for half a mile or so then turned back the way I came. Not long after reaching Zouch on the way back I could see clouds in the distance, spilling rain onto the Leicestershire landscape. I got caught in it about an hour from home, for about 25 minutes. Thoroughly unpleasant, prickly cold rain.

Anyway .. just Lincolnshire left to do now, this year. But I’d quite like to add a new non-neighbouring county to the list – Gloucestershire, maybe?

An enjoyable run out, but probably not the best use of a day’s holiday really. I should probably have kept it for a long, sunny day when I could set off earlier and come home later than was possible this time.

71.32 miles, 263 done this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3180689800

Twycross

No rain forecast for this afternoon. I had to work until 6pm, but I started early and took an extended lunch break. Decided to do a Twycrosser. I took the Boardman since I’d wrestled a near rear tyre onto it on Sunday, and wanted to run it in and test it. Not too cold. Very windy though.

A quintessential game of two halves, this one – for most of the first half I had to struggle against a powerful headwind, and despite the forecast, it rained on and off. But for the second half the sun came out and I had the wind behind me. Big relief to turn away from the oncoming wind at Sheepy Magna.

I took the picturesque route between Congerstone and Barton, and came home through Ibstock.

Interestingly, I saw another helicopter parked in the same spot in a field near Measham where I saw one a few weeks ago. I’d assumed that was an impromptu stop but I guess the landowner must rent it out as a sort of helipad. I stopped to take a pic. Definitely a different helicopter this time.

Slightly embarrassingly, just as I turned back to the bike having taken the pic, I noticed that a car had pulled up and two men in grey suits had just got; one in his mid 50s, the other in his late 30s, with a sort of physically imposing, military look about him. A close protection operative?

They smiled politely, and were climbing over the stile as I mounted the bike and rode off.

It passed overhead a few minutes later. Just Googled the registration G-EMHE and it looks like it belongs to East Midlands Helicopters:

G-EMHE has arrived!

Posted by East Midlands Helicopters on Friday, October 16, 2015

Home on 26.07 miles. Only the third ride in March, mainly due to weather. But I’m happy to have done 192 this month, and 904 this year. This time last year, I’d done 464.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3174877317

Stoked

The weather has been mostly dismal this month, and up to yesterday I’d only had a chance to get out on a bike once in March. But the weather forecast was promising for Saturday. I checked it carefully on Friday – no rain was forecast for the whole day, with a moderate wind blowing from the south. That would normally suggest a run out down south of course, but unusually, I bothered to check the weather to the south, and it turned out that it was due to rain a bit further down. By Friday night the weather boffins had decided that it would rain round these parts as well, but interestingly no rain was forecast west of Chez Moi. So I decided a trip out west was in order.

I thought it might be fun to repeat part of the old Wales route, as far as Stone – I hadn’t been much further than 20 miles along that route since I did Wales and back in 2017. Stone is 42 miles from here. If I got up early enough, I’d go a bit further.

I did get up early enough, and had mounted the Boardman by 07:30. It was cold. I’d wrapped up warm with overshoes and two pairs of gloves, but I was not comfortable. Still – as I always say, I don’t choose to do these things because they’re easy.

I like this route. Large stretches of it are pleasantly flat and the scenery is pleasant. There’s a stretch of dual carriageway in an industrial landscape at Rugeley, but even that is quite pleasant in its own way. It’s not usually busy.

I stopped at the same shop at a village called Sandon where I’d stopped on the Wales trip in May 2017. I chatted to the lady behind the counter, who – it turned out – had just bought it. She wanted to know how many miles I’d done. She was impressed that I’d done 38 miles and even more so when I told her that I’d have to do at least another 38 to get home. For non-cyclists the thought of doing more than 10 miles or so on a bike can seem like an achievement, but it’s easier than it sounds.

I refuelled at the bench outside her shop, then pressed on another three or four miles, to Stone. My intention was to continue on along the Wales route for another 7 or 8 miles, then turn back so that I’d clock up 100 on returning home. I’d managed to reach Stone without recourse to Google Maps thus far, but I took a wrong turn out of the town, along the A520. I realised I’d done this fairly quickly but wasn’t really bothered – 7 or 8 miles in any direction would do, and I was exploring a bit of new territory. This started to feel like a bit of a mistake before long, though – the A520 north of Stone is quite an interesting, twisty road that snakes through woods, reminiscent of the Lake District – but the road surface was wretched; rough and crumbly – and it was quite hilly as well. After a mile or so I decided I’d find a landmark to turn back from, but fortunately the road emerged into flatter, open territory and improved quite a bit. I pressed on and a few miles later, found myself on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent!

I still hadn’t clocked up the requisite 50 miles, so I kept on keepin’ on. But as I penetrated Stoke, I found myself descending a series of steep-ish inclines. I’d already given myself a bit of a climb to come back and didn’t fancy making it worse, so I turned at a roundabout on 48 miles.

Back at Stone, I took a wrong turn again – this time because I was in the wrong lane at a roundabout. But since I had to add a few miles anyway I thought I’d see where it went, for a bit. I stopped at a Travelodge, then consulted Google Maps for the first time. I’d been entertaining the idea of a detour via Stafford Bingley Hall on the way back but the road I was on didn’t seem too promising so I turned back to the main route.

A few miles later, south of Sandon, I noticed a regular bump-bump-bump – almost as if I was riding over a road with little speed bumps. This seemed odd, as the road surface looked fine. I disregarded it and didn’t notice it again until a few miles later. I stopped, and examined both wheels. The rear tyre had a slight, but noticeable bulge – it actually looked slightly twisted. I’d inflated both tyres to 100psi before setting off, and clearly the rear one didn’t like it. To be fair I knew it was on its way out anyway – it was starting to look a bit worn out, and if I’d been a bit more diligent I would have checked it properly a day or two before attempting a long ride, and changed it.

I let a bit of air out, and that seemed to help a bit. I was still about 35 miles from home. The clockwork ‘bump’ from the rear was only noticeable on smoother surfaces. I decided to take the quickest route home without a Stafford detour, take it easy (or even easier) and it got me home OK, although I could have done without the added anxiety, of course. I’ll be changing both front and rear on the Boardman, possibly later today. They’ve both had a remarkable innings.

I took a wrong turn coming home after Croxall. Realised what I’d done when I found myself going along a picturesque road into Walton Wood, which I’d never seen before. Really nice along there, will try to include it in a future ride. So I came home through Coton and Measham instead of Clifton and Appleby.  Probably a nicer route anyway and I’d guess that I’d preferred the Clifton / Appleby alternative due to the elevation numbers.

I’d didn’t rain all day, either on my ride or at home. The temperature climbed nicely during the day, and I had to take one layer of gloves off. I was actually a bit too warm by 2pm. Generally a bright day, the wind wasn’t troublesome, the roads were mostly dry and the sun came out a few times as well – including over the last 20 minutes of the ride, just before sunset. The wind picked up over the last mile, which was nice as it helped to blow me home.

My knees were a little sore by the end of the ride but nothing drastic and they feel OK this morning. Very happy to have done a 100 miler again; it’s been nearly two years. I am going to attempt Wales and Back again in a few weeks if weather and circumstances permit. Probably on the Cannondale. And I’m faintly hopeful that I might just manage that 200 miles up to Hartlepool. We’ll see.

100.54 miles, 166 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3163203391

Tamworth and Lichfield (Somehow)

I was on call yesterday, but with no rain in the forecast I hoped to do a Fondo. In the past while on call I’ve done these by contriving a sort of orbital route that doesn’t stray too far from home, but this time I decided to take my chances. After all, I’ve been called out on a Saturday very few times over the years, and and statistically the odds of getting caught out are quite low.

With an immoderate wind blowing toward the east, I decided to head west to get the headwind over in the first part of the ride. I plotted a route that would take me over that way via the usual route – I call it the “Wales” route although I usually only do the first 30 or so miles then come back – but I also planned a detour via Austrey, so that I could take in the ski slope descent from the crossroads near there that I’d seen a few times on the Orton detour of the Twycrosser.

I set off 10:20, a bit later than I intended but with more than enough daylight left. I took the Tricross, since my route would take me over some rough road surfaces near and over the Staffordshire border. I must admit I felt slightly self-conscious wearing a camo hijab as I greeted my neighbour who was washing his car at the time. But it looked a lot less conspicuous once I had a helmet on over it.

The descent down the ski slope road from the crossroads was a lot of fun. But the road from there through Austrey to No Man’s Heath was really nice – odd that I’ve cycled more than 20,000 miles round these parts this last few years without taking in a nice road that’s not much more than ten miles from home. I guess it shows that humans are creatures of habit, or perhaps it’s just me.

I continued on from No Man’s Heath through Clifton Campville as I normally would. But about 17 or 18 miles into the ride, I realised I’d taken a wrong turn. I kept going for a bit regardless enjoying the new scenery, but stopped at a bench to consult Google Maps and find my way back to the planned route out west. But the backlight on my phone appeared to be broken – it was extremely dim, to the point of being unusable.

Oh well! I kept going anyway, until I found myself in Tamworth. Here I saw a road sign to Alrewas, which was on the route I’d intended to take, so – I took the required sharp right, and ploughed on along the A513. About a mile later though, I came across a road to the left marked ‘Coton Lane’. This looked a lot quieter and generally more suitable for cycling than the A road I was on, so I took it, in the hope, or expectation that it would lead to Coton in the Elms, another familiar place. It didn’t. But I decided to stick with it in the hope that I’d find a useful road sign. I was really enjoying myself at this point, I must say. I’d already been rained on a couple of times, but I was exploring new roads and I had a proper adventure on my hands. I was enjoying some really lovely scenery as well; my only regret was that I couldn’t operate my phone to take some pics.

I didn’t find a useful road sign. Eventually I found myself in the nether regions of Lichfield, having done 29 miles – so I decided to turn back, and try to follow the same way home. But after another half hour I was lost again. I was heading right into Tamworth city centre, and I hadn’t been that way on the outbound part. I blundered on, trying to find my way by intuition until I found myself crossing the same picturesque bridge over the Tame that I’d been over about half an hour, and five miles earlier. I was going round in circles. Or at least, I’d done one unnecessary circle. So when the roundabout up ahead loomed into view again, this time I went straight over, instead of turning right – which is what I should have done the previous time. I found myself back at the A513 again a few minutes later so I continued north on it, back on the road to Alrewas.

I’d done more than 40 miles by this time and I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t going to be home on much less than 75 – Alrewas was still a considerable distance away, and an even more considerable distance from home – but after a couple of miles, I came upon a right turn to Clifton Campville, only 4.5 miles away!  I was half tempted to keep going to Alrewas, but my characteristic wisdom and good judgement got the better of my adventurous side and I turned for Clifton. I was on call, after all.

I must admit, the realisation that I was actually not that far from home did burst my bubble, a bit. If I’d gone directly home from there, I wouldn’t even have done 60 miles. So at the big roundabout over the M42 I kept straight on for Measham, then turned down to Swepstone. From there I looped round up through Packington and came back along Alton Hill. Home on 65.20 miles.

Stopped at a bench about 15 miles from home during an overcast moment and by squinting carefully, managed to operate the phone sufficiently well to organise a Facebook update and take a pic. Not a very interesting scene, and it would have been nice to have captured some views of the rivers I crossed, but at least I got one. And here it is.

Quite an unforgettable run out, really. I was too idle to set up the eTrex, and yet the fact that I got lost and ended up having to navigate by road signs due to an unserviceable phone made it a lot more fun. Perhaps there’s a lesson there; technology isn’t always the answer.

Very changeable weather – partly cloudy, partly sunny, a few rain showers and even torrential hail for a few minutes. Lovely and spring-like when the sun was out though. The roads were often very wet. Had to give Neil a thorough wipe down in the garage.

No particularly interesting wildlife. A couple of very large, dead Canada Geese by the side of the road near No Man’s Heath. Looked to me as though a predator had got them. I highly doubt they’d fought each other to the death and I don’t think they’d been hit by a car. Parts of the country are infested with them; can’t help thinking the solution is to hunt and eat them. There must be a lot of meat on those buggers.

Had a closer look at the phone when I got home and it turned out that the screen brightness was turned right down in the settings. How, I have no idea. Perhaps some secret hotkey function invoked by random accidental button presses.

Glad to have done a Fondo on the first of the month, again. In fact that single ride fulfilled three Strava challenges – the March Gran Fondo, the March Long Day and the Le Col 110km challenge.

I’ll definitely try to introduce elements of that ride into some new routes. More coherent ones than that one.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3145940337