Beautiful afternoon again, didn’t stop work until 6pm but there was
plenty of sunshine left. Usually I’d have a day off between rides but
since I only did 22 yesterday and the weather was so inviting, I thought
I’d do another 20 or so. Not warm exactly, but I was OK in shorts and
two layers on top. I took the X.
Mounted the bike with the intention of doing a Twycrosser but I decided to do something a bit different a minute later. I went over to Belton, up through Long Whatton and Diseworth, then looped back down Top Brand. Nothing new, but I hadn’t been over that way for a while.
Really quite a nice day, today. I extracted the S Works from the garage
with the intention of doing 20 or so after work. I took the “down south”
route for the first ten miles down to the corner of Kirkby Lane and
Barlestone Road, turned back, then took a left along Bosworth Lane, to
come up the usual way from Bosworth.
When I came to cross the A447 I turned left. I thought I’d go down to Sutton Cheney then do the long Twycross route from there in reverse. It was such a nice afternoon that it seemed a waste not to extend my ride, and that would have added about 20 miles. But I changed my mind 100 metres or so later and turned back, to pursue my original plan.
There’s more to life than riding a bike, y’know.
Lots of goldfinches around at the moment. Their yellow plumage is effective camouflage against the trees they fly to when you startle them.
No rain in the forecast yesterday, and light winds. I wanted to try a
route that I’d devised a few days ago, similar to the recent
“alternative out east” route except that it crosses the Trent and
continues north of the river for a distance, along flat terrain.
Got
up early and set off at about 0800. As soon as I closed the garage
door, I noticed that it was raining. But at least it was light.
Quite
a pleasant route, nice to be doing something different. The actual
route I’d plotted on the eTrex continued all the way to Lincoln though I
didn’t expect to go all the way. I decided to do about 55 miles, then
turn back. Predictably though I took a wrong turn after Newark, and
started improvising. Which wouldn’t have been a big problem except that
when I rejoined the purple line on the eTrex map, signifying the planned
route, I started following it in the wrong direction. I realised what
I’d done eventually and turned back.
When I got to the A46 I
decided to take a short cut along it. Normally this would be sufficient
cause for a coroner to record a verdict of suicide, but yesterday it was
pretty quiet. Certainly made a change to be rolling along what’s
virtually a motorway instead of the leafy lanes and B roads that I’m
accustomed to, but at least it was well surfaced.
I continued on the A46 past Newark, just to avoid going into the city again. I rejoined the intended route after about 4 miles of A46.
Conditions
improved in the afternoon. The temperature improved considerably,
though never quite enough to prompt me to remove a layer. And the rain
stopped.
I took another wrong turn near a place called Gunthorpe,
just after crossing the river again to the east of Nottingham. This was
quite unfortunate as I ended up pedalling along a gravelly footpath for
a mile or so, which wasn’t particularly enjoyable. I rejoined the
original route (again) at Radcliffe on Trent, following a brief run
along the A52.
My poor old knees were a bit hurty after 80 miles
or so but nothing dramatic. They feel OK today. I’m pretty encouraged
actually.
Once again I pursued a no-shops strategy, and took lunch and other refuelling snacks in a backpack.
Despite
the rain in the morning – quite a nice adventure, really. Home on
116.20 miles, which takes me to 2004 this year, 153 this month.
The forecast was for dry weather today, so I did a longish Twycross Bypasser after work. I chose the Tricross, partly just because I hadn’t been out on it for a while, and partly because the roads were a bit wet here and there. In fact conditions were very variable. Quite pleasant when the sun was out, not so much when the dark clouds rolled over and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees; even less pleasant when the unexpected cold, sharp rain came down for 15 minutes north of Bosworth. The persistent headwind from the west was fairly irritating, as well.
A lot more traffic around now. I well remember the post-apocalyptic strangeness of a ride around Twycross in early April, but the old normal is the new normal now. Lots of cyclists around and a few walkers, including a lady who retreated into her zipped-up parka like a tortoise disappearing into its shell as soon as she saw me, at a distance of at least 50 metres. I gave her a very wide berth so as not to cause any undue anxiety.
36.78
miles, good start to the May campaign and I shall attempt 64 miles on
Sunday, when conditions should be dry and less windy, to tick off the
May Fondo and get the monthly distance count up to 100 miles early on.
My
right knee was a little sore today, though. Possibly a sign that I
overdid it a touch in April. But I want to do at least 500 in May.
