Month: September 2020

Summer’s back! Or at least it was warm enough this afternoon. I wanted to do 40 or so after work. Surprisingly I didn’t feel too tired, despite having been telephoned at 04:15 in the morning, then asked politely to resuscitate a poorly server belong to a well-known left-leaning political current affairs magazine. I literally switched it off, using a remote power function, then switched it back on again. I’m not the most analytical problem-solver at that time of the morning.

But if I wasn’t too tired, I did feel sensitive to the risk of being called out of hours again – so as usual I took a route intended not to stray too far from base.

I started by going down toward Heather, then across toward Measham. Then up to Packington and back along Alton Hill – the old ‘Packington Pentagon’ route which has fallen out of favour now, on the grounds of being a bit short. Less than 12 miles I think. But rather than turning for home from Alton Hill, I headed up through Coleorton to Melbourne, over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the river.

I turned back after 24 miles with the intention of going east as far as Isley Walton then back home down Top Brand, but on a whim, after crossing the bridge again, I turned right for Ticknall.

If I’d thought about it properly I wouldn’t have done that, because not only did involve me ascending the northern face of Bastard Hill to get home, but it meant that I’d have to do Alton Hill again as well. But oddly it was easier on the second go than the first. I’m sure that’s the first time I’ve done it twice in the same ride. A couple of years ago I used to avoid doing it once, where possible.

Back five minutes after sunset, on 40.70 miles. I’d had the rear light on for about half an hour, conditions had become quite gloomy and I wondered if it was going to rain (it didn’t). I’d had the front light on for the last ten minutes or so of the ride. Only a little LED blinker but that was all I needed.

That was quite a workout, I suspect in my top three or four rides in terms of average elevation gain per mile.

Started the third Jack Reacher novel in audiobook form. Good stuff.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4031344077

I’m 620 miles ahead of my mile tally for 8 Sept on my highest-scoring year, which was 2016. I did 5776 miles in total that year, so I’m aiming for 6,000 in 2020. On that basis I need to do about 500 this month. 157 done so far.

In July 2017 I attempted to cycle to Worcestershire and back. And by the modern understanding of the term “Worcestershire” I did do this, but it later transpired that, by the geography of the “historic” or “ceremonial” counties, I hadn’t. I hadn’t quite managed to leave Historic Warwickshire.

I much prefer the traditional, historic county definitions to the modern notion, which includes the likes of “West Midlands” and “Greater Manchester” and seems to me to be more administrative than geographical.

So this morning, I set off in the direction of Historic Worcestershire. This was actually quite a bit easier than I expected, because the historic version of the county has a sort of pointy peninsula that extends north-eastwards, to the east of Birmingham. The nearest part of this is only a 12 or 13 mile ride from the southernmost point of one of my regular Twycross routes. I took a slightly longer way round though, to avoid a hill climb south of Atherstone – and to help bump the distance up over 62 miles, to accomplish the September Fondo. I also started off by going up to Packington then across, to increase the distance.

So the ride I ended up doing was actually a fairly standard Twycrosser circuit, with a 30 mile linear detour to the south-east tacked on.

Some of the new roads I experienced today were really quite pleasant, making me wonder why I’d never bothered exploring over that way before. However I also had to contend with a busy (but short) stretch of dual carriageway A5 and some stony single-track lanes. I passed a big oil terminal at Kingsbury, apparently operated by Shell and BP, though I noticed some Asda petrol tankers parked up there as well. The last mile or so to the (historic) county border are pretty dismally urban, characterised by run-down looking council flats and awful-looking pubs. Nothing to suggest a boundary between two counties.

I’d been thinking of listening to old Dad’s Army radio broadcasts on my MP3 player. You can buy them in CD format from Amazon and elsewhere, though they’re quite expensive. BBC Sounds doesn’t have any of the old episodes per se. But it does have a three hour programme called Permission To Speak, in which Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles, who adapted the TV series for radio, introduce six episodes. So I listened to that. really quite a joy, I must say. Michael Knowles was an actor as well as a scriptwriter and may be remembered by some as the posh Captain Ashwood in It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum.

Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier were still in their 50s when they recorded the first few series of Dad’s Army. But at least I’m not as old as Privates Frazer or Godfrey, yet.

Later in the day I listened to an interview with Ken Dodd on Radio 4 Extra. Don’t know when it was recorded. Very good, though. Very funny.

Cloudy and cold in the morning. Warm and sunny in the afternoon, but I didn’t get round to removing outer layers until I stopped at the Gibbet Post, a few miles from home.

Anyway – back on 63.42 miles so that’s the September Fondo done. 116 done in September so far.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4021089138

Sunday looks like a less windy day than tomorrow so I thought I’d go and do 25 miles or so on the Tricross after work today, have tomorrow off then do a longer one on Sunday. A decidedly cooler day than yesterday. Cloudy and moderately windy. I headed up through Coleorton, over to Long Whatton and Diseworth then back down Top Brand.

Coming back down through Coleorton, a lady driving a Corsa stopped to let me pass a line of parked cars. Her window was down so as I passed her, I smiled and gave her a nod of thanks. This provoked a bizarre reaction. First she stared at me vacantly, then her whole face creased up in a look of intense cavewoman rage. Then her mouth opened wide and she screamed “WANKER!!” furiously. Then there was a squeal of tyres and she accelerated away behind me.

What that was about, I have no idea! But some readers will be commending her on an accurate character assessment in a very short space of time, I’m sure.

As I reached the bottom of Top Brand I realised that I’d be home on about 21 miles, but it’s hard to extend a ride by a few miles from there. Back on 21.34 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4011412692

A gloomy, rainy morning gave way to a surprisingly warm, dry and partly sunny afternoon. I left work early to get the September campaign off the ground. I did a pretty typical Twycrosser on the Tricross.

A bit of a stiff headwind approaching Newton Burgoland. Apart from that, quite pleasant.

The front disk brake on the Tricross has started a bizarre “gurgling” noise when you operate it – sounds almost like water running into an empty metal tank. Quite bizarre. I’ll google it shortly.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4007276561

31.47 miles.

Not the best bank holiday weather yesterday, but certainly not a bad day for cycling – mild, dry and only intermittently sunny.

In 2016 I set myself the task of cycling to all of Leicestershire’s neighbouring counties and back. Once I’d done all those I started doing non-neighbouring counties, and I’ve done quite a few of those now. In 2018 I decided that the next most viable one was Gloucestershire, but then I injured my knees and I haven’t added one to the set since then. However – my knees are now back to long distance form, the Summer is running out and I had all day yesterday, so I decided to give Gloucestershire a go.

The route is very easy – just pick up the old Roman road of Fosse Way south of Stoney Stanton, and keep going south. I took the eTrex for navigation anyway as although it looks like a straight line on a map, there are actually a few fiddly bits when you get up close and personal with it.

I set off at 07:30. I was actually on call until 09:00 so taking a bit of a risk by 08:30 or so, as by that time I was a fair distance from a computer in the event that I should get a call from work. But it was unlikely, and I didn’t get called. I was very relieved to switch the phone off at 09:00, by which time I was 16 miles away from home.

Nice to be doing an unfamiliar road – I’d only been about 30 miles down Fosse Way before – but the last 15 miles to Gloucestershire are hard. Long climb after long climb, like a drawn out rollercoaster ride. I didn’t much enjoy wooshing down those long slopes, knowing that I’d have to pedal back up them on the way back.

Stopped at a garage to buy some supplies – a sausage roll, a cheese & mushroom pie and some water – about ten miles from target. I dutifully put a face covering on, though the only other customer in there hadn’t bothered. He was only paying for petrol and was in and out of there in about 30 seconds, but still – it does seem inconsiderate.

I turned off Fosse Way onto a B road for the last mile and a half, and arrived at the Gloucestershire border at about 13:00.

I kept going into Gloucestershire for another 200 metres or so and had lunch leaning against a large tree off a secluded little country lane. Then I prepared myself mentally to face the hills again, and came back.

On the way back I stopped to take a pic of the High Cross Monument, marking the intersection of two major Roman roads, and (supposedly) the centre of Roman Britain. It’s featured in one of the Great British Car Journeys episodes, with Peter Davison and Christopher Timothy.

Stopped at a shop at one of the villages on the way back, not sure which one – Bretford or Brinklow, probably – and bought a bag of crisps, a can of cold Espresso and a Magnum ice cream. I hadn’t intended to have the Magnum, I really only bought it on the spur of the moment to get the overall cost up to the minimum debit card charge. I stopped at the bench outside the shop and consumed them all. I’m sure that really helped a lot – after 100 miles I was starting to feel superficially weary but I had loads of energy. I probably didn’t fuel myself enough on the 200 mile ride in June and if I had, I wouldn’t have felt so spent over the last 40 miles.

Back on 115.85 miles, which took my August total to 686 – this year’s highest monthly tally so far.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3992862473

Very nice to have added another county to the list. I don’t think I’ll do that ride again, though. Strava tells me that it’s the most elevation gain I’ve done on any ride so far. 5,761 feet.

I finished my Jack Reacher audiobook on the ride, Die Trying. Quite enjoyable but really pretty dumb pulp fiction. I do like the way he ties the various strands of his stories together, though. But he obsesses over details a bit too much.

I also listened to the BBC’s Brexit: A Love Story? on R4. Predictably there’s a satirical, mocking tone to the way the various protagonists on the Leave side of the argument are portrayed. I’d have been too angry to listen to it a year ago. But in the light of events since then I found a certain indulgent satisfaction in listening to it, knowing that the BBC had been defeated. A bit like listening to one of Lord Haw-Haw’s old broadcasts.