Lovely day for cycling with a light wind coming from the east. I wanted to do an Imperial Fondo, a term I’ve just coined for a 100 mile ride, and the Norfolk route, or part of it, seemed the obvious choice.
I was slightly concerned, when I got to Waltham, to find that both shops there were closed. I’d only brought a cornish pasty and a flapjack. But I stopped at a bench there and ate the pasty anyway, in the hope that I’d find a place open later on. Happily the village shop at Buckminster was still open for another half hour (good timing) so I stocked up on goodies there, and ate some of them at the bench outside. I particularly enjoyed the ice cream choc lolly.
I like that place, but when I inspected the chicken sandwich I’d bought there about 25 miles later, I noticed that it had a “Use by 5th May” label. Bit of a black mark.
I wore tights and three layers on top as it was definitely a bit cool when I set off, but the tights and an upper layer came off at Waltham. I was fine for a while after that but definitely still too warm for a couple of hours later on.
I confess I have not been maintaining my legs in the proper cyclist fashion and some of my leg hairs are alarmingly long now. I think it’s an age thing. I must sort them out soon.
I took a different route after Buckminster than last time I went this far, although I have been the same way before. I hope to do Norfolk and back again this year sometime and I think today’s option is a bit better. Better road surfaces and I think a little less climbing, though I will check that.
Nice sunny warm day, really nice day out on a bike. I was back about an hour before sunset and I did feel a bit guilty for not doing a longer ride. I didn’t set off particularly early either, about 09:10. But I didn’t have time to do the whole Norfolk shebang and just doing another 20 or 30 miles in that direction feels a bit pointless.
I went a bit further than 50 miles though which gave me the opportunity to take a slightly quicker route back (through Wymeswold and Rempstone again) to change things up a bit.
Listened to part two of the Cyberman audio series, Fear. Brilliant stuff. Also footy on 5 Live, although Arsenal took the suspense out of their game against Leeds somewhat by scoring twice in the first 10 minutes. Man City committed a similar offence later on against Newcastle so I flipped to Radio Leicester to listen to Leicester vs Everton which was a bit more interesting.
100.36, 174 this month.