Yesterday looked like one of the last perfect cycling days of the summer – warm, very low winds, dry, sunny. But someone arranged for me to attend a meeting with Australian colleagues at 0800, so I took the day off today instead.
Conditions weren’t quite as good with a stiff breeze coming from the east. I thought I’d do the eastbound route, maybe as far as Bourne. I thought I’d probably set off at about 0800 but in the event I woke up early and I was away by 0630.
I was going to wear a long-sleeved top over the first couple of hours and risk bare legs, but I changed my time at the last minute and put tights on. Glad I did because it was pretty cool until about 0845. I stashed the long-sleeved top and the tights near Waltham after 30-odd miles.
Stopped for food at the Deli at Waltham on the way out east.
I got as far as about half a mile from Bourne, then I took a right turn for Stamford to go exploring for a bit. This took me to a place called Essendine, in Rutland. Spent a while eating on a bench there, then turned back and came home exactly the same way. Bourne is where the flat bit of Lincolnshire starts so it would have been better, or at least flatter, just to keep going through Bourne rather than looping south into Rutland. But it made a change.
Stopped for food at the village shop at Buckminster on the way back. Remarkably, I was served by a young man of (at a guess) nine years of age. His mum was on the phone. Very professional though .. the lad scanned all the stuff I bought, presented the card machine, announced the cost, took the payment.
I got the food strategy about right for a change. Often I end up carrying around stuff I don’t actually eat but today I consumed all the items I brought with me and bought.
Listened to R5 mostly – mostly anecdotes and clips from Michael Parkinson’s old shows. Then I started another Reacher novel, Nothing to Lose. Seems a lot like Killing Floor so far, with a local capitalist who owns an entire town and has the local police in his pocket doing something nefarious.
That was a fun day out. I was back not long after 1800 so perhaps I could have stayed out longer, but I need to plan a new route for that really. Happy enough with 121.67 miles for today. The time flew past, felt more like a fondo.