Polesworth

I intended to do 30-odd miles after work today. That’s after work in the unusually final sense that I have – at least provisionally – retired today. However I had very little to do this afternoon apart from completing an exit survey and sending round a few messages, which I wanted to do at about 4pm – so I decided to set off at lunchtime instead.

I did a Bypasser. Somehow I missed the left turn along Kisses Barn Lane – probably because I’d just been overtaken dangerously closely, and was seething. I only noticed when I found myself approaching some speed bumps that aren’t a normal feature of my intended route.

So I continued on into Polesworth. It’s a bit urban. I don’t mind that so much as the hills you have to negotiate to pass through it. Then I took a left onto Grendon Road. Wasn’t completely sure where I was until I passed Spon Lane on the right. I think I might go exploring over that way soon.

Came back up athrough Sheepy and, after Snarestone, the same way I’d come down. Back before 4pm. I completed and sent my exit survey. It was a bit of a hand grenade, but quite cathartic. Said a few goodbyes. Signed off.

Lots more free time for cycling now.

Back on 36.17 miles. Nice out there. Warm.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11754260580

San Giovanni

The weather was actually a bit too hot for cycling today, but I applied my most minimal cycling clothing and a bit of suntan lotion. A rare chance to wear my lightweight camo-pattern cycling top, constructed of material so diaphonous that it barely exists. I reckon a light-fingered midgie could probably fly off with it.

Didn’t want to go far. Not much spare time today unfortunately, so I thought a Twycrosser or Bypasser was probably the best idea. Set off at about 1510.

Fortunately I do seem to have my mojo back now, following a few days’ recovery from my 200 miler on Thursday. I seemed to have plenty of energy. Unusually, I went right up into Ashby and along Market Street before descending through Packington. Down through Norton and Orton as usual.

After Sibson though I cut in westward to Sheepy Magna, so I could treat myself to a pitstop at San Giovanni. Had an Old Fashioned and asked for a tap water to top up my bidon. It came with a chunk of lemon and ice. Dumped it into the bidon with the ice from the cocktail so I had a cool, faintly lemon-flavoured water supply for the remaining ten miles (up through Twycross and Swepstone).

Quite a nice run out if a bit too warm, 37.03 miles, 553 this month and perhaps I can get that up to 600.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11738360625

Twycrosser

Nice weather yesterday but I decided I’d give myself another day off after doing a rather long one on Thursday. Fortunately the weather was rather nice as well today, and I thought I’d do about 40 or so. With a slight wind coming from the west, a Twycross Bypasser seemed a good idea.

However – after four or five miles it became clear that I didn’t have my usual mojo. Just felt a bit low on energy. Might be because I’ve had a couple of late nights in the last few days as much as anything else, but I decided to keep it fairly short and do an old-fashioned Twycrosser, rather than a Bypasser.

Down to Ratcliffe Culey, through Sibson, back up through Bosworth, Odstone, Swepstone et al.

Since I’d forgotten to bring any food, I called in at the shop at Bosworth and bought a sausage roll. Passed it hundreds of times probably, but I’d never been in. I was surprised to see that the till was self-service. Sign of the times when even a village shop has an automated checkout.

I stopped at the bus shelter at Carlton (pictured) to eat the sausage roll, to sustain me over the last eight miles. There was an Labour Party election leaflet pinned to the wall, for the Hinckley and Bosworth constituency. But it wasn’t there for long.

Back on 31.92 miles and that’s 516 this month now, and 3015 this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11720188462

Another Double Century

Perfect conditions were forecast for yesterday – mostly sunny, not too warm, dry and unusually light winds. Occasional cloud cover, to give a bit of respite from the sun in the afternoon. Three live football matches to listen to on my DAB personal radio (always a joy when out on a bike). So I booked a final annual leave day to perform my yearly ritual of cycling to the edge of Norfolk and back. I planned a route that would take me a slightly different way than I’d done previously and come back a different way again; about 175 miles in all.

I went to bed at 2300 on Wednesday night with the intention of getting up at 0330, but I didn’t sleep. I got up at about 0245, and set off at 0350.

It was cold at that time of the morning of course but I was wearing several layers of clothing including cycling tights, and was warm enough. There was enough light in the pre-dawn gloom, 50 minutes before sunrise, to see the road well enough so I just used a basic blinking LED front light. Last time I did this ride a year ago, I’d set off nearly an hour earlier. It was a lot darker for the first hour and I was much colder. Probably didn’t think it through properly, but I can be impulsive sometimes. It’s not an ideal character trait for a system engineer. But I digress.

Anyway, I arrived at my favourite village shop at Buckminster after 38 miles. Had a second breakfast at one of the benches outside. I’d hoped to be able to remove a couple of layers of clothing by this time but the temperature hadn’t climbed as much as I’d expected – so I left them on. My route after Buckminster took me east a different way than I normally go, through Castle Bytham, Witham on the Hill, Manthorpe and Thurlby. At Thurlby, 58 miles into the ride I was finally convinced that the air temperature was warm enough to strip down to minimal cycling clothing. So I removed my long-sleeved cycling jacket, fleece, gloves and tights as well as a spare bike light and packed them into a camo-pattern nylon bag, which I then obscured in the nether regions of a hedge next to a distinctive farm gate. I’ve used this tactic before, as regular readers may remember. It’s very handy for avoiding carrying unnecessary weight over long distances. The key thing of course is to remember exactly where you stashed your stuff.

I had another rest-and-refuel stop at a lovely caff overlooking a pond near Deeping St Nicholas after 67 miles, then again at Tydd Gate after 86 miles, not far from my eventual destination – Sutton Bridge. And when I got there, 20 minutes later, an inner voice spoke to me. “Why don’t you try for 200 miles?”, it said.

The first 89 had been a breeze. Conditions had been ideal; the scenery had mostly been lovely. I’d taken it easy and was in good spirits. Sometimes if you’re unhappy about something – the state of the roads, the temperature, the traffic – that can wear you down a little on a long ride but I’d had no problems at all yesterday. I’d done a 200-miler once before, in 2020 – but I was a young lad of 59 then. I’d sometimes wondered, this past couple of years, if I could do it again.

It would mean that I’d be home a couple of hours later than I’d planned, but the sun was due to set very late – and of course because I’d set off before sunrise, I had lights with me for the last hour post-sunset. As it happens a bright full moon was due as well, though of course I hadn’t actually checked that in advance.

So I decided to go for it. I made up most of the extra distance by doing a bit of extra-curricular exploring in the eastern part of Lincolnshire where the terrain was very flat, and before I’d have to pick up the extra weight of my stashed cycling clothing at Thurlby. I didn’t do this particularly imaginatively or carefully. I somehow managed to visit a cute little market town called Market Deeping twice. But it was fun nonetheless.

I’d uploaded my original route to my Garmin eTrex. It was hugely helpful to have a touch-screen map mounted on my handlebar, even when I went off-piste. Much better than stopping to check a phone app every 15 minutes.

The ride back west was pleasant and uneventful. I came back a longer way over the last 30 miles, to make up the remaining distance deficit.

The temperature dropped very quickly as I came down the hill toward Burton on the Wolds. I must have descended into a pool of cold air. I stopped a couple of miles later at a huge log next to Stamford Lane to put my additional cycling clothing back on, and put my lights on. Farmers sometimes deposit these massive bits of tree next to unused entrances to their land, to stop people driving into their fields and stealing cattle. Or something. But they provide useful roadside seating for cyclists. The sun had just set. I rested for 15 minutes and ate a cornish pasty I’d bought. Then I set off to do the remaining 15 miles. I arrived home at 2330. I’d done 201 miles. Beat my previous record by about half a mile.

I did suck some of the fun out of that ride in the planning stage. For some of the territory in Lincolnshire, I used charmless A roads rather than the distinctive straight, narrow tracks that run along the drainage channels in the beautiful desolation of the Fenlands. But since I picked up two punctures on a ride over there last year I’m a bit more cautious. I like well-established roads on long rides.

That was, I must say, a lot easier than my first 200 mile ride. On that occasion, each of the last 20 miles seemed to pass like 10. Over the last 5 miles I was stopping to lean against a lamp post and cry every ten minutes. This time, while I was certainly tired over the last 15, I didn’t suffer.

My arms got a bit sunburned unfortunately, but I have lovely sharp tanlines on my legs.

Happy to have done a 200 miler again. I don’t think I’ll ever do another one. But of course, I’ve said that before.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11701075280

Bypasser

Pretty nice weather today, but rain was forecast for the afternoon so I thought 40 miles or so would do. And I thought a Twycross Bypasser would be a nice way to spend a few hours on a Sunday.

I did a fairly long one, going up to Packington at the top and down to Fenn Lanes at the bottom. After Sutton Cheney I thought I’d come back north via the A447, reasoning that the traffic would be a bit quieter. It’s not as nice as the road up through the villages, but I thought it would make a change. I did that for about a mile but worked out that the more direct route would cost me a couple of miles, so I cut back westward onto the usual route upwards through Carlton, Barton, Odstone, Burgoland et al.

I listened to Euros coverage on 5 Live, the rest of Pete Townshend’s autobiography which I started about four weeks ago and the Who album Who Are You. I took the pic with the plastic cow at Sutton Cheney.

It hasn’t actually rained despite the forecast, so I could have stayed out a couple of hours longer in the warm afternoon sunshine. Still – 41.35 miles, 283 this month now and that’s good enough with a couple of weeks left until July.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11666150970

Marchington

I booked a day’s annual leave for today to take advantage of a dry day. I didn’t have a clear plan, but I did have a rough idea to do a route I’d worked out last night that would take me along the upper westbound route, but go further west than usual through a village called Marchington, to Uttoxeter – then south-west to Stone, to join my usual route to Wales. I’d turn back after about 50 miles along the Lower Westbound Route and end up having done about 100, or a bit more.

Well – I did that, except that I took a bit of a weird detour in the first six miles by going up through Griffydam on autopilot.

But after Uttoxeter, I decided I wasn’t really enjoying the road that I was on. Too busy and a bit climby. So I had a change of plan and plotted a route down to Abbots Bromley, to connect up with the Lower Westbound Route earlier than planned.

I had lunch consisting of stuff I’d bought at a petrol station, at a bench in Abbots. Then, instead of turning homeward the usual way I took a road south down to Hill Ridware. Then west to Rugeley, then I took a road back north to Abbots Bromley, to loop back. I hadn’t been along that particular road before – it took me over Blithfield Reservoir (pictured).

This time I came home a traditional way, through Yoxall, Barton-under-Needwood, Walton, Coton, Lullington. One of my occasional Lower Westbound routes, though not the usual one. And just to add a mile or two I came through Packington and along Alton Hill on the way back.

It was mostly a cloudy, but dry day with low winds. I only started to feel too warm when the sun came out for the last 20 minutes or so. Beautiful warm sunshine for the last four miles! So in that respect it might have been nice to stay out longer. I didn’t do the 100 miles I intended, only 89.12. But really I didn’t feel I had anywhere else to go by that time. Nonetheless, I feel I made decent use of a day off. I’m especially pleased to have visited some new cycling territory – especially through Marchington, which was quite pleasant. I’ll do that again.

Ideally, I’d like to do Wales and back soon. But today wasn’t the day for that. Too cool early in the morning.

Listened to more of Pete Townshend’s autobiography – up to 1995 now. And the Who album Quadrophenia, and a bit of 5 Live.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11638157498

Alrewas

Rain this morning, but nice and dry by the early afternoon. Decently warm, but annoyingly windy. I hoped to do about 45.

I intended to take the Planet X but weirdly, I couldn’t get the stirrup pump nozzle to fit the valve on the front tyre when I went to pump it up. I mean – it seemed to fit over and clamp down correctly, but I couldn’t pump air into it. Maybe there’s some sort of obstruction in the end of the valve, although I don’t really see how there could be since I keep a cap over the end. Oh well, I’ll have a closer look tomorrow, maybe.

So I took Boardman II instead.

I didn’t have a definite plan. I set off as if to do a Twycrosser but after seven miles, took a right along Atherstone Road to Measham. I’d formed a vague intention to head along the Lower Westbound route by this time. However, having approached Measham in an unfamiliar manner, I missed my usual turn. So I kept on, to No Man’s Heath. From there I continued to Clifton Campville then followed a sign to Lullington, which is on the Lower Westbound route. Shame really because looking at the map now, if I’d kept going I would have gone through Haunton and Harlaston which I used to do occasionally years ago. Perhaps I’ll revisit them soon.

I’d forgotten to bring a water bottle with me so I stopped at a services next to the M42 to buy a little bottle of raspberry juice drink and a sandwich. And an almond croissant.

I continued on as far as Alrewas (pronounced “or ‘e was”). By this time the oncoming wind was really annoying me – as much because it was interfering with my audiobook listening as because it was making propelling the bike harder work. I decided I’d had enough and turned back.

But I went right into Alrewas on the way back. Nice little village. I’d passed it many times, but had never been into the village proper. I stopped and ate at a bench, while listening to my DAB personal. As I did so, I felt a sudden sharp tap on the back of my head. Nearly jumped five feet in the air! I turned to see a young man, aged about twelve. Initially, I assumed I was confronting a fledgling hooligan, taking an opportunity to harrass an older gentleman for a laugh. Then I realised he was holding one of my cycling mitts in an outstretched hand. It had fallen from the bench, presumably. At that moment I noticed that he was accompanied by a yummy mummy. So I thanked him.

To be honest I would have found it without any trouble before I set off again but hey.

Just to add another wrinkle to what had been an unusual ride, I turned right at Acresford on the way home to come back through Appleby Magna, Snarestone and Swepstone.

Quite a nice ride out, lovely warm sunshine later on. But that headwind over the first half was really annoying.

Listened to more of the Pete Townshend audiobook, or tried to – I missed every third word or so due to wind noise. I’ll have to redo a few chapters I think. Also listened to phone-ins about the election, which I’m finding highly aggravating at the moment.

Back on 44.96 miles and that’s 152 this month, just about satisfactory for eight days in.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11604890651

Bypasser

An indifferent morning gave way to a rather nice afternoon, apart from a stiff wind from the west. I left work early – how many more times will I be able to say that? And set off on a Bypasser.

The wind was a bit of a brute as a headwind, but a bit of a joy in tailwind mode. I freewheeled quite a long way along Warton Lane, letting it push me along where usually I’d have to pedal.

I came through Upton and Shenton on the way back up. Lovely along there, so quiet and scenic. Should do it more often.

Listened to 5 Live, which feels a bit like a continuous Labour Party political broadcast at the moment. Then more of Pete Townshend’s autobiography which has been a brilliant listen.

Because I have a magnet-based bike computer on the first Boardman I used a GPS logger app on a phone to track the ride. I was surprised to take it out of my pocket and find that it had logged 40 miles, when the bike computer (which I’ve calibrated fairly accurately) claimed 38.5. And when I uploaded it to Strava, I got 43.67! On closer analysis it turned out that the GPS logger app had gone a bit wappy, tracking a strangely zig-zag, wayward line. So I plotted the same route on a route planner. I got 38.8, and that’s what I’ve put on the official (spreadsheet) record. Perhaps I’ll do the same route again soon with a Garmin watch and see what I get.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11582116642

Toward Ashbourne

I want to take another three or four days off before I leave my present employer and with a dry day forecast, I decided at the weekend to take one of them today. A moderate wind was coming from the north-west and I thought I’d do the Upper Westbound route, not having done it for a while. This goes up to Melbourne, over Swarkestone Bridge, west along the Beloved A Road, then, after Sudbury, north toward Ashbourne.

I woke up at about 0500 and briefly pondered getting up there and then to do Wales and back. But the conditions weren’t quite right for that today and anyway – quite honestly, I didn’t feel like it. I went back to sleep and got up at about 0900.

So – I  went with Plan A and set off at about 1020. Conditions were cloudy and overcast, and a bit windy. But very comfortable. Not too warm, and on a longer ride bright sunshine can be fatiguing.

I intended a fondo but went a bit further than the half-fondo distance. I pressed on toward Ashbourne until I arrived at the top of a steep descent. I didn’t fancy coming back up it so I turned back and came home exactly the same way.

Stopped to refuel at the petrol station near Hatton. I was pleased to see that they’ve now filled in the pothole where the forecourt joins the pavement. Wish they’d done that before I came a cropper at the beginning of December, an event that cost me a rear mech and, for a week or so, the use of my left hand ring finger. The finger is still a little bit stiff and crooked but it doesn’t seem to have compromised my ability to play guitar. So I’m not overly bothered.

Took the pic at the bridge over the A38, south-west of Derby. The crash barrier made a surprisingly comfortable bench. I stopped there to eat a packet of crisps and a sandwich. I saved a Fry’s Chocolate Cream for the outskirts of Melbourne, to give me a boost up Rotter’s Rise.

I had an annoyingly long wait for a gap in the river of traffic on Ashby Road before I was able to cross it to come back into the village, two miles from home. I was standing there for seven minutes.

This was my third or fourth run out on the Roubaix since I applied some grip paste to the seat post and I’m pleased to say it hasn’t slipped at all since then.

Listened to more of Pete Townshend’s autiobiography, LBC and 5 Live.

Back on 68.45.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11564049194