A cold, overcast day. Having clocked up a reasonable km count this month, and having got a fondo in, I thought 55k would be enough. I’d normally consider 34 miles (a typical Twycrosser distance) to be an acceptable bog-standard ride distance, before I metricated myself. And it’s close enough.
I knew I wanted to go roughly south because of the wind direction, but set off without a clear idea of the route. I was going to start by going down through Ellistown but rather than approach it via Ibstock as I usually do, I started off down Standard Hill. I avoid this usually (and I haven’t done it for at least a year) because it involves a steep climb.
Anyway I survived the climb, then took my occasional detour after Ellistown, along Beveridge Lane – past the big warehouses and depots, then back to the usual route via West Lane. Nicely surfaced along there, not too busy. Just easy kilometres really.
After Bagworth, rather than heading down to Kirkby Mallory à la usual southbound route, I went down to Newtown Unthank and across to Kirby Muxloe, on the very outskirts of Leicester. Idly pootled both ways along Ratby Lane for a bit and came back the same way, except that I detoured along Heath Road / Wood Road, and didn’t detour along Beveridge Lane.
I was particularly interested to come back via Standard Hill because it was resurfaced a couple of years ago on the left side as you approach Ravenstone – making it unusable for cycling. They managed somehow to make the road surface ripply, and the last time I tried it, well over a year ago I think, I was nearly bounced off the bike coming down the hill. Now to be fair I could have applied the brakes to slow down, but I don’t like to do that. It wastes kinetic energy and brake pad material.
But I had an inkling that Standard Hill had been resurfaced again in recent months, so I gave it another go and happily – it has. I was able to whoosh down the hill toward the village without incident. I’m happy about that because there are only five ways to return to the village, so I like to have the full set.
Back on 46.46 km, not as many as I intended but it was really cold out there – my fingers were icy, even in thick gloves. So I think I’ve done my bit.
Listened to footy coverage on 5 Live.