Another warm, sunny day with a fairly strong wind coming from the east. I decided to do 15 or 20 miles of the southbound route, then come back.
I’d done about 17 when I got to the T junction just after Potters Marston. Rather than turn right toward Stoney Stanton as I normally would, I took a left toward Croft. I was only going to do another mile or two and I thought it would be easier than negotiating the crossroads at Stoney. A bit flatter and quieter as well.
Quite nice along there, but I only did another mile then turned back. Came a slightly different way home over the last few miles, along Wood Road then through Hugglescote. The Hugglescote way is a bit quicker, but the road is a bit lumpy and climby.
Back on 35.69 miles.
I listened to Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones – I’m not a big fan of the countrified Americana they indulge themselves with on a few of the tunes, but they do it very well. Easily the best one so far, eight albums in.
I must admit I’m slightly concerned by the noise my DIY-rebuilt freehub is making, on the second Boardman. Not overly alarming but louder than I’d expect. Still working fine but maybe I used the wrong lube. Maybe I should grease it.
The wind is due to die down to 4 or 5mph by Friday, and the weather will remain warm and sunny, at least according to the forecast – definitely an invitation to do a long one.
I’m on call at the moment. I wouldn’t have let that stop me doing a decent bike ride, but what I did let stop me were temperatures in the high 20s and the threat of rain in the early afternoon. The rain didn’t happen but it certainly was too hot to ride a bike for any distance. So I decided to wait for the late afternoon.
This was very fortunate because, very unusually, I was called at about 2pm for a high priority incident that required my attention. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been 20 or more miles away from home on a bike on an oncall Saturday afternoon and if I’d done that today, I’d have had some difficult explaining to do. I must have a guardian angel.
Regardless, I set off to do about 20 or 30, slightly hesitantly, at 1642. UV levels had dissipated nicely by this time (I assumed) and the temperature was a bit less fierce. I had a San Miguel first, for Dutch courage.
The plan was to go up to Melbourne, take a right to Isley Walton and come back down Top Brand. But I pressed my luck after Melbourne and carried right on up over Swarkestone Bridge. From there I went east through Weston and Aston to Shardlow, then down to Isley Walton through Castle Donington. Much the same ride, but substantially extended at the north.
The Download Festival is on at Donington Park at the moment but I didn’t see any of the revellers around the town. Sometimes on a Download weekend the local pubs and streets are choked with stoner-looking deadbeats and kids in Motorhead t-shirts, but I saw none of that today.
Just as an aside, Metallica are claimed to have caused a noise nuisance on Thursday night for people living 15 miles away. We live less than 8 miles away to the south, and ‘er indoors claims to have heard them when she was in the garden at the time, but it was very faint. They’ve been playing again tonight; I went outside half an hour ago and I couldn’t hear anything.
Saw a Sunwing passenger jet taking off from the airport as I passed. I’d never heard of Sunwing. Apparently it’s a low-cost airline based in Toronto. A minute later I saw a Lear Jet coming in to land. I very rarely see aircraft taking off or landing when I pass the airport so that was a nice change.
A layer of cloud rolled over at 7pm and the temperature receded a notch; I was grateful for that.
With about two miles to go, I developed a suspicion that my rear tyre was flat. It was certainly very soft. It had been a little bit softer than I’d have expected when I inspected it before setting off, to be fair. I pumped it up to 100PSI and assumed it would be fine. I got it up to about 50PSI (at a guess) with my mini pump in Coleorton but it was soft again a mile later. I gave it a couple more goes over the last mile and I got home OK. The rim looks fine. The tyre looks alright.
Oh well, something else to do tomorrow. Back on 31.02 miles, 224 done this month.
I’ve been frustrated recently by the limiting factor of having to contend with heavy traffic near Zouch on the eastbound route on late weekday afternoons, as I’ve mentioned here a few times.
The wind was due to come from the east again today so last night, using the RideWithGPS route planner, I devised an alternative eastbound route that would start by going south rather than north down to Bagworth, then east through Thornton, Markfield, Rothley, Ratcliffe and Thrussington before rejoining the original eastbound route near Six Hills, after about 25 miles.
I thought I’d do about 18 miles of this route – not all the way to Six Hills – then come back the same way.
So I set off at about 1535. I’ve been that way as far as Markfield quite a few times but after that, the route was mostly new to me. I had the route uploaded to my eTrex but I still managed to miss a turn near Cossington. I tracked back from the next roundabout.
After going down a long, steep hill bear Swithland Wood I decided I wasn’t going to come back that way. I decided to continue all the way to Six Hills, then come back home via the traditional eastbound route. But I consulted Google Maps at Thrussington and took a short cut up to the old route from there, rejoining it near Cotes.
The new route that I’d intended was nice – nothing special but nice to be doing something a bit different. Especially nice to be pedalling along the roads near Bradgate Park, which I used to do 30-odd years ago on my Raleigh Routier, usually on Sunday afternoons. But the short cut which I hadn’t intended was perfect cycling territory – quiet, pleasant and well-surfaced. I snapped the pic along there. I can use some of it as an alternative section on the old eastbound route. I’ll definitely do that.
Glorious weather out there, properly warm and sunny. Very enjoyable coming back westward with a tailwind. Happy to have done a decently long one today because the weather for the weekend looks iffy.
I finished Bad Luck and Trouble. Not sure if I’ve ever got through a Reacher novel so quickly. I can completely understand why it’s been chosen as the basis for the next TV series adaptation.
A disappointingly cold and cloudy day, today. Not cold by winter standards perhaps and it was certainly dry, but I wrapped up in several layers on top and a pair of cycling tights and I still felt the cold a bit.
A stiff wind was coming from the east, yet again. I don’t mind that on a weekend but after work on a weekday the traffic near Zouch is a limiting factor. So I went over that way, but turned back to go west through Long Whatton, past Isley Walton and back down through Coleorton.
Lots of road signs, tents and big electronic displays up for the Download festival which presumably is this weekend coming at Donington Park.
I went up Heather Lane for a mile or so to get my distance up a bit. Still only did 25.41 miles. I must try to figure out a better option for weekday later afternoons with an easterly wind.
Listened to the Reacher novel for the whole ride. Nearing the climax now.
Late on Friday night, a photo that I’d posted from my most recent Norfolk-and-back ride, exactly a year previously came up in my Facebook memories. My first thought was – how is that a year ago already? It was the Platinum Jubilee weekend, as it happens.
But my second thought was that I haven’t taken full advantage of the longer days now that they’re finally here. Perhaps I should have planned Norfolk and back this weekend. I have done Wales and back this year to be fair, but I want to do a longer one than that this summer.
And for a moment I did contemplate getting up very early to do a 180 mile ride out east. It wouldn’t take much preparation. That was my third thought. My fourth thought was that having had a couple of generously strong vodka martinis, I didn’t fancy my chances of getting out of bed at four in the morning.
But my fifth thought was that I could at least get up at 0830 and do at least 80 miles. So that’s what I did.
I set off at about 0930. I’d put on a fleece to wear under my cycling tunic for the first 20 miles or so but as soon as I opened the back door I realised I wouldn’t need it. So I removed it and left it at home.
The idea was a very simple one, just to do my usual eastbound route for 40 miles and come back. But I went east via an older version of the route through Rempstone and Wymeswold. I got as far as Colsterworth. I’d done 42 miles at that point. Came back through Burton on the Wolds and Stanford as usual.
I stopped at the Deli at Waltham after 33 miles. The lady behind the counter wanted to know how many miles I was doing and how often I did long rides. Always nice to have a bit of a chat with a stranger on a cycling day out. I bought a cornish pasty and a coffee. I asked for a strong one, but it wasn’t.
I stopped and had a sandwich and a mint Magnum ice cream on a stick at the village shop at Buckminster on the way back. A bit of an indulgence but they definitely keep you going.
The headwind was annoying on the way out but I felt like I was being towed on the way back – really glorious to be gliding along in the warm sunshine coming south-west from Eastwell.
Listened to a few hours of the eleventh Reacher novel, Bad Luck and Trouble. I tuned into the FA Cup final ten minutes late, hoping that nothing important had happened. But in fact if I’d tuned in fifteen seconds late I would have missed a goal.
I trialled a new invention on this ride – DIY wind noise reducers.
It’s possible to buy a pair of furry sleeves to attach to the strap of your cycling helmet, one on each side in front of your ears. These intercept and absorb the onrush of air to stop it interfering with your earbuds when you’re trying to listen to an audiobook, or a radio broadcast or whatever.
However they cost more than £20, so I had the idea of making some myself. I bought a pair of thick, fluffy sweatbands – the sort intended to go round your wrist – for £3.59. I folded the wristbands in half and secured them round the strap of my helmet on each side using rubber cable ties. They work brilliantly – you can tell how much they mute the oncoming wind by pulling one of them away from your head for a moment – the difference is dramatic.
I did catch a glimpse of my reflection in the window of the Deli at Waltham just before I removed my helmet to go inside and they looked ridiculous, but I don’t particularly care about that.
Back on 85.31 miles. Very enjoyable day out on the bike. However it’s time to start thinking about a 170+ mile ride.
Very similar conditions to my last couple of rides – dry, cloudy and cool with an annoying wind from the north-east. I didn’t want to embark upon the eastbound route again so soon and I hadn’t done any of the southbound for a while, so – I decided I’d suck up the headwind on the way back and go south.
I got as far as Kirkby Mallory then headed west to Sutton Cheney, then from there along Fenn Lanes. The idea was to do the first 20-odd miles of a Twycrosser from there, but in reverse. But rather than coming up through Twycross, Snarestone et al I veered eastward toward Market Bosworth and came up through Carlton and Barton.
The headwind was certainly annoying on the way back up but at least I only had myself to blame. Good run out regardless. 33.35 miles.
Listened to more of my current Reacher novel, Bad Luck and Trouble. Good one so far.
I set off at 15:44 with a simple mission in mind: to do at least 36 miles, to take the May total over 600 miles. A stiff wind was coming from the east which is awkward for a ride after work, because it usually leads to tangling with rush hour traffic near Zouch on the eastbound route. Nevertheless, I did head over that way regardless. Didn’t want to face a headwind on the way back.
Cooler than I expected. I did wear a few more layers this time but over the first half of the ride I was a little uncomfortable. It was cloudy as well. But nice and dry.
I got as far as Cotes then decided to take the road to Hoton, to do something a bit different. From there I took the “Lost Road” to Wymeswold for about a mile. Then I came back.
Went out a longer way through Coleorton and Diseworth, but came back down the quick way through Belton. I was much happier with a tailwind and a bit less traffic to contend with.
Not the most enjoyable ride over the first half, but happy to have clocked up 603 miles for May. 2553 this year.
Too windy to do a particularly long one today. I didn’t want to get up early and I had other things to do this afternoon. I thought 40 or so would do.
I set off at about 10:20, on my usual eastbound route. After 23 miles I took a left turn along a road called Lawn Lane to Old Dalby. I thought I’d just explore for a mile or so then come back the same way, but it was a nice quiet road so I kept going. I came to a T junction with a sign to Wymeswold, so I took that. From this point I was on a road that runs parallel and to the north of the usual eastbound route. I have taken it a few times, but not for a couple of years. Must do it again some time soon. The only downer really is that the road surface is mostly poor.
Back the usual way from Wymeswold, except that I elongated the ride a bit by coming home through Griffydam and Coleorton.
I wore minimal clothing, shorts and a light short-sleeve top. Nice on the way back when conditions had warmed up a bit and I had a tailwind, but I was a bit too cool for the first hour or two, except when the sun came out.
Still – an enjoyable run out, particularly nice to do something a bit different. Will see if I can incorporate Lawn Lane into a new route.
I listened to Beggar’s Banquet by the Rolling Stones, then my MP3 player app cued up the next album by alphabetical order. Beings by Lanterns on the Lake. I didn’t recognise it at first, thought it might be some obscure Sinead O’Connor record I’d forgotten about. What a brilliant, intense record.
I used my Casio GPS watch to track the ride, something I don’t do that often because although I really like the watch, the app it connects to and the Casio online service are crap. And although the app managed to register the activity, it hasn’t uploaded it to Strava.
Would be nice if the Casio site offered the facility to export tracks to files, but it doesn’t. So at the moment this is all I have to show for it:
I didn’t get the watch synced to the satellites until 0.39 miles into the ride so that’s 47.37 miles, 565 this month.
Another dry, warm day – a little cloudier than Wednesday but more irritatingly, a fairly stiff breeze was coming from the east. I set off with the vague intention of doing some of the eastbound route, but after 9 miles or so I turned left for Long Whatton. The headwind was annoying me and I decided the rush hour traffic on the other side of the A6 would annoy me even more.
I went as far as the airport, then came back down a longer way than usual down through Belton, Griffydam and Coleorton. Much nicer with a bit of a tailwind.
I used a GPS tracking app on my phone, imaginatively titled ‘GPS Logger’ to record the ride. I’d thought I’d probably only managed about 23 miles, but once I uploaded the track, Strava claimed 30.38!
Oddly the app itself claims 27.4, so where Strava has got the additional three miles from, I have no idea. But even 27.4 seemed a bit suspect so I recreated the route as a track in RideWithGPS, and that claims 26.3. I’ll take that. It seems a bit more likely.
Interestingly, the track that the phone app has recorded is bizarrely jagged and wonky. Technology, eh?
Actually I’ve just loaded the track into a GPX editor (GPSPrune) and smoothed out the kinks using a track compression algorithm, and now it measures as 26.5. So I think the RideWithGPS figure is close enough. I’ll go with that.
A dry, warm, sunny afternoon – exactly the sort of conditions you’re dreaming about when you’re chugging along in the cold and dark in January with more layers on than an astronaut, waiting for your toes and fingers to go numb.
Well – perhaps a little blowier than I’d have liked, with a moderate wind coming from the north-west. With that in mind I was going to do some sort of route up to Derby and back but just before the turn for Coleorton I reminded myself that the rush hour traffic would make it annoying, so I decided to do a Twycross Bypasser instead.
I did a longish version – right across to Kisses Barn Lane, along Mythe Lane and Atterton Lane to Fenny Drayton along the bottom then back up and across along Fenn Lanes.
Pedalling up through the villages north of Bosworth in late afternoon sunshine is one of life’s great joys, and the headwind only compromised it slightly.
Witnessed a minor altercation between a silver Ferrari and an old Fiesta near Packington. The driver of the Ferrari, a blonde lady of a certain age, should have given way but didn’t. The Fiesta driver wasn’t having it, so they ended up facing off in the middle of the road until she pulled in. She looked a little put out as I passed her; perhaps her sense of entitlement needs to be moderated a little.
My right shoe didn’t have any lateral adjustment in the pedal when I set off and twisting my foot to try to free it up didn’t seem to help matters. I inspected the cleat at Witherley and removed some compacted dry mud with a stick. It was fine after that.
Back on 39.09 miles. Lovely run out. 491 done this month.
