Author: james

On call at the moment, as is so frequently the case these days. But I was able to leave work while it was still light, albeit not for long, and not very light, either. A very gloomy day, yet one which carried a very low risk of rain, according to the meteorologists.

Didn’t have a clear plan in mind when I left the house, except to do about 40 miles without straying too far from home. I went up through Coleorton and Belton, very much enjoying myself as it was rather mild and I had a light tailwind. Then I looped sharp left to Diseworth and came back down Top Brand, fighting the same gusty breeze from the south in headwind mode. Turned right at Alton Hill, only about a mile or so from home and tacked on a Twycrosser, to the south.

Back on 43.46 miles.

Quite enjoyable. Being right out in the sticks in the dark in a strong wind takes you out of your comfort zone a bit, but the sense of doing that is quite satisfying, even if the experience isn’t. But of course some of the ride was through decently lit villages as well.

Listened to the Drive programme on 5 Live until they started up with the one-sided race politics yet again. They’d invited a black woman to pontificate on the subjects of institutional racism and “white privilege”, without any opposing, balancing viewpoint being represented of course. The BBC is a bit like a broadcast version of Ebony magazine at the moment. After that I switched to 6 Music.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4352938148

314 done this month.

An unexpected break in the rain for a few hours appeared late this morning and I was off out on the Tricross at about 11:20am. I’m on call at the moment and couldn’t go far, but I wasn’t expecting to get out at all so I was very happy.

However, not more than a minute after I’d set off, I had a sudden thought – had I actually remembered to bring my phone? I reached round to my back pocket. I had a slice of pizza, a small pork pie and some garlic bread in a plastic sandwich bag and a small torch, but it appeared that I didn’t have a phone.

Well, fuck. Statistically though, the probability of being called on a Sunday was low and I wasn’t going to go back for it. I pressed on. Perhaps I’d do twenty miles and come back, or maybe I’d do ten, go in for it and do another ten or fifteen.

The thought that it might have gone off at home, a harbinger of some calamity at a customer site that I would appear to be casually ignoring played on my mind as I pedalled, until I stopped for a wee break at my usual off-road spot near Twycross. I scoffed the pork pie and put its wrapper into the side pocket of my nylon outer layer. Hallelujah! The phone was in there.

So I pressed on down to Sheepy, up Burton Road to Gibbet Lane and up through Congerstone, Barton, Odstone, Swepstone. I detoured Heather Lane via Ibstock, since it was covered in mud the last time I’d been along there (in a car).

Home on 30.10 miles, a fairly typical Twycrosser. Nice and sunny for the first hour or two, really quite pleasant. The wind was fairly strong but not too annoying. Getting gloomy and colder over the last few miles, and less than five minutes after I’d put the bike away the rain started to come down. Beautiful timing.

Continued listening to the fourth Reacher audiobook, I think I’m most of the way through now. Good stuff though it could do with an editor.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4342193808

270 done this month, 5625 this year.

I really wanted to do at least 40 after work. I was able to get out reasonably early, it was dry, it wasn’t too cold. I set off at 4pm on the Boardman. Wasn’t sure exactly where I’d go but I was on call so I couldn’t stray too far from base. Started by going out through Donington le Heath and Ellistown, then I doubled back after about 4 miles, to the south-east. The early evening traffic was pretty heavy along there; it wasn’t the best idea.

Not long after this, I checked my phone. I hadn’t had a call but I checked MS Teams, in case someone had tried to contact me. I’d left an issue half-resolved, hoping that I could finish it off tomorrow but nope – a colleague was asking for help. I decided I’d return home but continue my ride after I’d sorted it out.

A few miles later I leaned my bike against our front wall, entered the front door, dived into my man cave, did five minutes of server admin in full cycling gear and dispatched a quick email. About seven minutes later I was off out into the dark again.

Having done roughly 11 miles at this point I decided I’d do a Twycrosser. But I only did a relatively short one. I’d done 31 miles by the time I was back round at Ibstock, and I decided I’d had enough. Home on 33.10 miles.

No good excuse for it, really. I wasn’t particularly tired. I wasn’t cold. It wasn’t raining. I just fancied kicking back and listening to the footy or watching something on the telly. I just hope I don’t end up having to make up for it in the snow or rain in late December.

I may do a few miles tomorrow, though. 619 to go.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4328635005

I was quite surprised to see Strava award me a personal best for a segment that I must have done dozens of times, towards Packington. Certainly I wasn’t trying to go any quicker than usual. I can only assume it’s a fairly new one.

OK I’ve just checked, it’s not a new one. Strava has recorded four times for me on that stretch of road, the first in August 2017. But I have done it dozens of times. I don’t get it.

I wanted to do 50 after work, ideally. Couldn’t get out until 5pm unfortunately and it was already dark, but I took powerful lights and spare powerful lights. I’d given the Boardman a relube at lunchtime today, so I took that.

It was at least fairly mild, and dry. I went out through Coalville, Whitwick, Thringstone, Belton to Long Whatton, where I turned for Melbourne then up over Swosser Bridge and west along the long, flat A road.

Stopped and turned back near Hilton, having done about 29 miles. Came back the quicker way from Melbourne. I would have arrived home on a little more than 48 miles, so I stayed out for another two between Ravenstone and Coalville.

Back on 50.53 miles.

Not sure I’ve ever done 50 miles after sunset. Certainly I’ve set off in the dark before, and I’ve done long rides with the last 30 or 40 in darkness. But I think that was my dark distance record. Warm clothing, a personal radio and a powerful front light make all the difference. One nice feature of the route I did tonight is that it has a couple of street-lit stretches, where you can turn off the main front light to save juice if you want to.

207 this month, I’d like to do another 250 before December kicks in if I can. It’s only the 10th so probably achievable.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4319650596

Another day off work today. The forecast was for dry weather, and I decided I’d give the Planet X a run out, for the first time since August. Wanted to do the November Fondo, and I chose to do what’s pretty much the default Fondo route, wind direction permitting – the eastbound route to Eastwell and back.

I set off at about 10:10. The X felt extremely agile after weeks of only using the Boardman and Tricross, I must say. Very zippy. Conditions were bright, but a couple of minutes after setting off I glanced across the fields to the rest of the village and was surprised to see a light fog obscuring the view. As I made it through Coalville and up to Belton it became highly noticeable in the view of the road in front of me; proper foggy conditions. Not really the best weather for a Fondo but I assumed it would lift, ignored the thin frost of moisture building up on my clothes, and pressed on.

It had lifted a bit by the time I stopped to take this pic, near Cotes. Disappointingly, just out of shot there was a small pile of beer cans, firework packaging and spent fireworks. Do people imagine that these things will just dissolve in the rain, or not give a toss that other people have to clear up after them?

By the time I hit Burton on the Wolds it had lifted nicely and the sun was out, but I had a different problem – my intended route was closed off by a large set of roadworks. I managed to find a detour on my own initiative, although this involved pedalling along a footpath by a stream that was about a foot wide, if that.

I kept on keepin’ on to Eastwell, where I’d intended to turn for home. But I took a turn at the crossroads there to go exploring for a bit. I hadn’t gone far before I started to descend the slope that runs downward, to the north, for miles north of my route. I didn’t really want to climb back up it so I turned, for the bench at Eastwell. Ate a pleasant lunch there that I’d brought in my backpack. Then homeward.

From Six Hills I decided to take the old route back through Wymeswold and Rempstone, rather than detour the road works at Burton again.

Cloudy and cooler later, and misty nearer home. Just before sunset I had a glorious view, just back in Leicestershire, of bright sunshine lighting up the mist on the hills and slopes in the distance. Incredibly picturesque. I tried to capture it with my phone but didn’t do it justice. I wish I’d had a decent camera with me. Here it is anyway:

Home on 64.08 miles; that was the 27th Fondo of the year. 156 miles this month, 703 to go.

Listened to the US election coverage where I could find it, and more of the Reacher audiobook. Nice run out and especially nice to be out on the X again.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4297849496

I had the day off work today, booked so that I could stay up until the early hours this morning to watch coverage of the US election. I stayed up until 03:20, then got up again about three hours later. Then I went to bed again at about 06:45. Got up again at about 10:30.

A pleasantly sunny, dry day so I mounted the Tricross at 11:20 and set off with the idea of going up through Melbourne, over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the A road that runs by the river. Given my general condition – slightly debilitated from lack of sleep and consumption of Jim Beam while following events on the other side of the Atlantic – I thought that thirty miles or so would do.

However, I perked up quite nicely in the sunshine, so I decided to attempt a route that I devised a few days ago – the ‘Western Grand Tour’.

Broadly speaking, I have two westward cycling routes. One takes me north first to Swarkestone Bridge, then west to Hilton or beyond, and back. The other takes me south-west to Measham then west through Coton in the Elms, Walton on Trent, Barton under Needwood and sometimes further, then back.

The idea of the Western Grand Tour is to combine them, by going outward along the former route and homeward along the latter, joining them up with a new stretch running north to south from Hilton (roughly) to Barton under Needwood (approximately). This comes in at a bit under 50 miles so I had plenty of time to be back before sunset.

The new stretch is quite pleasant, taking me through a few villages I’d never heard of. Quiet, but not particularly scenic. A bit hilly. But it was really nice especially to be coming back the “old” way through Barton under Needwood, Walton and Coton in the Elms as I hadn’t done that for a long time, over a year I think. One reason I wanted to do that was that I had a sort of flashback of a little village that I remember riding through, and I wondered where it was. I assumed it was on this route, but it wasn’t. So that remains a mystery. I’ll have a hunt around on Google Street View if I get time.

Back a minute after sunset, nice timing.

I listened to more coverage of the US election on my DAB personal. Then an entertaining PMQs – I particularly enjoyed the PM’s tribute to the Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, on the first anniversary of his election to the role, for “Making the Speakership Great Again”.

Then more Reacher audiobook action on my MP3 player, then back to the DAB for more US election news. By this time it seemed that Joe Biden was more likely to win, though that’s still not certain as I type.

Really nice run out. It didn’t stay sunny for long but it wasn’t too cold, and it didn’t rain.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4285648887

48.90 miles and that leaves 767 to go.

Didn’t think I was going to get the November campaign going until Wednesday, but this morning the meteorologists promised a brief respite from the rain, until around 5pm this afternoon. It was very windy, but nonetheless I set off just after 11:30 on the Tricross, bringing an end to a run of seven rides on the Boardman.

The roads were a bit wet but the sun came out not long after I set off. I went up through Coleorton and Melbourne and west along the A road through Willington to Hilton, then back the same way until Melbourne, from where I continued on to Isley Walton and came back down Top Brand.

The wind didn’t bother me until the last 9 miles, when it became a powerful headwind. Felt like I was struggling for every few metres; in that respect not a brilliant choice of route.

The clouds came over near Willington and I got rained on, on and off. But the last 15 miles or so were dry. Listened to more of the Reacher novel, then footy on 5 Live. Saw a couple of dead buzzards on the road.

An enjoyable run out on the whole, and I’m happy to have got 43.51 miles in when I wasn’t expecting to get out. Every 10 miles is significant at this stage of the game. 816 to go.

I’d love to think there’s another 100 miler in the 2020 locker. Depends on good weather coinciding with time off work.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4272668707

I’d given up on doing a final 40 miles or so for October by this morning, when the weather forecast threatened rain all day. But it didn’t rain that much and by 4pm when I downed tools for the day, the BBC weather site was claiming that it wouldn’t rain again until ~9pm. So I swiftly attired myself for cycling activities, and mounted the Boardman.

I went up through Swannington, unusually. If I remember correctly I was going to go eastward for a bit, but changed my mind. Up Top Brand, up to Isley Walton, left to Melbourne and up over Swarkestone Bridge, west along the usual A road between Derby and the river. I’m glad I discovered that one, it’s very pleasant and easy; well-surfaced, flat and more or less a simple straight line. It was dark by the time I was crossing the bridge.

Back pretty much the way I came except that I bypassed Melbourne via Kings Newton, and came back through Coleorton instead of Swannington.

I was back by 8pm. It didn’t rain, and it was pleasantly mild. My Garmin bike computer ran out of juice a few miles from home so I used my phone to track the rest of the ride, and concatenated the two tracks. Consequently I wasn’t able to see the distance I’d done. I was fairly sure I must have done 40 miles but I hadn’t; I’d done 39.89. The diversion around Melbourne cost me a bit of distance.

Listened to some quite touching tributes to Nobby Stiles on 5 Live from people who’d worked with him and knew him. Mark Lawrenson had some wonderful anecdotes.

Anyway, that’s probably a wrap for October. 487 miles, not bad considering the weather. 859 to go.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4263665551

On call again today, but I wanted to do 54, to bring my remaining distance requirement for 2020 under 900 miles. Set off at about 10:40. It had rained earlier in the morning and the roads were a bit wet here and there. I took the Boardman. Started off by heading over to Ellistown through Ibstock, but was impeded by a Road Closed sign and a set of roadworks. I detoured via Donington le Heath. When I got to Ellistown I decided to take a left along Beveridge Lane, past the huge Amazon distribution centre and other business premises.

Ended up riding round Coalville, Whitwick, Belton and up to Diseworth. Then back toward home until Sinope, where I tacked on a Twycrosser, coming eastward through Barton and Nailstone to Bagworth, from where I pedalled back to Ellistown then rode around Coalville and the various industrial / business estates again. Not what I usually do, but something a bit different.

Conditions were sunny when I set off but a very light rain set in an hour or two later. However it was dry for the last hour or so and I would have done another 8 or 9 miles to chalk up another Fondo, but by this time the temperature had dropped a fair bit and I was feeling a tad uncomfortable.

Listened to an interview with Wilko Johnson on 6 Music – he picked music by Neil Young and Dylan; would have thought he’d have gone for some frenetic Rock’n’Roll. Then I listened to a few chapters of the fourth Reacher novel – he’s being blackmailed by the FBI, can’t help thinking that won’t go too well for them – then the football on 5 Live (Southampton vs Everton, sounded dismal).

Home on 55.13 miles. 447 this month, 5315 this year and that’s 899 to go! If I can crank out another 100 miles this month, less than 400 to do in each of November and December.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4242915711

Didn’t feel I could afford to waste a dry evening, so I climbed aboard the Boardman straight after work with the intention of doing at least 40.

Started by heading up through Coleorton and up Top Brand, then left through King’s Newton and up over Swarkestone Bridge. From there I went west along the A road along the river, but not very far. I had a brief excursion along Sinfin Lane where I took this pic at a bridge over the Trent and Mersey Canal. Then, since I’m still on call, I came back.

I must admit the lure of home was quite strong as I passed within a couple of miles of Chez Moi but I’d only done 26 miles, so I resisted it. I went over to Packington, down to Snarestone and Swepstone then back through Heather.

For some reason a long stretch of Measham road was absolutely cobbled in clumps of mud, some of them a hazard to navigation in the dark. I felt the front wheel kick sideways a touch once or twice as it collided with them. Almost wished I had a cycle helmet on!

Realised I was destined to do a touch less than 40 miles as I neared home, so I did a lap of local roads. Home on 41.35 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4230122598