Author: james

The weather looks iffy for the next few days. Had to be at home at 7pm-ish, but I left work at 3:15 on the X with the hope of doing 40 miles, to get the August total over 300. I started by going over toward Ashby with the thought of doing a long-ish Twycrosser, but on a whim I ignored the usual left turn to Packington and went right into Ashby.

I probably would have taken the right turn from the roundabout on the high street to head toward Ticknall, but it was closed off. So I just kept on, up the hill out of Ashby toward Moira. I didn’t really know where I was going; I just thought I’d follow my nose. I think I’d only been along that way once before, on my first bike trip to Stafford, a few years ago. Eventually I came to a crossroads with a sign to Twycross down the A444, so I took that. Definitely hadn’t been along that whole stretch of the A444 before. I arrived in Twycross on about 16 miles, only a few more than I’d have done if I’d taken a more familiar route – which seemed odd.

Anyway from there I just did the rest of a medium-long Twycrosser, with the distinction that once again, I risked the A5 for half a mile. Just to save a bit of time, really.

I was happy to see that a stretch of road between Sheepy and Ratcliffe has been lavishly resurfaced, it was in an awful state – crumbly and pitted.

Nice and warm, not too hot. Sunny. A bit windy.

Back on 41.67 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3913502500

304 this month.

Didn’t think I’d be out on a bike today. I stopped work at 4:30, took myself out a nice cold beer, Working Man-style and glanced at the weather forecast. The threat of lightning and thunder had been pushed back to 8pm-ish.

Leaving myself a margin for error (I didn’t really want to get drenched or struck by lightning) I reckoned I could do 20 miles or so if I could tolerate the heat. I took the Tricross, just in case I did get rained on. I head out over toward Belton, up to Diseworth, back down Top Brand.

The heat felt a little dizzying for the first 5 minutes; of course pushing up a hill having consumed 500ml of pale ale may have contributed to this. But I took it very easy, settled into the ride and was comfortable enough. By the time I was coming down Top Brand in the shade of the forest along the side of the road, I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

Found myself approaching home at about 7pm on 17 miles or so with no realistic prospect of a thunderstorm happening – plenty of blue skies and only a few benign-looking bright clouds – so I cruised into Coalville for a bit, then down the road to Ibstock. Back on 18.91 miles.

9:05pm as I type and the threatened thunderstorm has yet to commence.

I used the G Shock to track the ride again as a test, and once again the Casio web “service” has absorbed it like a black hole. So the following is pretty much the only evidence I’m able to submit at this time:

Finished my Jack Reacher novel audiobook. Turned out to be an excellent cycling companion. I think I’ll invest in the next one. There are thirty-one Reacher novels, enough to keep me going for a while. Not sure if all of them are available as audiobooks, though.

UPDATE : the activity did eventually make it through to Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/3901663488

Wanted to do 40 or 50 yesterday. I’d done a bit more than 70 on Friday, and there was a fair old wind blowing from the north-east. I set off on the eastbound route toward Belvoir Castle.

Set off at 09:45. Cold for the first hour or so. The headwind was irritating, but otherwise not a significant impediment to progress. I decided to go as far as Eastwell and make another Fondo out of it. Arrived at Eastwell after 32 miles, and turned for home. By this time temperatures had improved considerably.

Strangely, on a route I’ve done possibly a couple of dozen times – this is my default Fondo route – I missed a turn on the way back, which I realised when I found myself approaching a village called Scalford. I did exactly the same thing in a car a few weeks ago. Anyway the road seemed fairly pleasant and I had plenty of time, so I kept on keepin’ on, thinking to do a bit of exploring. After a few miles I was starting to think of stopping and invoking Google Maps, but happily a sign announcing Melton Mowbray appeared in front of me.

Melton has been a frequent cycling destination over the years and I certainly know my way back from there, so I continued into the centre, where I cycled cautiously over the pedestrianised area to Costa Coffee.

I went in and ordered a bag of crisps, a Belgian bun and a coffee. Because I was sitting at a designated table (just outside), I wasn’t required to wear a face covering at the counter, although I had brought one.

When I’d finished I went back in to buy a bottle of Fanta, to replenish my bidon. It occurred to me later that because I was buying this “to go”, I should have put the mask on. But I didn’t.

I hadn’t done the route home from Melton since the 200-miler in June. I did wonder how I managed the tedious climb to Six Hills after 180 miles of pedalling. It was bad enough after 40-odd. I was waved past a pretty bad accident involving a large farm vehicle and a van, near Six Hills, by the Leicestershire Constabulary in attendance. I must say they were all really friendly, with a nod and a smile. When I was a kid, coppers were usually humourless, miserable bastards. Or maybe that’s just Hartlepool.

Came back through Diseworth and Coleorton, just for a change. I was too hot for the last hour.

Saw either a small rat or a large mouse scurrying across the road near Burton on the Wolds. Then another one an hour or so later, this time though it changed its mind half way across and retreated back into the hedge.

Got through 12 chapters of my audiobook. Good stuff. Reacher is a bit like Jack Bauer, there is basically no situation in which he’s being held captive or under guard in which he won’t end up slaughtering his captors in the most grimly efficient manner possible.

Back on 71.77 miles, a pleasing 243 already this month. But the weather looks unsettled for the next 10 days or so.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3889130483

I was thinking, despite the prospect of hot weather, of doing Northampton and back today. I got up early to give myself plenty of time – I would probably have spent an hour or so in the town centre – and set off at about 06:40. Getting underway at that time also gave me an opportunity to do a sizeable proportion of the ride before the heat kicked in.

I’d prepared the eTrex with the route, but after checking it on the Strava route planner, I decided I could probably make do with stopping and consulting Google Maps once or twice, so I left the eTrex at home to save weight. I certainly know the way well enough down as far as Gilmorton, this being the “southbound route”.

I got to Welford by about 10:00, then I decided it was just going to be too hot a day to do the whole Northampton ride. After a snack on a bench there, I turned back. I was wearing a long-sleeved jersey to protect myself from the sun (and because I like all the pockets). I removed the sports t-shirt I had on underneath and stuffed it in the backpack. This meant that I had to go topless for a few moments which is fine on a beach but feels a touch gauche in a small town in Northamptonshire.

However I did actually manage to find my way down to Welford and back without checking a map at all, and the only time I went wrong was a mile from home, when I decided to take an unfamiliar shortcut through Ellistown on the way out. But I backtracked and recovered after half a mile.

Really too warm for cycling on the way back. But dark grey clouds rolled over about 20 miles from home, to provide a bit of relief. It actually spotted with rain very lightly for a minute. But the fierce sun was out again 10 miles later.

Stopped at Gilmorton and bought a sandwich, a Snickers and a very nice cold lemon fizzy drink at the village store there. Stopped to consume all of the above at the bench on the other side of the road. They haven’t put the tables and chairs back outside the store, yet.

Listened to my audiobook again, then 5 Live. Interesting interview with Robert Plant on Adrian Chiles’ show.

Back on 70.52. Unfortunately I used my Casio GPS watch to record the track, and because the Casio web service is abysmally unreliable, the track hasn’t made it to Strava. There’s no way to connect the watch directly to a PC and get the track off that way, unfortunately. So you’re at the mercy of the Casio online service, and it really blows.

Anyway no doubt I’ll do another Fondo this month, and I’ll use a different device for tracking purposes.

172 miles done this month. More on Sunday, I hope.

UPDATE: the track did eventually make its way from the Casio servers to Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/3901662958

Wanted to get in step for a Friday & Sunday strategy over the weekend, so I set off to do another 20-odd after work. The forecast warned of light rain. It was pretty windy. But at least it was warm.

It was indeed raining lightly when I set off. With the wind coming predominantly from the south, I set off on the eastbound route, thinking to do 10 or 11 in that direction, then come back. However the eastbound route is actually predominantly north-eastbound for the first few miles and the wind was actually slightly south-westish rather than southerly, so I got it in the teeth on the way back.

It didn’t rain for long and the bike and I dried off quickly in the warm wind. I got spotted with rain again later, but again not for long. I changed the route up a bit by coming back through Diseworth and Coleorton. I’d gone out through Coalville and Thringstone.

Nice to be out on the Tricross again. Only a partly enjoyable run out, I wouldn’t have bothered if I’d known the headwind was going to make it such a slog in the latter stages. I could probably have chosen a less vulnerable route.

24.70 miles, 101 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3869562063

Only had time for 20 or so after work as I was eating out tonight and had to be back by 6:15-ish. Cool and cloudy, though not as cool as I thought and I wrapped up a bit too warm. Windy.

Did the southbound route as far as Kirkby Mallory, where I turned westward toward Sutton Cheney. But I decided to come straight up the A447, at least as far as the turn for Barton in the Beans, after which I came home the usual way through Odstone and Heather.

Back on 23.79 miles. 76 this month. More tomorrow I think, another short one. Hoping to have the day off on Friday though it will be too hot for a long one. But Sunday looks good for a run out to Belvoir Castle, not done that for a while.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3864910461

Good cycling conditions today – mostly sunny, not too warm. A slightly immoderate wind from the west. I wanted to do a Fondo, to bite a decent chunk out of the August target – recalculated at the beginning of the month, at 524 miles. Unfortunately I’m on call again so I couldn’t stray too far from base.

I made it up as I went along, starting with a run up through Belton to Long Whatton, along to Diseworth and back down to Peggs Green where I was just a few miles from home again. From there I went down Zion Hill to Lount. I hadn’t been down that way for years. It was part of a shorter route that I don’t bother with now. But today it was quite useful for navigating to Ashby then Packington, from where I had a pleasant lunch on a bench, took the following pic then set off on a part-Twycrosser. Then across to Bosworth, through Barlestone and down to Kirkby Lane – doing a bit of the southbound route.

I was going to go down to Kirkby Mallory and from there to Cadeby and back up, but I got cold feet about being too far from home and pushing my luck so I took a turn to Newbold Verdon and came home the usual way from there. By this time I’d decided not to bother with the full Fondo distance – it’s not that enjoyable faffing around orbital routes near home. Next weekend hopefully I’ll do a proper one.

Home on 52.70 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3854069803

I’ve had 11 hours out of the Xoss bike computer since its first charge and judging from the battery indicator it’s good for at least another 6 or 7. Not bad. Less than the stated 25 hours I expect but pretty decent.

To my amusement, Strava tells me I am the “local legend” for a segment near Ashby. Apparently I’ve done it more often than anyone else in the last 90 days.

Apparently today was the third-hottest English day on record. Despite that, I did, after all, decide to go out and do 20 miles or so. Because I only did 30-odd yesterday I guessed my knees wouldn’t mind a short ride, and they didn’t. Normally if I cycle two straight days I expect a bit of knee trauma on the second day, but nothing at all today. Felt like I hadn’t pressed them into service for a week.

I wonder if the heat has something to do with that? If it does then maybe cycling long distances in the winter isn’t very clever. Perhaps I should investigate heated knee covers.

The weather will be a lot more suitable tomorrow, but I’d rather go out on Sunday than Saturday. Got into the habit of pottering around the house being idle on Saturdays.

Anyway it wasn’t as bad out there as I feared. Certainly the heat was a bit oppressive, but the 13mph wind was worse. A bit like being being accosted by a giant hairdryer.

I went down to Desford on the X, going along Wood Road on the way. I sometimes come back that way but this was the first time I’d done it in an outward direction (I think).

To my surprise a heavy cloud rolled over and it started to rain lightly, near Newbold Verdon. That stopped after a few minutes but half an hour later conditions grew very gloomy again. Then a few spots of rain, then thunder and lightning! Some of it quite spectacular. I think this was the first time I’ve been out on a bike while being frightened that I might get struck by lightning. I put my boot down hard and came home the most direct way, up the A447. I set a PR on a 1.25 mile segment over the last couple of miles, a stretch that I’ve done 68 times recorded by Strava and probably at least a dozen more than that. Got rained on for the last ten minutes but although I feared a downpour, it was moderate.

22.05 miles, and that’s 503 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3844767801

My Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday strategy is serving me well this week, with unusually hot weather (32C!) due in tomorrow. And it was a lovely warm sunny day today, but not overly hot. About 25C. Nice enough for my favourite, lightest camo cycling jersey.

I wheeled the Cannondale out at 15:45 to do a ‘Twycross Bypasser’, using the detour to Orton on the Hill.

Rather than Fenn Lanes I took the turn off the A444 for Upton, and from there to Bosworth from Shenton. I’ve only taken that road from Upton to Shenton a couple of times. Nice and quiet, the sort of road where you have to pull in to the left to allow oncoming cars to pass.

Came home through Burgoland and Swepstone to add a bit of distance. 35.73 miles, which takes me to 481 this month. I didn’t think I’d hit my target of 458, so I’m pleased with that. I think that’s it for July.

3583 this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3839660788

I left work early and had plenty of time to do the remaining 45 miles to my monthly target, but a strong-ish wind from the west robbed me of the motivation. Nonetheless I wanted to make some decent progress at least, so I propelled the X round a fairly standard Twycrosser of 31.67 miles’ distance.

A bit annoying when riding into the wind but enjoyable when it was pushing me along, especially when the sun was out. Listened to the Drive programme on 5 Live, which reported on the PM’s initiative to get overweight people cycling. About 20 minutes later I saw possibly the fattest cyclist I’ve ever seen in proper cycling gear, standing talking to another cyclist near Bosworth Marina. I hope he’ll be getting out on his bike a bit more often.

I trialled another new bit of equipment on this ride, a Xoss G GPS bike computer that I bought on Amazon last week for £26.99. Now admittedly another GPS device was the last thing I needed, but I like trying new gadgets and at that price I couldn’t resist. And although I’ve been stung in the past by unreliable cheap stuff that ended up in the bin, I did a bit of research on this and it seemed to be a decent product.

Certainly, it worked well today – easy and straightforward to use, the screen is nice and clear, it synced over Bluetooth without a problem and the app uploaded the activity to Strava without fuss.

Whether it actually has the claimed 25 hour battery life while tracking I don’t know but the battery indicator was still reading a full four bars after nearly 3 hours. Perhaps best of all it came with two Garmin mounts and I was after another couple anyway for my Edge (which would probably have cost more than £10 in any case). One of them is a typical plastic mount that attaches with two rubber straps but the other one is a very solid metal unit, designed to bolt onto your stem faceplate. No brainer.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3828576591