Author: james

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

With an immoderate wind from the west, I’d planned to do the southbound route down over the Northamptonshire border today, to Welford and back – however while perusing the route from the Strava route planner yesterday, I had an idea to take a different turn out of Stoney Stanton, to go exploring down Fosse Way – which as educated readers will know, is one of the many things that the Romans did for us.

So I did that, going straight over the crossroads at Stoney to explore new roads after 20 miles or so.

Fosse Way is very straight mostly, although it does have a few minor twists and turns through villages along the way. The first few miles of it especially was very nicely surfaced, and quieter than I expected. Really very enjoyable. I followed the old Roman road down to a nice little village called Stretton on Dunsmore where I stopped after 35 miles. I leaned the bike up and donned a face mask to enter the village shop, where I bought a sandwich, a bag of crisps (I only ever eat them on long bike rides), a cold coffee drink in a bottle and a Bounty bar. Another customer was being served at the counter, and I noticed that he wasn’t wearing a face covering. But perhaps he had an exemption.

After a brief friendly chat with the proprietor, who reminded me strongly of Martin from Friday Night Dinners, I left the shop in search of a bench. He closed the shop as soon as I left. Good timing.

After a pleasant lunch I turned to come home the same way. However after another four miles, I noticed a sign to Nuneaton along a B road, nine miles away. I certainly know my way home from Nuneaton, so I thought – why not? However after three or four miles the signs to Nuneaton seemed to dry up, so I stopped to consult Google Maps at a village called Shilton. I plotted a course from there that would join the original route after another seven miles. Interesting diversion though, quite pleasant.

Back on 73.12 miles. That was easily one of the most fun rides of the year – really nice to explore a new route. Fosse Way goes a lot further south than I went, so I’ll go a bit further down that way some time.

Listened to more of my audiobook on my natty AAA-powered MP3 player, then – of course – the last day of the Premier League on 5 Live.

413 miles done this month, 45 to do to hit my target. Rubbish weather tomorrow but the rest of the month looks OK, so it looks like I will hit that target after all.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3815541346

Out on the bike again after work yesterday, anxious to bite another chunk out of the remaining distance to my July target. Decent weather, warm enough for minimal clothing though mostly cloudy. I decided on a Twycrosser. Wanted to do about 38, which would get the remaining distance ask down to 120.

After Ratcliffe I decided to take the A5 route to Fenny Drayton, involving half a mile of brutal A road. The alternative Atterton Lane option is eminently more suitable for cycling, being leafy, secluded and quiet. I just fancied a change. But at least the A5 was quick. It had recently been resurfaced so it was nice and smooth, and I wasn’t hit by a passing lorry.

After Sutton Cheney I realised that if I took the usual route home up through Bosworth I’d end up on only 35 miles or so, so I kept on going across the A447 to Kirkby Mallory. Back home through Bagworth, Ellistown, Donington Le Heath. Had to take a detour only a mile from home to avoid some roadworks. 39.82 miles.

Felt a couple of pin pricks of rain once or twice but it didn’t rain properly.

For some reason I’m seeing spent CO2 cartridges in the road every now and then this last few weeks. I can’t imagine people are holding roadside 1970s style dinner parties with soda syphons so I’m guessing there’s been a surge of interest in air rifle shooting? Odd.

I started reading a Jack Reacher novel on holiday in Norfolk at the beginning of the month and was quite enjoying it, but I never seem to find the time to read unless I’m on holiday. So I bought the audiobook version on Thursday, and listened to it on the phone using my Audible app on the bike. That worked quite well, except that the voice of Jack Reacher – it’s a first person narrative – is not really how I imagine it. In my mind’s eye (and ear) Jack is a sort of 6’5″ Tom Cruise. Also, either the guy who does the narration does female voices uncannily well, or they’ve applied a voice changer for the female characters.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3808880631

Another 70 or so tomorrow, I hope.