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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Another nice day yesterday. Left work at 16:45, with a mission to do at
least 45 miles, to get my monthly total up to 300. Decided to go up
through Melbourne and over Swarkestone Bridge, then a nice long run west
along the river south of Derby, which would give me a bit of a headwind
on the way back.
I took a longer route on the outward leg, up Top Brand and through Isley Walton. Intermittently cloudy and sunny, but really lovely when the sun was out. Having done the necessary mental arithmetic, I turned back at Hatton. Came back the usual way after Swarkestone Bridge, this time.
I
listened to the footy on 5 Live. Nice to hear that Liverpool were
giving it a go against Chelsea – I suppose they didn’t want to receive
the trophy immediately following a defeat – but the real highlight was
the final night of the Championship, with various clubs slipping in and
out of the promotion and relegation places on the “as it stands” table
every few minutes. Unbelievably, Nottingham Forest were beaten to a
place in the playoffs by a goal difference of 1 by Swansea, having been 5
goals in front on that basis at the beginning of their games.
Kind
of hard to keep up with it all while listening to the radio on a bike.
If I’d been at home I’d probably have been nerding out at my computer,
keeping abreast of it with several browsers open on two screens.
Back about 15 mins before sunset, by which time it was beautifully quiet out there.
46.15 miles, 301 done this month – 158 to go. The weather looks immoderately windy but otherwise OK on Sunday.
Couldn’t leave work until 5pm, but it was straight on the Boardman for
30-odd as soon as I downed tools. I changed the front tyre yesterday,
and wanted to be sure all was well.
I took care to ensure that I
was fitting the tyre in the correct rotational orientation. But I still
managed to put it on the wrong way round. I’d thought the bike computer
magnet was on the left side, but it’s on the right. It would be easy
enough of course just to take the wheel off, flip it and relocate the
magnet. I won’t bother.
Wasn’t particularly in the mood for a Twycrosser, so with a light to moderate wind coming from the west, I took the southbound route – down through Kirkby Mallory and Earl Shilton. I stopped north of Stoney Stanton on a bridge over the M69, where I took this pic:
.. then I turned back for home, having done about 17 miles.
The
Boardman felt a bit heavy and lumbering after recent outings on the X
and S Works, but it rolled along pleasantly enough. I didn’t feel its
mis-oriented tyres trying to roll backwards.
Only intermittently
sunny early on, but the sun shone steadily for the last hour or so.
Really lovely out there in the open in the evening sunshine.
254
done this month, not too bad given I was away for the first week but I
still doubt I’ll hit my target of 458. There’s some rain in the forecast
for the weekend.
