Author: james

The weather has been dismal this last few days but the forecasters promised no rain today. I wrapped up warm and set off on the Boardman at about 10:20, in the hope of doing 30 or so. To my pleasant surprise, it wasn’t as cold as I’d expected out there. Damp and a little foggy. So rather than doing a Twycross I turned in the direction of Coalville and Thringstone, to head out East. After a few minutes, I decided I’d do 50 or so.

Although the roads were a bit wet, the fog lifted and the Sun came out for a bit after 11 AM. I hoped the roads would be a bit less flooded, and in particular I hoped that the flood that had closed the road under the bridge at Six Hills had gone. Thankfully, it had – not even a puddle. I think they must have unclogged a drain. I encountered a bit of shallow water flowing across the road near Cotes, but other than that the roads were fine.

By the time I was cruising along Six Hills Lane, I’d decided to do a Fondo. I already had the Strava Fondo badge for November, but thought another one wouldn’t hurt. I turned back the way I’d come about a mile short of Eastwell. Would have gone all the way there, but was conscious of the need to get back home while there was still a bit of light, as I only had flashy blinkers on the bike.

I now memorise the Fondo distance in miles, 62.14 – by thinking of the start of the Beatles’ chart career (’62) and the start of the First World War (’14).

I did come back exactly the same way for a change rather than detouring through Diseworth or Coleorton.

5 Live switched from its Premier League show to the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative manifesto launch at 2pm, and I was just buzzing. He hit just the right energetic, enthusiastic, can-do note, I thought. Just so much more positivity and optimism in the party than Theresa could ever have generated, and he managed a couple of zingers. Carbon-neutral by 2050, and Corbyn-neutral by Christmas. Brilliant.

My DAB battery ran out not long after that, so I fired up the MP3 app on my phone and listened to The Yes Album, which was a bit of a Sunday afternoon tradition in my teens, all those years ago.

Unfortunately a heavy drizzle descended, two miles from home. Shame I didn’t get up half an hour earlier.

I bought a new GPS watch from Amazon on Friday, a Garmin Instinct. Gave it a trial run today. Stylistically it’s quite like a G-Shock, but very light on the wrist. Has a lovely hi-res, high contrast LCD screen and a long battery life. You can customise the data visible on the screen while you’re riding – I have clock time, elapsed time, battery status and (of course) distance done. It syncs to Garmin Connect, and thereby to Strava, by bluetooth. Very handy.

I didn’t actually need it of course. Just one of those things that’s nice to have. I’m a sucker for gadgets.

Home on 62.43 miles which takes me to 313 this month. I’m happy enough with that but the weather looks a bit more accommodating toward the end of the week so perhaps the November campaign isn’t done yet.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2888594631

I’d thought of doing 30 or 40 after work today, but the weather forecast suggested it might be a bit too cold after dark. So I took a long lunch break and settled for a Twycrosser of Modest Duration.

I thought that 22 or 23 miles would probably make best use of the available time. Started off by heading north toward Ashby to elongate the ride a bit at the top, but cut across to Congerstone just short of Twycross along the lovely Bilstone Road, then along Barton Lane to Barton in the Beans, where I took the pic below.

I think that was probably the coldest ride so far this autumn. But only 23.27 miles. And that’s 251 this month, 3736 this year.

Back just on sunset which today occurred at 16:05 round these parts.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2878937377

Another dry day, and sunny to boot. I took the afternoon off and withdrew the Boardman again shortly after noon, for a run out East.

The road to Coalville was closed, so I made my way to Ashby Road and past Belton via Swannington. I used to go that way often but I do that rarely now, mainly because it involves a long, fast descent along a none-too-smooth surface, followed by a similarly long climb.

I was halted by the same watery obstruction as Saturday, but this time rather than just coming back, I took a road to Wymeswold called Narrow Lane, after which I joined the “old route” out East that’s fallen out of favour now, but at least isn’t flooded.

I decided to take a right after 30 miles and attempt lunch at the Black Horse in Grimston. But it was closed. That made me think of coming back through Burton on the Wolds to eat at the Greyhound Inn, but I’d have to detour round the flooded road again. I didn’t bother. I just made do with an oat bar at a farm gate, and came back via the time-honoured original route through Wymeswold and Rempstone. I’d love to say that it was nice to do that route again after all this time, but nah. It was a bit of a tedious slog and that’s why I’ve stopped doing it.

Once again I took a detour through Long Whatton and Diseworth to come home.

Cold, especially after the Sun went down not long after 4pm. Even in winter, bright sunlight on dark cycling clothing has a pleasingly warming effect. But I put on my balaclava for the last 15 miles in proper darkness and I was comfy enough. Home on 56.16 miles.

Quite a nice run out and a bit of a distance boost for the November campaign which now weighs in at 228 miles.

I must admit though it was a bit lazy just repeating that run again, albeit with an unfamiliar detour. It did occur to me during the ride that it might have been nice to do something less familiar – I’ve been meaning to do a run up to Belper in honour of my old mate and work colleague Shaun Appleby, who lived there. Or I could have done another run out toward Stafford. But that would have taken a bit of planning and I’m lazy. It was a spontaneous afternoon off though, to be fair.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2874384429

No rain today, though the roads were mostly fairly wet in places from overnight rain and waterlogged here and there. I took the Boardman out yet again, hoping to do 40 or 50. Decided to go out eastwards, in the direction of Belvoir Castle.

I wrapped up very warm but conditions weren’t as cold as I expected. I was actually quite comfortable. I’d done 21 miles when I was confronted by a flooded section of road under the bridge at Six Hills:

Shame, because I was quite enjoying myself and would have done another five or six miles before turning back. I couldn’t really think of an alternative route from this point, and the road to Barrow from there was also closed. So I turned for home.

Interestingly the three vehicles under the bridge were stationary, two with hazards on. I took the pic from behind a barrier – had they ignored it and got stuck?

Stopped at my favourite pit stop, the Greyhound Inn at Burton on the Wolds on the way back. Sat outside, to keep an eye on the bike and had my usual ham & coleslaw ciabatta with chips and a half San Miguel. Once again about a half-cupful of tomato ketchup was provided.

Once back over the border into Leicestershire, I extended my ride a bit by taking a right after Hathern through Long Whatton and Diseworth. Long Whatton was on the local news a few days ago due to flooding, but it was fine today. The only place I had to pedal through water (only about 2cm deep) was near Cotes.

Listened to 6 Music. Liz Kershaw had Pete Townshend on, talking about his new novel and Live at Leeds which was this week’s nomination for her “All Killer No Filler” feature. She asked why he thought it had gained such iconic status as a live record, and he replied that it might have something to do with the simplicity of the recording. He mixed it at his own studio apparently, using a valve compressor made by a friend to “pump it up”.

Liz played Young Man Blues, and you can definitely hear echoes of it in the live version of (my favourite band) Rush’s Working Man, I think. Especially in the bass.

I used my Garmin Foretrex 401 for a change; I don’t think it’s had a run out for more than a year. One nice thing about it is that you can just switch it off to pause a ride; I did that just before going into the pub. Switched if on again just before I resumed pedalling. My Forerunner 35 has a “pause” function but in practice it times out and saves the ride, so you have to start again to “resume”. Another good thing about the Foretrex is that it takes AAA batteries, so you can effectively “recharge” it out on a ride, again without interrupting your track. Ideal for a longer ride of course; if I ever do Wales and back or a ride of similar distance again it will come in handy.

Interestingly the firmware seems to have a feature whereby it doesn’t record a new waypoint unless you’ve gone a significant distance from the last one – so you don’t get those squiggly bits of track from walking to a farm gate at a wee stop.

Anyway .. 44.49 miles, taking me to 171 this month. Pleased enough with that with two weeks left before December kicks in.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2869328295

No rain today. Rather cold though, but I withdrew the Boardman from the garage after leaving work at 3:30. Headed out through Coalville and Thringstone with the rough idea of heading out East toward Belvoir Castle for 20 miles or so before turning back.

But I hadn’t quite got as far as Zouch, 10 miles after setting off, before I decided I was going to keep it short. It was dark at this point and although I’d wrapped up warm the chilly temperatures had started to penetrate my shoes and gloves. My legs felt uncomfortably cold as well, in just one layer. So I took a left through Long Whatton to Diseworth then came back home along Top Brand and through Coleorton.

22.68 miles, not as many as I’d hoped but there’s no point chasing miles if you’re not really enjoying yourself. Having said that I did mostly enjoy my run out but I’d had enough by the time I got back. A Twycrosser would have been nicer over that distance though, really. The best part of the route out East starts after Zouch.

Still a lot of water on the roads, especially near Diseworth.

I trialled a new torch that I bought on Monday on a whim in Chelmsford, as my front light. Very bright but the beam is a bit over-focussed. However it works fine, especially in conjunction with a head torch. It’s a little bit heavier than my usual front light torch, but it takes two AA batteries which is convenient for resupplying out on the road. My usual one uses a rechargeable 18650 cell.

Having lost the lid off my black dummy bottle on my previous ride, I took my identical white one to carry spare batteries, an oat bar and a small pork pie, none of which I used. Incredibly, the lid came off in exactly the same fashion between Whitwick and Thringstone. I must have used these things dozens of times. Have I just got in the habit of screwing the lid down too loosely? Fortunately it was easy to locate this time so I tracked back, picked it up again, screwed it down quite tightly and continued on my way.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2862645278

That’s 127 this month so I’m about on track to do the 300+ I’m hoping for.

A day without rain, for a change. Sunny, even. I assumed it would be rather cold for cycling but since, as of this morning, I’d only done 42 miles this month and hadn’t been out on a bike for six days, I wanted to do 40 or so. Decided to do a long version of the Twycrosser. Started by going up toward Ashby, rather than through Heather. Down through Twycross to Sheepy, then to Ratcliffe Culey, then down the A444 a bit to Fenn Lanes and past the exact centre of England (depending on how you define that, of course).

Took a snack and rest stop at Sutton Cheney, where I took this pic:

I had a miniature pork pie, and a Mr Kipling apple pie that had been transformed into a miniature apple crumble by being stuffed into my dummy bottle. But it was in a plastic bag and I managed to consume all of it. Really rather nice.

Somehow the lid of my dummy bottle shook itself off coming down Alton Hill, less than two miles into the ride. I heard it clatter on the road and backtracked a couple of times, but couldn’t find it. However the contents managed to stay put over the rest of the ride, despite the absence of the lid.

I think I have three of them, so it’s no great loss. To be honest I can’t imagine why I bought a second one, let alone a third.

From Cheney, rather than taking the road up to Bosworth and the usual way home, I decided to cross the A447 and make my way along Bosworth Road to Kirkby Mallory. I wasn’t nearly as cold as I’d expected, although I’d wrapped up with four layers on top. And I was rather enjoying myself, trundling along in the autumn sunshine. From there I did part of the Stoney Stanton route, but only as far as Earl Shilton. I was on call and getting a tad concerned about the prospect of receiving a call a couple of hours from home. So I turned tail with the intention of following the Stoney route home, a fairly direct route back to base – but I’d changed my mind by the time I got to Newbold Verdon, where I hung a left back to Bosworth. I’d decided by this time to see if I could get the November Fondo in.

I can never remember exactly how many miles 100km is. I was sure it was more than 61, but less than 63 (it’s actually about 62.14). But I reckoned that if I went back the way I’d come from Fenn Lanes, I’d probably just about cover it.

I didn’t come back exactly the way I’d come; I actually took a shorter route to Sheepy. And I reached home the usual way through Swepstone and Heather rather than up through Packington. But I ended up on 62.49 miles, just enough to achieve my goal.

There’s a road sign bearing the text “7.5T” (“no goods vehicles over 7.5 tonne” I believe) that’s very handily 7.5 miles from home along the usual Twycross route, so by the time I passed that, I knew that going home via Swepstone and Heather would do nicely.

I did feel a bit worn out over the last 6 or 7 miles. It’s that time of year when the whisky bargains kick in at Tesco, and I took advantage of that yesterday. Had three or four last night. But I’d been fine until then. My knees also started to suffer a bit over the last 7 miles or so, but oh well. It is what it is.

I’ve never seen more standing water on the roads around these parts but it didn’t prove too bothersome. Usually I managed to negotiate a channel between deep puddles stretching from the side of the road toward the centre. Once or twice I had to pedal through water maybe 2/3 of an inch deep, but I was on the Boardman anyway and not that bothered. It takes some of the mud off the tyres if nothing else. Near Ratcliffe the Sence had broken its banks and made a lake of the surrounding fields, but it didn’t encroach onto the road.

My main concern was that I’d be caught out next to a deep puddle at the same time a motor vehicle passed through it and get soaked, but I managed to avoid that – partly by luck, and partly by careful timing.

I was overflown – I was going to type “buzzed”, but that would be an exaggeration – by a magpie a couple of times along Kirkby Lane. I was slightly concerned by this as I wasn’t wearing a helmet, and was unsure whether my balaclava and woolly hat would offer sufficient protection in the event that I was assaulted by it. They do like to engage cyclists in physical combat sometimes, and you can find abundant proof of this on YouTube. However it didn’t attack. If I’d been wearing a helmet and it did want a fight I would have angled my mirror so I could see it coming up behind me, then an instant before the moment of impact, I’d have reverse-nutted it unconscious.

Interested to see swarms of midgies by the roadside here and there – bit late in the year for those, isn’t it?

I listened to my Beatles bio audiobook for the first hour or two, then footy on 5 Live.

Nice run out on the whole. Certainly I’d have preferred a run across to Rutland or Belvoir Castle rather than the meandering and haphazard route I did today, but that wasn’t an option. And anyway making it up as you go along can introduce a sense of adventure.

That takes me to 104 this month, which considering the weather (and that I’ve been on call this last week) is not so bad. Happy that I’m doing my monthly Fondos again.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2855700819

Decided to leave work early yesterday and try for 30 or 40 despite a cold wind blowing. But as I left the garage during a break, having pumped the tyres up to spec and affixed newly charged lights to the Boardman, a dismal drizzle descended and I decided to stay in and watch old Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes instead.

I thought I might find a dead mouse in the garage given that the cold weather seems to draw them in there, where they meet the Grim Reaper in the person of a carefully prepared mouse trap. I didn’t, but I did find a dead bike computer mount. It seems that the low temperatures in there caused the bit that loops round the handlebar to contract, and it simply snapped. I hadn’t overtightened it.

As the old saying goes – buy cheap, buy twice. I hope I’ve finally learned my lesson not to buy cheap Chinese bike computers off Amazon. The actual tech tends to be pretty good; accurate with lots of features. But they make them out of horrible flimsy cheap plastic.

I can probably find a way to mount the actual unit onto the bars with a rubber band or something.

Looks like I’m not cycling today either. Already nine days into November and I’ve only been out on a bike twice.

Managed to get out of work not long after 3:30pm. A bit of light rain expected over after sunset but the roads weren’t too wet so I took the Boardman for a spin. Set off with a half-hearted intention of doing a Twycrosser but by the time I reached the end of the road, I’d decided to head south, down toward Stoney Stanton – though I didn’t expect to go that far. The vague intention was to do about 12 miles, then come back the same way.

Would usually have a (knee) recovery day but the weather looks awful for the foreseeable future so I grabbed a chance. I only did about 18 yesterday so no big deal to do 20-odd today.

I got as far as Kirkby Mallory, then turned back. Very nice change to do that route again. By the time I turned for home it was getting dark, but I was well equipped with lights including a head torch.

Took this pic before sunset, along Kirkby Lane:

From Newbold I decided, on one of those whims to which I am prone, to take the road to Bosworth and come back the usual way from there, rather than back through Bagworth and Ellistown. Very dark along there. Had to use the brakes where I wouldn’t normally on downhill stretches, just to maintain proper visibility of the road.

The front light + head torch works well enough though except when you have an idiot in a motor vehicle blind you with full beam. On this occasion I was confronted, along Heather Lane, by a 4×4 of some sort with an array of front lights, arranged in rectangular fashion, that would have put the floodlights at Old Trafford to shame. The worst part isn’t when you actually have the light in your face. It’s the moment when the offending vehicle has passed, and your night vision is shot for a second so all you can see, until you recover, is an inky blackness while you’re (possibly) hurtling down a hill on a curve, as I was in this case. Bloody scary.

The threatened rain didn’t materialise, but I did have to contend with a bit of fog over the last couple of miles. I had 5 Live on on the way back, listening intently to the results for the election of Speaker of the House of Commons as each round came in. I was delighted and relieved to see Harriet Harman do so badly. She would have betrayed her country at a snap of her foreign masters’ fingers.

Anyway, despite its perils I like a ride out in the dark. Bit of an adventure.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2841114142

28.89 miles which takes me to 42 this month.

The weather forecast for today had changed quite a bit by this morning, with no rain due over until early evening. I’d arranged to take ‘er indoors out for lunch at 2pm and wasn’t planning to do a bike ride today, but at 11am I decided I’d get November off to a bit of a start by doing 15 or 20 on the hybrid. I expected the roads to be wet and muddy, and they were (mostly).

A bit gloomy when I set off but the sun came out later on. I did a short version of the Twycrosser, cutting across to Bilstone along Bilstone Road just before Twycross.

17.85 miles. Would happily have done another 20 or so had time permitted, even on the hybrid which seemed to be rolling along pleasantly enough at the sedate speed demanded of it, despite its excessive weight. Actually the combined weight of hybrid + cyclist is lower than the combined weight of Cannondale (my lightest bike) + cyclist would have been in January. But of course there’s more to efficiency than just the weight.

Saw a chap out on a Giant bike near Shackerstone. He had all the usual gear on and it looked like a road bike, but the down tube looked unusually large and chunky. I supposed it was an e-bike but he was coming the other way so I didn’t get a close look. Helpfully though, he overtook me along Heather lane half an hour later with a cheery wave so I got a better look. To all intents and purpose a road bike in appearance, with the usual road wheels, handlebars and clippy pedals. But with a large, square cross section down tube, presumably housing an electric motor and battery.

Would have thought that e-bikes were more aimed at the commuter / convenience cyclist market rather than the recreational / enthusiast cyclist.

I still haven’t got round to fixing the gears on the hybrid (after about two years) but the available range is still usable. The most annoying thing was that I’d removed its mirror a while back for some reason and forgot to put one back on.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2838538688

3503 done this year.

Must admit, I didn’t even bother wiping the mud and moisture off its nether regions when I put the bike away. Was in a bit of a hurry.

In other news – another mouse has met its maker in the garage. Quite a small one and the kill bar came down right across its back rather than its neck. But I hope it was still quick.

The weather forecast looks intermittently (but predominantly) rainy for the next couple of weeks.

A long, mid-afternoon lunch break once again. But this time rather than embarking upon another Twycrosser, I headed over toward Belton through Coalville. From there, over toward Donington, from where I nostalgically came (most of) the old way home from the office.

Sunny and dry, but cold and blowy. Nice ride out though, apart from The Void, which is the name I have borrowed for a section of the route home from Donington that takes you along a boring, uphill section of the A453. There is a Star Trek: Voyager episode in which the crew become depressed and demotivated, due to travelling through an expanse of space which they name The Void, empty of stars and a black nothingness for millions of light years. Admittedly the A453 Void is only about a mile long. I decided to capture it for posterity (below).

I took the X. Although the roads were dry, they were liberally covered with large chunks of mud, here and there. On the short stretch of the A512 that takes you into Gracedieu Lane the surface was absolutely covered in a slippery-smooth layer of flattened mud. Was actually worried I’d start to slide on it.

My right knee has been hurting this last couple of days but the ride hasn’t made it much worse.

Must have stopped Strava recording on the phone when I took the pic, as the track ends abruptly at the same point. I can’t be bothered stitching on a synthesised section of track for Strava and there was nothing particularly interesting about it; just the usual way home down Top Brand and through Coleorton. So I have measured the remaining section of the ride using a route planner, and the whole ride comes to 23.19 miles. That agrees closely with my bike computer, so it’s good enough for the spreadsheet. Strava will just have to stay wrong.

That’s almost certainly it for October; a pleasing total of 459 miles. Hoping I’ll get a mild, dry Saturday or Sunday sometime soon so I can do an 80 miler, though my knee will have to recover a bit first. But it will.

3485 done this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2828748890