Author: james

I’m on call today, so I did my usual thing of stringing together two routes, one north of home, one south – so as not to stray too far from base.

I had in mind doing 30-35. Started with a trip up through Melbourne. I was thinking of going over Swarkestone Bridge from there and going to Stenson like I did a few weeks ago, but I didn’t. I took a right through Kings Newton past Donington race course to Isley Walton, and from there down through Belton, Griffydam and Peggs Green, where I stopped at a bench and had a modest lunch consisting of a small pork pie and two profiteroles. I would normally take an oat bar rather than cream and chocolate-based pastries, but ‘er indoors had a few left over from entertaining guests yesterday. They kept me going quite nicely.

From there I devised a route to get me over to Packington that took me through Farmtown, along Corkscrew Lane. I used to use that route quite regularly back in 2015 but it fell out of favour; probably because the wooded section just north of Farmtown is not really road bike territory. Very twisty, with sudden ups & downs.

Anyway – I went down nearly as far as Twycross, then took the very pleasant and secluded Bilstone Road over to Bilstone. Came back from there through Shackerstone, Burgoland, Swepstone, Heather.

Ended up having done 40.84 (I knocked off 0.03 for a small amount of walking over roads and grass verges to benches etc) but I was quite encouraged by the state of my knees, they seemed to do fine. Pleased about that as I thought I’d given myself a setback a couple of weeks ago. It my well be that having two days off helped, as well. But I’ll see how they feel tomorrow.

A bit blowy, but warm and intermittently sunny.

I fancied a trip out on the Cannondale really, partly to make sure all’s well with the new stem bolts. But I wanted to give the X’s new bike computer a test drive and check the calibration. It reported 40.61 miles at the end of the ride, compared to the Garmin’s claim of 40.87. More than acceptable of course. But my calculator tells me that if the wheel circumference value was set to 211cm instead of 210 it would have reported 40.80, which is obviously closer. So I’ll do that.

I came up behind possibly the most heavily-laden cyclist I’ve ever seen, struggling up a hill near Isley Walton. He had a large backpack on with two additional packs, one attached to either side of it, possibly a sleeping bag and a small tent. He also seemed to be wearing dark brown tights under his shorts which I thought rather odd given the weather, until I realised that he was black.

Nothing but golf on 5 Live so I listened to 6 Music. Quite an interesting programme featuring space-themed music and a discussion between Brian Cox and Brian Eno, to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

A lot of cyclists out today, often with a swanky bike and all the gear but carrying a lot of extra personal weight. What do these people think their expensive racing team jersey looks like when it’s struggling to contain a big gut spilling out over the waistband of their shorts? And if you’re serious enough about cycling to invest in a carbon frame, top brand helmet and all that, why wouldn’t you try to get your weight down a bit?

Anyway – mostly made up as I went along and no new roads, but a nice run out. And that takes me to 207 this month. I think another 100 before August should be doable, looking at the weather. Having said that it might actually be too hot to ride a bike far on Tuesday, round here anyway.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2550988767

Just fitted a new Cateye Velo 9 to replace the bike computer on the Planet X that broke a few weeks ago. I would have bought a Velo 7, which looks exactly the same and has two less functions, but the 9 came up on an Amazon sale and worked out a bit cheaper.

I like these. They’re very accurate once calibrated, easy to read at a glance and simple to use. I only actually need the distance function.

Certainly, I can’t see myself using the ‘calories burned’ and ‘carbon offset’ functions that I now have. I doubt I’ll find myself wondering how much carbon dioxide I’ve spared the atmosphere from by cycling instead of driving a car. Because I don’t cycle as an alternative to driving, 99% of the time. It’s all about doing time and distance on the bike, not getting from A to B.

But just for fun I calculate that, if I’d used a car instead of a bike since January 2015, in doing so I’d have burned something like 1850 litres of petrol, which at £1.20 a litre comes to about £2225. But I’d certainly have saved some time.

In other news, I’ve fitted the Cannondale with new titanium stem bolts. The old steel ones had a hint of surface rust and of course – these ones are lighter. They’re beautifully machined, I must say.

I’m not sure how many grams lighter the Cannondale is, for having new aluminium cage bolts and titanium stem bolts. 40 maybe? Not many. But it’s more of a hobby really, shaving small quantities of weight off your bike.

I left work early, having hatched a plan to do something a bit different – a sort of westward extension of the Orton detour from the Twycross route, going to a place called Polesworth in Warwickshire, then coming back east to rejoin the Twycross route near Pinwall.

So that’s what I did. I took the Boardman, since I wanted to test the new stem. I took the necessary Allen key with me, just in case. I’d also adjusted the saddle slightly.

Dry, warm and sunny but annoyingly blowy from the moment I set off. Had to contend with a persistent, nagging headwind for the first half of the ride.

Enjoyed the new stretch of road over to Polesworth despite it being a bit hilly – some nice views. Polesworth itself is somewhat dismal and urban though.

My knees hurt a bit the whole way round. Why, I don’t know. But if anything they seemed to improve after 10 miles or so.

Always nice to do the quiet stretch of road north of Bosworth on a sunny evening. I stopped at a bench at Carlton and glooped down an orange gel. I’d run out of cycling snacks, must get some more oat bars next time I’m in Tesco.

The bike felt a shade less comfortable on the longer stem at first but I got used to it fairly quickly. I’m certainly not going to change it again. I’ve repurposed the surviving red aluminium stem bolts as cage bolts on the Cannondale to replace the steel ones, thereby shaving a sliver of weight off. And they look nicer. The spoke nipples on the Cannondale are red so they go quite nicely.

Anyway 32.61 miles which takes me to 2027 this year. My original target for 2019 was 2112 miles (currently it’s 3000) so I’m pleased about that. I suppose 3000 miles is starting to look a bit too easy now. I’ll think about that over the weekend.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2543645516

I did end up sawing through the shaft of the bolt in the gap between the stem and the body, to remove the aluminium bolts I unwisely used as stem bolts. The slot I’d sawn into the head of the first bolt wasn’t wide enough to take a screwdriver blade.

Before the hacksaw blade had made it the whole way through the shaft, the tension the bolt was under snapped what was left of it and the hex head pinged out of the faceplate like an aluminium bullet!

At that point the other shagged bolt magically loosened itself and I was able to remove it without any trouble. So I’ve binned the old stem. It was a replacement for the original Boardman stem that was far too long. And I’ve put on the stem that came with the X originally, which is 10mm longer but I think it should be fine. I’ll have to adjust the saddle a touch, I expect. But actually it should be closer in geometry to the Cannondale, which really suits me. Might improve the handling a tad as well.

So ignoring inner tubes, bar tape, bottle cages and tyres, the Boardman has now had:

• three stems
• two seat posts
• two front derailleurs
• two wheelsets
• about four chains

Left work early, took the X for a Twycrosser. Decided to do the Minor Orton Triangular Detour once I got to Twycross. I must give the Major Orton Less Triangular Detour another go sometime soon, as well. That one misses Twycross completely.

Wasn’t sure whether I wanted to come back the same way (perhaps omitting the Orton detour) once I got to Fenn Lanes, but decided to press on the usual way home through Bosworth, Carlton, Barton, Odstone.

Stayed resolutely dry throughout. No sign of the light rain threatened around 7pm, though the skies did seem to threaten it once or twice. Mostly cloudy, but occasionally sunny. Lovely weather, really. Warm and not much wind. I overdressed slightly up top, but wasn’t really bothered.

Ended up doing a few more than I expected – 34.29. But no problems.

I was impressed with the oncoming cyclist near Ratcliffe who literally wagged his finger at a driver who’d just overtaken me, not giving either of us a great deal of clearance. Also saw a young chap on a red Boardman Road Sport like mine, don’t see that many of them. Speaking of which – I had an idea to remove those aluminium stem bolts. I’ll saw slots into the heads and see if I can get them out with a screwdriver. If that doesn’t work I’ll saw through the bolts between the face plate and the stem body – there’s a bit of clearance. If I do that I’ll end up replacing the stem though that’s not a big deal, it wasn’t expensive and I could use the one I took off the X.

Relubed the Cannondale on my lunch break and perhaps it’ll get a run out next time.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2537655079

The weather looks OK for Thursday and not bad for later on Saturday (rain forecast for the morning).

Fitted some inexpensive stem bolts to the Boardman. The old ones had a bit of surface rust. The new ones are red aircraft aluminium. They go nicely with the frame. Very light of course.

However an hour or two later I read some conflicting advice on the wisdom of using aluminium stem bolts, including the comment to one person who’d done this that “I hope you have a good dental plan”.

The consensus seems to be – only use steel or titanium for load-bearing connections like the seat post or stem. I think I’ll take them off again and put some steel ones on from a spare stem. Perhaps I’ll use the red ones for a bottle cage.

Back from a holiday in Wales yesterday and anxious to give the July distance tally a bit of a boost having been out on two wheels only twice thus far this month. But both knees appear still to be suffering the after-effects of my ill-considered Fondo two weeks ago, so I wasn’t sure what distance was wise. I thought to do a 25 mile-ish Twycross and see how they did.

Nice weather – warm, only slightly windy. Resolutely dry. I took the X.

From Twycross, I decided on a whim to take the triangular detour through Orton, for a bit of a lukewarm adventure. And that was quite pleasant. I do quite like the usual (direct) road from Twycross to Sheepy though, so mixed feelings about that.

I’d decided to come back along Gibbet Lane by the time I’d propelled myself along Atterton Lane but as I made my way up the A444 in order to do so, instead, on the afternoon’s second whim, I took a right along Upton Lane. I knew I’d done this before and ended up at Bosworth. I didn’t think it would add too much to the distance but as I encountered the first signpost to Bosworth I realised I’d end up having done about 31.

Ah well! My knees were sore, but I wasn’t getting pain from pushing up inclines. I was pretty pleased with how they were doing, definitely better than last time they had a run out on a bike.

My Upton Lane detour rewarded me with a nice view of a steam train pulling four old carriages along the Battlefield Line heritage railway between Bosworth and Shenton stations.

Listened to 6 Music, then the men’s singles final on 5 Live Sports Extra which has still not quite concluded as I type. No particular interest in the British Grand Prix or the Cricket.

The usual route back home from Bosworth is quite handy in that it has landmarks at strategic two-mile intervals – the crossroads in the town is 8 miles from home; the crossroads at Barton is 6 miles, the old railway bridge is 4 miles, the top of Heather Lane is 2 miles.

No wildlife of especial interest. I saw a vole scurry part way across the road near Swepstone, then retreat. I was having to blow tiny flies off my cycling specs every minute or so for the first couple of hours and I noticed that they were all over my legs as well, bloody annoying.

Thought I’d taken a nice pic of an alpaca on the way up from Bosworth but it’s not on the phone, so apparently I didn’t. It was rather difficult to get its attention, as well.

Anyway – 30.82 miles which brings me to 99 this month.  Looks like decent weather for a few days, but I will keep my outings down to 30-ish miles for a bit, or possibly a bit less. I’m on call next week anyway, and of course – the daylight hours are now in slightly shorter supply.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2531676756

Had to work until 6pm, but it was a lovely evening – warm, sunny, not windy and no prospect of rain. I thought it might be rather nice to do about 17 miles of a Twycrosser, then come back the same way. I took the S-Works.

About 2.5 miles into the ride, coming through Heather, I somehow failed to re-insert my yellow bidon into the cage on the frame, and it fell to the road. I pulled up to pick it up but turned to see it rolling slowly into the path of a Vauxhall estate. The left front wheel rolled straight over it and a chunk of the cap blew out like an anti-personnel mine, propelled by the hydraulic pressure of ~500ml of lime-flavoured water. No more hydration for me on this ride.

Apart from that it was indeed a very pleasant, leisurely run out in the bright evening sunshine. My right knee started to feel strained again after 13 miles, though. It looks like I did overdo it at the weekend by doing that semi-contrived Fondo. I’m hoping though that it’s only a temporary setback because it took a long time to get back to doing 40+ milers and I’d started to enjoy my longer cycling adventures. I’d hate to have to start again from 15-20 mile distances. But I’ll see how I get on with 30-40 milers for a bit. I’ve sort of got the Fondo thing out of my system for a while, anyway.

Anyway I kept pushing on and into Fenn Lanes until I’d done a bit more than 17 miles, then I turned and came back the same way. No lights on the Spesh and I didn’t want to be out after sunset really. Very nice to do the stretch between Ratcliffe and Fenny Drayton at that time of day; so quiet along there.

Just before you cross the A444 into Fenn Lanes, in Atterton Lane, there’s a heavily wooded stretch. It was there that I noticed one of those big horrible brown flies crawling on my top tube. I left it, because I was interested to see how long it would stay on. It stayed there for 0.7 miles, even crawling forward on the frame slightly, against a gentle headwind. Are flies territorial? Do they have homes? Did the poor thing become confused by being migrated half a mile from its previous location without trying to?

Took this pic at 1445 Twycross, an unmanned off-road gas installation which is my most oft-used wee spot.

Anyway 34.73 miles, 68 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2507138743

Couldn’t leave work early but set off on the X to do a Twycross just before 6pm. The idea was to do 16 or 17, then do a U-turn and come back the same way. I was particularly keen to reassure myself that I hadn’t buggered my knees by doing 63 miles on Sunday.

Cool weather, intermittently sunny. Very dry. A little blowy.

I did feel a bit of strain in the right knee after ten miles or so. Nothing desperate, but I don’t think it has completely recovered from Sunday. I don’t think it’s a setback per se, but will keep the distances down to 30-odd this week. That’s all I’ll have time for anyway, probably.

Got to Twycross and on a whim, took a right turn along Orton Lane to take a detour that I’d pondered a few times while perusing the Strava route planner, but had never tried before. The last part of the detour is part of the longer alternative route to Sheepy that I tried about a week ago. Quite quiet and pleasant, glad to have tried it.

So after turning into Fenn Lanes I decided to stop and come back. I did the required U-turn but within seconds I’d changed my mind, so I performed another one. I’d decided that it would be nice to do the road north of Bosworth at that time of night. It can be really atmospheric in the open in the last hour before sunset, especially when it’s sunny. And it was.

I cut across to Bosworth through Shenton, along Mill Lane. I hadn’t been along there for a long time. There’s a bench there, with a plaque bearing the name ‘Judith Birch’. I rested there for a few minutes.

Back home on 33.71 miles; a modest but sure start to the July campaign.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2498985584

My spreadsheet has recalculated the monthly targets to take into account the remaining mileage to reach my target of 3000, and it requires a mere 216 miles this month. I’d weighted July a bit low to adjust for holidays.

But I think it would probably be a bit rude not to bump the 2019 target up a bit, perhaps to 3250 miles. I’ll think about that.

Thinking ahead to a time when I’ll be able to do 70+ miles again, I had a look at my usual route to Melton Mowbray and back, with a view to changing it around a bit. I did find a really promising detour for the A6006 stretch between Zouch and Six Hills, which can be a bit of a drag sometimes.

So although I wasn’t going to go all the way to Melton today I was quite keen to try it out. I thought I’d go as far as Asfordby, then turn back – which would give me roughly the same distance I did on Friday night, a bit less than 55 miles.

I took the X again. I gave the Cannondale a bit of a clean yesterday and GT85-ed out the chain, and hadn’t lubed it. Must do that tomorrow.

Despite having got back from a gig at about 12:25AM last night, or this morning if you’re going to be pedantic – I arose at about 06:55 this morning. I actually misread the clock next to my bed. I thought it was 07:55. I’d actually made toast and coffee before I realised what I’d done there, but I stayed up, took my time over breakfast and set off at about 08:30.

Lovely and quiet at that time on a Sunday morning, barely any traffic. I actually missed the turn for the new part of the route, but only by a couple of hundred yards. When I turned back I was disappointed to find myself battling a headwind, which didn’t bode well for the return part of the journey. The new part actually adds a couple of miles to the route and a little bit of elevation as well, but it’s much nicer. Quiet, very leafy. Lots of gentle ups and downs which all add up of course, but it avoids a brutal climb just after Normanton. I did have to consult Google Maps a couple of times, though.

Rejoined the usual route at Six Hills and made my usual way from there to Asfordby. Asfordby is a dismal little town really but it does have a serviceable co-op and a thoroughly decent bench outside its parish hall. I secured the bike to some railings using my new ultra lightweight bike lock (not a lock at all really, more like a steel-reinforced plastic tie with a little two-prong tool to unfasten it) and procured a sandwich.

Suitably rested and refuelled, I started on the way back home. I think I’d done about 27.5 by this time. Sadly though, eight miles later I turned left at the Big Lane crossroads when I should have turned right. I only realised I’d done this when approaching Seagrave, a village I knew I’d never been through before. I’d just come down a long hill and I just couldn’t face climbing it again, so I plotted a new course from there, to take me back on track via Sileby and Barrow upon Soar. I was of course a bit apprehensive about this, as it meant I’d be adding three or four miles but my knees seemed to be doing really well so I pressed on.

Looking at the track now, I didn’t really take the most efficient route to get back on track. But map reading while straddling a bike using a phone in bright sunlight is not ideal.

As I approached Normanton and Zouch it occurred to me that I probably wasn’t far off doing a Fondo – and I might get close to the requisite distance by adding a brief excursion over to Sutton Bonington and back from there; a decidedly flat bit of road. So I did that.

Stopped at Belton for a rest a few miles later and did some stretching exercises.

Decided to come back home from there through Griffydam and Peggs Green rather than Thringstone as I didn’t fancy the climb along Talbot Street. I’d punctured the front tyre on the same bike last time I came home that way, which also put me off a bit.

I couldn’t remember whether a Fondo was 62 or 63 miles, so I did a slight warm down in the immediate vicinity of home to push the distance up a bit. Home on 63.39 (I’ve knocked 0.02 off for clogging around the shop and walking the bike to benches etc). I wasn’t at all proud of myself for overclocking my intended mileage and my right knee had started to feel a bit strained. But I doubt the ‘warm down’ or the Sutton Bonington stretch did any significant harm. And anyway, I think I’ve got away with it.

So that’s a rather pleasing 504 miles for June, 212 more than the target and the highest monthly tally since August 2017.

1861 so far this year.

I was a bit too cool intermittently for the first half of the ride, but fine when the sun was out. I wore a long sleeved top. Got a bit of sunburn on my wrists. My leg tanlines are looking pretty good, although I compromised them yesterday by wearing rugby shorts on a lounger in the garden.

The headwind on the way back was indeed a bit of a nuisance. But despite having got up stupidly early after a long night, I felt pretty fresh the whole ride.

I threw out a pair of cycling shorts last week because they’d started to wear out – they actually had a couple of holes in them. So I wore new ones for this trip, newly acquired from Amazon. Best ones I’ve ever had; they’re really lightweight, the fit is perfect and they have a little zipper pocket on the back that’s handy for a debit card, garage key or emergency tenner. They’re a bit drab though, black with red pinstripes. The old ones had big yellow flashes. I’m convinced that more colourful clothing and frame paint is conducive to better morale while riding, and that’s why I like to take the X on longer distances.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2492449061