I was going to do 80 or 90 today, but I woke up earlier than I expected and I was pedalling away from the garage by 0725. I did want to avoid leaving that early because I assumed it would be uncomfortably cold, but with tights and a fleece on I was fine.
Sunny from the moment I left the house. Really nice out there.
The wind was coming from the north-east. I did consider going up to Newark today, because I haven’t done that so far this year. But in the end I settled on the easy option, the eastbound route. The road surface would be better and I wouldn’t have to faff around with my eTrex or a navigation app on a phone.
Stopped after 23 miles and stuffed my tights, fleece and rear light into my camo bag, which I then stashed in a hedge. It was very unlikely that I’d need a rear light on this ride, but even less so before the last 23 miles. Having said that, I’ve noticed that some riders do like a flashing rear light even in bright sunlight. But I don’t bother with that myself.
There are two options after Buckminster; one involves dipping down into Rutland and going east through South Witham and Little Bytham. But I did the other one today; through Stainby, Corby Glen and Grimsthorpe. Got as far as Edenham, then turned back having done 53 miles.
Took the pic at the entrance to Grimsthorpe Castle.
UV levels were high today so I took a Zinc Stick with me and applied a coating of Zinc Oxide to my nose. Not the full Shane Warne; just a thin coat. This particular product is yellow rather than white. I did feel a bit self-conscious going into the village shop at Buckminster with a yellow hooter.
Sunday’s not the best day for a long ride really because the shops tend to be closed in the afternoon and the only petrol station on this route is at Burton on the Wolds, 17 miles from home. So I had to stock up at Buckminster on the eastbound leg, early on.
Lovely out there and I wasn’t too hot in the afternoon; the breeze kept me cool. But I must devise some new routes.
Started the next Reacher novel (Bad Luck and Trouble) but the wind noise made it hard to listen. I must get some wind noise absorbers. They are actually a thing. You attach them to cycle helmet straps. In my case I’d have to improvise something for those times I don’t wear a helmet (most of the time to be honest).
Did manage to listen to West Ham vs Leeds on the DAB in the afternoon.
Wanted to do about 40 after work. The wind was coming from the north-west again. Took the slightly longer route up to Swarkestone Bridge through Isley Walton, then instead of going left along the Beloved A Road, I turned right to go through Weston and Aston-on-Trent. Then west toward Derby.
Stopped when I got to the bypass roundabout – which I dislike, because it wasn’t a feature of that road when I used to commute along it 30-odd years ago. Then I turned and came back home exactly the same way, except for a half-mile deviation in Coleorton.
Nice out there, warmer than I expected and I slightly overclothed myself. Quite bright, but cloudy until the sun came out for the last mile. Back on 39.23.
Didn’t think I’d much feel like cycling after 160 miles of driving today and I didn’t really, but since the weather was nice and I hadn’t been out on a bike for over a week, I thought I’d make the effort. About 90 minutes after parking the car on the drive following a weekend away in Norfolk, I was mounting Boardman II.
With the wind coming from the north-west, I decided that a trip up over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the Beloved A Road was in order. I wanted to do about 40 miles.
I went up via Top Brand and Isley Walton. I especially like to glide along Top Brand in the sunshine. Turned back a couple of miles after Hilton and came back via Wilson and Breedon on the Hill, to avoid Rotter’s Rise after Melbourne.
Unusually cool for this time of year when I set off, I thought. So I wrapped up warm. Should have taken a backpack so I could remove the tights and a top layer, and possibly my woolly hat because the temperature had climbed quite a bit by 4pm.
The second Boardman has had new bar tape since last time it had a run out, and the new tape performs pretty much exactly like the old tape – which is fine. The important thing is that it’s dark grey instead of a highly impractical shade of bright yellow.
A dry day, warm in the afternoon with a light wind from the west was forecast for yesterday. Sunset at 8:44pm. A perfect day really for a Wales trip, especially on the sixth anniversary of my first ride there and back.
I set an alarm on Saturday night for 04:45, but woke at 04:30 and was out of bed a minute later. I set off at 05:48.
This was my third ride to Wales and back. I’d chosen a substantially different route this time. My destination point just to the west of Whitchurch was the same, but the last 30 miles to get there would take me through Eccleshall, Loggerheads and Market Drayton, to the south of the usual route. I’d also planned to go a different way for a short stretch of the route between Handsacre and Colton, to bypass Rugeley.
Cool for the first couple of hours after I set off, but I was wearing adequate clothing and was comfortable. All went very smoothly until I powered up my Garmin eTrex handlebar-mounted navigation unit to guide me through the new stretch past Rugeley.
The first problem was that its batteries were dead. I transferred the AAs from my DAB personal radio. The second problem was that the new route I’d transferred to it wasn’t available from the GUI. Even in files of the same protocol there can be minor differences in format and I can only assume that the Garmin didn’t like the particular GPX file that I’d generated in a route-planning app.
Of course, I should have checked the eTrex before I set off. Oh well – I only needed the assistance of a mapping tool for a relatively short part of the route and found my way easily enough using Google Maps, but it was a pain to have to stop and consult a phone. I did use the eTrex in its basic mapping mode and that was useful to a degree. So I left the batteries in it and bought some more AAs at a petrol station a few miles further on to power up the DAB again.
To be honest, a decent phone with a GPS navigation app is a much better proposition in most cases than an eTrex. The screen is always bigger and clearer on a modern phone and you can easily buy handlebar mounts for them. However – on a long ride, I like the fact that the eTrex takes conventional batteries, because you can buy them at any petrol station and they hold a longer charge than the rechargeable unit in a phone. But I’m starting to think that taking two phones, or perhaps a power bank might be a better bet.
The road through the village at Eccleshall had been closed for a Coronation street party, but I guided the bike carefully through the barriers and weaved a careful path through the celebrants. At Market Drayton, a road race was taking place and once again the road was closed. Once again I just ignored this, so I had to dodge oncoming athletes before finding a detour. Annoying.
Just outside Market Drayton there’s a brand new housing estate, with the front doors of gleaming new properties bearing a sign saying “I could be your new dream home”. But directly across the road, there’s a site with a huge sign that announces “GYPSY / TRAVELLER SITE COMING SOON, PLANNING PERMISSION APPROVED”. New nightmare home, more like. You couldn’t pay me to live there.
By 1100 or so the sun was out and the temperature had climbed very nicely, so I removed a layer of clothes and sealed them in a plastic bag. I packed them into a camouflage pattern nylon drawstring bag which I then stashed in a hedge just off the road next to a farm gate. Much better than carrying them around in a backpack for the next 40-odd miles.
I arrived at my destination, the border between England and Wales, at around 1330. I pedalled across it for about 150 metres then turned back. Interestingly the sign on the other side of the road reads “Welcome to SHROPSHIRE” rather than “Welcome to ENGLAND”.
On the whole I wasn’t really that impressed with the new route. It was OK, but a little busier and less scenic than my traditional Wales route. I probably would have come back the old way if not for the need to pick up my clothes on the way back. I’d thought the traffic would be quiet on the middle day of a public holiday weekend but no, not really.
By the time I reached Eccleshall again the street party was in full swing, with a band belting out Cranberries covers from the side of a truck. A bit harder to weave through the revellers and I had to resort to riding along the pavement.
I didn’t much like the detour I’d taken around Rugeley on the outbound part of the route, so I didn’t bother with it on the way back. But I missed a turn for Kings Bromley and gave myself a few more miles to do.
Beautiful out there in the warm sunshine on the way back, especially with a light tailwind. Newcastle vs Arsenal kept me entertained for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I also listened to the Rolling Stones’ ludicrous (if interesting) 1967 psychedelic bandwagon-jumping album Their Satanic Majesties Request. There are a couple of good songs on it. I like 2000 Man, which was covered by Kiss on Dynasty. But mostly it’s terrible.
Back on 151.27 miles, a few minutes after sunset. 261 done this month.
A dry, sunny day today. With rain in the forecast for most of the next couple of weeks, clearly a decent run out after work was in order. Forty miles or so, I thought.
Quite an annoying moderate / strong wind coming from the east. I thought I’d do 20 miles or so of the Eastbound Route then come back. That’s pretty much what I did, except that I detoured via Top Brand through Diseworth on the way out (I sometimes do that on the way back, but rarely going east). I got as far as Narrow Lane after 23 miles, then detoured through Wymeswold and Rempstone on the way back. A sort of figure-of-eight route.
A bit cooler than I’d have liked but I got away with bare legs. I took the Boardman to assess the performance of its new bar tape. Apart from looking cheap, it’s not quite as comfy as the old tape. I may wrap some more tape directly over it, for a dual-ply super padded arrangement.
Back on 43.21 miles, that’s 110 for the month already. I’m aiming to do 435 this month.
I had a tentative intention to ride to Wales and back today. I decided that if I woke up early enough and I felt like it, I’d do the necessary 140-odd miles to penetrate the land of dragons, leeks and Gareth Bale.
I did wake up at about 0400, but I only got as far as the bathroom before going back to bed. After all long bike rides are a lot of fun, but sleep’s nice as well, isn’t it?
I got up again at about 0830 though, and I’d set off on a bike by 0940 with the more modest goal of doing a fondo.
The weather forecast prompted me to go west, for two reasons – firstly, it wasn’t going to rain over that way (whereas it was going to, supposedly, at home) and secondly the wind was coming from that direction.
I decided on my Upper Westbound Route, up over Swarkestone Bridge then west along the Beloved A Road.
Annoyingly I left my GPS bike computer in the house, so I tracked the ride using the RideWithGPS app on my phone. This meant of course that I wouldn’t have a view of the distance I’d done without stopping to take out the phone, but I’ve memorised a few distance points on that route. I knew when I’d done ten miles, and fifteen, and twenty without checking the phone.
By the time I got to Sudbury after 25 miles, I’d decided to do something a bit different than just going back the same way. I decided I’d go south to join my Lower Westbund Route through King’s Bromley, Edingale, Lullington and Measham. I’ve done this before a couple of times and was a bit reluctant to do it, because it involves a punishing rollercoaster of brutal hill climbs. But I resolved to grin and bear it.
The other problem is that the whole route doesn’t quite add up to the requisite fondo distance. So to compensate, I opted to go a bit further west for a bit. Therefore, after about five miles of heading south down from Sudbury, I took a right turn for Hoar Cross. I knew I could get to Abbots Bromley easily from there, a few miles to the west. And that’s a familiar destination from the Lower Westbound Route.
Unfortunately the road from the main road to Hoar Cross offered a fast, steep descent over a bumpy surface well furnished (today at least) with puddles, so the bike and I picked up a few splashes. I won’t take that turn again. I stopped at a bus shelter when I got to the village to consume the food and tinned coffee I’d bought at a petrol station a few miles previously. Then I set off to Abbots Bromley, about three miles further on to the west. A much better road from that point on.
Wasn’t sure if coming home my usual way from Abbots Bromley on the lower route would see me home on a fondo distance – so I kept going west through the village for a mile or two before turning for home. I didn’t need to, as it turned out. I’d done 66.62 miles when I arrived back at the garage.
As I negotiated the right turn into Grangewood Road between Lullington and Acresford about ten miles from home, I took the trouble to return a smile and a wave to two cyclists coming the other way. A motorist at the junction took great offence at this. He beeped his horn and gesticulated aggressively, as if I was inconveniencing him. I hadn’t even slowed down, but you’d think I’d parked my bike in front of his car. Unbelievable. I gave him a withering look and a slight shake of the head, intended to convey a sense of disbelief blended with pity.
Really a very nice run out. The Lower Westbound Route is a lovely proposition on a sunny day. Nice and warm as well, later on. I stopped after fifteen miles to remove my tights and an upper layer and stuff them in my back pack.
Probably the last rain free-day of the month so I left work a bit early to do 34 miles or a bit more, to get the April distance tally past 600 miles.
The forecast told me that a moderate wind was coming from the west. It also told me that the temperature would be 13C, so I went with the bare legs option. Possibly a little too cool for that in practice, at least early on.
I did the Upper Westbound Route as far as Willington, except that I went up along Top Brand and Isley Walton, and came back down through Wilson (to avoid Rotter’s Rise).
Really a rather nice run out, especially later on when the temperature climbed a couple of notches and the sun came out.
Very pleased with the new handlebar tape on the S Works. Seems very comfy, if a bit drab-looking.
I regretted stopping to take this pic on Swarkestone Bridge, because I had a long wait for the necessary gap in the oncoming river of traffic to get going again.
Not a bad day at all, very dry, cloudy but bright and very liight winds. Unreasonably cold for late April, but I wrapped up warm.
Today’s mission, after work, was to do at least 40 miles, to bring me within plausible reach of getting to 600 miles in April on my next ride. I thought I’d go up into Derby for a change.
I took the Boardman, to give it a post-service check.
I went up Top Brand, past East Midlands Airport where I had a nice view of a Learjet 45 taking off, through Donington, over Cavendish Bridge, through Shardlow and up to Borrowash, where I took a left turn toward Derby.
I decided I’d go up to Oakwood via Spondon, but I took the wrong right turn the first time. I ended up with a choice of joining the A52 during the rush hour, or turning back. So I turned back to Derby Road and took the correct right turn, along Willowcroft Road.
Kept going until I saw Sancroft Road, which I recognised as being part of my way home to Oakwood when I lived there and had a girlfriend in Spondon, 32 years ago. I used to cycle that route sometimes on my old Raleigh Routier as well, so it was quite a trip down Memory Lane.
Got to Oakwood, came down Acorn Way. Then I came home via Aston-on-Trent and Weston-on-Trent, through Melbourne and home the usual way. I didn’t enjoy Rotter’s Rise but it wasn’t too punishing.
I really enjoy my cycling visits to Derby and I’d do them more often if not for having to negotiate a busy roundabout over the A50, either at Swarkestone or Donington. Going through Aston and Weston avoids that to be fair, but it’s a very indirect route.
The bike is running nicely following its service. I did tweak the front Disraeli thumbwheel a bit, but that’s fine. But what did annoy me a little is that the stem hasn’t quite been put on straight. The handlebars are angled at about 93 degrees from the line of the front wheel.
Still – it’s an easy enough fix. And an excuse to swap out the old steel rear stem bolts, which have a bit of surface rust, for some titanium ones. The faceplate bolts have already been swapped out. I’ve got some new handlebar tape for it, as well.
Back on 46.17 miles – 566 done this month. Should be able to get another 34 miles in on Friday.
The weather forecast for today improved quite a bit as the week progressed, to the point where the BBC were promising that it wouldn’t rain until this evening.
I didn’t want to use up too much of my Saturday cycling but since, at the moment, the next dry day looks to be Tues 25th, I thought a 30-odd miler was in order.
I did a Twycross Bypasser, coming back along Gibbet Lane – and with a little excursion down Grendon Road and Spon Lane (a short way down the old Dad’s Army route, in other words).
Actually very nice out there – cloudy but bright enough to cast shadows of the bike onto the road. Almost sunny. And not too cold. Very pleased with the way the second Boardman is running on the repaired wheels inherited from the Cannondale.
The colourful black / red bar tape on my S Works had started to look a bit frayed and tatty, so I have replaced it with some generic and cheap dark grey tape from Amazon.
I didn’t do a perfect job and it doesn’t look as good as the old tape did before it wore out. But it’ll do for now. I used red insulating tape to finish it off as a sort of cursory nod to the colour scheme.
Please excuse the weeds, they belong to a neighbour.
