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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Another sunny day. Took a long, late lunch break and did a Twycrosser.
The roads were mostly dry so I decided to take the X. I wanted to do
about 23 miles and made it up as I went along with that in mind, but
ended up having done 26.84.
Rather cold later on, when the clouds came rolling over. I was back about 15 minutes before sunset.
My
knees were a bit painful the whole way round, interestingly. Maybe
because I didn’t do all my exercises at the weekend, or perhaps the
saddle height on Boardman II, on which I did 22 miles yesterday, had
something to do with it. I would normally have taken a rest day today
but thought that a moderate distance over a flat route wouldn’t
necessitate one.
I
noticed last time I came back the same way that there’s a new crash
barrier at the top of the hill just south of Heather. The two tall poles
in the following pic are holding up overhead electricity lines. Not
sure what the two truncated ones behind them are for. Old poles, just
replaced perhaps?
My knees will most likely get a couple of days off now anyway.
That’s
me on 436 this month, which is more than I’ve done in any other month
this year except June. Not bad considering the weather. I may yet be
able to wring another 20 miles or so out of October.
Spent the weekend up in Hartlepool, where it rained rather a lot (and it
did here in the East Midlands as well, to be fair). But this morning,
the sun was out and the roads had mostly dried out, so despite a
moderate hangover induced by consuming too much Drambuie last night, I
extracted Boardman II from its hangar (my mum’s garage) and put it to
work on a run out to the Transporter Bridge and back, before driving
home at lunchtime.
Yes, Drambuie. It’s remarkably moreish.
Nice to be re-acquainted with my other Boardman. It does feel a bit different from the red one. And it is indeed different in a few respects – a different stem, different wheels (the stock Mavics), different seat post and a carbon front fork – not counting handlebar tape and the colour scheme – but it does feel a little bit more agile. Might just be the route, to be fair. The route out of the town and round the coast is very flat.
I was annoyed with myself for not having remembered to bring a mirror up for it. I need to bring an Allen key with me next time as well, the seat is just a shade too low.
Very
pleasant pedalling along next to the sea at Seaton Carew in bright
sunshine, before turning inland along Tees Road to Port Clarence and the
Transporter Bridge. Wasn’t too cold.
The road takes you through a wildlife reserve over the last mile or so to the bridge, and there were quite a few twitchers out with their tripods and telephoto lenses. I didn’t see any notable wildlife myself, just Canada geese and a few other unremarkable species of water bird. Personally I find the industrial landscape along there more interesting – the various chemical works and oil refineries, and the enormous concrete cuboid that is Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station.
Wanting to extend my ride a bit, I took a left along Seal Sands Road toward Cowpen Bewley on the way back, but turned back to Tees Road after a couple of miles. Came back home a slightly different way, coming along Clifton Avenue. In my late teens I often used to walk home from the town centre that way, sometimes clutching a long-coveted LP like Live and Dangerous or Physical Graffiti, newly acquired from one of the town’s numerous record shops. The past, as they say, is a different country. They do things differently there. But Clifton Avenue remains as pretty and leafy as ever, its trees turning autumnal shades of amber and brown.
Probably the flattest 22.11 miles I’ve done for a long time. And that takes me to 409 miles this month and 3435 this year.
A defiantly dry day yesterday, so I withdrew the Planet X from the
armoury and deployed it on a medium-sized Twycrosser, after leaving work
early. Didn’t have an exact route in mind but wanted to do at least 20.
Extended it a bit from the usual start by going up to Packington first,
and did the Orton detour when I got to Twycross. That’s a really nice
stretch in the late afternoon. Back from Sheepy a relatively quick way,
along Gibbet Lane – where I took the following snap.
Gibbet Lane was a bit muddy unfortunately, but mostly compacted by passing traffic.
Really
nice to be out on the X again. As much as I’m fond of the Boardman, the
green one does make lighter work of the distance put in front of it.
Back just on sunset. A week from now though the sun sets at about 16:40.
26.19
miles which takes me right through my target for October of 362 miles,
to 386. I think I can get at least another 60 or so in this month,
although the weekend weather looks pants.
Wanted to take advantage of a dry Sunday after all the rubbish
weather, especially with the clocks going back next weekend and the
daylight hours shrinking rapidly. I didn’t really have the motivation to
plan something more interesting, so with the wind blowing in the same
direction as Friday, I pretty much did the same route again. Once again
the idea was to head out east in the direction of Belvoir Castle until I
decided I’d done enough, then come back the same way. I hoped to do at
least 50.
Set off at about 10:00, after wiping yesterday’s excess
lube from the Boardman’s chain. I just squeeze a rag dampened with GT85
round it, and turn the pedals a few times. A bit cool and cloudy at
first, but the sun came out later on. Really quite pleasant weather for
cycling, mostly.
I went a bit further than on Friday, stopping
after 28 miles. Quite a bit cooler and blowier from that point, and I
briefly considered adjusting my tubular headscarf to hijab mode, but
didn’t.
Listened to 6 Music initially to avoid the rugby on 5
Live which I find about as interesting as chewing cardboard, but Cerys
Matthews was playing a right old load of tosh today so I tuned to LBC,
where I found the Nigel Farage show. None of Nigel’s contributors, all
of whom were staunch Brexiteers, seemed enamoured with Boris’ deal.
Interestingly the most irate Brexiteer caller was a Scottish woman who
was emphatic that Boris had sold out to the EU. Others took a more
pragmatic view; that while it’s not perfect it’s a big improvement and
probably a good idea not to let Brexit out of our grasp. I think I’m in
that camp as well.
After Nigel’s programme concluded I switched
to the Beatles biography audiobook, to learn of the Fab Four’s return to
Liverpool from their second stint in Hamburg, and Paul taking over bass
duties from Stu Sutcliffe.
I stopped at the Greyhound pub at
Burton on the Wolds on the way back – I’ve lunched there a few times now
on cycling expeditions – and had a ham & coleslaw ciabatta with
perfectly golden brown chips, with a coffee. Perfect. I asked for
ketchup and was provided with about 2/3 of a cupful in a bowl. Possibly
enough for me to have smothered the whole meal until none of it was
visible under a layer of tomato sauce. Naturally I used about 3% of it,
if that. Bit of a waste.
I’d been feeling a little bit worn and low on energy at that point, despite glooping down a gel half an hour earlier. But the pub lunch perked me up no end and I felt like I could do another 50 after that. After the pub I decided to leave the Beatles bio for a bit, and tuned into the Ohana Rock Club’s stream on my Android Internet radio tuner. I’ll be DJ-ing there myself on Tuesday evening at 8pm, if you care to listen. Search for ‘Ohana Rock’ on TuneIn at https://tunein.com/
Ominously,
I picked up a few spots of rain near Stanford, then a bit of drizzle
ten minutes later. But that faded away. Always nice to see spots of
moisture on the handlebars drying off, to reassure me that I won’t need
to douse the bike’s bits in water repellent on my return.
After
Zouch and back over the Leicestershire border, I decided on an impulse
to take a right and come home through Diseworth, then down Top Brand.
The long stretch of Ashby Road between Hathern and Griffydam can be a
bit of a boring slog.
Home on 59.18 miles. I’d tweaked the bike
computer just before setting off and it claimed 59.2 exactly, so I shall
stop tweaking it now. Not going to get it much better than that and
minor variations in front tyre pressure can introduce a bit of error
anyway. As usual I removed the portion of the track representing my
clogging round the pub garden and into the bar using a GPX editor before
uploading to Strava.
And that’s 360 miles done this month, just short of my target of 362. That’s 12 in a row on the Boardman, 447 consecutive miles.
Saw
a formidable-looking sparrowhawk on the way back, a few miles from
home. Looked like it was standing over something. But it flew off when a
car overtook me, and I didn’t see its victim, if there was one. I also
saw a large brown rat near the edge of the road at Burton. Quite a fat
little bugger, just sitting there minding its own business.
Encouraging
to see quite a few other cyclists out there in October, including a
couple of young ladies with pigtails. Quite a nice look in cycling gear,
I think.
My knees were a bit uncomfortable for most of the ride;
nothing new or troubling. But they seemed somehow to improve over the
last 15 miles or so. Weird. Perhaps the rest stop at the pub helped. I’m
starting to think I possibly could get away with 100 miles if I’m
careful with the route, exercise thoroughly in the week or so
beforehand, and take it easy. But I won’t be putting that theory to the
test until the spring at the earliest.
