Bike Diary

Didn’t want to go too far today as I was feeling a little worn down from the combined effects of a fondo on Thursday, a gig in Stoke last night and two overnight jobs at work earlier in the week. Minimally though I wanted to do 34 miles, to get the October mile count up over 300.

I thought I’d do some variation of a Twycross Bypasser, with an excursion down the Dad’s Army route at the bottom. The wind was coming from the south-west, ideal for this route.

I wanted if possible to go right down to Kingsbury Water Park, which I hadn’t done since I first did this ride just over two years ago. I didn’t upload the route to a GPS app or anything like that, I just hoped I’d remember it. I wouldn’t be overly troubled if I didn’t. One change I made was to join the A5 earlier, to avoid the twisty, climby, gravelly little narrow track near Dordon. A case of a choice of two extremes, neither particularly desirable.

I turned off the A5 after two miles of it. A mile later I was convinced that I’d taken the wrong exit, or missed a turn somewhere, because I didn’t recognise where I was at all. In fact (as I discovered later by scrutinising the track on Strava) I was on exactly the right road, and if I’d stayed on it another four or five miles I would have arrived at Kingsbury Water Park.

But I didn’t. I decided to take a left turn signposted to a place called Wood End. Half a mile later I was confronted with a uncompromising-looking hill. I’d done 22 miles at this point, so I opted to turn back. I rejoined the Bypasser route five miles or so later, and continued home through Sheepy, Bilstone, Barton in the Beans, Odstone and Heather.

Took the above pic on the A5 on the way back.

Saw a very large number (a murder?) of crows in a field near Barton, about half of them airborne. Something seemed to have agitated them. And there was a beautiful partial rainbow visible from Gibbet Lane, with all the ROYGBIV constituent colours clearly distinguishable. I was going to take a bike pic with it in the background but by the time I’d found a suitable spot, it had faded a bit. So I didn’t bother.

The roads were a bit wet from overnight rain when I set off, but soon dried off. I did hit a patch of wet roads again on the way back near Heather, though I hadn’t picked up a spot of rain on the ride. I’d guessed that might happen when I saw the rainbow segment hovering over that general direction.

Back on 43.20 miles which takes me to 310 this month. Another 117 to do to hit this month’s target + last month’s deficit.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7967477196

A sunny, mild day with a very light wind coming from the south, a moderate temperature and no chance of rain, according to the forecast. I was tired, from having to stay up until 0215 last night (and the night before) to perform scheduled work for a customer that took (literally) all of ten seconds each time. But I wanted to do a fondo nonetheless, especially since I hadn’t found the time to ride a bike for a few days. Perfect conditions for the southbound route.

I left work as soon as I could. I wanted to take the Cannondale as a test ride, since it has two new wheels. But as I examined it in the garage I noticed that the front tyre was completely flat. Now – it may well be that I let all the air out myself to fit the front wheel on through the brake pads, but I certainly wasn’t going to take the risk. So I took the X, also due a test ride since its recent service.

It’s not really a great idea to do a long ride on a newly-serviced bike, just in case one of the new cables haven’t been fitted properly, or the headset hasn’t been tightened properly, or a bolt hasn’t been torqued correctly. Or whatever. However I was keen to verify that all was well with it (and in particular that the freehub had been fixed; it had been sticking). So that was a risk I was prepared to take.

Really nice out there. I stopped at my favourite village shop at Gilmorton on the way down and treated myself to a bit of a feast there. Warm enough to sit at the table outside. And it was here that I realised that I hadn’t brought my LED torch, which I’d intended to use as a front light. I did have a head torch with me, and a flashy blinker – but I wasn’t sure that this particular head torch would be adequate to light the country lanes in front of me on the way back. I’d done 25 miles at this point. It would probably be wiser to turn for home, once I’d finished my coffee. But I decided to go for the fondo distance regardless and hope for the best.

I didn’t go all the way down to Welford and the Northamptonshire border, as I normally would. I turned back as soon as I’d done the requisite fondo mileage (factoring in that I would take a slightly longer route on the way back by going along Wood Road a few miles from home).

It all went well. No problems with the bike, it’s rolling very nicely, the freehub isn’t sticking any more and all the gear changes were fine. It would be an exaggeration to say that the head torch was adequate, but I got away with it. Very enjoyable run out except for the idiot in a beanie hat near Stoney, who, while overtaking another oncoming vehicle, decided to aim his car at me and swerve away at the last minute for a laugh.

Saw a bright yellow helicopter hovering maybe ten metres above a field about 200 metres away near Newbold Verdon. It was there for at least two minutes, can’t imagine what that was about. And I had a lovely view of a glider coming in to land at Husbands Bosworth airfield.

Back on 62.56 miles, that was the 24th fondo of the year and the third this month. It could well be a quadruple-fondo October!

https://www.strava.com/activities/7958847090

Definitely a fondo day today. With the wind forecast to come from the west, I plotted a route last night that would combine the Upper Westbound route (up over Swarkestone Bridge, west along the Beloved A Road) with the Lower Westbound route on the way back, the two being joined by a route down through the A515 and Abbots Bromley.

I set off at 10:05. I was tempted to take the X so I could check it out following its service, but that would have been unwise for a long ride. So I rolled out the Boardman again.

A few puddles but nothing unavoidable. Unfortunately rather than going straight up to Melbourne I drifted up through Peggs Green and up Top Brand, on autopilot. I just wasn’t thinking about what I was doing. I got back on track by taking a detour through Breedon and Lount for a change, rather than Isley Walton and King’s Newton, which would be my usual method to get to Melbourne from there.

And when I arrived at the aforementioned Derbyshire town which shares its name with Australia’s second-most populous city, I realised that my misnavigation had added more than 6 miles onto my ride. I compensated for that by coming straight down to Yoxall on the southbound part of the ride, rather than all the way west and south (respectively) to Abbots Bromley and King’s Bromley. This meant that I came back through Walton and Coton rather than Alrewas, Croxall, Edingale and Lullington as I’d intended, but oh well – still a nice route.

Really a nice day out on the bike apart from an uphill slog for a mile coming down the A515. Cool in the morning, especially when the Sun disappeared behind a cloud but it was much warmer, and consistently sunny in the afternoon. I’d brought a backpack to stuff layers of clothes into, fortunately.

I judged the distance pretty well following the navigation hiccup and the compensatory short cut later on; just had to take a detour through Ibstock over the last couple of miles to finish on the fondo distance. Back on 62.56 miles. 204 done this month, target is 350 but I hope I can tack on the deficit from last month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7931564857

Another mild evening, another opportunity to bag another 30-odd miles. A moderate wind was coming from the south. I thought I’d go up and west along the A road, although of course this would mean a bit of a headwind over the last few miles.

However – once I was over Swarkestone Bridge I decided to go the other way and penetrate Derby from the south. I took Infinity Park Way, leading to the Rolls-Royce test centre and Aerospace Campus. RR has a lot of real estate over there, it’s no wonder they’re the city’s largest employer.

Rather than come back the same way once I reached the test centre like I have in the past, I followed a signpost into the city centre. From there I just kept going, following my nose. A nice feeling to be back in Derby. I’ve been feeling quite nostalgic about the place recently. Although despite having lived there a total of 12 years, I had no idea where I was. At one point I saw a place called Oakwood Nursery. Could I possibly have found my way to Oakwood, the part of Derby where I’d bought a house in 1991? Surely I couldn’t have, unless I’d pedalled through a worm hole?

I hadn’t, it was just the name of the nursery.

Anyway I found my way to a crossroads with a busy main road. I looked right, and saw the “Spider” – the name given by Derby folk (hi) to a roundabout with pedestrian bridges crossing it. I knew exactly where I was then, and a left turn took me straight back to Swarkestone, three miles later. I came back home through Belton, Thringstone and Coalville for a change rather than straight down Top Brand and Coleorton.

I saw a dead crow hanging in a tree near Donington Park. It was suspended by its head, claws dangling. I suppose it must have died in the tree then got its head caught in a branch. Bit of an eerie sight.

I heard my phone ring in my pocket just after I crossed Swarkestone Bridge on the way up. I ignored it, because I’m not on call. But I stopped to check MS Teams on my phone anyway. I saw a message from an HR operative at our head office in Massachussets, asking me to call her.

Uh oh.

I sent back a message to say that I was out on a bike, could she email? “Please call me when you have five minutes”, was the reply. I called her there and then by the roadside, slightly hesitantly. She was phoning to apologise about something. She’d given an award for something to someone else called James in the company when it was intended for me, because she got our surnames mixed up. I laughed.

Looking at the track on Strava I didn’t penetrate Derby very far, but I did visit a part of it (Boulton) where I’d never been before. Perhaps I’ll work out a route that takes me to my old house, it’s not easy though to avoid dual carriageways.

Back on 39.0 miles, which my spreadsheet tells me is the median distance so far this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7922317417

Bravo, WD40 Degreaser!

I gave the cassette off the Cannondale a quick seeing to with GT85 and an old toothbrush to get the thick of the gunk off. It did do that, but it was still pretty black. This morning I felt guilty about not doing the job properly so I disassembled the cassette completely and sprayed all the bits with WD40 Degreaser. Left it on 5 minutes and the remaining grime just rubbed straight off.

Some of the Shimano branding also came off the locking ring, but I’m not too bothered about that. About half of the bristles fell out of the old toothbrush I was using, as well. Life is hard.

Gave all the cogs a good wash with detergent and dried everything carefully. Will put them on the new wheel this afternoon.

If you’ve never disassembled a Shimano cassette before, no need to worry about putting it back together. The splines on the freehub are designed so that you can only fit the cogs on the right way round, and unless you’re blind you won’t put them back in the wrong order.

Rather than tackle the sticky freehub on the X myself I’ve taken it for a proper service this morning, should have it back later this afternoon. Includes the following, not bad for £80. The guy lives 6 miles away so pretty handy and he’s very well reviewed.

I don’t like to chicken out of doing it myself but I may well get him to swap the freehub off the old Boardman rear wheel onto the old Cannondale Fulcrum 5.

I still have to put the cassette from the Fulcrum 5 onto the new Campag wheel. I’ve given it a bit of a clean, it was filthy.

Bike safe snowfoam jet wash
Frame inspected for wear & damage
Suspension bearings inspected for wear & play
Bottom bracket bearings checked
Headset bearings checked
Wheel bearings checked
Wheels trued
Brakes bled and aligned
Brake pads checked for wear
Drivetrain components removed, degreased & checked for wear
Jockey wheels checked for wear & play
Inner cables replaced
Forks & shocks checked for wear and play
Complete re assembly, lube & tuning
All bolts and fittings torqued
Silicon finish applied to frame to help prevent dirt sticking (and make it smell nice )

Quite a nice late afternoon, dry and almost warm with a light wind coming from the south. Hadn’t been down the southbound route for a while and I thought I’d do at least 36 miles, to get the October tally up to 100.

Got as far as Stoney Stanton (after 18 miles) then turned for home. After Earl Shilton though I decided I’d keep going along Leicester Road rather than turn off for Kirkby Mallory – just to give myself a navigating challenge. I have done this before and (as I’d forgotten) it’s not that pleasant during the rush hour. But I too a turn left for Desford after about a mile.

Thought I’d be able to navigate home from Desford easily enough but no, I took the wrong turn at the T junction there. I ended up taking a route through Desford that I hadn’t done for about five years but I found my way out easily enough.

Dark by the time I got home. I quite like this time of year in that you can combine daytime and nighttime cycling on the same ride after work. I came home through Hugglescote for a change, something I do rarely.

Leaned down to switch off the rear light when I got back to the garage, only to find that it was already off. In fact the rear lens and two AA batteries were absent. They must have popped off when I went over a bump. Still – it only cost about £3.

Lots of ladies out in tight jogging pants.

Listened mostly to coverage from the Conservative Party conference on 5 Live, none of it very sympathetic of course.

Back on 37.92 miles. Happy to have got 102 miles in over the first three days of the month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7906525075

Very decent weather today apart from a stiff wind coming from the west. I’m on call at the moment but it’s been very quiet, and I thought I’d risk a fondo.

I decided to go up onto the Beloved A Road south of Derby and go west. But I did make a concession to being on call by going NE through Donington to Cavendish Bridge rather than over Swarkestone Bridge, to minimise my distance from base at the point I’d need to turn back.

Got as far as Sudbury after about 35 miles, then turned back. When I got to my ’20 miles to go’ point in Hilton (a hairdresser’s called The Salon) I realised I’d have to stretch the ride a bit if I came home the usual way over Swarkestone Bridge. So I detoured via Ticknall, rather than coming down through Melbourne and Coleorton.

I did think I should probably give Bastard Hill a try, to see how I got on since I haven’t done it for a long time – but I decided to leave that to a day when I had a lighter bike with me and took a further detour through Hartshorne to give it a miss.

Nice out there, especially with a tailwind on the way back. I did get spotted with rain for 15 minutes, but it was very light. And the sun came out later on.

I listened to 6 Music early on. Radcliffe and Maconie had an interview with Lenny Kaye about psychedelic music that was really good, what an interesting guy. They played an Electric Prunes tune that was a ringer for the old Nancy Sinatra / Lee Hazelwood tune Summer Wine. Later Huey played a Megadeth tune that was clearly a ripoff of the old TPOH song I’m An Adult Now.

Later I listened to the footy on 5 Live, Liverpool vs Brighton. The south coast side got my hopes up by bagging two goals in the first eighteen minutes, but I wasn’t surprised when, just as I was arriving home, Salah had made it 3-2 to Liverpool. I must admit I was surprised to find out, later, that Brighton had equalised and nabbed a point.

Along Manchester Lane near Hartshorne, I witnessed an altercation between a hawk of some sort and a pigeon on the road in front of me. The hawk was definitely on top, figuratively and literally. Feathers were flying. It had its victim in its claws. As I drew close though the hawk retreated and the slightly distressed-looking pigeon flew off. Unless the hawk caught up with it later, I saved its life there.

Back on 64.04 miles. After a disappointing September, nice to have got the October fondo in at the first time of asking.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7895220011

A dry afternoon, didn’t leave work quite as early as I’d have liked but I thought I’d get another 30 or so in. For a change I thought I’d do 15 miles or so along the route to Wales, then come back the same way – a bit of the “lower westbound” route, in other words.

That all went very well until I found myself approaching Coton in the Elms, at which point I realised I must have missed a turn. But I’d already done 12 miles at this point so I wasn’t bothered really. I just followed a road sign to Walton, and kept on keepin’ on.

The thought did occur to me that I was in entirely new territory here, on a road that I’d never done before. I got as far as a queue of traffic for the narrow bridge over the Trent at Walton, then I decided to come back rather than wait to cross the bridge. I thought that trying to find the same way back by remembering the turns might be a bit of a challenge but it wasn’t, and I realised that I hadn’t been on a new bit of road at all.

Beautiful out there in the early evening sunshine. Glorious. I should do that route more often. For some reason I only really go that way on much longer rides, usually. It just feels out of my comfort zone, out of my sense of territory to go over that way. Daft really.

Anyway – back on 32.03 miles, which brings this month’s total to 273 miles, and that’s probably it for September. My target was 350 miles, and this is the first time ever that I’ve failed to hit a monthly target.

A cruel and unusual set of circumstances combined to defeat me. A holiday to Portugal and Spain at the beginning of the month. A dose of COVID took me out for a few days. A kidney stone wrote off one weekend. I had to go to visit relatives last weekend. And finally, it’s a 30-day month. I reckon that the absence of any one of these five factors would have seen me scrape through to 350 miles, but anyway as a damage limitation exercise, I’m pretty happy to have managed 78% of the target. 4130 done this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7881759025

It was a dismal day until 4pm or so, when the rain dried up and the sun came out. It was cold though and a moderate wind was blowing from the north.

I set off in the direction of Swarkestone Bridge, thinking of doing a bit of the Beloved A Road, then coming back through Ticknall – however after Swarkestone I decided I’d go east to Donington through Weston, Aston and Shardlow.

I wrapped up warm and it was actually quite nice out there, especially when I wasn’t pedalling into the wind. As I passed the airport it occurred to me that I very rarely see aircraft take off and land there when I’m going past. Just unlucky, perhaps.

My GPS bike computer ran out of juice after 20 miles so I had to use a GPS logger app on my phone to record the rest of the ride. I stitched the tracks together before uploading to Strava.

Properly dark by the time I got back. But of course, I’d brought lights. 33.51 miles. 241 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7871698645