Bike Diary

A very cold day, but the temperature was just about up above freezing by the time I set off in the afternoon and the wind from the west was fairly light. Wasn’t sure what to do really. I thought of going up to Derby but I didn’t. I went up over Swarkestone Bridge via Top Brand, west along the A road as far as Willington, then I decided to try a route I’d thought of while poring over old GPS tracks, down through Repton, Hartshorne and Ashby.

Unfortunately this didn’t turn out to be a great idea. The road between Repton and Hartshorne is gross, really lumpy and badly surfaced. This evening it was wet, as well. Especially annoying in the dark, even with a powerful front light. I was very happy to make it to Hartshorne, which is more familiar territory.

I think I may have done that road before, and made a mental note not to do it again. Unfortunately the cerebral ink with which I metaphorically scribble those reminders is prone to fading, these days.

Just checked and I did it two years ago tomorrow: “I don’t think I’ll do that route between Willington and Ashby again, or at least not between Willington and Hartshorne. It’s very rural and quiet and almost reminiscent of the lake district, being lined by hills. But it’s too climby”, I wrote.

A few specks of snow near Swarkestone but otherwise no precipitation.

Back on 33.62 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8408185027

Decent weather, not too cold but with a possibility of rain in the afternoon. I set off just before 1100 to do some of the Lower Westbound route through Lullington and Edingale.

I got as far as Hill Ridware having done 25 miles, then decided to come back.

I actually wrapped up a bit too warm. Milder than I expected. Mostly sunny on the way out but patchy light rain and drizzle on the way back.

I was followed by a learner driver between Heather and Measham. I had about half a mile of visibly clear road in front of me, but she spent about ten minutes deliberating whether to overtake, and holding up a queue of traffic behind her.

I started a new audiobook, Ian Fleming’s The Man With The Golden Gun. I read most of the Bond novels in the ’90s but I skipped that one, because I’d already read it in the ’70s. Nice to be reacquainted with it, it’s a cracking story. Then I listened to footy on 5 Live, Chelsea vs Palace.

I don’t often do a 50 mile ride without doing a fondo, but today was one of those days. Perhaps I should have but given the weather I don’t feel as though I’ve missed out.

Back on 51.70 miles. 256 done this month. If I can get that up to 400 before February kicks in I’ll be happy.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8397364137

Left work early, and with a strong wind coming from the west, decided on a Twycrosser. Wanted to do at least 34 miles, to get the January distance tally up to 200 miles. Did a fairly long version, with a detour to Orton and went all the way down to Fenny Drayton.

Really enjoyed gliding along Fenn Lanes with a tailwind in the dusk.

Just checked to see if I penetrated Warwickshire but nope, I merely flirted with it. I do believe I’ve still only done Derbyshire and Staffordshire this year.

Back on 38.86 miles, 205 done this year.

Hope the wind changes direction soon, I fancy a run out east.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8386379154

I don’t often ride on consecutive days but I didn’t do a great distance yesterday and I wasn’t going to this evening, so – with the weather looking iffy tomorrow, I decided to see if I could crank out another 30 miles or so. I do want to get the year off to a good start with a decent tally for January, so I can get the remaining monthly totals down a bit. Currently they’re higher than last year.

I set off with no particular plan other than to go roughly west, but I’d decided to do a Twycross Bypasser within half a mile of setting off. So I did.

Quite cold out there, a bit colder than yesterday although I set off later in the day.

Nice view of Mars just above the horizon along Sibson Road, about half an hour after sunset. Very dark by the time I was pedalling along Gibbet Lane. Spotty rain for a few minutes near Shackerstone, but I wasn’t bothered.

Listened mostly to 5 Live, and the reaction to Gareth Bale’s decision to retire.

Back on 32.82 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8364960689

My cycling goals for today weren’t overly ambitious, because rain was due over this afternoon and I was keen to avoid it, if possible. Also, the conditions weren’t particularly nice – overcast and a little damp, with wet roads. With a stiff wind coming from the south, I thought I’d do 15 miles or so of the southbound route, then come back.

However – instead of turning right along Kirkby Lane after ten miles, I kept going as far as Desford. From there I found my way to Markfield, where I took this pic, along Altar Stones Lane.

I’ve only ever known Altar Stones Lane as a very quiet dead end; the location of a couple of farm houses and a cattery. There’s no through road to anywhere else. But I’ve been nerding out over old OS maps recently, here: https://maps.nls.uk/os/6inch-england-and-wales/

It turns out that before the M1 was built, this road was the main road between Markfield and Coalville. Then when the M1 was opened in the ’60s, Altar Stones Lane was connected directly to it. Traffic would have come barreling along here straight off (or toward) the motorway junction, about 200 metres from the bike in this pic. Then finally, some time in the ’80s I think (certainly before I lived in Markfield in 1989/90) a bypass was built to take the M1 traffic out of the village, and the lane became the quiet, secluded little dead end that it is today.

I suppose the folks who lived along there must have been horrified when the M1 came along, then elated when the A50 bypass was built, after which their little corner of Leicestershire became quieter even than it was 100 years ago.

Came back home from Markfield an unusual way, through Stanton under Bardon. Very annoyingly, there was only one puddle of any significance along Stanton Lane, and I was overtaken by only one motor vehicle there, a white van. You can guess what happened. I should have stopped a reasonable distance from the puddle after I saw it in my mirror, but I thought I had enough momentum to take me past the puddle by the time the van passed me. I didn’t. Of course it would have been nice if the van driver had tried to avoid the puddle, or slowed down a bit. Oh well.

As it happened a Biblical downpour was visited upon me about a mile from home, so in the end it didn’t matter. I was soaked by the time I made it to the garage. But I gave the bike a good wipe down; I think it’s cleaner than it’s been for months now!

Back on 27.42 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8358707424

This afternoon’s mission, should I choose to accept it – was to do at least 33 miles, to tip the January total into treble figures. And with a strong wind coming from the west I decided to go up over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the Beloved A Road. The “Upper Westbound Route”, as I call it.

I did that as far as Derby Airfield, then turned back. Dark by this time. I’d done about 18 miles. The headwind had been a real irritation, but it was a joy in tailwind mode. Very mild out there, as well. I do enjoy gliding along the A road in the dark.

Decided I wanted to do something a bit different on the way back down so I detoured through Wilson. Only ever done that two or three times and I didn’t know the way back but I was less than 9 miles from home after Melbourne so I wasn’t going to get seriously lost. I rolled through Breedon, then Worthington and Newbold. Hadn’t been through those latter two locations for years. Used to do them quite often five or six years ago, on my old hybrid.

Bit spooky out there in the dark between Breedon and Worthington, mostly because I didn’t really know where I was, I suppose. But I rejoined the usual route shortly after Newbold.

I used my Canmore GPS tracker, something I bought on a retail therapy whim years ago. Glad to see the internal battery’s held up nicely. It has a rubbishy little LCD screen that’s hard to read properly on the handlebars but apart from that, it works well. I also tested a new watch that I bought for night cycling. Nothing fancy, a cheap Timex, but it proved to be nicely legible in the dark thanks to its bright white dial and high contrast hands, even without using the ‘Indiglo’ electro-luminescent dial function.

It was a clear night with a very bright Moon. Definitely added to the experience. Very enjoyable run out, only slightly marred (once again) by a few idiots in oncoming cars with full beam on.

One odd thing – I put my rear light onto flashing mode, but I looked down to check it a few miles from home and it wasn’t flashing. It was stuck in “on” mode fortunately, but it didn’t respond to the power switch. Couldn’t turn it off. I had to take the batteries out for ten minutes after I got home to get it working properly again. Its little processor must have crashed!

Back on 37.87 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8338637559

The last day of the Christmas hols and a dry, sunny and fairly mild one although the roads were still a bit wet from rain yesterday.

Hoped to do about 40 miles though I did think I might just stretch that to a fondo. With a light wind coming from the west I decided on the Lower Westbound Route, out through Lullington, Edingale and King’s Bromley. Quite nice out there and I seemed to have plenty of energy despite hoovering a few Scotches last night so I kept going up through Abbots Bromley to Bagot’s Wood, where I decided to turn back after 32 miles.

I took a wrong turn on the way back after Abbots Bromley but that was fine. I followed a sign to Yoxall and I knew that would take me back to the usual route eventually. Actually quite a fortuitous mistake. Hadn’t done that stretch of road between Abbots and Yoxall before. I quite liked it.

What wasn’t quite so fortuitous though was that, no doubt prompted by taking an unusual route into King’s Bromley, I missed the turn there and went some way off course, to the south. With the sun due to go down before long I resorted to Google Maps. I plotted a route to get back on track that involved a two mile stretch of A38. I wasn’t thrilled about that, but I reasoned that the Bank Holiday traffic would be light, and fortunately I didn’t get killed. I did get beeped at a couple of times. But it’s perfectly legal to ride a bike along there. It’s just not particularly sensible.

Back the usual way after that and home on 67.79 miles.

I listened to Adrian Chiles on 5 Live, then Rangers v Celtic. Then LBC.

This year’s target is 4540 miles, which would maintain my average of just over 20km per day since Jan 1st 2015.

I ticked two of the neighbouring counties boxes with this ride; Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8327391445

Tomorrow’s weather forecast tells me no more cycling in 2022 so that’s a wrap for this year.

It was a pretty good cycling year, I think. I did Norfolk and back again which was very enjoyable. I did Wales and back as well, which I’d only done once, a few years ago. But no new long routes. I definitely need to plan something different for 2023. York and back, maybe. But I do want to do Norfolk and back again.

I fell short of my monthly target for September, which is a first. But I exceeded it every other month, quite substantially in some cases.

A comparison of this year’s stats with last year’s: I did one more ride in 2021 apparently. Surprisingly consistent. But my average distance was higher in 2022 and I did three more fondos. But one fewer 100 milers.

I only did 180 miles on my S Works this year, which seems a shame. And only 538 on the Roubaix, although I really only use it for unusually long rides. I’m surprised to note that Boardman I has been overtaken by Boardman II as the most used bike. Boardman I has better wheels in theory, although Boardman II has carbon forks. I got more use out of the Cannondale in 2022 than in 2021 which is nice, as it’s still my favourite bike. It’s had brand new wheels this year.

Every year I set myself the target of visiting all of the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire, and I’d done that by 25th February this year (30th March last year). That just depends on the weather, really.

I didn’t do any new counties this year. The last time I did that was August 2020, when I penetrated Gloucestershire. Perhaps I’ll aim for a new one in 2023.

Another break in the miserable weather and probably the last cycling opportunity of the year. I wanted to do about 45 miles, to preserve my 2022 average distance. The wind was blowing from the SE, but I thought I’d go up through Coleorton over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the Beloved A Road as usual.

However – I’d hatched a different plan within about half a mile of setting off. Instead I decided to go up Top Brand. At some point along Top Brand, I had the idea of going up through Castle Donington then through Shardlow towards Derby. So I did that. Must say it was delightfully sentimental to be rolling along the road between Shardlow and Derby. I used to go to work that way (in a car of course) back in 1989. Happy memories, can’t believe it’s 33 years ago now.

I took a right to Borrowash. I’d decided to take my old route into Derby from Nottingham, from the time I worked at Nottingham University. I only ever did that on a bike three or four times but I called in at Spondon Railway station, from where I used to take my bike to Nottingham and back on a train every day in the late noughties. I hadn’t been there for about 14 years; quite a strange thought given how familiar it seemed. Next, I went up Acorn Way to Oakwood, where I bought a house in 1991. Again – just indulging my sentimental side, but I find that as I grow older, the past seems to become ever more important.

After rolling through Oakwood for a bit I took an opportunistic turn up Morley Road. I doubt I’ve been along there since the early ’90s. Nice to see pubs I’d forgotten about are still there.

I came back much the same way, except that I went through Chaddesden in Derby, just to look around. And I detoured through Diseworth after Donington.

Back on 56.45 miles, which takes me to 397 this month and 5477 for the year.

I listened to Talk Radio for a change. I quite enjoyed Mike Graham but Cristo Foufas, who followed him, wanted to talk about COVID and has more than a whiff of tin foil about him, sadly. Very irritating to hear someone who knows next to nothing about public health matters assume he knows more than Chris Whitty, although some of his callers were worse. Pretty annoying to listen to a retired school janitor pontificating about genome sequencing.

Anyway. That was one of my favourite rides of the year probably. Much more fun than if I’d just done one of my usual routes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8307902343

The roads were wet from overnight precipitation but a rain free, sunny day was promised. Had a date with a cocktail bar later in the afternoon, but I wanted to do about 40. With the wind coming from the south, the plan was to do the southbound route – but detour to Markfield (again) on the way back.

Just for a change I went down through Donington le Heath instead of Ibstock. A shorter route, but involves more climbing. Oddly – just looked at the track on Strava – I seem to have taken a wrong turn, then recovered without realising it.

I got as far as Broughton Astley before deciding to turn back. From Kirkby Mallory I took Peckleton Lane in search of Markfield, but I didn’t find it. I did a bizarre, meandering route through Desford that ultimately led me back to the usual route. So I gave up on Markfield. But I do like to do something a bit different over the Christmas hols, so I took a road to Barlestone rather than coming back up through Bagworth or Battram. Just by following my nose I ended up looping back onto the A47, so I gave up being adventurous and just came home the direct way through Ibstock – apart from a little wrinkle where I took a wrong turn at the double roundabout.

I took this pic near the Caterpillar works at Desford. The aircraft display is intended to commemorate a twin-engine trainer that was built there after WW2, when the site was an RAF airfield. I think the red, white & blue decorations were added for the Platinum Jubilee.

Mild out there, pleasant in the sun. I had to roll through a couple of inches of water once or twice – some of the roads round here turn into shallow rivers after a downpour – but that’s what winter bikes are for.

Back on 44.76 miles. 340 done this month, 5420 this year. I’m sure I’ll get out again a couple more times before the end of the year, but I’m quite happy with that.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8286515341