Wanted to do at least 24 yesterday, to get the March mile total up to 500. But I had time for 30 or so. I did a longish version of the Twycross Bypasser. Nice and dry again, only a light wind, not too cold. And of course that extra hour of daylight is very handy.
Quiet out there again of
course. A few cyclists, a few joggers. Not many cars. One canoeist,
paddling along the canal at Snarestone. I went right down to the A5 near
Atherstone at the bottom of the route; I only ever did that twice
before deciding I was taking my life into my own hands. But today I
guessed that it would be safe enough, and it was. It’s only half a mile
of A5 anyway.
Took the short cut to Bosworth via Shenton from Fenn Lanes and stopped for a while at the bench dedicated to Judith Birch, as pictured below. Such a peaceful spot.
Ended up on 35.27 miles, a bit more than I intended.
That’s a wrap for March then, 512 miles. 1224 this year.
I wanted to do 20 or 30. A Twycross Bypasser seemed the obvious choice;
not far from home and mostly discreet quiet roads. Not really the right
climate for a long ride, meteorologically or indeed socially.
After
the brief teaser of spring we had last week, the cold, windy weather is
back again. Back on with the tights, the helmet cover and three layers
on top. But the roads were dry so I took the X.
I could feel the
wind pushing me along a bit going SW down through Snarestone and Norton,
so I knew I’d have a spot of bother pushing back on the second half of
the ride, up through Sibson, Congerstone, Shackerstone and Heather. And
so it proved; a fairly brutal cold headwind.
A few joggers and other cyclists about. The B-roads and lesser country lanes don’t feel much different, but the two mile stretch along the A444 seemed eerily quiet.
The
stretch between Shackerstone and Heather is covered with chunks of
dried mud and stones at the moment; bloody annoying. The owners are
supposed to clear up after their vehicles but they never do, at least
not round here.
The sun did come out for brief periods. Which was nice.
Improbably,
a discarded underwear sighting about a mile from home, along Heather
Lane. White, skimpy and lacy with a little gold bow. I observed this
from an appropriate distance, of course.
Beautiful day. Bright sunshine and not much more than a breath of wind. I
left work early to take up the Prime Minister’s suggestion to suspend
myself from house arrest and get a bit of exercise.
I took the S
Works again, partly because I had so much fun with it on Monday and
partly because I wanted to test the angular adjustment to the handlebars
that I put into effect at lunchtime.
Quite a strange experience to be out on a bike in the present circumstances. I thought a simple Twycrosser was the best plan. I decided to do the longer detour that actually bypasses Twycross via Orton, but for reasons I can’t particularly explain, I took the turn to Appleby Magna instead of Orton. I didn’t actually realise I’d gone wrong until I was heading south out of Appleby. By this time I was heading to Austrey on a road I’d never been along before, which interestingly took me past some sort of transmitter tower that I’d often noticed from a distance.
From Austrey I followed a sign to Twycross. That was a rather nice stretch. The bit between Appleby and Austrey had involved a steep climb and descent, so I don’t think I’ll make it a regular feature.
Found
myself on the A444 not long after taking the above pic. But today I
didn’t mind that at all, the traffic was very quiet. From Twycross I
took a fairly typical route home through Sheepy, Sibson, Barton, Odstone
et al. Came back home through Ibstock rather than Heather. Ibstock felt
a bit more normal, with a few cars and vans running around.
Really
a glorious run out in perfect cycling weather; the spring sunshine was
almost warm. The first legs out day of the year is always a red letter
occasion, though I dare say the tights will make a comeback soon. So
nice to have summer bike weather back for a bit; the S Works rolls along
beautifully. There’s a twisty pair of curves following a fast descent
coming north of Bosworth that’s slightly hairy on the Boardman or the X,
but on the S Works when you get down in the drops you go round like
you’re on rails.
I saw 8 or 9 other cyclists out, which made me
feel a bit more comfortable riding around during what has been termed a
“lockdown”. But at no point was I in any danger of interacting with
anyone in such a way as to make the transfer of an infection a realistic
proposition, and I don’t think I was putting myself at significant risk
of hospitalisation.
Normally I wouldn’t go cycling the day after a long ride, but since it was a beautifully sunny day again, and since my knees didn’t seem to be complaining today, I decided I’d go out for a spin on the S Works while I still can. Who knows if I’ll still be allowed to a month, or even a week from now?
First thought as I set off, at about 16:25: What the Actual Fuck? The saddle seemed far too low, almost as if I was riding a kid’s bike with my knees swinging up round my chin. I’d raised the saddle on the Boardmans (Boardmen?), the X, the Tricross and the hybrid, but hadn’t bothered yet with the Cannondale or the S Works. And although the higher riding position felt odd at first, in the months since I last took the Spesh out, it has become the new normal.
I
U-turned to the garage to made a quick and cautious adjustment. It’s a
carbon seat post but I don’t think I over-tightened it; I didn’t bother
with a torque wrench. And I set off again.
What a joy it is to ride – zippy, effortless and refined. I wanted to be back by sunset and only wanted to do 15 or 20 in any case. I did a ‘Truncated Twycross’ with the left turn to cut across to Congerstone, then Barton. A bit of a cool headwind going east to Barton, but other than that pleasant and spring-like. It’s weird though that there’s so little traffic at that time of the afternoon.
A couple of other cyclists around, and quite a few joggers. I exchanged a smile or a friendly nod with most of them. A lad walking a dog near Bilstone looked a bit afraid when he saw me coming. Two geese in the road at Odstone were unhappy about something, just standing there and doing that odd squawky bark thing they do.
Back just on sunset. Nice run out.
The
PM is making an address to the nation in 25 minutes as I type, which
suggests to me that fairly Draconian measures are coming – given that he
was prepared to announce closures to pubs and restaurants at a mere
press conference. So I do wonder, not that it’s the most important thing
in the bigger picture, what restrictions affecting cycling might be
about to come into force.
Beautiful sunny day today, lovely weather except for low temperatures in
the morning, and a moderate wind blowing from the east. Given the wind
conditions I’d thought of going south, but instead I decided to head out
east, and tick the final neighbouring county box for 2020. I felt that
my mood was better suited to an easy, more familiar route.
I set
off on the X at about 0925. The headwind on the way out east was
annoying, but not a struggle. Got to Belvoir Castle and noticed a lot of
cars in the car park there. Plenty of people sitting around having
picnics on the benches, even though the cafe was closed, sometimes in
groups of four or five. I wondered if they were from the same household.
Normally
I’d stop at a pub, or a cafe or a shop but this time I’d brought enough
stuff to keep myself fuelled for the whole trip, including a bottle of
Mars Drink – which is just the job to keep you going on a long ride. It
comes in a bottle with a bidon-style nozzle, unfortunately a bit slimmer
than a bidon but I found that it stayed in the rear bottle cage. I do
have an adjustable bottle cage actually, which would have been just the
job. But I haven’t fitted it to a bike yet. It will go on the
Cannondale, probably.
This was the first ride for months that I managed to avoid any running or standing water completely.
Got
to the border with Lincolnshire at Woolsthorpe (above), went over it
for a bit then came straight back. Stopped at the bench at Eastwell on
the way back, six miles later. Conditions had warmed up a bit and I
removed my helmet cover and outer layer, and stuffed them into my
backpack. I adjusted my hijab to tubular neckscarf mode. Very enjoyable
ride on the way back with no headwind. Bright sunshine the whole way.
Lovely.
I thought that this was the Woolsthorpe where Sir Isaac
Newton was born, and where he was inspired by a falling apple. But
apparently that Woolsthorpe is about 8 miles to the south-east of this
one.
Pretty quiet out there in the main, but there were quite a few other cyclists on the roads.
The
two Energizer AAs I popped in the DAB just before setting off lasted
7hr 40 mins before I switched it off, and I’d guess they still have an
hour or so left in them.
That was my 7th Fondo this year; 76.35
miles, 393 this month. 1105 done in 2020 which means that I’m 545 ahead
of this time last year. But for how long?
A sunny afternoon but I had to stay at work longer than I wanted, due to
a meeting. I rolled the Tricross out of the garage at about 16:55. I
hadn’t been out on it for a few weeks. Had to be back home by about
18:30 ideally, so it was a short one. A ‘Truncated Twycrosser’, the
version that cuts across to Congerstone as a short cut just before
Twycross.
Tuned in to the Prime Ministerial press conference at
5pm, and heard the announcement that bars, restaurants, gyms, cafes, etc
are all going to be forced to close. I confess to feeling a sort of
anxious, low frequency dread in these uncertain times. As much for the
potential damage to society and people’s lives in the wider sense, as
the threat to everyone’s health.
As I turned eastward at Little
Twycross, I was confronted by a cold, pitiless wind that seemed to
moderate only slightly when I steered northward from Congerstone, in the
fading light. Beautifully, poetically morbid conditions. Perfect for my
mood.
You might think that getting out of the house on a bike would be a welcome diversion at the moment, but the relative stillness at rush hour was actually a bit disquieting. As I passed the Queen’s Head at Heather in the early evening gloom, I glanced through the window to see a couple of middle-aged men nursing their pints at one of the tables. They looked a bit glum, or possibly a little bewildered. I assume they’d heard the news. But they won’t be in there tomorrow night.
I either
miscalculated the time, or wasn’t concentrating properly. I was back a
while after sunset. I did have a rear light on, but not even a little
silicone strappy blinker at the front.
I only encountered one
human being, not counting a couple of passing cars. A young woman
walking two dogs near Little Twycross. I’m pleased to report that I
maintained a distance of at least three metres. I’m quite sure we
exchanged nothing more harmful than a smile.
Seems a bit
frivolous at the moment to be counting miles pedalled on a circular
route then adding them to a spreadsheet, but hey ho. 18.95, 317 this
month.
Lovely sunny day. I left work early, at about 15:20 and decided the
conditions were sufficiently spring-like to warrant this year’s first
run out on the X.
A bit windy and colder than I expected,
unfortunately. I wanted to do at least 25, to get the 2020 mile count
into four figures. I did a ‘Twycross Bypasser’ that curves round
Twycross to the west, via Orton.
For the first time in months, I
went along Mythe Lane at the south-west end of the route. I’ve been
avoiding it on the grounds that it would most likely be flooded, but
today it wasn’t. There was a bit of standing water around here and
there, but it was easily avoided. Rolled over a few shallow wet patches.
Nothing to worry about.
The headwind was mildly aggressive for the first half of the ride but I enjoyed it overall. Back on 34.79 miles. Nice to come up through the villages north of Bosworth, hadn’t done that for a while.
I
listened to the PM’s press conference on a DAB while I was out. Really
surreal times. And out of interest, I’d already been paying particular
attention to my proximity to other people. I went within maybe 1.5
metres of joggers once or twice, and passed someone on the pavement at
Market Bosworth. I reckon that transferring a viral infection to someone
in the open air like that would be extremely unlikely, and therefore
even if fully “self isolating” rather than maintaining “social
distancing”, I should be OK to get out of the house on a bike once in a
while, provided I don’t visit shops or pubs.
But the French
government is apparently threatening “punishments” for those who engage
in “non-essential movement”, and who’s to say that won’t happen here, in
a few weeks? If it does, even an hour on my bike without going anywhere
near another person would be impossible.
But at least I’ve got a turbo trainer!
Anyway. Today’s outing takes me to 1010 miles in 2020, 298 this month.
Glanced at the weather forecast on Thursday night and was pleased to see
that only a light wind was expected for Friday. Not only that but it
was due to change direction at about 4pm, so that I could have a light
tailwind both ways, at least some of the time.
I decided to take
Friday off and have a run out eastward. I haven’t been over that way for
a while, mainly because of westerly winds. It’s not a lot of fun
fighting a headwind to come home. I decided to tick Rutland off the
neighbouring counties list.
Unfortunately the forecast had
changed by Friday morning, so that the wind was due to change direction
at about 6pm. I needed to be back by 6. But the expected wind velocity
was light enough that I didn’t think a headwind on the way back would be
too bothersome.
I set off at about 10:20. I couldn’t set off
much before then as I had to hang around in the house to get some BSP
gig tickets, available from 10:00.
I wrapped up decently warm but
was a bit too cold for the first hour or so. Later in the day with the
sun out I was a bit too warm. So I probably got the clothing balance
about right.
The most recent Rutland route takes the usual route
over toward Lincolnshire until Six Hills, when it plunges south-east
through Asfordby, Kirby Bellars, Great Dalby and Little Dalby. This was
the first time I’d turned along the B676 at Cotes without having ro roll
through water running across the road, although the fields around there
are still waterlogged.
I stopped at a little shop in Asfordby to get a few supplies, including a four-pack of AA batteries. The pair of AAs in my DAB had conked out about 15 minutes earlier. Annoyingly I went through the first pair in about an hour and five minutes and the second pair lasted about the same time. Supposedly Panasonics, and bearing the legend “Power your day!” on the packaging. Not really. I’d expect a pair of the cheapest Tesco AAs to last at least five or six hours in that particular DAB. Quite annoying as they cost me £2.58 for the pack of four. I have to wonder if they were counterfeit. I could get a pack of 12 Duracell alkaline AAs for £5.99 from Amazon, and a pair of those gives me about nine hours of 5 Live.
Normally
I would take spare batteries with me but I’d put a fresh alkaline pair
in just before setting off, which would normally last over nine hours. I
can only guess they were part-depleted. I do leave half-empty ones
lying around my mancave sometimes. Clearly I need to sharpen my battery
management skills.
I’d forgotten that the road down to Rutland
from Six Hills was so hilly. A bit galling to be descending a series of
long inclines, knowing that I’d have to push back up them. But it wasn’t
too bad. Quite nice to do that run again. One thing it does have in its
favour is that it’s extremely quiet, or at least it was yesterday.
Got to the Rutland sign by about 2pm. I penetrated Rutland for half a mile or so then turned back the way I came. Not long after reaching Zouch on the way back I could see clouds in the distance, spilling rain onto the Leicestershire landscape. I got caught in it about an hour from home, for about 25 minutes. Thoroughly unpleasant, prickly cold rain.
Anyway
.. just Lincolnshire left to do now, this year. But I’d quite like to
add a new non-neighbouring county to the list – Gloucestershire, maybe?
An
enjoyable run out, but probably not the best use of a day’s holiday
really. I should probably have kept it for a long, sunny day when I
could set off earlier and come home later than was possible this time.
No rain forecast for this afternoon. I had to work until 6pm, but I
started early and took an extended lunch break. Decided to do a
Twycrosser. I took the Boardman since I’d wrestled a near rear tyre onto
it on Sunday, and wanted to run it in and test it. Not too cold. Very
windy though.
A quintessential game of two halves, this one – for
most of the first half I had to struggle against a powerful headwind,
and despite the forecast, it rained on and off. But for the second half
the sun came out and I had the wind behind me. Big relief to turn away
from the oncoming wind at Sheepy Magna.
I took the picturesque route between Congerstone and Barton, and came home through Ibstock.
Interestingly, I saw another helicopter parked in the same spot in a field near Measham where I saw one a few weeks ago. I’d assumed that was an impromptu stop but I guess the landowner must rent it out as a sort of helipad. I stopped to take a pic. Definitely a different helicopter this time.
Slightly
embarrassingly, just as I turned back to the bike having taken the pic,
I noticed that a car had pulled up and two men in grey suits had just
got; one in his mid 50s, the other in his late 30s, with a sort of
physically imposing, military look about him. A close protection
operative?
They smiled politely, and were climbing over the stile as I mounted the bike and rode off.
It
passed overhead a few minutes later. Just Googled the registration
G-EMHE and it looks like it belongs to East Midlands Helicopters:
Home
on 26.07 miles. Only the third ride in March, mainly due to weather.
But I’m happy to have done 192 this month, and 904 this year. This time
last year, I’d done 464.
The weather has been mostly dismal this month, and up to yesterday I’d
only had a chance to get out on a bike once in March. But the weather
forecast was promising for Saturday. I checked it carefully on Friday –
no rain was forecast for the whole day, with a moderate wind blowing
from the south. That would normally suggest a run out down south of
course, but unusually, I bothered to check the weather to the south, and
it turned out that it was due to rain a bit further down. By Friday
night the weather boffins had decided that it would rain round these
parts as well, but interestingly no rain was forecast west of Chez Moi.
So I decided a trip out west was in order.
I thought it might be
fun to repeat part of the old Wales route, as far as Stone – I hadn’t
been much further than 20 miles along that route since I did Wales and
back in 2017. Stone is 42 miles from here. If I got up early enough, I’d
go a bit further.
I did get up early enough, and had mounted the
Boardman by 07:30. It was cold. I’d wrapped up warm with overshoes and
two pairs of gloves, but I was not comfortable. Still – as I always say,
I don’t choose to do these things because they’re easy.
I like
this route. Large stretches of it are pleasantly flat and the scenery is
pleasant. There’s a stretch of dual carriageway in an industrial
landscape at Rugeley, but even that is quite pleasant in its own way.
It’s not usually busy.
I stopped at the same shop at a village
called Sandon where I’d stopped on the Wales trip in May 2017. I chatted
to the lady behind the counter, who – it turned out – had just bought
it. She wanted to know how many miles I’d done. She was impressed that
I’d done 38 miles and even more so when I told her that I’d have to do
at least another 38 to get home. For non-cyclists the thought of doing
more than 10 miles or so on a bike can seem like an achievement, but
it’s easier than it sounds.
I refuelled at the bench outside her shop, then pressed on another three or four miles, to Stone. My intention was to continue on along the Wales route for another 7 or 8 miles, then turn back so that I’d clock up 100 on returning home. I’d managed to reach Stone without recourse to Google Maps thus far, but I took a wrong turn out of the town, along the A520. I realised I’d done this fairly quickly but wasn’t really bothered – 7 or 8 miles in any direction would do, and I was exploring a bit of new territory. This started to feel like a bit of a mistake before long, though – the A520 north of Stone is quite an interesting, twisty road that snakes through woods, reminiscent of the Lake District – but the road surface was wretched; rough and crumbly – and it was quite hilly as well. After a mile or so I decided I’d find a landmark to turn back from, but fortunately the road emerged into flatter, open territory and improved quite a bit. I pressed on and a few miles later, found myself on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent!
I
still hadn’t clocked up the requisite 50 miles, so I kept on keepin’
on. But as I penetrated Stoke, I found myself descending a series of
steep-ish inclines. I’d already given myself a bit of a climb to come
back and didn’t fancy making it worse, so I turned at a roundabout on 48
miles.
Back at Stone, I took a wrong turn again – this time
because I was in the wrong lane at a roundabout. But since I had to add a
few miles anyway I thought I’d see where it went, for a bit. I stopped
at a Travelodge, then consulted Google Maps for the first time. I’d been
entertaining the idea of a detour via Stafford Bingley Hall on the way
back but the road I was on didn’t seem too promising so I turned back to
the main route.
A few miles later, south of Sandon, I noticed a
regular bump-bump-bump – almost as if I was riding over a road with
little speed bumps. This seemed odd, as the road surface looked fine. I
disregarded it and didn’t notice it again until a few miles later. I
stopped, and examined both wheels. The rear tyre had a slight, but
noticeable bulge – it actually looked slightly twisted. I’d inflated
both tyres to 100psi before setting off, and clearly the rear one didn’t
like it. To be fair I knew it was on its way out anyway – it was
starting to look a bit worn out, and if I’d been a bit more diligent I
would have checked it properly a day or two before attempting a long
ride, and changed it.
I let a bit of air out, and that seemed to
help a bit. I was still about 35 miles from home. The clockwork ‘bump’
from the rear was only noticeable on smoother surfaces. I decided to
take the quickest route home without a Stafford detour, take it easy (or
even easier) and it got me home OK, although I could have done without
the added anxiety, of course. I’ll be changing both front and rear on
the Boardman, possibly later today. They’ve both had a remarkable
innings.
I took a wrong turn coming home after Croxall. Realised
what I’d done when I found myself going along a picturesque road into
Walton Wood, which I’d never seen before. Really nice along there, will
try to include it in a future ride. So I came home through Coton and
Measham instead of Clifton and Appleby. Probably a nicer route anyway
and I’d guess that I’d preferred the Clifton / Appleby alternative due
to the elevation numbers.
I’d didn’t rain all day, either on my
ride or at home. The temperature climbed nicely during the day, and I
had to take one layer of gloves off. I was actually a bit too warm by
2pm. Generally a bright day, the wind wasn’t troublesome, the roads were
mostly dry and the sun came out a few times as well – including over
the last 20 minutes of the ride, just before sunset. The wind picked up
over the last mile, which was nice as it helped to blow me home.
My
knees were a little sore by the end of the ride but nothing drastic and
they feel OK this morning. Very happy to have done a 100 miler again;
it’s been nearly two years. I am going to attempt Wales and Back again
in a few weeks if weather and circumstances permit. Probably on the
Cannondale. And I’m faintly hopeful that I might just manage that 200
miles up to Hartlepool. We’ll see.
