Bike Diary

I’d hoped to do a 70 mile ride this weekend. The weather looked prohibitive on Sunday but beautiful on Saturday. So with this in mind I attempted to arrange some out of hours work for Saturday morning, at 0930. Unfortunately the customer insisted that it take place on Saturday afternoon instead.

I could have got up early and got a 70 miler in before the specified time to be fair, but I decided to leave work early and do a long ride after work instead. So I prepped the X with the necessary lights and set off at 3:30pm. I took a light fleece and a pair of cycling tights in a small backpack with the intention of putting them on after sunset, when I expected conditions to cool down somewhat.

Decided to do Welford and back, thereby conquering another of the neighbouring counties. This would be a ride of about 64 miles in distance, not 70 – but enough for an after-work outing. Welford is a small town just over the Northamptonshire border and I’ve been down there on a bike a few times, but not via the newish route that goes down through Stoney Stanton. I had the route uploaded to the eTrex.

Sunny and pleasant weather as I set off. I faced a headwind from the south on the way down, as the many wind turbines I encountered reminded me – but I assured myself that this would be to my advantage on the way back, propelling myself northward in the dark.

After Stoney this route was completely new to me except for the last mile to Welford and I must admit, I didn’t enjoy the stretch through Broughton Astley – which felt more like an A road than a B road. Quite urban and quite busy at that time of the evening. I’m sure I’ll do a variation of this route again but I’ll rethink that part.

I stopped at a quaint and elegant village store at Gilmorton, with a table and chair outside – an absolutely perfect cycling rest stop. The young lady behind the counter was new and had to phone a friend to work out how to make an Americano. I also purchased an egg mayonnaise sandwich and a Fry’s Peppermint Cream. I stashed the chocolate in my backpack for later.

Duly rested and refreshed I pressed on and I arrived at Welford 8 miles later, just before sunset. I didn’t hang around there long; in fact I didn’t actually go into the village. I propped up the bike against the ‘Northamptonshire’ sign, took a quick pic and was on my way back a minute later, making the most of the remaining light. My hope was to cover another 10 miles or so before it was properly dark. The remaining 20 or so miles didn’t seem too much of a distance to cover in the darkness.

Really atmospheric out there in the open after sunset. This was my favourite part of the ride. I snapped the following pic somewhere near Kilworth.

It occurred to me around this time that although I’d propped the bike up against the Northamptonshire sign, I hadn’t actually pedalled beyond it and I may not even have crossed the county border! But I checked the map and the track carefully on my return, and yep – when I took that pic I had crossed the river Avon and was definitely not in Leicestershire any more.

Cycling in the dark a long way from home can take you out of your comfort zone but the friendly glow of the eTrex map on the handlebars to assure me I was still on the planned route and a bright front light made all the difference. I’m not sure how long a rechargeable battery lasts in the front light so even though I’d brought a spare, I used it on medium luminosity most of the time, saving the full on mode for the darkest little country lanes. Going through towns with street lamps, I turned it off and relied on a little flashy LED blinker.

I’d thought of listening to some more of the Beatles biography and had brought my MP3 player but decided that 5 Live would be better company, so I used my DAB instead. Quite pleased to get more than 5 hours out of a single charge.

Although I’d brought additional clothing I didn’t bother with it, so I could actually have left my backpack at home. What I should really have done is to put it on just after Welford. By the time I’d started to feel cold, about 10 miles from home, I decided I’d rather not take my jersey off and put a fleece on under it. But I wasn’t too uncomfortable. I suppose the backpack helped keep my back warm.

Stopped somewhere near Stoney for a wee and ate half the Peppermint Cream. I don’t normally allow myself such indulgences these days, so that was quite a rare pleasure.

I pushed a bit harder than I otherwise would to get home in the dark, but my knees did OK. At least as well as I expected. Quite encouraging, really. Certainly no problems with respect to general fitness and I seem to be over that virus now.

I saw a really big bird of prey on a grass verge near Dunton Bassett, not sure what it was but not a buzzard. Quite evenly dark in colour. Looked like it was standing over a bird it had caught but I couldn’t see clearly. Saw a hedgehog crossing the road at Earl Shilton, and a vole doing the same near Newbold Verdon. Apart from that, no wildlife sightings of note other than dead badgers.

That really was a lot of fun, something a bit different.

64.13 miles, and that takes me to 310 this month, 2940 this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2726000617

I left work scandalously early. But then again I started unusually early, and I did put in half an hour after I got back – so you could argue that today’s run out on the Planet X took place on an elongated late lunch break.

I actually felt really low on energy and mojo. I haven’t got over that virus yet and I had half a mind to have an afternoon nap instead of a bike ride. But I thought I’d see how I got on, and if I ended up just doing 10 or 11 miles, so be it. I’d really have liked to have done 33, to take the monthly total so far through the 250 mile mark. But I didn’t.

Decided to do a Twycross for cosy familiarity, although I only settled on that a few hundred metres after I’d set off. Went north along Ashby Rd and through Packington initially rather than through Heather and Swepstone, for a change. But I turned off to Sibson from Sheepy rather than pressing on to Ratcliffe.

I went an unusual way between Upton and Shenton. With the benefit of hindsight (and a map) a bit pointless, as it just runs south of Shenton Lane which would have been a better choice. But I was sort of busking it at that point. And I would have sworn that I’d never been that way before, except that Strava subsequently awarded me my third fastest time for a segment along there.

Stopped north of Bosworth to take a pic of the alpaca that lives along there. I did my best to beckon it over for a selfie but it was utterly indifferent.

Took the correct right turn this time north of Bosworth to avoid Heather Lane.

Listened to another chapter of the Beatles biography by Mark Lewisohn, covering the end of their time in Hamburg and return to Liverpool. Then 5 Live and an interview with someone from Labour who confirmed that if elected, they’d try to get a deal from the EU to leave, then campaign to remain. So it would literally be in their best interest to get the worst possible deal, which of course they would. I must stop listening to the news, it makes steam come out of my ears sometimes these days and it’s not conducive to relaxing cycling.

Good weather, a bit cloudy but sunny later on, warm enough and a gentle breeze.

28.05 miles, 245 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2719965280

Had an opportunity to leave work early, so I did. Substantial rain and drizzle overnight and this morning but by 3:30pm or so when I set off, the roads were mostly dry. I took the Boardman nonetheless.

I planned to do a Twycross of roughly 30 miles distance. But I decided to take the longer detour through Norton and Orton that (strictly speaking) avoids Twycross. I was a bit confused near Orton as it seemed from memory to be a fairly straightforward route to Sheepy, yet on following the road signs I seemed to be taking more turns than I expected. Turns out I did this:

.. instead of this:

Anyway I pressed on through Sheepy, Sibson and along Fenn Lanes where I took the left to Shenton that goes along a very quiet lane with a pleasant bench, although I only got off the bike there long enough for a wee. I continued on to Bosworth and up toward home along Barton Road as usual.

After Carlton though I decided I couldn’t face coming home along Heather Lane yet again, so I decided to take a right toward Ibstock and come home that way instead.

There are a number of right turns on the road north of Bosworth that take you to the A447, then up to Ibstock. I don’t use any of them often so I can never remember which is which.  Inevitably I took the one I hadn’t intended, but I wasn’t too bothered. Made a nice change and there was plenty of daylight left. Not only that, but the Sun came out and the temperature increased slightly. It had been a bit cold up to that point and I’d regretted not putting on tights.

Took a pic after the sun came out. The spire on the skyline just above the handlebars is at Ibstock.

I smiled wistfully when I passed a little delapitated bench near Nailstone, where I remember taking refuge from the Sun toward the end of my first 100 miler in 2016. Don’t think I’d been that way since then. I’d love to think I can do another one by next summer. Slightly troubled though to pass a rabbit on a grass verge that stayed put when I cycled past rather than scurrying off. I suppose the poor thing might have been ill or injured.

Home through Ellistown and Bosworth, and I ended up doing a few more miles than I’d intended, 36.60.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2714510186

I must do the longer detour that bypasses Twycross more often. North of Orton looking west you can see for miles, right across Warwickshire and into Staffordshire.

More on Wednesday, hopefully.

Had a ride out to the alpaca farm at Snarestone with ‘er indoors, 5 miles there, 5 back. There’s a nice caff there. We sat outdoors and had afternoon tea.

I was slightly put off by the large metal barrow laden with plastic sacks of “Alpaca poo”, allegedly “great for your soil”. Only £2 a go but also only a few metres from the tables. But it didn’t stop me finishing off my scone with clotted cream and jam.

A few other cyclists there and it would be an ideal rest stop if not for the fact that it’s only 5 miles from home.

A slightly cooler day and cloudy, but barely a breath of wind. Would have been ideal conditions for a long ride.

First run out on the hybrid for a couple of months. Summer is pretty much over now and I still haven’t got round to sorting out the gears, but it’s very usable as it is to be fair.

And that bumps up the September total so far to 181 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2711413982

On call, and still not 100% recovered from the lurgy. But I wanted to do about 45 miles. As is my usual practice, I stitched together two rides, one to the north (up to Belton), one to the south (a Twycrosser) so I could do that distance without being too far from base in case of an unwanted phone call.

Lovely day – warm, sunny and only a gentle breeze for a change. Nice run out. I’ve been slightly worried that while the right knee is improving slowly (I hope), the left one is getting a bit worse. But it was fine today over 43.85 miles.

And that takes me to 171 this month, not too bad considering I was on holiday for the first week. I may have a ten mile run out with ‘er indoors tomorrow, as well. 2801 done this year.

I took a pic near Bosworth.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2707610175

I weighed myself when I got up this morning. 69.94 kg, which is a record low this year and for a 6’1″ bloke, probably a bit on the thin side. Undoubtedly whatever virus I’m getting over at the moment has overcome the enhanced calorie intake from my  week of lush living on the high seas.

I wanted to get my weight down to about 76kg when I discovered that I weighed 81.78kg in January, and I suppose I’ve gone too far, without trying very hard.

On the other hand – that body weight I was carrying in January is nearly equivalent to my present weight plus a backpack containing five two-litre bottles of water. That’s a lot of dead weight to be pushing up the hills between here and Bosworth.

I don’t want to lose any more, though. I’m starting to look like Harold Steptoe.

Wanted to do about 30 after work. Sunny and warm. But rather windy unfortunately. Set off to do a Twycrosser, without a particular version in mind. Decided to do the Triangular Orton Detour when I got to Twycross. Was tempted to do the full Fenn Lanes version since I was enjoying myself fairly thoroughly, but decided I’d keep it down to 30 or so after all and have a bit more time at home this evening. I took the Sibson / Shenton / Bosworth route.

At the crossroads at Bosworth which is 8 miles from home I realised I was on course to do a bit less than 30. So I extended my ride by pushing on up through Newton Burgoland and coming home via Swepstone. This adds 1.6 miles, which I call the “Burgoland Benefit”. Paradoxically, the 0.58 miles that I can add by coming home through Coleorton rather than Thringstone is known to me as the “Coleorton Cost”. It just depends how you look at it. But it’s all about the alliteration.

Less blowy in the second half of the ride. But the sunny conditions disappeared over the last 10 miles, to be replaced by overcast skies and a slight gloom. I even felt a couple of spots of rain in Swepstone with about 3 miles to go, but it didn’t start to rain properly.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2702624082

127 done this month and three weekends left so I should hit this month’s target; 320 miles.

Woke up feeling terrible this morning, apparently stricken by some low level debilitating virus. Which is good, because it explains why I felt rough after about 50 miles on Saturday.

However having done only one ride so far this month I thought I should at least do 20 miles or so, on a decent weather day. And I wanted to see how my knees would do after a 70 miler at the weekend. So I set off on a Twycrosser this afternoon, intending to do the original, 22 mile version. But as I got to Sheepy I seemed to be doing OK so I pressed on to Ratcliffe Culey and cut across to Sibson. Came back along Gibbet Lane. Extended the ride slightly by opting to come home through Burgoland and Swepstone, and ended up doing 25.96 miles which takes me to a reasonable 96 this month.

I took the Cannondale for a change. I should use it more often. Of all my bikes it’s the one that suits me the best, I think.

A cool, cloudy day and I was comfortable enough, but had to wear a couple of layers on top and cover up my legs. Back in tights already. It looks like the weather might perk up a bit for the weekend, though.

The knees did feel a bit tender over the last 7 or 8 miles. Probably needed longer to recover from the 70 miler at the weekend. I think they’ll continue to improve. But who knows?

https://www.strava.com/activities/2696445042

Decent weather today. Wanted to do a Fondo, and weather conditions, with the wind coming from the NE unusually, seemed to dictate a trip out East. Additionally, I thought it might be nice to do Rutland and back as a sort of sentimental Fondo homecoming, since that was the first longish ride I did in my current cycling career, back in 2016.

I chose a different route from that one though, consisting partly of the newish route over to Six Hills, and partly a brand new stretch that bypasses Melton Mowbray to the south, going through places called Great Dalby and Little Dalby but arriving at the same point of entry into Rutland along Whissendine Road.

Decent weather, cloudy but dry. A bit cool. I wrapped up warm on top but wore shorts. Hoped conditions might warm up a bit later on but they didn’t really, or not by much anyway. Would have been better off in tights. The sun came out for a bit once or twice. The wind was a bit annoying for the first half of the ride.

Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable run out overall.

Started feeling a bit rough on the way back after about 50 miles. I didn’t feel that great when I woke up this morning; the fallout from immoderate vodka inhalation on holiday I’m afraid. I shall stay off the sauce for a couple of weeks then go back to the occasional beer now and then. So although I’d planned to stick to a pork pie and an oat bar on benches in villages, I stopped at the pub in Burton on the Wolds again and had a crusty ham baguette with fries. A 25 minute rest stop did me good.

The lady in the photograph below has just emerged from the pub to ask me if I want white or brown bread, having forgotten to do so when I ordered it.

My right knee, which is the troublesome one and the only one I bothered to have scanned, held up quite well. Unfortunately the left one was quite painful after 60 miles or so. Not the stabby, irritated pain though, more a sort of arthritic pain. I have some way to go before I’ll be able to do 100 milers again.

By coming back through Coleorton I thought I’d probably have extended the ride just enough to make it 70 miles but nope, 69.98.

Listened to my Beatles bio audiobook (handy for a long ride because the rechargeable battery in the MP3 player goes for many hours), then 5 Live on a DAB. Then when the battery in that conked out, for the last 20 miles or so, I listened to Level 42 and Badu on my phone. I have a 256G card in there with all my MP3s.

I’d uploaded the route to my eTrex yesterday because of the unfamiliar part near the Rutland end, but when I switched it on it didn’t seem to be there. Annoying. Had to rely on the phone for navigation for a few miles in the most distant part of the ride to and from the destination, but that wasn’t too arduous.

So I grabbed my Foretrex 320 for track recording and the battery on that conked out after Great Dalby, annoyingly. But I’d already started recording the track on my phone’s Strava App 10 minutes earlier, luckily – so I could follow the route I’d set up on Strava. So I ended up editing and stitching the eventual track together from the two devices.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2688596353

Nice to have a run out after nearly two weeks off. I hope I’ll be in better condition for the next long one.

2700 done this year.

Fancied a good old-fashioned Twycrosser today, so that’s what I did. I took the X. The weather forecast threatened a hot day so I went early to minimise my exposure to the worst of it. Made sure my cleat bolts were nice and tight, and left at about 10:30.

I didn’t want to push my luck with a longer ride, and it was too hot anyway. On top of that I was woken last night by a bat doing laps of our bedroom ceiling at 3AM and a bit tired. It left of its own accord (unless it’s still hiding in there) a few minutes later but not before freaking me out slightly.

Took the detour to Orton between Twycross and Sheepy.

Rather than listening to 5 Live on a DAB radio, I opted to test a small MP3 player I’d bought a few years ago, but hadn’t used for ages. I thought the internal battery might be stuffed. This turned out to be a bit inconvenient as it was very difficult to navigate to the tunes I wanted – it doesn’t have a screen so you pretty much just have to scroll through everything. I ended up listening to a load of Robert Plant solo stuff I’d put on there years ago and while there are a few gems, I must admit that overall I was getting sick of Robert’s 1950s rock’n’roll schtick with the slapback echo on the vocals.

The MP3 player did great though, the battery lasted the whole ride and was still going strong when I switched it off half an hour after I got back. It weighs almost nothing so would be useful for extending DAB life on a long ride, or as a backup.

Baking hot by 1pm or so, and I was wearing long sleeves to protect my already-sunburned arms. Took this pic three miles from home at a farm near Heather.

Very happy to report that my knees did fine, despite doing ~64 miles on Friday.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2650173833

34.33 miles, 419 this month.

Lovely summer weather and I thought I’d have a crack at a Fondo today. Decided to head out east using the new route that bypasses the old route via Normanton, Stanford then Burton on the Wolds, before rejoining it at Six Hills – but this time I’d go further along to a village called Eastwell, which has a very serviceable bench and used to be my last rest spot before Belvoir Castle and Lincolnshire.

I’d planned to take the S Works but when I got to the garage, I remembered that it only has a single bottle cage. I’d brought a dummy bottle ‘pod’ with me containing a gel, small pork pies and an oat bar. So I shrugged my shoulders and readied the X instead. But after a minute I chastised myself for being idle, and fitted a second bottle cage to the S Works. I used two nylon nuts as spacers to prevent the bottle cage rubbing the frame. Possibly being a bit precious, there.

Set off at 09:18. Feeling a bit cool at first in lightweight clothing but not too uncomfortable and I knew I’d be too warm later anyway. Took the lower elevation, shorter and partially urban route to Belton for the first six miles, through Coalville and Whitwick.

And I was having a splendid time listening to a discussion about Brexit on Adrian Chiles’ 5 Live programme, interspersed with occasional bad news from Headingley, when on the 25 mile mark along Six Hills Lane I noticed that my right shoe was slopping about in the pedal slightly. So I stopped to check, and yep – the cleat was loose. All three bolts were present and correct but all three had worked themselves slightly loose.

Naturally, I didn’t have an Allen key on me. I parked the bike up against a signpost, sat on the grass verge and managed to tighten them back down with the tip of my thumb. Well, “tighten” is not really the appropriate word there. I screwed them in but clearly they weren’t very tight and I was sure they’d work themselves free over a few miles. The cleat started shifting back and forth again after another two miles. I kept going for a bit, until I was just 5 miles from Eastwell and thumb-turned them in again.

Stopped at the bench there, having done 31.5 miles. I found a small stone under the bench that looked like it might give a bit more leverage in the hex sockets of the cleat bolts, and it did. I managed to get them a bit tighter then after a gel and a pork pie, turned for home.

Sadly my caveman stone tool repair wasn’t that successful and I felt the cleat come a bit loose again three or four miles later. But I was fairly confident by now that the bolts wouldn’t work themselves completely loose and I wasn’t having any difficulty pedalling, so I relaxed a bit and got on with it. I stopped and thumb-tightened them again every seven miles or so.

Stopped at the Greyhound at Burton on the Wolds and fuelled up with San Miguel and a Brie & red pepper Ciabatta with chips. I was slightly irritated by a bloke sitting a few feet behind me with his mate, who had what I call Fucking Tourettes. Now I don’t mind swearing, in fact I do it myself quite regularly. But it should be used for emphasis, not like punctuation. This poor bloke couldn’t get five words out without one of them being “fucking”, very few of these instances contributing anything to the meaning of what he was saying.

Knees started to feel a bit tender after 55 miles or so, and I think I can call that progress. The right one especially is a bit sore now. But it will get rested tomorrow and it probably won’t do more than 30 on Sunday.

I edited the track to remove the section where I was walking around the pub car park before uploading to Strava and noticed a bizarre anomaly – the Garmin watch had recorded two track points more than 1km off the actual track, and a straight line of track points at a perpendicular to it. Strange. I edited that out as well, but this is from the original track:

63.7 miles. I hope to do a Fondo every month going forward from now on. 385 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2644484822