A cold afternoon today. Didn't go out in the morning as it was quarterly haircut time, then as the frost hadn't lifted I stayed in. By the afternoon the frost still hadn't lifted and it was getting chilly indoors, so I thought I'd go out and pedal to warm myself up.

Managed to get over 7,000 road miles for the year today. How I don't know, as it seems that an afternoon means that it's OK for everyone to go out and drive 200 yards to pick up their little darlings from school knocking off cyclists with impunity on the way.

I have never seen so much shit driving on one ride and I only did the 28.5 miles to get to 100 for the week. The worst was when some twat pulled out of a side road straight in front or me. I could see him coming as the road almost faced the way I was going so I thought he must have seen me. No. If I'd slammed the brakes on I'd still have hit him and gone over the bonnet so I swerved into the other side of the carriageway where a van was coming towards me and just managed to get to my side of the road in time. Really thought I could have been a goner. Just a complete and utter twattish piece of driving, I'd even got cars on my tail as I'd not long since come out of traffic lights at roadworks.

In other news, I thought about prepping the Winter bike, but the rear brake doesn't work. can barely pull the brake lever. Thought it might have stiffened up over the summer so gave it all a good squirt with WD40, but no change. I can however see the outer cable move near the brifter when I pull the lever so any sticking point must be in the outer cable somewhere as the caliper makes no movement at all. I'll have another look some day, whilst it stays dry I'll keep riding the Bianchi.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8223978179/

Cold out there again, 0C. I hoped I'd be able to do 30 miles or so. A very light wind was coming from the south, so my simple plan was to do about 15 miles of the southbound route, then come back.

I set off at about 1100. The road surface was thinly glazed with frost and ice near home, but the more frequently used roads were clear. Once again I was more comfortable than I expected - the bright sunshine on my clothing made a huge difference, I think. So I pressed on to Broughton Astley. I took a left turn there to go exploring, but this only led to a new housing estate. So I found my way back to the usual route, then came home roughly the same way (I did the usual detour along Wood Road on the way back).



Listened mostly to Iain Dale on LBC, sitting in for Matt Frei. Iain wanted to discuss the power of prayer, following the revelation that Bukayo Saka, or Backward Bukayo as I shall now know him, reads the Bible and prays every day. And my heart sank listening to the number of callers who also talk to a sky fairy on a regular basis.

Back on 43.00 miles. 141 done this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8232159970

Not as cold as it has been today. Still a bit nippy, but bearable. Didn't quite get in as much as I would have liked, but got enough elevation gain to hit 100 miles of upwards cycling for the year again for the fourth year in a row. Took a few hundred miles of road distance to get there though. Today's 26 miles means 194 for December.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8231373317

A brighter day than of late, with a wind coming from the north-east. But cold. The air temperature was -1C when I set off on the Tricross, due to dip to -2C a couple of hours later.

I really didn't want to face those conditions to be honest, but I reminded myself that it's usually not as bad as I expect once I've done a mile or two - and I definitely wanted to get 20-odd miles closer to my target this month. So I set off at about 1410 on an extended lunch break ride.

I was right, it wasn't that bad out there. My left thumb went painfully icy but otherwise I was fine. I set off on the eastbound route as far as Smithy Lane, where I turned off to Long Whatton, then looped back through Diseworth. At the roundabout at the top of Top Brand, I decided to head up to Isley Walton to extend the ride a bit. But on a whim I took a turn for Tonge. I've thought about doing this many times but never tried it. Well - all that happened was that I went into the village of Tonge, then took a turn that looped back to the same road. So I came back home from there. Looking at the map though, I could have navigated to Melbourne from there, via Wilson. I'll try that some time.

Darkness seemed to fall like a curtain after sunset.

Unfortunately my Garmin bike computer, or the one I used for this ride, seems to be on the way out. It gave up the ghost after 16 miles, despite having had a full charge last night. I'll charge it overnight with a different cable and see how it does, but I suspect it's for the bin. I edited the remainder of the track in with a GPX editor.

Anyway - back on 22.58 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8244460534

I'll be needing a new Garmin soon, gives a low battery warning after a couple of hours. Don't know whether it's the power meter pedals draining it more quickly with their extra info or the cold weather.

I stayed in today, will give it a go tomorrow, have to exceed last years total.

Gave it a go today. Lasted a couple of hours for 30 miles. Wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, but I did have my second most thermal jersey on today.

Was surprised on the variability of the snow today, just a couple of hundred feet higher close to home and the back roads were still almost coated in an icy compacted layer of snow and yet further afield on the moors it was the same light snow covering as at home in the fields, must have been a localised heavy burst of snow on Sunday morning, but it is an area where it always seems to rain more too.

Now within 60 miles of last year's tally.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8247435791

That's my last ride for a bit.

Managed to come off the bike today. Not on ice or anything like that, but a product of my own choice. I'd got to a long queue of traffic at some lights, so I decided to filter along the inside of it. Normally I don't bother, but it was a long queue and I know that there is an advanced stop line at the lights. Now there wasn't a lot of room, but there was enough. After a bit the traffic started to move so to distance myself from it I thought I'd move over into a bust stop. That's where things went wrong, the kerb stones at the edge were a bit higher than expected and there may also have been a bit of a gap in front of them. Whatever my back wheel caught it and I went over like a sack of spuds.

Landed heavily on my left hip which now has a huge bit of road rash on it, one of my fingers was also at a funny angle, but that may have been from looking at the finger on my glove which had torn and was displaces. The finger still worked, but when I got back home it was a bit white and when I held my hand flat the end of it pointed upwards. Mrs S suggested I put it in some warm water and massage it, I did and it clicked a bit. No more pointing upwards.

I'm now feeling very sorry for myself with a stiff and sore hip and very sore and stiff swollen finger plus my best bib tights now have a hole in the knee 

Aww no, hope you feel better in a day or two Nick. I came off my bike a few months ago and got a nasty bruise on my hip and a strange swollen bump, but they both disappeared after a week or so.

Thanks James. I'm a bit swollen and bumpy, but should be OK. Thankfully the weather is starting to look wetter so I won't have to be hoping to go out.

I have a few days off work and since today was slated to be sunny, I thought I'd attempt a fondo. Got up later than I intended and didn't set off until 1130, meaning I'd have to do a couple of hours in the dark - but I didn't mind that.

Very cold again out there, a degree or two warmer than Tuesday but that's not saying much. Peaking at 1C in the afternoon. Below freezing after sunset.

The wind was coming from the west so I did the time-honoured route up over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the Beloved A Road through Willington and Hillington. Once again I missed the right turn up Ashbourne Road, so I pressed on to Doveridge. Unfortunately after that you either take the A50 (the coroner would probably record a verdict of suicide) or minor roads that degenerate quickly into twisty, gravelly lanes extravagantly furnished with potholes, but I pottered around as best as I could before turning back. I stopped at a Church in Doveridge to take a pic of the bike with a frosty graveyard as the backdrop. Would have been a cracking photo. But I couldn't find the phone! It wasn't in any of my (many) pockets.

This did make me feel a little insecure, I must admit. What did cyclists do before mobile phones came along in the '90s? I suppose you'd take a few 10p pieces for public phone boxes. But actually I had the phone in my backpack all the time, although I only realised that after arriving home.

I thought the part of the ride after sunset was going to be an ordeal - the temperature was due to drop a couple of degrees and the bright sunlight had definitely made a positive difference - but it was bearable. Even so the water in my bidon was cold enough to hurt the back of my throat and give me an ice cream headache more than once.

I realised I was going to be half a mile short of the requisite 62.14 miles fondo distance as I passed my twenty-miles-to-go point (a hairdressers' salon in Hatton) but I made it up with a detour round the village over the last couple of miles. Back on 62.34 miles. That was this year's 30th fondo.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8252263494

No rain in the forecast and a few degrees warmer than Thursday. I didn't feel a need to go far though, maybe 30-40 miles? And with a moderate wind coming from the south, I set off on the southbound route not long after midday.

Had to take a detour along Beveridge Lane from Ellistown to avoid roadworks. Then when I got to Bagworth I decided to take a left at the T junction instead of a right, just to follow my nose and do something random for a change. So I went down through Merry Lees and Botcheston to Newtown Unthank. I've done that a few times before; not sure why I don't do it more often. It's a pleasant and convenient enough route.

In the past I've taken a left toward Kiby Muxloe from Unthank, so I took a right to do something different. This led me, to my surprise, to Kirkby Lane and my usual southbound route. I'd been meaning to turn back and take a turn to Markfield, but I didn't bother. I pressed on to Kirkby Mallory. From there I took a turn to Sutton Cheney rather than going any further south. Then to Shenton along Shenton Lane, a road I've only ever done a couple of times, then up to Bosworth and home the usual way, or one of them.




Despite the alleged improved air temperature, I felt colder than I did on Thursday or Tuesday - presumably because the sun wasn't shining. But at least there was no rain or snow. A bit of ice on the roads on the quieter stretches but not much.

I passed a steam tractor parked outside the Gate Hangs Well pub at Carlton. Really a beautifully preserved old thing, in shiny dark blue paint. I stopped to take a pic and a minute later, the driver started shovelling coal.



I listened to Foolgita Myska on LBC mostly.

Back on 34.41 miles and that's a modestly pleasing 260 so far this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8259551185

The roads were wet from heavy rain overnight, but a rain-free, mild day was promised. Another day off work today. I set off not long before 1100. The wind was coming from the SW so I thought to do some of the southbound route. I wanted to do 40, to hit the December target of 300 miles.

By the time I'd reached the turn for Kirkby Lane though after ten miles, I'd hatched an alternative plan. I decided I'd head for Markfield. I recalled seeing a road signposted in that direction near Desford on my previous ride. However I lost my way at Desford and ended up looping back onto the same road. So I reverted to Plan A and went down Kirkby Lane.

From Kirky Mallory though I took a left along Peckleton Road - don't think I've done that before - in the hope of finding a viable route to Markfield. Good cycling territory, must try to incorporate it into a route another time.

Eventually I did find my way to Markfield, via Newtown Unthank and Botcheston. Really nice to be doing different roads than usual. Made a nice change. I visited my old house there, as I usually do this time of year. And then I set off in the rough direction of Swarkestone Bridge.

One day in 1990 when I lived in Markfield, I commuted to my place of work in Derby by bicycle. I only ever did this once. I don't know the route I took either there or back, except that I used Swarkestone Bridge both ways. I planned the route using an OS map that I took with me. because I know all the likely routes quite well now, I'd be fascinated to know which roads I took. I have only tiny fragments of memories of the rides there and back, none of them conclusive with respect to a location.

So .. I hoped that maybe doing the same thing again today might tease out an old memory, but nope. I didn't get any flashbacks to rolling along those roads in a Raleigh Routier in the distant past. My best bet is that I didn't go the same way as I did today. I remember the ride being a lot more rural and I doubt I went through Whitwick. The most interesting thing actually about the last couple of miles to Whitwick from Markfield is that it's downhill all the way, and I think I would have remembered that.

 Anyway by the time I got to Whitwick I was only about four miles from base, so I rode home the usual way from there.

Back on 35.34 miles. Considering it was unusually nice cycling weather for this time of year and I had the day off, criminal not to do more really. But that's the way it pans out sometimes. 296 miles done this month which is a few miles short of the December target - but although the weather forecast for the rest of the year looks a bit iffy, I'm sure I'll get another couple of rides in.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8270724181

First time out for a couple of weeks.. was hoping to get a 20 miler in but only managed 15..heading out to the pier on homeward run and the rain just started to pour...so abandoned and just home as quick as poss... up til then afternoon had been cold dry bit of a breeze and quite enjoyable...
Sunset time..3.49👍

Looks like the weather will keep me off a bike until Xmas Eve, when the sunset time - around these parts - will be a slightly more generous 3:54pm.

Last time I did the Norfolk ride, as I pulled off my cycling shoes with the last remnants of my energy and will to live in the garage, I said to myself - I'm not doing that again. But already I can't wait to do it again. Bring on the long, warm days.

Not been on a bike for over a week now and the way I feel now I can't see when I'll next feel up to iy even if the weather is nice.