Cycling 2022

[Nickslikk2112]

There's always option 3.. take an inner tube, a pump and a tyre lever. Has saved me more than once!

Saved me once!

Three times I've been a mile from home. Once I was 15 miles from home and bloody cold so I called out the cavalry and once it was a blow out in a tubeless tyre and there wasn't enough daylight left in the day to faff around getting a tube in it, so out came the cavalry again.

I still always have at least one inner tube, pump and tyre lever - and even Anchovy fillets for when I'm riding tubeless.

[Slim]

I think I've only had a ride-interrupting puncture twice. The first one was extremely unlucky, it happened about half a mile before I intended to turn back on the longest ride I'd ever done at that time (Wales and back). Literally the furthest I'd been from home on a bike, 70-odd miles.

I'd brought a pump and a spare tube but the Presta adaptor I'd brought for the pump didn't fit properly. Fortunately a passing cyclist gave me a disposable CO2 inflator but that only got me as far as the next village. An thoughtful old bloke at the bench where I stopped in the village square very kindly went and brought me a track pump from his house, so I whipped off the back wheel, changed the inner tube, pumped it up and off I very happily went!

Can't remember where the other one was. Once or twice I've had slow punctures without noticing it until retrieving the bike from the garage for its next ride.

The other thing to take with you is a pair of disposable gloves because changing an inner tube is a messy job, especially if it's the back wheel.

[Nickslikk2112]

Didn't think I'd make it out today. Had a bit of an on/off ache in my left knee for the last couple of weeks, it hasn't affected cycling, but it's a bit niggly. Today I managed to catch the end of my slipper on a door frame - get me - and ended up twisting round on the knee which was seriously painful. However it wore off and so long as I only move my leg up and down it's fine. Might help that I use blue cleats which don't have much float in them.

Did a version of my Saturday 40 miler with a couple of extra loops in to get me up to 45 miles. I'm gradually upping my distance. Was substantially quicker over the first 25 miles than last week, but I think a strong tailwind helped, because coming back into a fresh ENE wind was no fun at all. I got overtaken going uphill at one point and the bloke said to me "It's like you're standing still in this wind!" In that case I was being blown backwards.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7029083894/

I also managed to complete the Strava climbing challenge for the first time this year. I'm slacking.

[Slim]

A dry day but cool, cloudy and very windy. Since the wind was coming from the NE I thought I'd do the eastbound route (which is actually a bit north-eastish in reality).

I hoped to do a Fondo if poss but thought it quite likely that the wind would prove too much. It certainly was brutal but I struggled on until I'd done 30 miles, by which time I'd had enough and turned round. What a relief. I thought I'd top up the ride distance to the requisite 100km by taking a detour through Diseworth on the way back. I also came back the old way through Wymeswold and Rempstone, which definitely made a nice change.



A game of two halves of course but the second half was very pleasant.

Listened to footy on 5 Live and another couple of hours of the Philip Dick audiobook. Getting the impression that he's making it up as he goes along rather than working to a plot.

Back on 62.36 miles, which takes me to 357 this month, and past the April target. I'm using a simplified monthly target system this year. Rather than have them dynamically calculated by the spreadsheet based on distance done in previous months, I'm just going for 300 in Jan, Feb, Nov Dec, 350 in Mar, Apr, Sep, Oct and 400 in the four months in the middle.

That was the 8th Fondo this year, on target for 24 in 2022.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7029229794

[Nickslikk2112]

Left knee felt almost back to normal today. Which was nice. The rest of my legs didn't. Perhaps I'd just pushed it a bit hard this week, or perhaps they never feel as good on a Sunday.

It was supposed to be marginally less windy than yesterday. Can't say as I noticed, of anything it was worse when I set off, but that could have been down to a slightly different wind direction. I think it did ease off a bit as the afternoon wore on, but not enough to stop the downhill run to home being a bit of a grind. Saw a couple of flat Blackbirds out on the road today

https://www.strava.com/activities/7034880037/

[Jonners]

Did a loop that took me to a place called Brewood on Sunday. 64 milesm, with about 300aft of climbing. I can teel Im heavy at the moment, hills really gave my legs a beating

[Slim]

More a case of a Fondo being an excuse for an afternoon off work than vice-versa, today. I just felt I needed to take a break from it. And it's only Tuesday.

The eastbound route was the obvious choice, with the wind coming from the NE. I did that for 24 miles, then I decided I needed to do something different. I remembered pedalling along a road called Long Lane a couple of years ago, with a nice view of Belvoir Castle in the distance - I knew it couldn't be far from there (a little to the north and east) so I set off in the appropriate direction.

The main part of the eastbound route after Six Hills runs along the crest of a long hill, and any of the northward turns off it involve a steep descent - as you can see from this section of a topographic map:



I took a north turn along Ostler Lane, and rattled down the hill at quite some speed. Fun! I arrived at a village called Nether Broughton, where I saw a sign to Nottingham, pointing up an A road. Should I have a bit of an adventure, and head off in that direction? I didn't. I continued my pursuit of Long Lane with the aid of Google Maps, but I gave up about two miles later. The route there looked too complicated and I was fed up of consulting my phone every few minutes. So I decided to take an easy looking route to the A road leading to Nottingham after all. I looped round via a village called Hickling.



Then I stuck with the A road for a bit, and plotted a course from a bench while I had lunch that would take me to Wymeswold, from where I've navigated home many times (it's on the old eastbound route).

After I arrived at Rempstone I calculated that I'd be home on less than a Fondo distance so I detoured via Diseworth and that saw me home on 62.82 miles.

Quite a lot of new territory but not that interesting, and some of it was a bit suburban. A bit of an adventure I suppose but I was irritated by having to check Google Maps at regular intervals over the unfamiliar part. Nice weather today though. Intermittently sunny, completely dry and the wind wasn't strong.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7044862040

Three of my last four rides have been Fondos, not sure I've ever done that before.

420 this month, 1628 this year. This time last year I'd done 1378, and the year before, 1160.

[Slim]

I left work pretty early, thinking of possibly doing a Fondo. Pretty nice out there, just warm enough for bare legs and sunny.

I did the southbound route as far as Kirkby Lane, at which point I decided I'd keep it short. I had other things I could be doing this evening and for some reason I didn't fancy a long one. So I looped across to Market Bosworth and came back via Barton in the Beans, Odstone, Burgoland, Swepstone.



Really nice out there and I enjoyed it, but 27.25 miles was enough. I fitted the last of the new carbon seat posts to the second Boardman at lunchtime, so I took that. All good and again I think it's improved the ride.

Listened to more of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Nearing the end now and man, what a strange book. Toward the end there's some lengthy dialogue in which you sense that Dick is expressing some sort of whacked out religious philosophy. He did suffer from hallucinations and delusion in real life, and you can see that in what he writes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7060886889

447 this month and that'll be it for April.

[Nickslikk2112]

Well, what a nice morning that was Warmed up nicely and a clear sky, the best part of the day. Not totally pushed for time because I'm out this evening, but I didn't want to knacker myself so did one of my regularish 40 milers.

Managed it slightly quicker than last time too, things are on the up, but how ever I managed to average over 17 mph on my first time I knoweth not.

Lots of other cyclists out today, plenty of proper ones, then on Beeley Moor a huge gaggle of Mountain Bikers were spread out all over the road in a congregation, they then set off nearly taking me out! Ignorant buggers, bet they all drive Range Rovers

If I'd known I'd have done 42.5 miles to get me to 500 for April, but hey-ho, it is what it is. Onwards and Upwards!

https://www.strava.com/activities/7064362262

[Nickslikk2112]

And out for yet another 40 miler today, to open May's account. Not as nice a day as yesterday by a long way, but still warm enough for bin shorts and a short sleeved jersey.

Lots of small finchy bird type activity about today, but the little buggers flit about too quickly for you to get a positive ID on them. Dead Badgers on the other hand...

https://www.strava.com/activities/7071828936

[Nickslikk2112]

And another 40 miler. Another dull day, but warmer and still enough UV getting through to add to the tanlines

Still not back to where I was at going uphill, but it might be coming back. I did get overtaken by someone who looked my age - so he'll have been about 35 - up one uphill bit, so I decided to put in a bit of a fig to take his wheel. I managed it, but then dropped straight back again because I was pooped. Ho-hum.

Had to stop at some lights for roadworks, so I pulled up behind a car, then the car behind started to try and come by  SO when the lights turned green I moved out to primary and still he wanted to get by, even though if he had he'd have hit the car in front, so I just stuck two fingers up at the twat. I got something shouted at me when I turned left at the end of the roadworks, but I just despair at people who thing cyclists are just there to be intimidated and run off the road.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7076728666

[Slim]

Thoroughly decent weather was forecast for today, so I came up with a plan last night to do something a bit different. Attentive readers might recall that on Tuesday, I tried (but failed) to navigate my way to Long Lane, over near the border with Lincolnshire.  So I planned a route to do that from Eastwell, then to take a road called Redmile Lane north-east to the the Newark route that I've done a few times and come back that way. I made a slight modification, to come back through Rempstone rather than East Leake.

I loaded the route into a GPX app on my phone, which I mounted on the stem. Worked very well. It's a pretty serviceable alternative to my eTrex I must say. As long as you only flip the screen on for brief periods, it doesn't wear the battery down too much. Might even be adequate for a much longer ride.

Nice to reacquaint myself with Long Lane. I love the view of Belvoir Castle in the distance from there. Great to do the Newark route again on the return part as well, I've only done it a couple of times and not for over a year. The only bummer is that the roads in Nottinghamshire are really rough in parts; scrubby and weather-worn, and patched up with tarmac like big lumps of black chewing gum.

But I was glad to be coming back a different way. Typically on a long ride I come back mostly the same way, and the sense of adventure and fun drains out of the ride on the way back. But today I was looking forward to seeing landmarks on the old Newark route that I hadn't seen for a long time.



I stopped to buy some food at a village shop at Stathern, on the part of the ride that I hadn't done before. This turned out to be a cyclists' dream village - there was another village shop two minutes further on with benches and tables, and an inviting looking pub with a beer garden. But I was happy enough with the bench I found there. Only 33 miles from home so it would be well worth making it the end point for a Fondo, except that it's at the bottom of a long, steep hill.

I listened to the last half hour of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. It has a pretty ambiguous and meaningless ending. It doesn't really conclude, it just dies. It's a phenomenally imaginative work and certainly thought-provoking, but not coherent. After that I listened to the first two instalments of Scorpius, a Big Finish audio production concerning the Cybermen. A bit like a radio play with some thoroughly creditable acting performances and impressive incidental music and sound effects. Brilliant! Very focused and really draws you in. Earth is in a war with a race of human-created androids in the Orion system. The androids are winning.

The Cybermen offer to help. They have the military power to destroy the androids easily. But what do they want? I loved it.

I trialled a backpack that I've had for about three years but never used, my only dedicated cycling backpack. Narrower, with a stiff back and chest and waist straps. Not that voluminous. Quite comfortable though, I don't really see an advantage over a simple generic light backpack but I'm sure I'll use it again.

Anyway - 74.12 miles and that's my 10th Fondo this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7077188658

[Jonners]

two 50 odd milers this weekend, the one on Saturday significatly harder than yesterday, and took in a climb called Buttermilk, near Blythfield reservoir.

Tried it twice now, and both occasions have had to get off and walk. Its ridiculous. Not helped by areas of loose surface where the wheels just span under me

[Slim]

Facebook tells me that my Wales trip was five years ago today. I posted a number of pics on the way there and back, and they've come up in my Facebook memories this morning.

That was a very memorable ride, shame I haven't done it again - although I think I'd go a different way this time, over the first 40 miles or so anyway.

[Nickslikk2112]

I'm back to feeling more like a cyclist now. Managed to get over 50 miles since before I had COVID and whilst I still don't feel up to my usual self going uphill, I did manage to get in three Cat 3 climbs. I expected to have to drop down to second gear up Froggatt, by managed to keep it going in third, even though I was stopped by traffic lights at roadworks. I fagged me out though trying to keep up a good pace to avoid pissing off the drivists behind me.

Mind, I really ought to piss them off, because they piss me off with their MGIF antics. Why bother going by a cyclist when a junction is coming up and you then have to slam your brakes on to avoid transgressing Give Way/Stop lines and being hit by another car?

Still, a nice day out in the Peak District in the May sunshine.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7103837565/