Cycling 2022

[Nickslikk2112]

I'm fed up with all the roadworks going on round here, I had to completely change what I was going to do. There's been a road closed all day that I wouldn't use, but it being closed has meant that roads I would have taken have been snarled up all day, add in the fact that another road I could have used was closed for Barlow carnival and it meant I had to spend more time than intended slogging into a headwind

Mind a headwind wasn't the only thing that slowed me down going up to Abney, a sheep had escaped from its allotted field and was in the road ahead of me, it kept running up the road "BAAING" away, but I was never sure what it was going to do and didn't want to get too close on case it decided to take me out. Luckily it eventually found a fence it could get under. I had nearly taken myself out earlier, sliding on some gravel on a 90 degree bend, I couldn't escape it as some pillock had parked his van bang on the corner

Because of the wind I failed to meet my target time of 3 hours and 15 minutes for the ride - Mrs S always likes an estimate so she knows when to start worrying - and it ended up at 3 hours 22 minutes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7671254987

[Slim]

A pleasantly warm, mostly sunny afternoon with a light wind coming from the west. My first idea was to do some of the Lower Westbound route and come back the same way. But when I got to the crossroads at Gallows Lane I decided I didn't really feel like doing that, and I set off down through Twycross, thinking of doing some of the Dad's Army route.

However I failed to take the correct turn for that at Pinwall Lane, and ended up going east along Fenn Lanes. From there I continued on to Kirkby Mallory and came back the usual (southbound route) way from there.



Really very pleasant out there, especially with footy on the DAB radio. I listened to Leeds vs Chelsea, very entertaining. Lovely to have that fixture back in the top tier, especially at Elland Road.

Noticed a couple of light planes and powered hang gliders parked up in the air field along Fenn Lanes, so I stopped to take a pic there. Must have been an air festival on this weekend, or something.

Passing a field near Kirkby Mallory I saw a miniature tornado whirling up bits of wheat chaff and dust. Never seen anything like it, quite remarkable. It had a really well-defined acute funnel shape, very narrow and pointy at the base where it connected with the ground. I stopped to watch it but unfortunately it had died before I could get a pic.

Astonishingly, my Roberts DAB personal has now given me nearly 24 hours from the same pair of alkaline batteries, and it still hasn't finished them off.

Back on 39.60 miles, 388 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7676801912

[Nickslikk2112]

That was better today, lighter winds and a flatter parcours. Even managed to set some PBs on segments which ended up higher at the end than the beginning, not hills, maybe not even drags, but certainly not quite flat or downhill.

42.4 miles today got me to 225 for the week and 675 for the month so far. Fingers crossed that the weather stays nice enough for me to get to 900 for the month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7676994484

[Slim]

Rain this morning and mostly a pretty dismal day early on, so I was a bit surprised to discover that it was rather warm out there when I left the house. Almost scorchio, and the sun had come out.

Today's plan was to do the southbound route for a bit, then come back the same way. I got to Stoney Stanton on about 18 miles and was about to turn back, when - on a whim - I decided to take the right turn at the roundabout and find a different way home. I'd come home that way a few times in the past so it was really just a question of remembering the route. Which I didn't. Instead I found myself, after a while, on a fairly busy A road which I remembered from the days when I used to commute to Coventry by car, over ten years ago. I must confess that I used the cycle lane. I don't usually do that as a rule, but it looked nice and clear of gravel and debris. And pedestrians.

I came to a big roundabout next to a Morrisons and I thought I knew the way from there from my old commute, but I took a wrong turn, through Stoke Golding. This took me to Fenn Lanes a few miles further on though, very familiar territory. I took the left turn off Fenn Lanes toward Shenton and sat for a while on the Judith Birch bench, munching a cheese pasty and idly watching the sheep in the field opposite.

The road from Shenton to Bosworth was blocked by a flood (as documented photographically below) so I backtracked and took a road signposted to Sutton Cheney at the previous junction. This was quite fortuitous as it took me along Albion Lane. I've done that a couple of times in the past and remembered it as being pleasant, but wasn't sure where it was when I've thought of doing it again. So I found it without actually looking for it. It leads right to the junction where one of my favourite benches at Sutton is situated. I must remember that.



Back the usual way, or one of them, from there. Very nice run out, a nice adventure. I'll try to devise a route that takes in the pleasant stretch of road near Stoke Golding while avoiding the A road with the cycle lane.

I overheated a little at first but was very comfortable later on. A thick layer of cloud rolled over before long and I thought it might rain, but it didn't.

Amazingly my Roberts personal DAB has got another 4 hours, 22 minutes out of its first pair of AAs, bringing the total to more than 28 hours. I would have been happy with 10 hours, and surprised with 15. And the batteries aren't done yet. I must remember to put a glowing review on Amazon.

42.59 miles which takes me to 430 this month and 35,000 since I started doing this regularly in January 2015.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7688687537

[Nickslikk2112]

Went out yesterday, did the same ride as last week but did it more slowly even though my legs felt better. Shows the value of having a tailwind on my 15 mile run in back home.
Overnight rain meant that the roads had been liberally - unfortunately not Conservatively - re-gravelled, with known gravel patches from last week being completely rearranged. 43 miles got me over 700 for August.

[Nickslikk2112]

And another 43 miles today, takes me over 750 miles for August.

Had a bit of a contretemps today with a female Range Rover driver and her daughter. I'd pulled up at some traffic lights for roadworks behind a line of cars and started up when the lights turned green, I heard a car rapidly approaching from behind I turned round to eyeball them to warn them away - I have great faith in Paddington Bear style hard stares - but she just pulled out round me and slotted herself in to what was just, just, a Range Rover sized gap "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING AT?!?!"I shouted at her, only to get some verbals from the daughter. I then noticed a dirty great Dog's head sticking out the rear window "AND READ THE HIGHWAY CODE RULE 57 AMONG OTHER THINGS" I got more unintelligible verbals back. I tapped on my front light and said "IT'S ALL BEING FILMED!" (Obvs not, but they don't know) "We don't care" was the reply I heard. They then proceeded to drive along at just over 15 mph braking all the while whilst I shook my head. Then at the next Traffic light controlled junction she turned without indication into the right turn lane and turned off just as the lights turned red.

I fail to comprehend what goes on inside other people's heads. Through light controlled roadworks, I'm as quick as a car, why do these entitled jerks think they can do what they like? It really pissed me off, there was just so much wrong (I hate myself for writing that, but hey-ho)

https://www.strava.com/activities/7691837687

It was bloody humid out there too today, I ought to put my kit to the wash, but Mrs S will kill me, it has to have over 100 miles in first...

[Slim]

Plenty of rain this morning but by 4pm I'd decided that the roads had dried out enough for a run out on a bike. The wind was coming from the west, very roughly, and I decided I'd do the Beloved A Road for a bit. Not long after I'd turned left onto it from Swarkestone Bridge, I had the idea of taking a right turn toward Derby then finding my way back to Swarkestone from there, perhaps via the ring road and down through Chellaston. I felt like indulging my inner Derby resident.

I took a right turn called Frizams Lane. This took me to Stenson and past a pub called The Bubble, where I used to go occasionally 30 years ago, and have been to once or twice on a bike in recent years. From there I followed a sign to Derby which took me, less than a mile later, to a very pleasant A road. This confused me a bit. Where was I? Why have I never been along this road before? But about a mile later I realised that I'd looped back onto the same (Beloved) A Road. All I'd done, effectively, was a sort of elaborate U turn.

No matter - I continued back to Swarkestone. I had a few options to extend the ride a bit from there. I could continue on to Shardlow, or to Isley Walton again for example. Instead I decided to keep going to the A50 roundabout then hang a left onto Infinity Park Way, a road on the very outskirts of Derby built to service industrial units and new housing, and which leads to the Rolls-Royce test facility (pictured below). I've just read that it was only opened last year, and yet I'm sure it was there when I last pedalled that way and I'm sure that was more than three years ago.



I turned back from here and came home the usual way from Swarkestone. I didn't really fancy Rotter's Rise after Melbourne, but it wasn't too bad.

Stopped at a big log at the edge of Spring Wood near the Derbyshire border and ate a cheese pasty sitting there in the evening sunshine. Lovely.

Very nice run out. Nice to visit Derby again, even though I only penetrated her lightly.  I do get quite sentimental when I think about living there in the early '90s, when it was still new to me.

36.33 miles, 467 this month. If I hit all of my (pretty modest) monthly targets for the rest of the year, I'll end up doing more miles this year than last. No big deal, but nice to have. Actually I'm 484 miles ahead of this time last year.

I got another 2 hrs, 24 minutes from the AAs in my Roberts DAB before they finally died - bringing the total to an extraordinary 30 hours, 31 minutes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7699934193

[Nickslikk2112]

Didn't bother going out yesterday. It belted it down in the morning and I'd got the Vuelta to watch in the afternoon.

Went out for a Thursday ride today and did it more quickly than I have before, just, which was nice. Lots of traffic about though, which wasn't nice.

Another 43 miles got me to 805 for August, still 950 behind where I was last year. I have to go back to 2018 to find a year where I'm ahead of myself.

[Nickslikk2112]

And another 50 miles onto August's tally today, takes me to 855 miles for August, so barring unforseen rain, injury or bikes falling to bits - all of which could happen - should get me to 900 for the month, even though I can't get out on the last two days of August due to taking Mrs S away for her 60th birthday.

Managed to set my quickest time of the year on a couple of hills today, but was nowhere near on the third, think the legs had run out of steam. Going up the first one someone in an Audi called me a Dickhead, presumably because I'd delayed him and his tarty woman for a few seconds on their trip out to drive round aimlessly.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7710277889

[Slim]

I'm on call at the moment, but it's been very quiet. So quiet in fact that I was tempted to do a fondo. Not the sort of messing-around fondo that involves a sort of orbital or criss-cross route intended to keep me within 15 miles or so of base, but a proper one, in which I cycle in roughly the same direction for 31 miles, then come back.

A beautiful day for cycling; warm and sunny with a light wind coming from the east. No risk of rain, according to the forecast. I took the S Works since I'd only been out on it four times this year and of course the Summer of 2022 is, alas, drawing to a close.

As a sort of gesture to fortune, I expanded the ride a bit over the first 25 miles or so - by taking the long way up through Diseworth and Long Whatton to Zouch, then by detouring through Wymeswold between Cotes and Six Hills. This would enable me to turn back a mile or two closer to home.

Wymeswold is an inexplicably complicated village to navigate, and by approaching it from an unfamiliar direction, I managed to get lost. Instead of exiting it along my usual route (East Road), I found myself on a very pleasant, leafy and quiet country lane. I had no idea in which direction I was headed at this point but in a spirit of adventure, I decided to just keep going and see where it took me. In fact three miles later it took me to my usual road out east, near Six Hills.

I realised then that I had pedalled along a road called Narrow Lane - I'd seen it on a map often, but I'd always ignored it because it's not particularly useful. The usual route out of Wymeswold (ie the one that had eluded me) is more efficient. There's only three miles of Narrow Lane and it's a bit up-and-down-ish. But it is very quiet (unsurprisingly, because it runs parallel to a faster road going in the same direction) so I may well do it again some time.



I was of course, a little nervous about being a considerable distance from home and on call at the same time. The insistent voice of my conscience on my right shoulder (not really, this is a metaphor just to be clear) kept whispering in my ear: "What are you going to do if you get a call 25 miles from home, and it's an emergency? Turn back now!" But the voice on my other shoulder reminded me that I almost never get a call on a Saturday afternoon, and anyway (it continued), I could always say my phone was broken.

So I kept going. In fact I kept going for about a mile past the half-fondo distance before turning for home, to give myself the option of taking a more direct route back. I did do Narrow Lane again (and stopped there to take the pic above), but I came through Wymeswold and Rempstone the traditional way rather than going down to Cotes. I also didn't bother with the Diseworth detour on the way back. At Zouch I realised that I'd be back home a mile short of a fondo, so I detoured into the outskirts of Coalville over the last couple of miles.

I didn't get a call, fortunately.

Listened mostly to footy chat on 5 Live. I'd been looking forward to Liverpool vs Bournemouth, the featured commentary game at 3pm, but Liverpool took the suspense out of it by scoring twice in the first six minutes. So I switched over to Gilles Peterson on 6 Music, a decision that I regretted later when I heard that Liverpool had scored nine goals. What that match lacked in suspense, it might well have made up for in entertainment.

Gilles had an interview with Kahil El'Zabar, a talented musician for sure but a bit of a hippy. He told us about "the vibration of energy" and that his saxophone player's parts were "the expression of the universe through human configuration".

Back on 62.26 miles and that's the fourth (and last) fondo this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7709732392

[David L]

Just returned from a 17 mile mountain bike ride with the missus. From Hope village to Pindale, Little Hucklow (The Blind Bull). Then on to Gt Hucklow, Grindlow and Foolow.
Had some lunch at the Bull. Never had a yorkshire pudding wrap before. Essentially a roast dinner wrapped in a yorkshire pud. Very nice.
We returned the way we went. Seemed like a much longer ride with all the climbing.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Hi folks! Great site and wonderful name. I love Rush and I'm trying to get into cycling before I leave it too late. Buying a bike in the next week or so, probably a hybrid. The appeal is it has no chain, but some belt drive with only 8 gears. Haven't seen it yet other than online but I think will be a good fit. I wouldn't dare to report my mileage on here though. Don't know how you old rockers manage it.

[Slim]

Well welcome aboard Picnic. Do we know you from a previous life? Just wondering, you're welcome either way. Thanks for signing up.

[Nickslikk2112]

Just returned from a 17 mile mountain bike ride with the missus. From Hope village to Pindale, Little Hucklow (The Blind Bull). Then on to Gt Hucklow, Grindlow and Foolow.

Keep meaning to do Pindale up from Castleton, but it's too sketchy for my good bikes...
Should have gone on through Foolow to Stella's Kitchen, a most incongruous Caribbean Restaurant in the middle of nowhere, never been myself as I don't carry money... Or, you could have gone up to the Gliding Club above Gt. Hucklow and down through Abney to Hathersage. Nice Views.

I stuck to the unglamorous flat lands today, although I did go by Hardwick Hall and the site of England's first onshore Oil Well. Managed to pick up a few PBs as well, without even trying. Equalled a best time which I'd set in December 2016. must have been a strong tailwind that day!

43 miles gets me to within 2 of 900 for August. Should, should, manage that.

[The Picnic Wasp]

The flat lands don't sound too unglamorous to me as I think I need to shed about 10 kilos before hills are achievable again.