Cycling 2022

[Nickslikk2112]

Thankfully not much office work as postie didn't deliver much, so I was able to get the 5 miles for 750. In fact I got the 30 miles in to let me complete Strava's October 1,250km distance challenge. First time I've done that in October. Certainly won't in November.

I think it's a case of as and when for cycling now, early sunset and probable worsening weather will mean taking advantage of any dry slots. Must try and hit Strava's climbing challenge for November, not managed to do so yet.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8048355665

Also noticed that a kid up the road is the U14 British Hill Climbing Champion. Don't know how many others there were in that category, but he was 13 out of 45 for the U18s and would have been 100 out of 269 in the Men's category. Raced up a mile @ 12.5% with 0.31 miles @ 15.7% I'd have been off and pushing.

[Slim]

The forecast promised a dry, sunny day so I took a day's annual leave to get the November fondo in. Slightly scary single figure temperatures, though. I wrapped up very warm.

The wind was coming from the west, and I thought I'd do the Lower Westbound route, or some variation of it. The rough idea was to do the first 30-odd miles of the route to Wales, then come back. I did that, except that after 24 miles, I took a right turn toward Abbots Bromley at the T junction rather than a left to Rugeley. I only need to do another 7 miles or so and I felt sure it would be a bit more cycling-friendly than pedalling through Rugeley, which is a bit industrial. I also took a wrong turn after 8 miles, but I looped back onto the correct route more or less by chance a mile later.

I had the impression that I hadn't been right up to Abbots Bromley for years, but when I got there I remembered sitting on the bench near the village shop about a year ago. I did the same again today, to refuel with a cheese & onion roll and a sandwich from the shop.



I continued on up the road to Uttoxeter, until after about 33 miles I took a right turn along a small country road named Hobb Lane. This turned out to be a bit bumpy and gritty - one of those one-track roads with passing places, copiously furnished with grit, stones and grass growing in the middle like a sort of central reservation - but I was able to plot a course through the worst of it. I persevered for about a mile before I decided to turn back, and head home.

Interestingly, although I didn't know it at the time, the map tells me that I wasn't too far at this point from the "Upper Westbound" route.

I came back the same way although I did wonder if I'd gone off-piste a couple of times. But I hadn't.

My paranoid fear of the cold had caused me to over-clothe myself. I was far too warm after the first few miles. I stopped at a log and removed my jogging pants (worn as a layer between my cycling tights and overtrousers) and a fleece (worn as a layer between my cycling jacket and compression top). I was fine after that apart from being annoyed that I was carrying them round in my backpack for no sensible reason.

Came back through Packington and Alton Hill over the last few miles, rather than Heather.

Listened to 5 Live, then more of the Reacher novel.

Very good one, nice to go up that way again. Back on 68.58 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8068159948

[Nickslikk2112]

Been out for a ride every day this week so far. Not always a "lengthy" one, but at this time of year you have to seize your chances, so any dry, clear slot will get pounced on. I have got over 150 miles for the week too.

Today's 42 miler was the longest one of the week and my first ride in my new Le Col ensemble. Looks very smart, but didn't make me any faster Been the first full week in bib tights this autumn too. If anything, I probably under-dress but going uphill soon warms you up, even if it is a bit of a fresh one.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8067022750

[Nickslikk2112]

Well what a (Water? Wet a? [not Weta]) weekend. Only managed 18 miles. Got a wet bum too. I'd have done more if I were still at work. Possibly. Might have gone on the Turbo Trainer, but I want to avoid that at all costs. Ugh, sweat.

[Slim]

The weather forecast suggested a threat of a shower before 5pm, but dry conditions were promised after that. Managed to down tools at about 3pm at the expense of having to work later this evening, and set off hoping to do at least 32, which would get me into double figures for November.

Only my second bike ride in November, mainly due to the weather. A brisk wind was coming roughly from the south so I had a simple plan: do the southbound route for at least 16 miles, then come back.

I rested the bike against a fence at a favoured wee spot not long after Kirkby Mallory, and the wind blew it over. No damage, it fell onto soft ground and I wasn't on it. But the mirror popped out of the ball joint on the rightmost end of the handlebar tube and I couldn't force it back on. It was dark by this time. I pressed on to the northern end of Stoney Stanton, then turned back.

Beautiful full Moon after dark.

I was congratulating myself on not having being rained on when I noticed a few flecks of moisture in the beam of my head torch. Ten minutes later the rain was coming down properly, cold and unpleasant. Not heavy, but not light and very persistent. Misery.

Had to give the bike a good wipe down when I got back. It had only done 60-odd miles since I had it cleaned, as well.

Still - 35.46 miles.

Listened mostly to the Reacher novel. It's really drawn me in now.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8088936122

[Slim]

Windy but dry and mild. The wind was coming from the south again so once again, I decided to do 16 or 17 miles of the southbound route, then come back. When I got to Kirkby Mallory though I decided to take a right to Sutton Cheney, then take the Twycross route home, in a backwards-stylee.

 don't often do Fenn Lanes east-to-west and I always forget how rough that side of the road is. The wind was pretty annoying as well until it became a tailwind, after which the combination of a zippy bike and assistance from the elements had me flying along, up from Twycross.

Noticed my bottle cage flapping around on the frame after I removed the bidon for the first time. One of the bolts had worked loose and disappeared. Fortunately I was able to remove the other one with my fingers. I put the bidon and bottle cage in my backpack.

Apart from the wind, pleasant out there, especially at dusk. And the Cannondale is rolling very nicely on its new wheels.

Back on 36.20 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8098545311

[Nickslikk2112]

Got over 6,500 miles for the year now. Bit windy out, bit warm too made my helmet all sweaty...

[Slim]

A dry, almost warm day. I'd been waiting for the right conditions for an eastbound fondo for a while; today the wind was coming from the south-east. Close enough.

I set off not long after 0900. Would have been sooner but I didn't bother to reattach the bottle cage to the Cannondale yesterday so I had to do that this morning. Unsurprisingly I couldn't find my stash of the appropriate bolts in the garage. Fortunately I did find two loose ones slopping around in a drawer. I put plastic washers on this time.

Nice out there, sunny later on. I went a bit further than Eastwell, my usual eastbound fondo endpoint, this time. Hadn't done that for a year or two. After a couple of miles I came to a right turn for a village called Eaton. Hadn't been there before so I went and had a look. I didn't go right into the village because the road took a brutal downward dip that I didn't want to bother coming back up. I'll see what, if anything, I missed on Street View later.

On the way back at the Nottingham Road junction, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to take a right turn along the main road, rather than crossing over it. I'd thought of doing this often but always talked myself out of it. After all if it was a promising or interesting route, surely I'd have noticed it while nerding out over a route planner.

I ignored the first left turn to Wymeswold, but took a left turn called Station Road after about 6 miles. I did have a sneaky look at Google Maps at this point and noticed that if I kept going I'd end up in East Leake, which is on a familiar route to Newark and Back.



I didn't much enjoy Nottingham Road but Station Road, after the left turn, was idyllic cycling territory. Nice views, especially when I was overtaken by two curvy ladies in clingy lycra.

Sunny later in the afternoon. Lovely. I was back well before sunset and I should have done a longer ride. Perhaps I would have, except that I forgot to bring a debit card with me. Fortunately I had enough food and water to keep me going; in fact I didn't get round to eating the cheese & onion pasty until I was about 8 miles from home.

I did think that I'd probably extend my ride quite substantially by adventuring off in the direction of Nottingham but nope, it didn't turn out to be a longer route home. Or not much anyway.

Listened to another couple of hours of the Reacher novel and 6 Music.

Very satisfying run out, nice to explore a few miles of new territory. Back on 67.60 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8107678132

[Nickslikk2112]

Being as I've got more money than sense (so not much, obvs) I've treated myself to a set of Power Meter Pedals (Could've bought a cheap Winter bike). They arrived this morning and I'd soon got them on the bike and paired up with my Garmin. Decided to just go out for a ride round the block to see what data came out of them.

Well, they appeared to work, but after 2 minutes the Garmin switched off. Turned it back on again, rode round again, after 2 minutes Garmin turned off again. Bugger.

Went home, synched it with Garmin Connect for what it was worth and found out that 37% of my power came from the left leg. 63% from the right. Am I Long John Silver? I also looked and found the Garmin storage was nearly full, so I deleted most of this year's rides and also installed a smaller base map to free up space.

Went out after lunch and things didn't switch off after 2 minutes, so I could now see what power I put out when rising along (not much). Took it for a 30 mile spin, all I had time for and then right at the same point as earlier the Garmin switched off. Bugger. Same place as earlier though. I'm now thinking it could be down to some segments on the Garmin as switch off point came at where it tells me I'm about to start the segment. These have now been deleted so I'll see what happens now.

Is power meterage worth it? Don't know. But, my leg imbalance is now 47% left, 53% right so I can work on that. It also seems the cleat on my right shoe is not centred properly, so that's handy. Looking at Strava's power estimates against actual, it's uphill guess is not far off, but it seems low over a full ride and seeing your power uphill just incentivises you to dig in a bit. Anyhow, it's more data. I like data.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8107671302

[Slim]

Is power meterage worth it? Don't know. But, my leg imbalance is now 47% left, 53% right so I can work on that. It also seems the cleat on my right shoe is not centred properly, so that's handy. Looking at Strava's power estimates against actual, it's uphill guess is not far off, but it seems low over a full ride and seeing your power uphill just incentivises you to dig in a bit. Anyhow, it's more data. I like data.

That's really interesting. My first physio told me that my left leg would probably work harder while my right knee (the worse affected one) was recovering without me being conscious of it, and to try to keep them doing roughly the same amount of work.

I suspect that my right leg works harder now but I don't know that that really gives me a disadvantage, other than putting it under more strain but it can handle it.

One thing I do that might defeat power meters is pulling up on the pedals sometimes when going uphill - it uses a different muscle group to spread the load a bit. I also sometimes pull up with the left foot while pushing with the right sometimes, on a hill. And vice-versa.

[Nickslikk2112]

I can also see at which point of the pedal stroke I'm applying the most power and thankfully most of it is where it should be. My leg imbalance has lessened too to 48%L 52%R but I was trying to put more effort on today due to limited cycling time due to the Sister in Law coming over.

I hadn't solved my Garmin switching off either, but I don't think I'd deleted the offending segment properly. Try again another day.

[David L]

My leg imbalance has lessened too to 48%L 52%R..............

Not sure about 'imbalance', that's a clearly defined victory for your right leg 

[Fishy]

Was checking Strava last week and realised I hadn't been out a proper run since mid October.. although had an aborted run due to a puncture a couple of weeks ago .. anyway seized the day yesterday and managed a 28 miler.. blue sky sunshine little bit of a breeze and very mild...
Out along the coast road heading south to Dunure.. Culzean Maybole and Kirkmichael.. then a nice single track road cross country into Dalrymple then head home via Alloway and back onto the seafront.. thought about heading to the pier but too many pesky walkers and dogs ..
Very enjoyable and loads of other cyclists out.. nice to get a nod or wave as you pass them

[Slim]

Hadn't been out on a bike for a few days, so with rotten weather expected tomorrow I thought I'd try to get 20 or so in after work. Didn't have time for much more than that, because rain was due over around 7pm.

If I got back by 6pm, I reckoned, I'd probably get away with it. Well, I didn't get away with it, I was intermittently subjected to light rain and drizzle. Dry for the last 5 miles or so though, and the bike and myself mostly dried off. I gave the bike a good wipe down when I got back anyway.

A light wind was coming from the east. I went up to Long Whatton, across to Diseworth, back down Top Brand, Griffydam, Peggs Green, Coleorton.

20.62 miles, not a lot really but I'm pretty relaxed about getting the miles in now. Done 228 this month now, the target is only 300. If I do another 84 this month which seems likely, I'll hit 5000 miles this year before December.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8127098503

[Nickslikk2112]

Managed to get out today after yesterday's washout. Probably my last chance until next Tuesday now, what with the weather forecast and a weekend away in London.

Weather wasn't that good today and it necessitated the wearing of winter gloves and overshoes. Not quite cold enough for a base layer.

Was hoping to get 40+ miles in, but was late getting out and the rain up on the tops was a bit off-putting, but I did get 33 miles in and completed the Strava climbing challenge for the first time in November. Didn't get past 350 miles for the month though.

My right leg is still winning.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8125961610