Cycling 2023

[Nickslikk2112]

I'm spending too much time watching rather than doing at the moment. It was Paris-Roubaix Femmes today, won't get chance to watch much of the Hommes as Mrs S has invited Uncle Tom Cobbley [sic] and all for lunch tomorrow

I did manage to get out for a couple of hours once it was all done and dusted though. Repeated what I did on Tuesday, but on the Bianchi, not the gravel bike. Missed out the gravel sector, but put in an extra lap of the Beeley Triangle to compensate. As I thought big knobbly tyres knock 10% off my average speed.

That was another 35 miles in the bag though, giving me 110 road miles for the week.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8855758186/

[Slim]

I didn't particularly want to do more than 40 miles. A few days ago I was entertaining the possibility of doing a long ride, but the wind was a bit strong for that - and apart from that, I just wanted to kick back and relax this afternoon.

With the wind coming from the south, I naturally set off down the southbound route. When I got to Stoney Stanton after 18 miles, I went straight over the crossroads rather than turning left. I did entertain the idea of going down Fosse Way for a few miles, briefly. But when I got to the main road I turned left to rejoin the southbound route and came back up.



Stopped at the petrol station on the main road to get a packet of Quavers and noticed that they are owned by Walkers, now. I did look for a different potato snack product, just out of a visceral loathing for Gary Lineker, but I couldn't find one. They all seem to be owned by Walkers now. Oh well.

I also bought a vanilla latte in a can. Turned out to be a bit yuck.

Anyway back home on 40.85 miles. I did feel a bit guilty on the way back not to be doing more in what were very pleasant conditions by then - nice and warm, though I didn't bother removing my tights - but I've done 246 miles this month now and that's not bad for nine days in. The weather looks a bit unsettled for the next couple of weeks, though.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8860308873

[Slim]

With rain due over this afternoon I decided that a shortish ride over a long lunch break was the best plan today. About 20 miles would do. Just the right sort of distance to test the new (as in inherited from the Cannondale) wheels with newly-repaired freehub now attached to Boardman II.

I did a shortish Twycrosser, 22.50 miles. Sunny and pleasant when I set off, then cloudy later, then about 15 minutes of light rain. Then warm sunshine again. Quite an enjoyable run out, but more importantly - everything's working properly on the bike. Gear changes nice and slick, freehub engaging and disengaging properly. Very satisfying to do your own modifications, repairs and maintenance when it all works.

The bike does feel a bit different on the Fulcrum 5s. Not faster, not lighter, but a bit more solid. Could be psychological but it does feel like an upgrade.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8871705063

[Nickslikk2112]

Nearly half way through bloody April and it's still a get out on an as and when basis. Still, I got out today and it was quite nice, a bit blowy at times, but that's not so bad on the gravel bike. Actually did a bit on proper gravel today, but you get too many bloody dog walkers out and about and when the bastards don't have their dogs on a lead 

Was hoping to do a bit more gravel, but where I thought it was possible to get on the Silverhill trail it wasn't. Never mind, on my first excursion into Nottinghamshire this year, I found their roads were in even worse state than Derbyshire's so it made for an interesting ride.

Another 30 miles put into the bag before the rain started.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8871254835/

[Nickslikk2112]

Took the gravel bike again today. As ever didn't go off road, but even though it was a dry day I knew some of the roads I would travel would be a mess and no fun at all on a road bike. Actually  just one road was a mess, but it was well messy.

Unthank Lane is there to serve a few farms and an equestrian centre. It shows. The road surface, such as it is, is hidden beneath a layer of gravel, mud, horse shit, straw and twigs. There as also a stream running down it today. Nice. Garmin reckons that it gets to 16% gradient, Strava says no more than 12%, it felt like 20%. I still need to get fitter.

Just the 35 miles today, as once again I watched too much cycling, bloody Tour du Jura today, some piss-poor French race in the pouring rain and mist. Was hoping to see some nice scenery. Amstel Gold race tomorrow, hope it's an early finish.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8896056917

[Slim]

I'd intended to go up toward Newark today, a ride I've only ever done a few times. But the weather forecast deteriorated overnight. My best bet for avoiding rain showers was to go south it seemed.

So I decided just to do the southbound route. Fortunately the wind was light enough that I wouldn't suffer a stiff headwind on the way back. Actually the wind direction was forecast to be unusually changeable today so it was a bit of a lottery in any case.

Cool and cloudy when I set off, but the sun came out intermittently later on. I'm on call at the moment but it's been very quiet, and I risked doing a half-fondo distance before turning back for home. I offered a conciliatory nod to being on call by turning back at Welford Road rather than going right down to Welford.



The weather was really nice later in the afternoon, making me think - again - that I should have stayed out longer. But at least I didn't get rained on.

I made a slight modification to the route by taking a longer way through Dunton Bassett. Makes the route a bit simpler and avoids a steepish hill.

Listened mostly to 5 Live, and the Beatles album Help!

Back on 63.68 miles, and that's a very satisfying 332 done this month so far.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8895914421

[Nickslikk2112]

Wasn't too early a finish for the Amstel Gold Race - Pidcock 3rd, but only because WvA and MvdP gave it a miss and he was beaten by a fake (as most are) Irishman - so just had time for a couple of hours.

Would have been nice to get 35 miles in, but my legs felt a bit heavy even though I was using the lighter Bianchi. Need to get out on the road more regularly and 33 miles did get me to 100 road miles for the week and only 266 for the month. Also went to Beeley Moor from the North for the first time since last September. I also wish I'd stopped to photograph the Curlew standing on a wall, I'm sure it would have flown though.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8902909442

[Slim]

The weather outlook for today was very promising on Friday, so I booked the day off work to do a long one. The forecast deteriorated a bit over the weekend, but I was undeterred.

I wanted to do at least 100. With the wind coming from the east and the sun due to come out earlier in the day over that way, I decided on the eastbound route. I was up early and I set off at 0745.

On recent long rides I'd suffered cold conditions earlier in the morning to avoid carrying extra clothing with me in a backpack, but I wasn't going to do that this time. Instead, I adopted a new tactic. I wore overtrousers and a nice warm fleece, but I removed them and hid them behind a hedge next to a public footpath after 30-odd miles. I wrapped them in a sealable plastic bag I'd brought with me for this purpose, then uprooted some long grass to make a sort of camouflage net. This worked very well; in fact when I picked them up on the way back I had trouble seeing the bag for a moment.

I went through Corby Glen and Grimsthorpe this time. Sometimes I take a lower route through Little Bytham and Witham, although I haven't been that far along the eastbound route many times. I went all the way to Bourne, then onto South Fen Road, onto the Fens. I was quite impressed with myself for finding my way through Bourne without consulting Google Maps or taking a wrong turn.

South Fen Road is an odd sort of place. You feel like you've left civilisation, on the normal, non-Fens part of England and crossed into the Cursed Earth. It's really badly surfaced in places, though not so bad where I took the pic below. It feels a bit desolate, though I quite like that.



I'd done more than 59 miles by this time. I decided I'd keep going until I'd clocked up 60, then turn back. However about two minutes after I took the pic, I noticed that the steering had become a little skittish .. yep, a puncture.

I stopped, upended the bike, removed the front wheel and wrestled off the tyre. Replaced the inner tube, wrestled the tyre back on, pumped it up. I was more than happy with the performance of my mini-pump - although it doesn't have a gauge I'm pretty sure I got at least 80PSI into the tyre. I didn't pick the best spot to get a puncture; the grassy area to the side of the road was in reality more heavily populated by nettles than grass, and I had the unwelcome tingle of stings induced by hostile vegetation all the way back home.

I decided to turn back there and then of course, but I was feeling quite pleased with myself until I got to Bourne, and noticed that the tyre was soft again.

What now? I didn't have another spare inner tube, of course. So I propped the bike up against Boots the Chemist, then did a search for "bike shop" in Google Maps. A bicycle repair business called All Geared Up was located only about a mile away. I pumped more air into the tyre and set off to find it.

As I neared the location, I realised that it wasn't a traditional bike shop but a regular house on a residential road. I arrived there and rang the doorbell. No answer. WTF was I going to do now?

But a minute later, a friendly chap emerged from a side gate. He explained that he'd been mowing the lawn. Could I buy a couple of inner tubes from him? No problem! He didn't take cards, but I managed to bank transfer the £12 payment from my NatWest app.

I asked if I could borrow a stirrup pump for 15 minutes, but he opened the door to his garage workshop, told me to put the bike on the stand and fitted one of the new inner tubes for me himself. I must say he managed it a lot quicker than I had, half an hour earler. What a lifesaver. I thanked him and he returned to his lawn-mowing duties.

Fortunately the new inner tube made it all the way home.

The weather was beautiful in the afternoon; warm and sunny. I had a feast at the bench outside village shop at Buckminster 39 miles from home and bought more fluids - my bidon had run dry by this point, so a cold Diet Coke was very well received. I bought myself some chocolate as well, to consume about 15 miles from home. Definitely helps with the gradual homeward climb over the last ten miles.

Back on 120.32 miles, seven minutes after sunset. And that's a very healthy shot in the arm for the April distance count, which now stands at 453 miles. 1800 done this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8908853158

Over 38,000 miles of riding a bike, I've only had a puncture about four times. And yet two of them have been within a mile of the most distant point of unusually long rides, the other one being the first Wales and back trip. That's unfortunate, isn't it?

[David L]

What, no puncture repair kit? 

[Slim]

What, no puncture repair kit? 

Not sure how easy it is to identify a puncture in an inner tube by the side of the road. But it might have helped on this occasion, I must admit.

[Nickslikk2112]

I've not yet managed 120 miles in a week and today's 42.78 miles was the greatest distance in one ride all year. I can feel it in my legs now.

Was a nice day, if a bit breezy and it was a headwind on the way back too, that's the bit I normally like as it's downhill and normally has a tail wind. Still at least it gave me my quickest ascent through Cutthorpe this year.

Up on Clodhall Lane, a single lane road, a car coming towards me slowed down and pulled in towards the side. I thought he was being nice to me, but on reaching where he was, I noticed a dead Deer at the side of the road. Something had been tucking into its ribs, so I didn't bother taking anything for me...

Dropped down to the Derwent Valley for the first time this year, which made me glad I'd not put Summer kit on as it was none too warm in the shade down there, but it was rather warm climbing back up to teh tops. One of those days that was hard to get right.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8912287287/

[Slim]

The weather forecast over the next week or so is a bit dismal so I wanted to do 30 or so after work today, while it was sunny and dry. Quite a strong wind coming from the east though. I set off on the eastbound route with no definite plan.

I did the eastbound route for eight miles, then turned left along Smithy Lane. But when I got to the T junction at Long Whatton I just turned right and joined the southbound route again.

I must say the headwind really was annoying, not only in that it made me work harder, but also in that it made the bike a bit unstable. Quite a stiff breeze.



At Stanford I took a left turn I'd been meaning to try for a while. Nice to do something a bit different I suppose but it was not a pleasant experience overall - an uphill climb combined with a poor road surface and a headwind, and surprisingly popular with the motoring community as well. That took me to Ashby road where I turned left for home. What a relief to have a smooth road and a strong tailwind.

I came back through Long Whatton and down Top Brand. Quite a nice run out in the sunshine over the second half.

I listened to 5 Live, then a Corduroy best-of album called In Mini. Some of their tunes sound a bit like game show theme tunes, but that's part of the fun.

Back on 32.52 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8920557106

[Nickslikk2112]

Being as I can't get out to ride again until sunday afternoon at the earliest - going on a Riverside trip - thought I better get out today.

After feeling a bit spent after 42 miles yesterday- there were two big hills in it - I took the gravel bike out today to do some lower level stuff. I even managed my longest stretch of gravel - five miles - on the Clowne Greenway, I even ended up in some proper gravel, the sort you'd edge a garden path with when the line disgorged me into a new housing estate and gravel which had probably been put down as a gravel trap to catch boy racers.

The worst thing about these old railway lines is that you get too many bloody dog walkers with uncontrolled dogs. I say walkers, one cunt was on an e-scooter and had SEVEN bloody mutts with him all running free, thankfully the mutts were more clued up than him. Another drawback is e-bike riders. Spent ages trying to overtake one bloke on a long uphill drag and as soon as I went by he upped the power and got me back. Bastard.

32 miles means I finished just shy of 75 for the week, but meant I was back in time to see the Fleche Wallon.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8918296524

[Slim]

The colourful black / red bar tape on my S Works had started to look a bit frayed and tatty, so I have replaced it with some generic and cheap dark grey tape from Amazon.

I didn't do a perfect job and it doesn't look as good as the old tape did before it wore out. But it'll do for now. I used red insulating tape to finish it off as a sort of cursory nod to the colour scheme.

 

Please excuse the weeds, they belong to a neighbour.

[Slim]

The weather forecast for today improved quite a bit as the week progressed, to the point where the BBC were promising that it wouldn't rain until this evening.

I didn't want to use up too much of my Saturday cycling but since, at the moment, the next dry day looks to be Tues 25th, I thought a 30-odd miler was in order.

I did a Twycross Bypasser, coming back along Gibbet Lane - and with a little excursion down Grendon Road and Spon Lane (a short way down the old Dad's Army route, in other words).



Actually very nice out there - cloudy but bright enough to cast shadows of the bike onto the road. Almost sunny. And not too cold. Very pleased with the way the second Boardman is running on the repaired wheels inherited from the Cannondale.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8936260382

Back on 35.14. That's 520 done this month, very satisfying after a disappointing March. I expect I can squeeze another 80 miles out of April.

Listened mostly to 5 Live, including most of the first half of Chelsea Ladies vs Barca.