Cycling 2024

[Nickslikk2112]

Popped out today between the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and the Vuelta Espana. Actually I missed half of the Vuelta Because it was a time trial. I'll sit and watch most any cycling - even watched the Tour de Leuven without commentary - by TTs are a bit much even for me - Mrs S loves them though.

Got in my third climb of the Col du Wigley this month and each one has been faster. Didn't even put as much power in today, maybe that was a clean chain? The old ticker was beating faster though.

Kept the climbing to a minimum after that, still did enough bit not in a concentrated block. I was hoping to average 17.5mph after the ride, but the last bit of hill I did just knocked me back under. Ho-hum. I got 43 miles in in under two and a half hours, that'll do.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12172553291/

[Slim]

I was all set do do another fondo today but the forecast changed to threaten rain at 1600 and the wind was a bit strong. Conditions were overcast and a bit cool, as well. So I decided an old-fashioned Twycross Bypasser would do.

I did the version that goes through Ratcliffe Culey, Shenton and Bosworth, with a deviation through Nailstone again.

Listened to 5 Live, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother then the first couple of hours of an Alastair Reynolds novel called Revelation Space. It only just managed to maintain my attention unfortunately. But I'll persist with it.

Back on 35.07 miles, the shortest distance I've done for a couple of months but good enough for an overcast Monday. The Sun did almost come out for a few minutes to be fair.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12188210435

[Nickslikk2112]

Don't think the sun popped out at all during my ride today, but luckily the rain I could see out over the middle of the Peak District stayed in the middle of the Peak District, so apart from the odd spot of rain it was fine. If breezy.

Thanks to a wrong turn I managed to get 45 miles in. I thought that I'd be able to make my way back to the road I wanted, but no, I would have ended up near Matlock and a steep climb back, so it was a swift about face and back the way I came.

I was rather hoping to get back averaging 17mph, but a dilatory driver of a Nissan Qashqai held me up and it finised according to my Garmin at 16.99mph. Ho-hum.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12186684591

[Nickslikk2112]

For some reason I thought this morning was going to be dry. It started throwing it down at ten o'clock. I just thought it was light rain as there were just a few spots on the window. If I'd looked out of a windward window I'd have seen differently.

Still, what's a little rain? Bloody annoying when you're fifty minutes into a ride and as far away from home as you're going to get (I was doing close to home loops in case it did rained). But then it stopped and out came the sun Carry on. The roads were that wet though that I got a soggy bottom. Wrong day to be wearing a white cycling top too.

On the plus side I got an uphill personal best on one segment, because it was raining I just slogged away in the big chain ring for as long as I could, won't carry on riding like that, but it's interesting to know what I can do. My Garmin also told me that one hill that I climbed three times was ridden in 3'51" each time. Consistency is good.

Today's 40 miles means 450 for August, 500 should be doable now.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12195258690

[Slim]

Bit tired after driving back from Milton Keynes late last night but it will rain tomorrow, if the forecast is to believed. I did another short one, a pretty perfunctory Twycrosser.

Cloudy, not warm. Quite a strong wind from the south-west and the headwind was brutal on the way down to Twycross. But I didn't seem to get a tailwind on the way back.

Listened to 5 Live and the Pink Floyd album Meddle. Back on 30.25 miles and that takes me to 410 miles this month. I've now done over 400 miles in every month this year up to and including August. If I can do the same for the remaining four months, it'll be the first time I've exceeded 400 in every month of the year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12206955565

[Nickslikk2112]

And out again today, treating Mrs S to a couple of nights away in the city of sin that is Norwich, so I wanted to get as much cycling in before going as possible.

I thought 125 miles in three days would be enough and by 'eck it's been enough! it was my third consecutive 40+ miler, only the second time I've achieved that this year, I'm slacking.

There was certainly a stiff breeze blowing today and my time to 20 miles was more or less exactly the same as when I did the same route on the gravel bike back in early May all down to the headwind. Managed to pick up a bit of speed on the way back with the wind behind me although not as much as I would have hoped as I was held up by a Dutch lorry going down through Old Brampton.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12204315745

[Slim]

Windy again. Otherwise a nice day though. Warm enough and sunny. I decided to keep it short after encountering a headwind full-on on the way down to Twycross. After I got there I did a detour to Orton, mainly because the main road through the village had had a load of dusty gravel dumped on it by Leicestershire County Council.

Straight across to Sibson after Sheepy. And I started to go up the main road toward home from there, but reasoning that I'd only have to put up with the headwind for another few miles, changed my mind and headed down to the bottom of Fenn Lanes. Huge relief to turn north-east there, out of an oncoming wind. Back through Shenton, Bosworth, Odstone, Burgoland.



One day I must try to work out how many possible variations of the Twycrosser there are.

A bit perfunctory really, I just wanted to get the monthly distance figure up a bit. But I quite enjoyed the second half.

Listened to 5 Live. 37.27 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12223637200

[Slim]

Another decent day, if a bit windy. The wind was coming from the south-west, but I decided to do the southbound route. Only wanted to do the fondo distance.

I realised, as I was readying the bike, that I'd forgotten to bring a bike computer out of the house. So I used the Strava app on my phone. Slightly irritating not knowing how many miles I'd done at any given time, but I have a few mental distance markers remembered.

Stopped at the Co-op at Stoney Stanton for a plain croissant. They didn't have any, so I had an onion bhaji sandwich instead. Got to Husbands Bosworth after about 32 miles. And I decided to come back the "old way", up Welford Road then through Foston and Enderby.

I ignored a few ROAD CLOSED signs with big red barriers positioned half way across the road. A few miles later I came to a pair of barriers right across the road, bearing the notice DANGER: DEEP EXCAVATION, but in fact the only noticeable excavation was about three inches deep. No-one was in attendance. I got the bike round the barriers without any difficulty and carried on.

Very nice to come up Welford Road again for a change, but the "old way" is not so much fun after Blaby. Busy roads. I must work out a route that comes back part of the old way, then cuts west to the newer route.



After Newbold Verdon I came back a shorter way than usual, and ended up having to take a circuitous route over the last couple of miles.

I decided to risk minimal clothing and unfortunately the oncoming breeze was a bit cold for the first couple of hours. I warmed up nicely in the afternoon, but I wish I'd put on a long-sleeved tunic over the short-sleeved top I had on.

I listened to another couple of hours of the Alastair Reynolds novel, Revelation Space. Not sure whether to persist with it. And 5 Live, notable today for the many tributes to Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Back on 62.31 miles, 509 for August now.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12247979277

[Nickslikk2112]

After a weekend away I thought I'd ease back into it a bit more this time as I now have no weekends away until mid October.

Had a nice 20 miler yesterday - if a bit blowy - and today upped it to 33 miles. Didn't manage to go faster yet in August for the Col du Wigley, in fact it was marginally slower than my first August ascent, but there was a stiffish cross headwind today as opposed to a light cross tailwind, makes all the difference.

I know it was a bank Holiday, but the Peak District Roads were really busy, I thought midday would be quieter, especially as it was dull and cloudy. Still, I'm now up to 544 miles for August.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12245834881

[Nickslikk2112]

Out again today and I managed to set my best ever 1 minute power output, a magnificent 401W, that's over half a Horsepower!

I had no intention of doing so, but there was a set of Traffic Lights for roadworks on a hill. These had been showing on the local roadworks website, but never appearing on the road. They had now disappeared on the web but appeared on the road. The lights were on Green so I went through and then a car came up behind me so I had to dig in up a 12% section, went completely into the red, fortunately the lights were still on red at the top of the hill. Nice to know what I can do when I have to, but I have no intention of doing it intentionally.

It was a bit blowy again today, on the Holmewood to Tibshelf section which is uphill I normally maintain or increase my average speed. Today it dropped, can't recall that happening before, certainly not on the Giant TCR, didn't help that I was held up by agricultural traffic though.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12254441182

[Slim]

Not much time for cycling today, wasn't able to leave the house until after 1330 and I had to be back by 1615 to give 'er indoors a lift to pick up her car from an MOT.

Usually I might well just not have bothered, but Friday's weather looks perfect for a long ride so I don't want to be cycling tomorrow.

I decided, therefore, to try to squeeze 25 or 30 in. I did a Twycrosser. The idea was to keep an eye on the watch and adjust the route on the fly. Always an option for a quicker or longer way home from more or less anywhere on the ride.

Went a bit quicker than I'd normally bother to, and managed to get 30.49 miles in. Nice weather, warm enough for bare legs and sunny.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12264766377

[Nickslikk2112]

And out again today, got to try and make up for weekend's away. Can't understand though how both this and last August I had two weekends away and yet got to 775 miles for last August and I'm not even at 600 for this. Must have tried harder last year.

Anyway, I got out and did 40 miles today. Looking at the roadworks website they were showing the ones they weren't showing yesterday, but I didn't go that way so I don't know if they were there although Google Maps showed traffic flowing freely. I did see light controlled works on a hill I was going to do, but there was an easy diversion round. Took the diversion to find a "road closed" sign, but just for fifteen minutes and it was easy for a bicycle to get through.

Earlier on in the ride I'd been assailed by clouds of very small black flies which got everywhere and stuck to my skin. I hoped some would still be there when I got home in the hope that Mrs S could identify them, but I managed to sweat the, all away.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12263724858

[Nickslikk2112]

Out again today, under strict orders not to be out too long as Mrs S was going up to her Sister's in Bradfordistan and she wanted to make sure I was back before she left.

I figured that I'd got 2 hours to get 32 miles in so out I went and was back in an hour and fifty three with 33 miles in the legs. Kept is as unhilly as I could. It was enough. Gets me over 650 miles in a month for only the third time this year and I'm at last over 4,500 miles in 2024.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12272066419

[Slim]

Conditions were forecast to be near-perfect yesterday - sunny, warm, a light wind coming from the east, increasing in intensity later in the day. And intermittent cloud cover in the early afternoon. The plan was to set off early and cycle over to the flat bit of Lincolnshire. Not as far as Sutton Bridge, my usual destination over there, but into the Fens for a couple of miles.

I woke up at about 0620. I contemplated getting up there and then, but I asked Alexa what the current temperature was first. Eight degrees. So I went back to sleep. Unfortunately I didn't wake up again until 0830.

I set off at about 0925. Still not quite warm enough for minimal clothing, so I had a long sleeve second layer on. But the temperature was forecast to rise quite rapidly, and it did. I stashed my long sleeved top in my camo bag, along with a torch and spare batteries, in a hedge near Waltham after 32 miles. Actually I regretted doing that twenty minutes later when the sun disappeared into clouds. But not for long, fortunately.

Stopped at the village store at Buckminster for more fuel after 39 miles. About 9 miles later, I failed to take a left turn after Castle Bytham, which is exactly what I did last time. Rather than backtracking to the usual route, I consulted the map on my phone and decided to keep going. I was effectively on a detour that would only add about two miles. However when I did meet up with the intended route at a crossroads I failed to realise I'd done so, and kept going for about a mile until I reached a village called Toft. It was nearly 1500 now. I'd done 57 miles. It would take me another half hour at least to get to the part of the Fens that I was aiming for. So I decided to turn for home.



I came back via the originally intended route, mostly. Once back in Leicestershire I came back through Wymeswold and Rempstone rather than Stanford and Burton. Back half an hour after sunset on 111.41 miles.

That was probably my last chance this year to pedal around the Fens for a bit so that's a bit of a shame, but I did enjoy the new stretch of road in Lincolnshire. And I especially enjoyed gliding along the long flat stretch from Eastwell to Six Hills in the afternoon sunshine with a bit of a tailwind. The traffic was a lot quieter than I expected for a Friday. Lovely.

I listened to 5 Live. And I was going to continue with my Alastair Reynolds audiobook but I had such a faff finding the point where I left it in the excessively long chapter that I was about 2/3 of the way through, that I decided to give up on it there and then and I started a new book, a brilliant Vietnam war memoir that I read in 1984 called Chickenhawk.

So that's a wrap for August, 651 miles. I want to do 400 in each of the remaining four months, and if I do I'll have done 5979 miles. So I'll aim for 6000 in 2024.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12283871823

[Nickslikk2112]

Well, I finished off August with a 35 miler to get me up to 691 miles for the month with 49,500ft of elevation gain. Would have been nice to get over 700 miles and 50,000ft of elevation gain, but I was waiting to make sure that Mrs S was safely on the train on the way back from Bradfordistan - she "likes" to be available as the cavalry for me.

There was a bit of a stiff Easterly breeze today which was nice on the way out as it gave me a bit of a push up today's "big" climb, If I'd just put a bit more effort in I'd have set my best time up it rather than 8th best. Ah well, I'm older now.

I did set a couple of PB segment times, not sure how as one was a there and back one and it was a cross wind both ways. Must be getting fitter...

https://www.strava.com/activities/12291896714