It's week two of the lockdown and if I'm honest, it's not that bad. It's also week two of my daily cycling. Last week I rode six miles a day, with Sunday being my day of rest. Total mileage last week, and remember that my week runs from Tuesday to Monday, was 36 miles. Yesterday, which was day one of week two, saw me ride eight miles and the plan is to keep that up for the whole week. Sadly, today, I only managed to ride six miles so somewhere along the line and before next Monday, I've got to add two miles to one of my rides OR ride a six-miler on Sunday, which would make my total mileage for week two around 52 miles (that's four miles on top of what I was planning to do). Let's see how things go.
Cycling 52 miles in one week is good news. Slice that figure in half and it averages out as two 26-mile rides, so more than what I normally ride in a week when Andy and I are just riding at the weekends.
My plan with all this is to creep up the daily mileage to 10 miles, making 60 miles over the week which, give or take a couple of miles, is like cycling to the lakes twice. Whether I can take it above 10 miles per day is another story as that would likely involve riding to Botley Hill and back, daily, which would hike it up to 14 miles per day - not bad going if I can manage it.
The six-mile hill ride, as I've been calling it, is a pretty straightforward route. Along Ellenbridge, briefly on to Southcote, right on to Elmfield Way, left on Morley, right into Church Way, left in to Norfolk Avenue, follow the road round and up and then down, left into Arundel Avenue, down the hill and round and down and then left on to Ridge Langley, then a complete circuit and returning to Arundel Avenue where I turn right and cycle up hill, turning left into (ahem) Arundel Avenue (believe me it gets confusing) and then right on to Norfolk Avenue. I then ride up and down the hill, bear left and turn right on to Church Way, loop round the Morley/Arkwright roundabout and back up Church Way, turning left into Norfolk and repeating the route that takes me round Ridge Langley and back up and then down Norfolk until I emerge, for a second time, on Church Way, but this time I turn first left into Arkwright, then right on The Ridgeway, right on to Southcote, left on to Ellenbridge and home. Adding on another loop takes it to eight miles, although yesterday, on completion of the third lap, so to speak, I rode the length of Arkwright and turned right on to Hook Hill, following the road round, crossing The Ridgeway into Southcote and then left on Ellenbridge and home. Phew!
So tomorrow I've got to make up the lost two miles from today.
While I've been doing my local rides, Andy's been pushing the envelope a bit, heading out to places like Westerham alone and finding horses on rides closer to home. I might well take a longer ride at the weekend.
On returning from one of my shorter rides I chill. At the moment I'm listening to David Gilmour's Rattle that Lock album, which is excellent. It's interesting how we've stopped watching television. Normally, when I get in from work, the television is on and it remains that way through to around 1030hrs when the news ends, it's just wallpaper really as there's rarely anything on the box that's worth watching. But now, we sit and listen to music, we chat, and the TV stays off until around 2200hrs when it might go on for the headlines, but the news is always the same, it's always about the virus and what is there to know, seriously? There's a virus, people are dying, the Government wants us to die, it hasn't really got it's act together, it's aiming to get us all infected and sod the old and infirm. What else is there to know? We're all at home until at least June, people are losing their livelihoods, it's all very boring, but strangely, the PM has the virus (really? Does he?). Similarly Jiminy Cricket, the health secretary, has it (Really?). Prince Charles had it! Oh, well, if he's had it, what's good for royalty is good for me! Quite frankly, I'm astounded that they clearly didn't take any real precautions.
People keep asking for 'clarity', now there's an over-used word in these troubled times. All you need to know is this: we're all in the shit, the Government isn't going to be much help and eventually it will be over and then all the nobs who voted for Boris will start praising him and likening him to Churchill. He's no Churchill, he's not even the Churchill Dog.
Once the headlines are over I switch on Prime and watch an episode or two of the X-Files and then I head for bed and the whole thing starts again, like now, I'm sitting here, I've just eaten breakfast (porridge with banana, blueberries and grapes, a cup of Earl Grey without milk and a peanut butter sandwich). Radio Four is on and they're talking about the virus. Not enough testing being done. I'd better get ready for work.
Cycling 52 miles in one week is good news. Slice that figure in half and it averages out as two 26-mile rides, so more than what I normally ride in a week when Andy and I are just riding at the weekends.
My plan with all this is to creep up the daily mileage to 10 miles, making 60 miles over the week which, give or take a couple of miles, is like cycling to the lakes twice. Whether I can take it above 10 miles per day is another story as that would likely involve riding to Botley Hill and back, daily, which would hike it up to 14 miles per day - not bad going if I can manage it.
The six-mile hill ride, as I've been calling it, is a pretty straightforward route. Along Ellenbridge, briefly on to Southcote, right on to Elmfield Way, left on Morley, right into Church Way, left in to Norfolk Avenue, follow the road round and up and then down, left into Arundel Avenue, down the hill and round and down and then left on to Ridge Langley, then a complete circuit and returning to Arundel Avenue where I turn right and cycle up hill, turning left into (ahem) Arundel Avenue (believe me it gets confusing) and then right on to Norfolk Avenue. I then ride up and down the hill, bear left and turn right on to Church Way, loop round the Morley/Arkwright roundabout and back up Church Way, turning left into Norfolk and repeating the route that takes me round Ridge Langley and back up and then down Norfolk until I emerge, for a second time, on Church Way, but this time I turn first left into Arkwright, then right on The Ridgeway, right on to Southcote, left on to Ellenbridge and home. Adding on another loop takes it to eight miles, although yesterday, on completion of the third lap, so to speak, I rode the length of Arkwright and turned right on to Hook Hill, following the road round, crossing The Ridgeway into Southcote and then left on Ellenbridge and home. Phew!
So tomorrow I've got to make up the lost two miles from today.
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| Andy finds a horse |
On returning from one of my shorter rides I chill. At the moment I'm listening to David Gilmour's Rattle that Lock album, which is excellent. It's interesting how we've stopped watching television. Normally, when I get in from work, the television is on and it remains that way through to around 1030hrs when the news ends, it's just wallpaper really as there's rarely anything on the box that's worth watching. But now, we sit and listen to music, we chat, and the TV stays off until around 2200hrs when it might go on for the headlines, but the news is always the same, it's always about the virus and what is there to know, seriously? There's a virus, people are dying, the Government wants us to die, it hasn't really got it's act together, it's aiming to get us all infected and sod the old and infirm. What else is there to know? We're all at home until at least June, people are losing their livelihoods, it's all very boring, but strangely, the PM has the virus (really? Does he?). Similarly Jiminy Cricket, the health secretary, has it (Really?). Prince Charles had it! Oh, well, if he's had it, what's good for royalty is good for me! Quite frankly, I'm astounded that they clearly didn't take any real precautions.
People keep asking for 'clarity', now there's an over-used word in these troubled times. All you need to know is this: we're all in the shit, the Government isn't going to be much help and eventually it will be over and then all the nobs who voted for Boris will start praising him and likening him to Churchill. He's no Churchill, he's not even the Churchill Dog.
Once the headlines are over I switch on Prime and watch an episode or two of the X-Files and then I head for bed and the whole thing starts again, like now, I'm sitting here, I've just eaten breakfast (porridge with banana, blueberries and grapes, a cup of Earl Grey without milk and a peanut butter sandwich). Radio Four is on and they're talking about the virus. Not enough testing being done. I'd better get ready for work.
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