Cycling around the burbs as I have been this week, I'm conscious of the human condition hiding behind parked cars and occasionally stepping out from behind trees. It's hard sometimes for me to take my mind off of it, but often I turn to license plates as a form of distraction and a way of thinking about something else other than the passing of time and not really achieving anything. I play this silly game where I have to work out what the last three letters of a particular number plate stand for; today, for instance, I passed a parked car with a plate ending OOF, which sounds like the noise I would make if I ran into somebody at speed. OOF! OOF should have an exclamation mark after it, OOF! But what else could it stand for? Well, how about 'Ordinary Orange Face', something you might attribute to Donald Trump as he has what you might describe as an ordinary orange face. Anyway, you get the gist of what I'm saying, anything to stop me thinking about hour glasses and what I'm doing (or not doing) with my life.
Everybody's getting a little pissed off. It's the fucking virus. Certain parts of the country have gone into so-called Tier 3 'measures', which is the same, almost, as being in lockdown. The Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, is putting up a fight and as a friend of mine suggested on Twitter recently, has become a kind of Prime Minister for the North.
Here in London we're now in Tier 2 'measures' and I'm guessing that sooner or later there will be a 'circuit breaker' lockdown that will probably last a fortnight and keep us all indoors, like we were back in the period March to September this year, give or take. I've written a lot about my lockdown experiences, 42 posts in total, and you can find them by scrolling back.
Lockdown hasn't really bothered me if I'm honest. I've made the most of my bicycle and have at times reached the dizzying heights of 100 miles/week, some feat! Well, it hasn't been that easy. Motivation when you're riding alone is hard to come by, that's what's good about Andy and I cycling together at weekends, we motivate each other. For a while now we've been meeting on Sunday mornings and we both agree that it's the best day of our cycling week, especially now that Phil has returned. And Geoff's been coming too, but neither he nor Phil have arrived on pushbikes, they've arrived by car or motorcycle. Not that it's a problem, we enjoy their company and the chat. In fact, the Sunday ride has become an important event, the one nobody wants to miss, and even now, as I write this, I must admit to being a little bit excited at the prospect of Sunday's ride as it draws closer.
I'm also enjoying my solo trips to the Velo Barn for a cappuccino and a slice of lemon cake. I'll probably head there on Saturday as it's a pleasant 20-miler, roughly, and there's a prize at the end of it (coffee and cake); and yes, coffee. I go through phases now and then when I fancy a cappuccino and a slice of cake, although the latter has been a habit for some time, and now that mum's back in hibernation, it looks as if the Velo Barn's cake selection is my only hope. This week I'll probably take a book with me and simply chill. I can't think of anything better: a ride on the bike, punctuated by coffee, cake and a decent read. Perhaps a newspaper, who knows? Anyway, there follows a day-by-day account of my cycling week, which culminated in a non-stop ride to and from Dunton Green in Kent.
Sunday 18 October 2020
I must try and do better this week. Last week, I managed 38 miles in total, not good. The week before I think it was 45 miles and the weeks before that the mileage was perfectly acceptable, ie well over 60 miles. It's got a lot to do with the change in the weather. Gone are the balmy summer days of 2020, which saw me out on the bike most days riding a fair distance on each occasion. It's now the autumn, mid-October, and there are cloudy skies. Everythng is dull and boring, just like those awful Saturday afternoons when I was a kid with nothing to look forward to other than Songs of Praise and school on Monday.
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| Excellent cakes, two each! |
Today, Sunday, I rode to the Tatsfield Bus Stop to meet Andy and Phil, both of whom were there when I arrived. I'd been dallying in the garage trying to fix my Wild Man crossbar bag onto the bike. Nothing's easy so in the end I got it half on and then headed off for Tatsfield village. I left at 0723hrs and got there around 0810hrs. Phil had brought some nice cakes, made by his daughter (see photo). We had two each and chatted about this and that. Andy says our pal Dave is moving to Wales.
For Saturday and Sunday's ride I've been wearing my new cycling shorts. They make a huge difference. Currently I have my bike's original saddle in place, and with the new shorts, there's no problems with pain or numbness or anything, so clearly the big issue for me was not wearing cycling shorts. I'm still going to fix the new saddle on the bike, but I'll leave it until Tuesday.
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| The pond at the top of Slines Oak Road... |
Monday 19 October 2020
I should have taken the bike to work this morning, but I didn't because I was so tired. I've been getting quite a few late nights, but managed to hit the sack around 2200hrs last night. I awoke around 0430 but drifted off and didn't really want to get out of bed, which is strange as I'm always bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to rock well before 0600hrs normally. It's a clear sign that winter is well and truly on the way. I should have been on the bike at 0630hrs. The weather was great and still is as I write this now, but instead I left the bike at home, which is a real shame as the iphone is suggesting rain for the rest of the week. I might have to get used to riding in the rain. My aim is 10-milers daily Tuesday through Friday and then a ride to the Velo Barn on Saturday, meaning I should be riding around 60 miles this week, possibly more if the rain holds off and I boost my mileage, but let's see. Right now it's 1614hrs and I ought to be heading home.
Tuesday 20 October 2020
I was expecting rain, but the weather turned out to be fine so I headed out on a lunch time ride of 10.53 miles. My plan is to ride short distances all week and if I keep up the 10.53 miles daily then I'll have covered 40 miles by the close of play Friday. A ride to the Velo Barn on Saturday is roughly 20 miles or, if I'm really adventurous and head for Dunton Green, that could boost my weekly mileage to over 70 miles.
My lunch time ride today took me on two laps of my local route, the one that incorporates the Norfolk Nobbler and a little bit more. One lap is just under five miles so when I finished my second lap I continued up West Hill, rode the length of the Ridgeway, turned left on Arkwright, left again into the other part of Arkwright and then left on Morley, right on Elmfield, left into Southcote, right on Ellenbridge and home. A 10-miler. Perfect. Now to keep it up all week. The shorter rides should mean I get a ride in even if it's raining, or between rain showers. Ideally I should head for the lakes or Dunton Green on Saturday, or Redhill with Bon perhaps. Throwing in a ride to Redhill would make the weekly total 64 miles, far better than last week's total, but not a patch on my summer riding, unless I throw in a ride to Tatsfield in the late afternoon/early evening.
I managed to fix my new saddle on the bike, something I thought would prove impossible, but it's on and it's fine.
Wednesday 21 October 2020
It rained all day. A ride was looking highly unlikely. After work I watched and waited. The plan was to complete another 10-miler, staying close to the house. Eventually, around 5pm, the weather settled a little bit so off I went. As I rode the route I realised that I'm going to need a new seat post. It's all very annoying, but my existing post is long and it hits something inside the frame that prevents it from going down further than its current position, which is still too high. I've considered buying a hacksaw and shaving off around two inches, but perhaps it'll be easier to buy a shorter post. If I buy a new post I'll have to fix the saddle on it, meaning that I've been messing around for weeks taking saddles on and off only to discover that the addition of a new saddle has fucked up the riding position. Still, I've now got 38 miles under my belt and the weather is looking promising for the rest of the week.
Thursday 22 October 2020
The weather today was fantastic, not a drop of rain and most of the day plenty of sunshine too, although the winter is coming, my friends, the temperatures are dropping and the nights are closing in. I was going to ride further than just my two laps of the burbs, but by the time I got out there I started thinking about being caught out in the dark, which wouldn't have been a problem as I have lights, but all the same, who wants to be riding at night time? Not me. So around a quarter to five I headed off for two laps and around 10.5 miles. It's fine, but it's boring, laps always are, but two laps is just about acceptable, although I'll admit to being glad to get home. My cumulative weekly total so far is 48 miles, give or take, possibly 49 miles, so a ride to the Velo Barn on Saturday will give me a respectable end-of-week total, certainly when compared to last week's poor show. I've still got bike hassles, by the way. In fact, I've realised that cycling really is a balancing act in more ways than one. If you mess about with one aspect of the bike, it messes up something else. Last week I was messing around with saddles and now I've got a new one, but guess what? The seat makes it impossible for my feet to touch the ground and the problem is the seat post. I might buy another one or simply swap it with the Truvativ seat post on the Kona, although I don't want to start cannibalising the Kona, so perhaps just buying a new seat post will do. Either that or hacksawing around two inches off the bottom of the existing post. Somehow I think the cheaper option is buying a new one or nicking the Kona's.
Friday 23 April 2020
The day started sunny but slowly deteriorated and then I found myself gassing on the phone to a work colleague and not really paying attention to the time. In the end it was gone 5pm and raining so no riding for me today. I can still redeem myself if I ride early to Dunton Green, a tall order, but might be possible if the weather holds out. Perhaps Redhill, or even the Velo Barn, but the latter will bring my total to just 70 miles. I know, I know, it's much more than last week's piss poor performance and at least I'll be on an upwards curve.
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| Non-stop to Dunton Green, Kent... |
And so I reach the end of my week and, as usual, it's early in the morning and I'm sitting here at the table, everybody else is asleep upstairs and I'm on the lap top looking at Twitter and writing this rather long sentence. I'm contemplating what to do: ride to Velo Barn or ride over to Woodmansterne to see Bon? It's a tough choice, but I really need to put in the miles, hence the Velo Barn has a certain appeal, although I could always ride to Redhill, that would be just over 24 miles and there would be big climbs on the return ride. I've got time to think about it as my phone is charging and I'll need it if I'm going to ride to the Velo Barn for that coffee and cake I talked about earlier in this post. Just in case you're wondering, I've been writing this post on a day-by-day basis, I haven't written all of it this morning, even if I was up before 0600hrs stuffing my face with Alpen and drinking decaff tea. It's almost 0800hrs, and probably will be by the time I finish this sentence. Well, alright, it's still not 'on the hour' but it will be soon. The phone's on charge, the day is looking surprisingly grey and there might well be some rain, but I've got to get out there.
And I did get out! Far out! My intention was to ride to the Velo Barn, but then, as it drew near, I thought I'd crack on and aim for Dunton Green instead. I figured I could have a coffee and some caked at Bojangles. It's been a while since my last visit when it was takeaway-only, so surely it's reverted to a sit-down cafe. But then I was hit with devastating news as I rode along the last few yards of Pilgrims Lane: I didn't have a face mask! How fucking irritating. But later, as I approached the caff I noticed a queue of people outside, they were still offering takeaway only. The problem, of course, is that my last visit was in August when the sun was shining and those white plastic tables and chairs across the road behind the hedge were fine, some would say perfect. Now it is late October and there has been a drizzly rain falling. The idea of being exposed to the elements doesn't appeal at all so I rode past and down towards a mini roundabout at the top of Rye Lane. I turned around and rode home and while I was tempted to stop at the Velo Barn on the return journey, I pressed on and up towards Botley Hill and then home along the 269. The ride was 31.65 miles, giving me a healthy mileage for the week, roughly 80 miles, probably a bit over. I reached home at 1150hrs feeling good and looking forward to tomorrow's ride to Tatsfield village.
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