Great week of cycling and fairly decent weather too...

I took last week off, which is a bit strange when you're working from home; it's a bit like going to the office for a holiday. Well, not really. I've grown accustomed to my work and home environment being one and the same thing and it's easy to adapt and separate the two. The first thing is just don't do any work; that's easy enough, you simply keep your desktop computer off, go nowhere near it, and don't answer your mobile phone either. 

Coffee and cake at Velo Barn...

Ultimately, therefore, I had a great week. I cycled a lot (unlike this week) and ultimately I rode around 94 miles, just over, closer to 95. This was achieved not by riding long distances like I did in the summer, but by riding short 10-milers every day. I managed to ride over 50 miles between Monday and Friday and when I added up all the fractions of a mile, the grand total on Friday night was an incredible 71.71 miles. Bon and I had talked about a ride to Redhill on Saturday, but in the end I rode to the Velo Barn for a cappuccino and a slice of coffee and walnut cake. The perfect way, you might say, to round off a week of cappuccinos and cakes. Let me see now, I had a large cappuccino and a slice of coffee and walnut cake in the Sevenoaks M&S cafe just prior to lockdown; I visited Knole on two occasions and had the exact same order, then there was a slice of cake standing on mum's doorstep and, then, of course, there was the Velo Barn on Saturday. I'm missing one more occasion, but I can't for the life of me remember what I did as we never ventured far from the house, Sevenoaks being the furthest journey. It doesn't matter. Either way I had a lot of cake and a lot of cappuccino, but fortunately, I did a lot of cycling so I think I'm in the clear where the health police are concerned.

The weather was fairly good too, a bit blowy on a couple of the local 10-milers, but generally fine and no rain. The ride to Velo Barn was, as always, wonderful. I left the house around 0800hrs, got there just after 0900hrs and sat outside eating my cake and sipping my cappuccino, surrounded by Lycra Monkeys.

Sunday, of course, was the start of my cycling week and, as usual, I rode to the Tatsfield Village bus stop to see Andy and Phil. No sausage sarnies or cakes this week, which was just as well when I consider my week of over indulgence. It was, as always, just over 18 miles as I rode back along The Ridge to avoid the 269, parting with Andy at the top of Slines Oak Road in Woldingham.

Nice weather at Velo Barn and loads of Lycra Monkeys too

It would be remiss of me not to mention the US elections and the fact that Trump lost. It goes without saying that he thinks he won and that the whole thing was rigged by the Democrats. Personally, I think he should quietly and not be such a bad sport, but he's a bad loser and it looks as if he'll be going on and on about it for years to come. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not somebody who hates the Republican party, I'm not a socialist by any stretch of the imagination. Had the Republican guy been Mitt Romney or even Bush I wouldn't have been THAT bothered who won the contest, but it was Donald Trump and as most people know, if they've been watching, he's been a complete arse with his wall separating Mexico from the USA, with his Muslim travel ban and God knows what else, he's just a complete arsehole and nobody, apart from toothless Americans with guns and a prepper mentality seem to like him. Mind you, we have our 'Trump' here in the UK going by the name of Boris Johnson. He's not been in power for a year yet, which is a pity as it means we have four more years to run before we can get somebody decent in Number 10. Now, I know people say that Starmer's a good egg, and he might be, but the party he's in charge of has taken a right drubbing from the Corbyn years and there's a lot of stuff that needs to be resolved before I vote for him. 

Tatsfield Village on Sunday morning, note Phil on his bike

The virus continues and we're all under a kind of lockdown until 2nd December, but then what?

Cycling this week has been a no-no so far, but I'm aiming to get out tomorrow morning BEFORE work to put that right and then, hopefully, ride Thursday and Friday, giving me a total for the week of around 49 miles. Then, if I ride to Westerham again and repeat last Saturday's ride (or even head for Botley Hill) then I might put in a fairly respectable weekly mileage. We'll see.