Night riding...

The week started well with a ride to Tatsfield village to meet Andy. We did what we always do: sat and chatted, this time about fitness. Andy's lost a lot of weight through cycling daily (and doing 80 press-ups per day) and I have to say that I haven't been so consistent, although I'm keeping it up generally, riding about three times per week, but not going out if it's raining. I mean, who wants to get wet? It's good to get a neat little 18.03 miles in at the start of the week as it lessens the burden midweek, and fortunately, the weather has improved considerably. 

Tatsfield Churchyard at dusk...

During the week I managed three rides, two local 10-milers and then a slightly mad dash to Tatsfield village on Friday night. I left the house around 1645hrs and headed off, the slow way, not really thinking about what I was going to do; the first option was the Washpond Womble, then I thought about a Sline's Oak Sloth, but that would have meant riding along the 269 at dusk, which would have been a little dangerous. So I was heading around the lanes towards St Leonard's church and decided to head the slow way towards Tatsfield village. The original plan had been to turn left on Clarks Lane and keep going until I reached the churchyard and then I was going to head through the village, come out on Approach Road and then head home via Woldingham. Instead, I turned left on Clarks Lane and then left on to Approach Road and did it in reverse and, when I reached the churchyard it was dusk and the gravestones were silhouetted against a red sky so I stopped to take a photograph, forgetting that my awful iphone is a one trick pony and if, while Strava is ticking away I decide to take a photograph, well, the phone packs up, which it did and never even recorded the ride. Par for the course with an iphone (or my one at any rate). As I rode back along Clarks Lane towards Botley Hill the aforementioned red sky, already low in the sky, sunk behind the horizon and it night time. I still had to ride along The Ridge towards Woldingham and I noticed how dark it was with just my one headlight, which barely illuminated the tarmac in front of me. I started to wonder about potholes. If there were any, I wasn't going to see them in time, but the worst part of night riding along narrow country lanes was when a car passed me, first illuminating everything, but then plunging me into darkness, and each time my eyes had to re-acclimatise and I was basically riding blind. If was better when a car approched from behind as it would light up the road ahead and then provide guidance, until it disappeared completely, with its rear lights.

Cycling at dusk, however, was magical. Earlier, as I made my way along Beddlestead Lane, there was a wonderful, earthy smell in the still air and a silence that made me feel really good. It's hard to put a finger on it, but there was nothing, no noise, that evocative country smell, the empty fields, the hedgerows and the tweeting of the birds; and, of course, I started to imagine myself cycling along looking for a place to camp wild for the night. I looked into empty fields and considered spots that looked secluded enough to keep me out of harm's way. As the light faded I realised that had I been sleeping rough that night, it would be around now that I'd be looking to pitch my tent and settle down for the night before the darkness made it impossible.

A full moon as the light begins to fade en route to Tatsfield

 
I sailed through Tatsfield and followed the road around to the churchyard and, as you know, the phone packed up when I reached the churchyard. After Woldingham it was Slines Oak Road and that steep hill at the end of it. Riding down Slines Oak Road from Woldingham was a little dodgy. Night had fallen, there were no street lights, the road was fairly narrow and there were plenty of concealed driveways to make a cyclist's life a nightmare. The cars coming the other way temporarily blinded me and as a result I had to slow right down to avoid a potential accident. I started to worry about punctures too. What if, I wondered. The thought of fixing a puncture in the dark focused my mind and fortunately nothing untoward happened, but I imagined trying to see properly in the dark and dealing with a rear wheel puncture. No, I thought, if it happened I'd phone for a lift and fix it later, but it didn't happen and when I was back on the 269 and then the Limpsfield Road all was well. I rode around Warlingham Green and headed for home, noting that wearing the parka limited my ability to turn and see what traffic was behind me. Add the darkness and, well, you can see that nothing is clear cut when you're riding in the dark. My rear vision problem was largely caused by the threat of losing balance when turning my head around to see what was coming behind, but take daylight away it becomes a little more problematic, so to turn right at the curry house and head towards to church meant stopping the bike and then waiting for the many blinding headlights to cease or at least present a gap that would enable me to cross. Once in the side roads it was fine and I rode towards and then down Church Way, a fast downhill but little in the way of traffic. I reached home just before 1900hrs and had been on the road for around two hours, so an easy 20 miles. 

On Saturday I rode to Woodmansterne Green to see Bon. It's a route I hadn't taken for many months and I know why: It's not exactly very scenic and on the ride along Foxley Lane the amount of flats being erected depressed me, but we met and chatted and wandered around and then I headed home. Unfortunately, as I pedalled along the Croydon Road towards Purley I noticed that my gears wouldn't change, it was something to do with the lever on the handlebars, which clicked up and down, but nothing happened. Stupidly, I didn't think (initially) to change down to the lowest front crank using the lever on the left hand side of the bars. This I eventually did, making the hills a lot easier. Now, of course, I have to arrange a visit to the bike shop, which is more trouble than it's worth these days. Phones ring and ring and nobody answers and, of course, the excuse is ready made: COVID. Fortunately, I can ride it so today's ride to see Andy is still on the cards.

Woodmansterne was just 10.78 miles, not my usual 20-plus miles, but I still tipped 70 miles this week, which was the most I've achieved in a long while, the average falling around 50 miles, so I'm happy, sitting here on a Sunday morning, having woken up early and had breakfast around 0545hrs. Now it's 0744hrs, time to make the tea and head off to Tatsfield village to meet Andy.

I managed around 45 miles this week...

There's really no point in listening to the media, certainly where the weather is concerned. They rarely get it right and they big up the bad weather so that people like me think twice about going out on the bike. Saturday past is a good example of this: the weather people were talking about Saturday being an awful day so I was thinking that I wouldn't bother going out on the bike and I decided to go out on Friday afternoon to boost my mileage. Without looking I think I managed to take my total to 50 miles, based mainly on local 10-milers. When I woke up on Saturday 6 February I had the mindset of not going out, but when I looked out there was no rain. Alright, it was a bit cloudy, bolstering the weatherman's agenda about Saturday being a bad day, so instead of getting off my arse and heading out around 0800hrs for Westerham, I slobbed around assuming that it would rain any minute. It didn't. In fact, the weather improved and around mid-morning I was starting to wish I'd taken a ride to Westerham as that would have meant a total of 70 miles. In the end I sneaked in another local 10-miler taking my weekly total to 60 miles, which ain't too bad.

Looking out of the window on Sunday morning, 7 February, I had the feeling that snow was on the way. It was 0730hrs. By 0800hrs it was snowing so I aborted my planned ride with Andy who agreed wholeheartedly that it was pretty horrible out there. It remained horrible for the whole day as a kind of drizzly snow fell constantly and nobody went out. It was boring and it brought home to me the boredom of everything, like lockdown. And now they're saying the vaccine doesn't work as well as we all thought. Well, there's a surprise!

Snow and cold weather...

The week remained cold. All week. So cold I never ventured out, not even for a walk, let alone a ride. It wasn't until Monday this week, 15 February, yesterday, that things changed and the temperature rose. Yesterday, I did a local ride, my 10-miler, the Super Nobbler, but while I was planning to repeat it today, Tuesday 16 February, the chance never arose as I worked later than expected and then decided to take a walk instead. As the walk finished there were spits of rain, and it was dark, which put paid to any thoughts I had of riding into the early evening.

And now it's Wednesday 17 February and I haven't loo ked at the weather. In fact, I'm taking things as they come, it's the best way. My intention will be to take a ride around 1630hrs, the usual 10-miler, but let's see. I woke up this morning around 0400hrs and stayed in bed until 0534hrs when I realised I wasn't going to fall asleep. When I got downstairs I put on Radio 3, it's on now, but had a little break from it when I decided to watch a Panorama programme on anti-vaxxers, as they're known. While I get where they're coming from (I mean who can you trust these days?) I will be taking the vaccine when it's offered. Mum's had it, she's 91, and it's not adversely affected her so what's to worry about? I like people who go against the received wisdom, but there are those who simply shout 'fake news' just because Trump fostered distrust in his position as leader of the free world. To cry 'fake news' is very Trumpian, or Trump-like, but now, thankfully, he's been deposed, he's out of office, and the world is a better place. Most of the people pedalling anti-vax sentiments are slightly odd and, as the Panorama programme pointed out, a lot of the doctors in a video that's been doing the rounds have been discredited in some way or other, it's just that the people prepared to listen to them can't be bothered to find out more about the people who telling them not to take the vaccine. Well, Panorama did it for them and if you get the chance, watch the programme on iPlayer, it's only 29 minutes of your time and well worth it I would say. Or is it? My problem with everything since Brexit started back in 2016 is that we now live in a pretty black and white, cut and dried world where the gist of the stories doing the rounds lack complexity. Do you need to watch it? Probably not. Basically, there are people who don't believe in taking the vaccine, that's the story, these people exist, some might say they're stupid, others might agree with them, that's the story, so now you know, don't waste 29 minutes of your time. And everything at the moment seems to be of the same ilk: straightforward, not hard to understand, you either believe it or you don't and nobody cares either way. That's why I'm listening to Radio 3 because basically there's two sides to an argument these days and that's it, you're either with us or against us, a Brexiteer or a Remainer, Republican or Democrat and you're always right, don't forget that too, it's you against those who don't agree with you and they're wrong, all of them, and because of that you hate them.

It's Thursday and the weather's been great. I took a walk at lunch time, but considered a short ride. The walk seemed the best bet as there was work to do, and eating. Some cottage pie was left over so I heated it up and wolfed it down, then it was time for my 25-minute walk, make that 30 minutes, just over. At around 1630hrs I jumped on the bike and did another Super Nobbler (10 miles). I've now riden 20 miles this week, not brilliant, but if I get out tomorrow as well that'll be 30 miles and then there's Saturday, so I could be on track for a 50-mile week, which ain't bad in these days of crap weather.

And so it's Friday and I hear the weekend weather is going to be good, or so they say. I'll be out later today hopefully, on another 10-mile Super Nobbler (any more than two laps becomes tiresome). That's going to take my mid-week total to a disappointing 30 miles, but with the prospect of a ride to Westerham it'll be bumped up to 50 (as I saidW in the previous paragraph).

Westerham Saturday 20 February

I tell you what's got on my nerves this week: Facebook's behaviour in Australia. I really hope that people turn a page on the social media site and find an alternative. I gave up Facebook within six months of signing up to it and the more I hear about it, I'm glad, so glad, that I turned my back on it. I'm on Twitter, but that seems alright, give or take. The key is not to get obsessive.

Saturday and the weather turned. Light blue skies and feathery cloud in the morning so I rode to Westerham and back, approximately 22 miles and warm all the way. I followed the usual route but branched off along Pilgrims Lane and then back up the usual hill after a large cappuccino and an almond croissant. A fantastic ride, bringing my total mileage to around 45 miles. Not the respectable 60 I was hoping for, but then you can't have everything. It was a good way to end my cycling week. On Sunday Andy and I are meeting at Tatsfield Village, giving me a good head start on mileage for the week ahead.

Carrying on with the local rides...

Yesterday I went out in the rain, but because I was wearing my 'parka' and hadn't bothered to put on my waterproof trousers, I spent an hour in the wet and was fine when I got back home. By that I mean I wasn't in the usual state I find myself after a 'soaking' and that was because I hadn't donned the waterproof clothing. Had I done so I would have been soaked through from a mixture of sweat, rain and, of course, the fact that when something is supposed to be waterproof, it invariably isn't.

I baked two fruit cakes last week

My shorter rides have continued and I've slightly widened their scope so that each lap is just over five miles and if I do two laps (which is always what I do) then it's something like 10.70 miles, perfect. The aim, of course, is to ride five Super Nobblers (as they're called). Why Super Nobblers? Well, to be fair the original Super Nobbler was three laps of the conventional circuit, but I'm only riding two of the 'new' Super Nobbler because it's been widened out and includes Sanderstead Hill (the B269 no less). Although, in reality, it should be called the Super Nobbler (Intermediate) as it's two laps, not three.

The only thing about laps is boredom. Whenever I do the Super Nobbler (Intermediate) I wince slightly at the thought of having to ride two laps, but the ride itself is fine; there are hills and dips and yesterday I started to wish there was less in the way of downward hills, preferring, oddly, the hills. I ride up West Hill twice, that's quite tough, I ride up Sanderstead Hill twice and that's quite tough too, and let's not forget Norfolk Avenue. And the reason it's called the Nobbler is because the ride takes me the length of Norfolk Avenue and when I first rode the route I coined the phrase 'Norfolk Nobbler' just because I needed the illiteration for it to work. Anyway, it's all pointless and just a bit of fun, like the Sline's Oak Sloth. There's nothing slothful about that ride.

I try and leave the house around 1600hrs, but the reality is that I hit the road around 1645hrs, meaning that it gets dark while I'm out. Fortunately, I have lights.

Croft Radio, West Wickham

It looks as if the weather is going to worsen over the next few days. We've already had a dusting of snow, but there's been rain too (of course there's been rain!). Andy's rigged his bike up on a kind of 'turbo trainer'. During the week I baked a couple of cakes and took one round to him. You can't beat a cake in the bad weather.

In other news, I went over to a place called West Wickham, it's on the way to Bromley. I travelled as the light was fading and I when I got there and parked in the Lidl car park I was amazed to find a traditional high street, albeit the shops were all closed. I wandered about and found one of those traditional shops selling electrical goods: you know, alarm clocks, kettles, slow cookers, sandwich makers, There were, of course, a few charity shops, a shoe shop and a couple of coffee shops (Cafe Nero and Costa) not to forget a WH Smiths (also still open), the aforementioned Lidl, two Sainsbury's outlets, an M&S, a gentlemen's outfitters, small boutiques for women and so on. In a sense it was like going back in time. We made two visits to West Wickham and on both occasions I nipped into the Costa and bought a coffee and some cake. The first time a normal cappuccino and a Bakewell tart; the second time, a cinnamon cappuccino (never again) and a slice of banana cake. Another visit is planned, possibly today and, call it lockdown boredom, but I can't wait. Just to wander around at dusk looking into empty shops, sipping a cappuccino, munching on a cake, you can't beat it. But it's more than that; it's something to do with dusk and the fact that the aforementioned shops are like something out of a time warp. The M&S is good too, it's not a big one, but there's a nice vibe about the place.

A gentlemen's outfitters

Actually, I forgot to mention last week. I managed three of my local rides, but Saturday was a wash-out so just the 30 miles. The plan was to ride to Westerham last Saturday (the final day of my week) in order to bump up the mileage to my usual average of around 50 miles.

This week I think I've already covered around 37 miles. If I ride today that will mean 47 miles and then a ride to Westerham will bump it up to 67 miles and that, for me, would be a result at the moment. That said, even if I don't go today (and it's likely) then a ride to Westerham will still mean 57, which is a few miles more than my currently weekly average.

Okay, it's Friday and I've got to start working.