I was lying in bed, it was around 0600hrs and I could hear the rain. Garth, a work colleague, had been right, it was going to rain a lot on Saturday. I resigned myself to not riding and went downstairs to make some breakfast: boiled egg, fingers, a bowl of Alpen, around five grapes and two spoons of porridge oats. I almost forgot the mug of tea, decaff, as I'd been drinking caffeinated tea all week in the office and while I wasn't feeling wired, as I might have been if my tipple of choice was coffee, I'm not happy drinking too much caffeine, and some say there's more of it in tea than coffee, but who knows? Not me.
Looking out of the kitchen window I could see the rain falling into the birdbath. It had that look about it, the look that said, "you won't be riding today" so I sat down and messed around on the lap top in between munching the aforementioned boiled egg and fingers and then the bowl of cereal.
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| Seat by the window, Costa, Westerham. I was back the following day! |
It hadn't been a brilliant week on the bike, mainly because I was back at work and required to be in the office three days a week, Monday to Wednesday, except that this week I decided to leave my computer in the office on Wednesday night and return on Thursday and Friday because my computer at home – or rather the space where my computer had been – was being used, by somebody with another computer. So I had a whole week in the office, although the Thursday and Friday were the best as there was nobody else there, well, hardly anybody else. I spent the week having lunches at the Pop Inn Cafe (chicken fillet baguette most of the time, but chilli con carne and rice on one day and when apple pie and custard was ordered on two occasions. The problem with all of this, of course, is money. I hardly spent a penny working from home and managed to save a fair bit here and there, but now I'm forking out for extortionate train fares and expensive lunches. Fine, they hovered mostly around the £5 mark – hardly 'expensive' in a fine dining sense – although on a couple of occasions I spent a little more. The chilli was something like £6.90 plus a cup of tea (£1.20) and then the apple pie was £3.30 (£6.60 for the two). So, I've started spending money when in reality I don't need to, I should be making sarnies and going for a walk instead. Perhaps I'll change tack next week, because work is now a reality and while I could do the job perfectly well at home (and probably get more done in the process) it's back to work in the good old traditional manner. In all honesty, I like the interaction with colleagues and I like the separation of work from home life, but it does mean that cycling suddenly has to be recalibrated. Last week, while off work, I managed 145 miles of riding and it was fantastic (see the last two posts for more details) but now I'm going to have to take a look at how I can maintain around 100 miles per week. I've left a pair of shoes in the office so I don't need to carry them if I do decide to ride, so that will be less weight. In fact, without the shoes all I need to carry is a shirt, a towel and a pair of trousers.
Westerham via Beddlestead Lane and Woldingham
Today, when the weather brightened up a little, I did get out on the bike and while it tipped down here and there I managed to go all the way to Westerham, the slow way. In fact I would say it rained more than it didn't rain, but thanks to the summer it wasn't cold and I must say I rather enjoyed it as all the hedgerows on either side of the lanes were weighted down with rainwater and there was kind of misty air that made it all a little magical. I didn't see any other riders. When I reached Westerham I stopped at Costa Coffee and ordered a large English Breakfast tea and a toasted tea cake with butter, except that I didn't have it toasted. Then I found a seat by the window and the sun came out. I sat there not really thinking about anything in particular, just people watching and then, when the bun and the tea had gone I got back on the bike and rode out of town, past the Velobarn and then left into Pilgrims Lane. I rode to Botley Hill and took a left turn on The Ridge. Going through Woldingham meant a climb up Slines Oak Road on to the 269, but I took it in my stride and soon found myself on the home straight.
All the way to and from Westerham I spent a lot of time avoiding roadside puddles and had to be careful not to move out into the line of traffic. I didn't get that wet and I think it was because I wore only the Lycra and a fleece, there was nothing to soak up the water; it got me thinking about how slow I am to recognise what's good and what's bad. I thought back to the time when Andy and I used to walk from Westerham to Oxted to catch a train home and the sound of deflated tyres squeaking along the road on the three-mile walk. Then, of course, we discovered 'leeches' and started to fix our punctures by the roadside. But for years and years we wore jeans or cords or cargo trousers and Levi jackets and when it rained the water soaked in, making everything cold and sluggish and unpleasant. Andy realised before I did and then, after a while, so did I. The blog is still called 'NoVisibleLycra'. I only started wearing visible Lycra this summer. It's much better, although I'm not sure what I'll do when the temperatures start to drop.
I reached home around 12.30hrs and stuffed my face with toast (two slices with butter) and a cup of tea, then, feeling energised, I did all the wiping up and then went in search of a new mower as our old Hayter 36 finally died. Right now, it's gone 1830hrs and I'm sitting here writing while watching Matt Baker on his farm, which is fairly relaxing, although not a patch on Clarkson's Farm on Amazon, but then Baker and Clarkson are chalk and cheese.
I reckon tomorrow's ride will be similar to today's (rain here and there) but I'm going to do it. Never be afraid of summer rain, it's not cold so just get out there and enjoy the ride.
Sunday was a far better day and there was no rain to speak of. I rode the straight route to Westerham there and back along the 269. Andy and I sat inside the Costa as the weather started to deteriorate. I ordered a large tea and a cinnamon brioche bun; Andy had a black coffee and a toasted tea cake with jam (no butter). We chatted about electric cars and how funny it will be when all those people complaining about not being able to park outside their own houses have something else to moan about: like they can't charge their electric cars from charging points outside their own houses. Imagine the chaos when cars, like mobile phones, run out of power and have to be towed to the nearest charging point! And let's not forget that electric cars, or EVs as they're known in the trade, carry Lithium-ion batteries and, right now, all the big steelmakers, like POSCO and Hyundai in South Korea, to name but two, are seriously getting into Lithium mining. We say: forget about investing in roads infrastructure, make public transport cheaper and safer, introduce more cycle lanes (of the variety found only in Holland at present) and life will be so much easier (and healthier) all round.
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