Last week 70 + miles, this week just over 60 miles...

It's Sunday morning, 1128hrs, 19 September, and outside it's bright and fairly warm as we approach the end of September (alright, there's still just over a week) and the autumn sneaks in, or, as I call it, NoVisibleLycra weather, meaning dull and overcast, the threat of rain, cloudy skies. I've just returned from a ride to Westerham where I met Andy and we enjoyed tea and a chat. Things have moved on somewhat since the days of sitting at the Tatsfield Bus Stop sipping tea from a flask and munching Belvitas. We now visit Costa Coffee where a large English Breakfast tea (in a paper cup) costs £2.10; but it means we don't have to carry stuff unnecessarily, which is a big weight off of my shoulders (quite literally) as I used to carry a huge flask full of hot water, four tea bags and a mug. Now I don't have to, but I still bring the rucksack with me. That said, we've been talking about crossbar bags. I have one that sits on top of the bar, but it gets in the way. I was thinking of buying one that hangs down from underneath the bar. Andy says I can get a slimmer one that fits on top. In all honesty it's not top-of-mind, not yet at any rate. In fact, not much is top-of-mind at present.

The bottom of Hesiers Hill, Saturday 18 September...

As avid readers will already know, I love the Sunday ride. It's good to meet outside (or inside) the Costa in Westerham and enjoy the chat about routes and hills and saddlebags and things that non-cyclists would probably regard as boring. A big topic of conversation is Andy's planned ride to Cornwall to see his sister. He was always going to ride there, but has now decided to ride back too. Why? Because booking the bike on to a return train looks like more trouble than it's worth. If it's anything like booking a seat on a train, it could prove disastrous, ie somebody else's bike in the spot he booked or simply no space left. So, instead of all the grief, Andy's going to ride home. He's allowing three to four days and his first stop on the return journey will be a Premier Inn in Exeter. That's about as far as his return journey planning has got, although it looks likely he'll rely upon Premier Inn, Travelodge and possibly even Days Inn as rest stops as he heads back from Bodmin to Caterham. I have to say that I'm excited for him.

Ledgers Road, 16 September, on the Washpond Weeble ride.

My weekly cycling routine is starting to bed in and it looks (at present at any rate) that I can ride around 72 miles per week on Sunday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I'm not going to entertain the idea of riding after a day at work, it's far too tiring and besides, I can bolster my walking (and possibly even swimming) on the days I don't ride. My new routine appears to be a ride to Westerham (like today), two Washpond Weebles on Thursday and Friday afternoons and then a ride to Westerham (or Knockholt, the Lakes, Dunton Green) on Saturday. The longer I ride on Saturday will determine the total weekly mileage, which has the potential to reach 80 miles. In fact, I need to look back on last October and November's rides to see what I managed and whether I can achieve the same distances this year.

On Beddlestead Lane, 18 September, being overtaken...

On my no cakes or biscuits journey, things have lapsed slightly. Last Sunday I weakened round at mum's, but I've managed not to eat any cakes whilst on the ride, ie no cinnamon brioche buns or toasted tea cakes in Costa, and I've stayed off the chocolate bars completely, although today I had one of those yoghurt-coated 'Natural' bars, which I fear are just as bad. What I have been doing a little too much is eating bread. Today, for example, I've had six slices, starting this morning with two slices of honey on toast for breakfast (around 0630hrs) and then two more on my return from the ride (I figure it's better than a bun or a toasted tea cake), and then, just a second ago (it's now 1708hrs so let's say around 1700) I had a Marmite sandwich, but remember this: I haven't had any lunch so I guess I'm "quids in". However, I'm due to go out to eat tonight so perhaps I should have exerted a little will power (which I don't have where food is concerned.

25 Sept's ride...

I enjoy my weekend rides more than anything, especially the Sunday ride, and it was good seeing Andy this morning. We're going to sort out a curry (with Dave and Geoff) although we're not sure where Dave is: he could be in South Wales, but we're not sure. I plan to call his mobile to find out. Avid readers of this blog will remember Dave, the guy with the Harley. Geoff, of course, is the illustrious illustrator and I'm sure he's been mentioned in the past. We all used to work together, but the importance of the curry (in Whyteleafe) is that, back in 2006 we went there for an evening meal, Andy and I started talking about cycling and decided that over the weekend we would meet and ride to Westerham. It was the start of regular cycling together and we're still at it today.

One week later...

It's now one week later (almost) and I can't say the week behind me has been that good cycling wise. I missed a ride on Thursday and that's why my end-of-week mileage is just over 60 miles, a good 10 under my respectable distance of 70 miles. Today (Saturday 25th September) I left the house at 0730hrs, the earliest I've been out in months, and headed for Westerham in the fog. I rode via Beddlestead Lane and Pilgrims Lane, passing the Velobarn and coasting downhill into town. All the faffing around on country lanes to avoid 269 traffic cost me time. The usual one-hour journey that I take on Sunday to meet Andy turned into one hour and 20 minutes, I arrived in Westerham at 0851 and ordered myself a large English breakfast tea to take out. I sat outside, people watching until 0915 and then headed home again, following the outward route and even riding up Hesiers and then turning left and heading for Washpond Lane, 24.48 miles. Not bad, but as I say, 10 miles under my respectable weekly distance of 70 miles so I'm not overly happy with the situation.

Did I mention my Taliban trousers?

One thing I find absolutely hilarious is people queuing for petrol in their cars. Sailing past the queues on the bike made me feel great, on top of the world, in fact, as I picked up on motorists arguing with one another as they waited in line. It was even funnier when I heard this builder type (huge red head and clearly very impatient) shouting at nobody in particular, just ranting with anger as he waited for the queue to move. And, of course, the queue didn't move. Brilliant! He probably voted Brexit, which made it even funnier. "Bloody Europeans, coming over here and taking all our jobs, driving fuckin' wages down, the cunts! I'm voting for Boris because I believe every word he says and why don't we give the £350 million we give to the EU to the NHS? Good thinking, Boris!" But he was forgetting - he didn't know - that Boris Johnson is an obese buffoon, habitual liar, adulterer and all-round nob cheese, you just have to look at him to see that, what with his master race hair cut, his ill-fitting suits, he's no Churchill, far from it, and now we're all paying for the bigotry of the Brexiteers; and Boris and Grant Shapps have gone to Europe, tails between legs, to see if they can arrange temporary visas for the European workers they told to fuck off. This is brilliant news all round! Here's hoping the Europeans tell us to fuck off!

The great thing about bicycles is that they don't need petrol, just manpower - and they keep you fit. While I can't go out in my car (the tank is virtually empty and I can't afford to be stuck in a petrol queue) I've already been to Westerham on a 24-mile plus ride, enjoyed a large English breakfast tea sitting outside of Costa Coffee and then I rode home. Who needs a car? Not me!

A few words about hills

Just a brief word or two about hills, mainly to say that most of the inclines on my routes - Titsey, Hesiers, Slines Oak Road, even White Lane - are doable, but it hasn't always been the case. Now, after many years of riding and getting fitter by the ride, Andy and I are able to handle all the aforementioned hills, they no long present us with that feeling of trepidation as they approach. Quite the opposite, in fact; I've now started to take them on, ride up Hesiers or Titsey without thinking and slowly but surely get to the top. On Saturday, as I reached the top of Hesiers, somebody said something like, "I bet you're glad that's over!" Or, "It's easier going the other way!" People like to put in a friendly comment, which is great. And I always agree with whatever they're saying and continue on my way. Sometimes, though, I feel like saying, "Actually, you know, it's not too bad," but I fear I might come across as arrogant, when all I'm saying is that I've reached a certain level of fitness and hills no longer frighten me. Well, not the hills that I know at any rate.

"Plans that either came to naught..."

 Arguably one of the best songs ever written was Time by Pink Floyd on their Dark Side of the Moon album. The headline of this article is taken from the lyrics. It's relevant because this week I had great plans for daily exercise, but they were thwarted by 'stuff', they were plans that came to naught.

I now have to work three days a week away from home, meaning I get up at the crack of dawn to be at my desk by 0800hrs. To achieve this, the best bet is to walk from my house to Purley station, that's around 2.5 miles and takes me something like 40 minutes. There's a train at 0734hrs, which means I need to leave the house before 0700hrs to have any chance of catching it; and there's also a high probability that the train will be cancelled. I can do the whole thing around 30 minutes later, catching instead the 0804hrs train and being at my desk around 0830hrs.

Cutting down on bread led to me to a chilli jacket potato at the caff.

Before leaving the house I need to eat breakfast, so any thought of riding before I eat is just crazy. I'd have to get up at 0500hrs, leave the house by 0530hrs and then I'd get back around 0645 (when I should be leaving the house to catch the 0734. If I hung around for the 0804hrs train there would be a window of around 15 to 20 minutes to eat breakfast and get showered, unless I changed my routine and showered and shaved the night before, but that's always a bit hit and miss. The only way to get a ride in between Monday and Wednesday is to do it in the evening after returning from work and while that's possible, as the nights draw in and the clocks go back it's going to be out of the question: cycling is not without its dangers, we all know that, but night riding just adds to the problem. 

This sickly bun in Filtr made me rethink what I was eating.

Let's face it, we've got rain, snow and cold weather to look forward to, plus dark nights and dark mornings and it's going to drag on for months. I hate it. The only way, possibly, to get a ride in while working is to ride to work, but for how long? The clocks go back next month. I need to check what kind of cycling I was doing last winter and that might help me plan for the next six months. Last winter I seemed to be fine in October, but things sloped off a bit in November, there's a lot of 'If I ride after work then I might put in a respectable mileage' and indications that weekly mileage nose-dived to under 50 miles, thwarted by the rain, and this post in November 2020 rather sums it up (click here), the headline reads 'Not riding as much...'. It all makes me wonder what I should do. That November post suggests I shouldn't fret about it so I'll do my best on that front. I've thought about joining a gym or starting swimming again or just blending walking with cycling. 

The bike outside of Filtr, Sanderstead

On the positive side, winters are fairly mild and last year I was riding to the Velobarn late in the year and sitting outside with a cappuccino reading Consider This, by the author of Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk) - a book I found very inspiring - so I mustn't lose hope on this, I've just got to get in as many rides as possible, increase the walking and possibly even look at swimming, although I think I'll hold out on the winter being mild (thanks to global warming!). Andy talks about buying some kind of contraption, hooking it up on the old Kona and then working out in the garage when it's raining. It's not a bad idea, although 'the old Kona' is in a severe state of disrepair. I think I'll maintain as positive an attitude as is humanely possible, get out there as often as I can and try to do local rides, like the Norfolk Nobbler.

Looking at last December's rides, I managed a trip to Sevenoaks so things weren't too bad (click here for more). 

This week, the long and the short of it was this: I had intended to ride daily, but things got in the way. Monday was the first day back at work so the whole 'ride to work' thing was out of the question (too much to carry). However, I took Monday off so you might think getting a ride in would be a piece of cake, no sir! For a start, I took the day off for a reason: to paint the bathroom. I thought I'd get it all done by around 4pm and then I'd scoot off for a ride to Westerham, but it was not to be. Why? Because I was still hard at it around 6pm and, as usual, there was all the clearing up to do and washing the brushes. In short, I never had the time to do anything else.  The plan was then to start on Tuesday, but that wasn't to be either (I went out for a meal (at Cucina, Oxted) and was picked up at Purley station, no chance of a ride). Wednesday? Nope, just being at work put paid to that and I didn't leave at 4pm (I never do). So it was all down to Thursday and Friday and thank God I did that, I rode the Washpond Weeble on both days and, as I write this I'm about to embark upon a ride to Westerham; I should be able to put in respectable weekly mileage. But listen, it's not to do with now, it's to do with the coming weeks when the days draw in, the temperature drops and the heavens open. I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it. The truth of the matter is pretty simple: stop moaning and get on with it (as my dad used to say). Incidentally, it would have been dad's 92nd birthday last week (8 September).

I ought to explain the photographs

The first one, of chilli con carne on top of a jacket potato was my lunch at the caff during the week. Last Sunday while chilling in Costa Coffee in Westerham, Andy and I spoke about dieting and exercise and I said I was going to stop eating bread and buns. Well, I kept up the buns and I won't be having one later when I arrive in Westerham on my Saturday morning ride, but I weakened on the bread (yesterday, Friday) and I had toast and honey for breakfast this morning. However, the odd bit of bread is fine. I also had a couple of cheese rolls for lunch yesterday. No, the key thing is not to eat cakes and so far I've managed, in fact I don't see there being a problem. So the chilli con carne and jacket potato was instead of my usual chicken fillet baguette and yes, I know, I would have been far better off with the chicken baguette. The next photograph, the one of the bun and the cup of tea in Filtr in Sanderstead High Street, was taken after a Washpond Weeble last week the week before last. The bun was so sticky and awful that it prompted me to weigh myself the following morning. I was 13 stone! Shite! 13 stone! That realisation led to the diet conversation with Andy last Sunday and during the week just past I did well, trying not to eat in between meals (but that was another reason for that jacket and chilli: I hadn't nibbled biscuits or anything so I figured a decent lunch would prevent me snacking in the afternoon. I hasten to add that my stomach felt a little dodgy after that chilli. The shot of the bike outside of Filtr is just that, nothing special, just saying, perhaps, that I had just rode the Weeble, perhaps a justification for the bun, but there's no justification for the bun at all and that's why, for the past week, just over, I've stopped cakes and biscuits and wrapped chocolate bars (like Twix, Wispa, Twirl etc).

This morning I rode the slow way to Westerham, following Beddlestead Lane and then branching off of Clarks Lane and on to Pilgrims Lane. I turned right on Westerham Hill and followed the road into town where I stopped at the Costa, took a seat by the window and sat there gently sipping my large English Breakfast tea while listening to the chilled out music being piped through the sound system, so relaxing. I didn't want to get back on the bike, but I did, riding back the way I came and turning left on to Pilgrims Lane. I followed Clarks Lane to the Botley Hill roundabout, hung a left on The Ridge and rode through Woldingham, tackling with ease the steep hill at the 269 end of Slines Oak Road and then riding into Warlingham and then Sanderstead and home. It's now just gone 1pm, I'm alone in the house just finishing off this blogpost, which I'd earlier checked on my iphone while in Costa and found it wanting. Hopefully it now reads fine.