A bad week, just two rides...

It is the day before the Queen's funeral. For the past 10 days or so the media in all its forms have gone on about nothing else. It's all been very boring and depressing. Some people have been really foolish, they've been queuing for hours on end so that they can walk past the Queen's coffin which, up until today, has been lying in state. Today is the last day as the Queen will end up later on at Windsor Castle, her final resting place, and the world will go back to normal. Here in the UK we'll have to endure Liz Truss, our new PM. Let's hope not for much longer.

On the cycling front, not a good week it has to be said. Rain (or the threat of it) stopped me riding in but there were other factors. My plan to ride on Friday was scuppered as I had to wait around at home for a phone call that never came and then it was too late to ride in so I took the train. I managed a ride yesterday to Oxted, which was pleasant, bringing my weekly total to just two rides, one last Sunday, one on Saturday. My new cycling week starts on a Sunday (yesterday) so today's ride is my second this week.

The Rockhopper in Westerham last Sunday...

It was a good ride, but it's important to point out that the weather has changed and it's much colder now than it has been. I wore a heavy fleece, which seemed to do the trick. The ride was pleasant as there was sunshine. In fact, the last couple of days have been amazing in a strange sort of way, very evocative of something, the past clearly, but evocative nonetheless. I rode along the 269 towards Botley Hill and then straight across the roundabout and down Titsey Hill towards my destination (Oxted). Riding down Titsey Hill is more unpleasant than riding up as the road is pitted and furrowed and shakes the bike, making me feel slightly nauseous. But it's short-lived and soon I am riding into Limpsfield Village, turning right and then left into Granville Road. There's something liberating about riding along Granville in the morning sunshine. I've been doing it all year, since around April, and sitting outside of either Starbucks or Caffe Nero drinking tea or a cappuccino or even a green tea. Yesterday I had an amazing brew: Jasmine Flames tea from Teavana, very nice. I sat outside of Starbucks having parked the bike outside Caffe Nero and walked down the high street. Oxted is such a nice place and it's fantastic in the sunshine. All summer I've been doing this, on a Saturday, riding to Oxted, picking my venue and then enjoying the early morning hustle and bustle of the town, people passing by on their way to the gym, mums with prams, dads with young children, middle-aged couples enjoying a coffee, solitary figures reading a broadsheet, all part of life's rich tapestry.

I tend to find myself in a charity shop next door to the Caffe Nero, just for a brief wander around and yesterday was no exception. I went in wearing my crash helmet and cycling gear and stood by a small carousel of paperbacks, picking one or two up and then putting them back on the rack. As I was doing this a young girl let out a loud scream as she passed me, presumably when I moved to place a book back where I found it. She made me jump. It turned out she thought I was a mannequin and was shocked when I moved, which is odd because the shop doesn't have any mannequins. Weird, but we all enjoyed a laugh off the back of it.

Andy's Kona in Westerham last week

I rode back up Titsey Hill (16%) and initially had trouble with the gears, but managed to crank the bike down to the lowest gears before the climb commenced. I find that Titsey Hill is really easy. It's long, but it's not difficult and the ride up the hill is pleasant as there are trees on either side and peace and quiet and then suddenly there's a road sign which signals the approaching mini roundabout and the B269. The rest of the ride is straightforward, past the Botley Hill Farmhouse pub and straight down towards Warlingham and then Sanderstead and home. I stopped off at the garage to give my bike a jet clean. The plan now is to clean the chain. I'm also getting a strange knocking, which is more pronounced when I stand up on the pedals. It's on the left hand side and while I expect everybody to say it's the bottom bracket, it can't be because I've only just had a new one installed (when I last got a service) and I can't believe it can go again that quickly, ie within a year.

I've just come back from a Washpond Weeble, which I managed in record time (1hr and 3 minutes). I've shaved 13 minutes off of my time and it makes me feel good. I whizzed round at a rough but constant 12 miles/hr and took all the inclines with ease (there are no hills on the Weeble).

Washpond Weeble: I shaved 13 minutes off of my usual time...

I had planned to ride to Biggin Hill this morning, but my plans were scuppered once again, this time by having to give people lifts to stations. The Weeble was an afterthought, a chance to at least get out and not have a Sunday without a ride.