Summer rides

The summer rides have been good. Ever since that first train strike back in June when I 'took to the streets' on the bike, I've been enjoying some amazing rides to and from Redhill in what can only be described as amazing weather. The 12-mile ride into the office is pleasant and mostly on fairly quiet roads, and the ride back is the same but uphill and it can be pretty daunting. I've worked out the trouble spots (the places where I need to be careful) and I think I can honestly say that I'm au fait with the route there and back.

Rockhopper close to Rectory Lane last Sunday...

As a result of the riding I've lost weight (I'm almost 12 stone). I've lost around a stone, which is good and I hope to keep it off, but I've started to lapse. Just a few minutes ago I weighed myself and I'm still just over 12 stone, but the lapsing has started. A bit of rain has kept me off the bike. This week I rode three times (if you include my planned ride today to Oxted) which is fine and I shouldn't fret about it, but ultimately I should be doing a minimum of four rides per week (two at the weekend and two during the week). So it's either Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or throw in Wednesday too (actually, make that Friday). But last week I lapsed. Again, I shouldn't fret about it. What I should be fretting about is that I'm not regularly updating the blog as much as I used to, the whole thing has gone off the boil a bit. So, here I am, trying to get back into the whole thing.

At the moment, my bike sounds like a wood-burning stove and Andy reckons I need to clean the chain. There's also a problem with the gears (and Andy reckons I need to clean the chain). He's probably right and I will do it and that will (hopefully) save me the money on a planned gear service I was looking in to. I'm finding that changing down the front cogs often leads to the chain coming off and because it's so grubby I end up with my hands covered in thick, black grease. Invariably the problem occurs as I ride up White Hill Lane. I go to change down and the chain comes off or it doesn't come off but simply doesn't change down, leaving me to tackle the hill, the awful hill, in the middle cog at the front. It's possible, thanks to my improving fitness, but it's challenging to say the least. So that needs to be sorted. And yesterday I started to realise that if I'm going to continue into the winter with the rides to work I'm going to have to get some decent lights, something that has always eluded me. Lights that are USB-chargeable aren't the answer, although I have a particularly bright set of front lights that will need charging up as the nights draw in. I also need to sort out my brakes, or rather I will soon have to sort out my brakes. All that down-hill braking on White Hill Lane on the outward journey is bound to take its toll soon and I need to be ready. 

Another shot of the Rockhopper last Sunday

My fitness levels are certainly improving although, as I said at the beginning of this post, I'm starting to lapse a little. Let's talk about this for a while. My campaign to lose weight started when I was in Prague. I slowed down on the food front, ate a healthy breakfast in the hotel, started to drink green tea, and then, when I flew home I upped the ante a little bit. I tried to carry on my 'no bread' thing, which I started in Prague, and I succeeded and found myself weighing just over 12 stone. It was the cycling too, not just the lack of bread in my diet, but put the two together and I was starting to look a little lithe, which was good. One helped the other: the weight improved the cycling, the cycling improved the weight situation and long may it continue. The hot weather helped too as I found myself eating less, enjoying (heaven forbid) a salad, not eating loads of potatoes and so forth. But of late I've found myself back on my latest addiction: toast and honey. I need to slow down on that front. I've been reasonably good on lunches, and dinners have been fine, although the approaching autumn has prompted the odd roast dinner, I bought a packet of milk chocolate digestives at work last week and wasn't satisfied until they had gone, so little bad habits are creeping in. And I keep thinking that a combination of cycling less because of the poor weather and, perhaps, the odd chocolate bar and, of course, the hassle created by people celebrating birthdays at work (and bringing in tins of Celebrations, 44 calories per chocolate) are going to mess things up. But I didn't do too badly today: had a small cake and a cup of tea for lunch and a small slice of bread with half of an avocado on top and then for dinner tonight a vegetarian dish cooked by yours truly (aubergine, courgette, onion, garlic and a tin of tomatoes, plus pasta). It was fantastic, even if I do say so myself.

To Oxted for a cappuccino (and a pastry)...

Alright, I had a pastry this morning, a cinnamon swirl to accompany my large cappuccino, that's something else I've started up again, frothy coffees. Got to get back to green teas and nothing much else. I rode to Oxted this morning to meet my pal Garth. The ride was good although I'm not keen on riding down Titsey Hill as the road is so bumpy it actually makes me feel quite ill. The handlebars and the whole bike shakes and so does my body, but eventually, when the road levels and smooths out, I sailed into Oxted, rode up the High Street and there was Garth at the Caffe Nero. We chatted about this and that and after reaching a chilled out state we rode home again. I rode up Titsey Hill as always and got home just over an hour after I left.

The bike needs a clean, I need to get the rust off of the forks, I need to clean the chain and I might need a gear service, but not yet. Tomorrow (Sunday) it's Westerham to meet Andy so let's hope the weather holds, I think it will.

On Pilgrims Lane on the way home from Westerham

It's now Monday morning and I've got to go to work but just to say that the weather did hold yesterday, it was a very pleasant day although there was a little bit of mist at Botley Hill and as I descended into Westerham. Costa was closed until noon so we found ourselves in a small cafe on the other side of the street. I ordered a cappuccino and an almond croissant and found myself chatting to Andy about Duncan Bannatyne after two brand spanking new ice creams vans went by and I remembered that Bannatyne started off in the world of business as an ice cream man. We also reminisced about ice cream vans of old, the sound of Greensleeves on a summer's afternoon and, of course, Mr Whippy ice cream cones. I enjoyed a Mr Whippy at the Boathouse cafe in Felpham yesterday week ago and very nice it was too. 

Andy was on his racer so I knew he would be way ahead of me within yards of departing so I wished him well and continued on up the hill alone.