Whizz into town and back

On Tuesday night I whizzed into town...I did think that the ride may be slightly doomed as I reached for my bike off the rack in the garage to find I had a puncture (how did that happen?).  Whilst my wheel was being changed for me...the clock was ticking towards 8pm now...I got changed into layer upon layer of clothing.  I got downstairs to pump up my new tyre only for it to "pop" again and rapidly deflate...two punctures? Was someone, somewhere trying to warn me against going out on a dark winters evening?  With third inner tube now in place and safely pumped up...off I went, once again into the dark abyss as I left the comforting orange glow of the street lights behind me.

I enjoyed the ride, there is something really great about being out there in the silence - in the distance I could see the orange glow of the city and decided to head towards it.  I cycled around the area where I was brought up, past old houses of friends and had lots of giggles to myself.  I sped towards the park in the middle of town but thought best to avoid an instead headed towards the bustling student area of cafes and bars and the smell of food...as I passed one street I was dazzled by the white lights on the exterior of the houses - obviously celebrating Diwali the "Festival of Lights".  I stood for a while and took this picture (the IPhone doesn't really do it justice!)...and wondered how quickly their electricity metre was whirring round when they flick on the switch!

I headed towards home past the old houses that have become student accommodation for Leicester University and the playing fields and astro turf of their sporting facilities, flood lit and buzzing with activity.  Leaving the playing fields behind me I reached the road towards home, not a single car passed me for about four miles...it was just me in the dark, with my trusty light (which by the way, is rechargeable and lasts for three hours on full beam and about 12 on partial beam...it has a light on the back you can see that goes from green, amber and red so you know you are reaching the end of the charge)...complete silence, just the whirr of my wheels on the road.  I was half expecting to see some wildlife - yet to see a Badger that isn't run over - but saw nothing.

I really enjoy that peace...on the last leg I stopped momentarily and looked back at the orange glow of the city and all of the lights.

Overshoes!

I have to say that when I have seen cyclists in the past - their overshoes have made me chuckle a little...why on earth do people need all this equipment to go for a bike ride?  How silly I thought...until about two weeks ago when I was on my journey to Gaddesby, the sun was shining, the winter leaves falling slowly to the ground, the crisp October air being drawn into my lungs as I huffed and puffed up a hill...who needs overshoes?

Then...the sun went in.  All of a sudden I was freezing cold, and had paused for some time by the church to take some pictures and see some departed relatives.  I had noticed the quiet babble of a near by stream, but the cold air and the noise of running water had a double effect on me and I knew I had to get home quickly.  By the time I got home my feet were freezing cold and my fingers.

So off I went to purchase "overshoes" with my colleague Pete...and some gloves...and a head band that covers my ears...and a gillet that was in the sale.  Went for wind proof rather than water proof thinking that I am less likely to go out in the pouring rain.

But they do make my feet look rediculous....don't you think?

My trusty bike

Well here it is, I'm not on all the technical stuff but have stuck a picture of the gears in...just in case you wanted to know!

It's a Carrera Vanquish with Campagnolo gears.  I'm getting much better at cycling further in the largest disc at the front - I sort of set myself little challenges with the gears when I am out and about.  Looking at my bike computer I see that one click of the gears ups my average speed by 0.5 mph.  I hit 24.5 mph on Sunday on a lovely long bit of road and its felt brilliant.  Unfortunately, with surrounding hills my averages is still only between 13 and 14 mph...something to work on I suppose!

My Sunday ride

I have had such a brilliant morning, riding in the sun, and wind around small villages and country roads I didn't even know existed.  Cycling is a great way to get to know your surrounding country side.  Other cyclists past me en-route and I notice the nods and the "mornings" similar to the camaraderie found amongst motorcyclists!

My route took me 17.23 miles across Leicestershire country side.  The first village I hit was Great Glen tackling the round a bout on the A6 and heading the "other side" towards Wistow.  A beautiful winding road surrounding by fields and sheep and dotted with little bridges.  I turned towards Kibworth and stopped on the bridge to take a picture of the locks.

Through Kibworth Harcourt I took the turning by "Jack's house?" to Carlton Curlieu - a village I don't think I have ever been through despite living in the surrounding area practically all of my life.  As I cycled into the village, coveting the houses and the picturesque views, I was greeted by a very large house with the most perfect hedges...I thought about my slightly scruffy cottage garden at home, and thought they surely have a gardener!  The picture doesn't do the perfect hedges justice!

I carried on my journey towards Burton Ovary but turning off before I reached there to head towards Kings Norton.  Now I don't know much about Kings Norton but its a very small village but as you reach the brow of the hill in the distance you can see this over sized church, almost Cathedral like, poking out from the houses.  I don't know who built it - but will find a little more out about it...

From Kings Norton I took the turning to Gaulby and then home.  Still not long enough at all for my Sunday ride so need to return to the maps and plot next Sunday's route.

Todays route took me 1 hour 18 minutes with a maximum speed of 28.59 mph, and an average speed of a measly 13.2 mph...don't laugh....it was windy honest!

Night Rider

No I am not talking about Kit and the bewildering "Hoff"...I am talking about what the best course of action is to maintain my "training" (laughing as I write that because any keen cyclist probably thinks my efforts do not constitute training), as the winter draws in.

I discussed the pros and cons of a turbo trainer with my brother in law who does lots of road racing.  I have to say the thought of going into my garage in the evening, plugged into my IPod and doing the equivalent of a spinning class on my own filled me with dread and the possibility of wasting lots of money! His recommendation was to spend the same amount of money that I would spend on a turbo trainer on a good light for my bike.

Which is what I did - I got the Exposure Joystick light - in pink of course (to match my handlebars and tyres).

Last night I did my first ride in the dark...as I got to the end of my village I could see a balck abyss in front of me and the added knowledge that on the hill out of my village I can reach the spead of about 33mph.  I was slightly nervous and felt I couldn't see much of the road ahead.  I was so dissapointed that I had spent so much money on a light that wasn't doing what it said on the tin...I thought I was going to have to turn around and go home...

I started moving the light, before I hit the hill, realising that is was pointing far too much towards the ground, and lifting it up I was able to see at least 100 metres ahead of me...I was off and it was brilliant.

I loved cycling in the dark, I managed 11 miles in 51 minutes.  Leaving the illuminated villages behind me, and re-entering the dark abyss in front it was quiet and eerie.  It was interesting seeing the shadows I cast and listening to the sounds around me, sometimes being illumiated by car headlights behind me casting a double shadow of me cycling away.

Feel confident now that I can carry on throughout winter, loving that hour on my own, in the darkness with the sound of the wheels on the tarmac - what a brilliant way to clear your head.

My training schedule

Tuesday, 20th October 2009 - 14 miles (1 hour 3 minutes)
Thursday, 22nd October 2009 - 11 miles (51 minutes) Night Ride
Friday, 23rd October 2009 - Karate lesson with Matrix Martial Arts
Sunday, 25th October 2009 - 17 miles (1 hour 18 minutes) very windy!
Tuesday, 27th October 2009 - 14.29 miles (1 hour 2 minutes)
Tuesday, 3rd November 2009 - 14 miles Night Ride
Sunday, 8th November 2009 - 17 miles
Friday, 13th November 2009 - Matrix Marial Arts - Kick-a-thon in aid of Children in Need
Sunday, 15th November 2009 - 17 miles (sunny but cold!)
Tuesday, 17th November 2009 - 14 miles Night Ride (think I was insane it was REALLY windy)
Friday, 20th November 2009 - 100 fight Kumite for Children in Need
Sunday, 29th November 2009 - 23.45 miles (1 hour 45 minutes)
Saturday, 26th December 2009 - 17 miles (500 calories!)
Sunday, 10th January 2010 - Karate grading
Sunday, 17th January 2010 - Back in the saddle then I get a puncture.  18.42 miles, 590 calories
Sunday, 7th February 2010 - Added up to Quenby Hall.  22.44 miles, 754 calories
Sunday, 14th February 2010 - To Carlton Curlieu a different way.  19.1 miles, 600 calories
Sunday, 15th March 2010 - The hill at Goadby.  23.2 miles

My first "long" ride

Well, now that I am looking back on it - it seems quite silly that I think 10 miles on my bike constitutes a "long" ride...but hey we all have to start somewhere.

There is something very glorious about cycling in the sun of an Autumn morning.  Every Sunday I am trying to get out for my "long" ride, extending routes and working out new ones too.

My first "long" ride took me through the villages of:

• Ingarsby
• Hungarton

and in through the gates of Baggrave Park where I stopped outside the house for a quick drink (now mastered drinking whilst pedaling but that has taken a while!).  This route is just under the five mile mark.

Baggrave Hall

For those of you interested in the conservation of old buildings you may be interested in reading this article about the hall http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/32/baggrave_dir/baggrave_s.htm

The ride through the park is fabulous with sheep, two beautiful horses and in the recent weeks children collecting the conkers (one kid had a massive bag full and I can only think he is going to share them with the whole population of his school).

The purgatory that is Ingarsby Lane

One of my favourite routes that I have been building on involves a road called Ingarsby Lane, it takes me about a nano second to get from the top to the bottom of the lane and higher speed of 33.45 mph.  Coming back it takes me 10 minutes exactly to get from the bottom to the top, with landmarks on the way that I mentally tick off as I pass them:

• The new house
• The bridge
• The area where there has been a fire
• The DMV (Deserted Medieval Village)
• The Hall
• The tree on the corner (I know I am nearly up the hill by then)
• The riding stables
• The first view of the first house
• The last hill...

Cycling past the wall of the Hall on Ingarsby Lane

It is my challenge to build on my ten minutes from bottom to top and to knock off a minute here and there - but it really is purgatory, particularly if you have just cycled 10 or so miles the other side of it.

How it all began

My husband comes from a family of keen cyclists...he knows about bike bits, you know, seat pins and stems (it's all just words to me). He spots a bike on Ebay which is a bargain...it's been messed about a bit, the handle bars changed, and its been stored outside (we think), but still a bargain. So around the end of July this year he gets it for me.

It arrives in all its slightly rusted glory, and immediately he changes the pedals for me so I can wear my proper biking shoes - what are they called, SB something? (You can see I am really into the equipment side)...and for those of you reading this, yes, I have had the experience of first wearing them and stopping and not getting my foot out quick enough and suffering the humiliation of tumbling towards the ground, still attached to the bike.

I take my bike with me all the way down to Helston for the summer holidays. Unfortunately little riding takes place (only one day on the Camel Trail to Padstow). However, staying in a fantastic location of Lower Pentire Farm, on the side of Loe Pool. I get some fantastic walking done along the cliffs to Gunwalloe and Church Cove.

Our other discovery whilst in Helton is a shop called Cycle Logic. I purchased some hard wearing tyres and a new "girlie" saddle. I was still not happy with the handle bars not being "drop" ones though. We visited Cycle Logic so many times that the kids even designed a "theme tune" for it, and would sing it as we pulled into their car park!

After returning home my trusty mount gets taken to local shop "On Yer Bike" where it is re-built from various components my husband has found in the garage. I am now ready for the off...