Finding 17 miles relatively easy now (cough...yeah right!), and have decided to set myself the challenge of linking up two routes...I will report back on whether or not the rain held off for me to achieve it!
Great Glen
Wistow
Kibworth Harcourt
Carlton Curlieu
Kings Norton
Gaulby
Houghton on the Hill
Ingarsby
Hungarton
Baggrave Park
Barsby
Gaddesby
and back again!
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
My love of coffee
Just a completely random, non cycling sort of thing...my love of coffee has turned me into a coffee snob. I like it freshly ground, with steamed milk and not from Starbucks! Going to create a gallery of coffee to share with my cycling friends!
In a cafe opposite tram stop in Hillsborough
Coffee at home
Coffee in Harrods
Sharing a coffee with Anomaly
What goes down...will go up
Do you ever look back on a hill and think "bloody hell I've just cycled up that"? Seems to happen to me a lot these days and as the mileage clocks up on my bike (I have now reached 233) I am finding hills much much easier, getting into bigger rings on the front and not having to get out of the saddle so much.
This hill I do have to get into a smaller front ring, and get out of the saddle...I first tackled it on the very short 6 mile inaugral journey I did on my bike - I was so excited I had done 6 miles (!) - well you have to start somewhere don't you. This hill was a nightmare then but has now become part of my Sunday route of 17 miles...and now I am finding it, well relatively short and easy!
Unfortunately on the way down I do have enough fear still to apply brakes - now normally I would build up courage with reference to my speed on going down hills. I think my maximum so far is 33mph, unfortunately at the bottom of this hill is a cattle grid and I have found that riding over them, in the wet, does cause wheels to slip slightly. So one of my challenges, perhaps during a dry summer will be to complete this hill without applying brakes?
This hill I do have to get into a smaller front ring, and get out of the saddle...I first tackled it on the very short 6 mile inaugral journey I did on my bike - I was so excited I had done 6 miles (!) - well you have to start somewhere don't you. This hill was a nightmare then but has now become part of my Sunday route of 17 miles...and now I am finding it, well relatively short and easy!
Unfortunately on the way down I do have enough fear still to apply brakes - now normally I would build up courage with reference to my speed on going down hills. I think my maximum so far is 33mph, unfortunately at the bottom of this hill is a cattle grid and I have found that riding over them, in the wet, does cause wheels to slip slightly. So one of my challenges, perhaps during a dry summer will be to complete this hill without applying brakes?
Cycling...at night...in winter
I think I may be bonkers...not only am I cycling in the pitch dark but in winter! Last night I did my normal 14 mile route into town, away from the countryside heading towards the bright lights of the city. Two things happened...firstly, as I left home with three layers (two thermal), overshoes, headband covering my ears and a flourescent top that is slightly too large and buzzes in the wind, and a scarf...the wind hit me. Today it has been 24 to 28mph and I don't think last night was that different...I only managed to average a speed of 13mph - having difficulty to see through the tears streaming down my face! I thought to myself "this is really not a good idea" but determined, and through gritted teeth to prove a point that if I am cycling in this...then come summer I will be having a ball.
The second thing that happened was the near miss by lady driving her Merc, around a mini roundabout without indicating whilst holding mobile phone to her ear (you know, in that way people do, with their hand flat against it so they think they look like they are resting their head on the palm of their hand?). I knew what she was going to do but continued to ride across the roundabout as she headed towards me breaking...now I felt I was in a position to swear, gesticulate and saying something about using a mobile phone whilst driving
and not indicating...I was safe though and knew I could cycle out of her way if need be...I just wanted to make a point and feel so much better for it.
My final rant of this blog is how crap the cycle lanes of Leicester City are...in fact my next bike mission will be to photograph some of them. Some are only metres long, some make you cross endless junctions of side roads, some stop just before roundabouts...I have tried and tested many of them and have decided to stay on the road regardless of cycle paths...I mean I have a right to be there as anyone in car...don't I?
The second thing that happened was the near miss by lady driving her Merc, around a mini roundabout without indicating whilst holding mobile phone to her ear (you know, in that way people do, with their hand flat against it so they think they look like they are resting their head on the palm of their hand?). I knew what she was going to do but continued to ride across the roundabout as she headed towards me breaking...now I felt I was in a position to swear, gesticulate and saying something about using a mobile phone whilst driving
and not indicating...I was safe though and knew I could cycle out of her way if need be...I just wanted to make a point and feel so much better for it.
My final rant of this blog is how crap the cycle lanes of Leicester City are...in fact my next bike mission will be to photograph some of them. Some are only metres long, some make you cross endless junctions of side roads, some stop just before roundabouts...I have tried and tested many of them and have decided to stay on the road regardless of cycle paths...I mean I have a right to be there as anyone in car...don't I?
Yup, I'm going out in this weather
Monday, 9 November 2009
I wish it would stop raining
I have been a little naughty in the last week or so - not getting out on the bike as much as I would like...I blame the rain of course (!).
Last Tuesday I planned to get out for my evening ride around town - and with the prospect of Fish and Chips for supper I felt I needed to clock up a few miles (I wonder how many miles = fish and chips?). I often think about the bike ride I am going to do in the morning and plan ahead, it helps with the motivation to get out of the door in the blustery wind and cold of the winter. However on this particular morning the heavens opened, this is a picture out of my office window:
Last Tuesday I planned to get out for my evening ride around town - and with the prospect of Fish and Chips for supper I felt I needed to clock up a few miles (I wonder how many miles = fish and chips?). I often think about the bike ride I am going to do in the morning and plan ahead, it helps with the motivation to get out of the door in the blustery wind and cold of the winter. However on this particular morning the heavens opened, this is a picture out of my office window:
I was really annoyed, I had missed my Sunday ride owing to the weather (well acturally I could have gone out but I was suffering slightly from the previous evening's Halloween party)...
On the way home the sun tried it's hardest to break through the clouds, and as I reached my village the rain finally stopped...I knew I could get my ride in and enjoy my fish and chips guilt free!
Nom nom nom!
Friday, 30 October 2009
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 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.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
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?
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?
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