Lighter, Brighter Days And Rides…

On a whim I decided on a bike ride this afternoon.  The possibility of rain that was suggested by the Met office didn’t materialise and it was about 2pm.  I had time for a couple of hours riding so I got myself ready and off I went.

It doesn’t take quite so long to get ready this week as it did last week with the slightly improved weather we are having.  Fewer and lighter clothes makes the operation far less of a chore, a) to find them and b) to get them on.  I dispensed with the casquette under my helmet, I had fingerless track mitts on instead of full gloves, no gilet and no tubular neck warmer.  In a matter of minutes I was dressed, bottled filled with water and bike out ready for the off.  Spontaneity is king!

When I set off I wasn’t really sure exactly what my route would be as I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling.  As it turned out I must have been feeling pretty good because I was riding quite hard from the start.  Not flat out, just pushing myself all the time but not to the limit.  This resulted in my fastest average speed of the year so far and route wasn’t that easy with a few hills interspersed along the way and a strongish head wind for most of the first 12 miles.

My route was the longest option that I had in mind when I set off, I didn’t take any short cut options.  I went out on loop from home with the furthest point of the loop being around Stagsden, just outside of Bedford.  It made a change from my usual Ouse Valley rides.

Click the map for detailed ride stats

Now the weather is hopefully going to be getting better I can take some longer options in all directions.  I need to get some miles in to shed the weight I seem to have gained over the winter period of reduced activity.  I seem to have put on about 12 lbs. since the end of summer last year.  I now weigh in at 11st 6lbs, (160lbs) against the 10st 8lbs, (152lbs) I was then.

Its a similar situation to how things were last year except last spring I was a couple of pounds heavier than now.  All this information is stored in my Garmin data.  I don’t know where the extra weight is hiding because the clothes the lightweight me was wearing then I am wearing now and they are not tight?

The weight disappeared last year naturally by just riding my bike, I didn’t make any dietary changes, so I am expecting the same to happen again.

It Depends How You Look At It…

Having missed out on my scheduled Tuesday ride this week I was back on schedule with a ride today.  The old favourite Ouse Valley ride but this time the other way around.  It wasn’t the ideal way round so far as the wind was concerned but it was good to get a different perspective on the ride.  I think its a bit tougher this way around as most of the climbs, such as they are, are in the first half.

Click on map for detailed ride info..

The ‘other riders on the road’ count today was three which is a slight increase over recent rides.  After missing last Saturdays ride and also Tuesdays, not to mention quite a few more during the month there was no way I was going to achieve my 400 mile target for the month.  March starts tomorrow and hopefully after the signs today Spring just might be on its way and I can make the target this time..

Today also marked a slight reduction in winter clothing worn.  I didn’t wear my full winter overshoes today.  Instead I just wore some toe covers.  These just cover the ventilation part at the front of the shoes.  They were very effective but then it was a lot warmer today.. a ‘scorching’ 7c average.

One thing I did notice whilst pedalling was that I had them on the wrong feet (see photo) to how they were probably designed to be worn.  Not from any effectiveness point of view but probably from the view of Mr Castelli.

I expect ‘He’ and his directors and shareholders would have preferred the writing to have been on the outside of my feet and on display more.  To be more easily visible to spectators along the route !!!

Should they complain my answer to them would be that I paid for them, they were not a gift from them and by wearing them I was actually advertising their product at my expense.  However this is the case with a lot products, not only cycling.  We the buyers become advertising boards for the makers.  Its long been my theory that if you buy something with a makers name on it you should actually get it cheaper.  Not as seems to be the case that you actually pay more for something with a brand name prominently displayed on it.

OK…. ride, report and rant over..

Cold Wind From Russia…

I didn’t really want to go for a ride this morning, it looked so cold out there.  Looks didn’t deceive either once I was out of the door.  The wind had changed from being a cold wind from the North Pole to a cold wind from the east and Siberia.  It was never above 2C for the whole ride.  I chose my thirty mile circuit along the Ouse valley one side of the river and back along the other side.

I cant say that I enjoyed it a lot but I felt I had to get some more miles in after a couple of days off the bike.  To leave it until tomorrow would have meant it was too close to Saturday when I am leading the Team MK ride to Carlton.  I never really got warm for the whole ride, I was just glad to get back indoors after thirty very cold miles.  I spent most of the time staring at the road in front of me and silently muttering to myself to ask if I really needed to be doing this.  The answer was yes but not quite sure why.  The other cyclists on the road count was zero.  That either proves how sensible they are or how stupid I am, or both!  I had a couple of options to change it to a twenty or twenty five mile ride en route too, but I declined them.

I congratulated myself for making the effort afterwards and I hope I will feel the benefit of having done it.  I’ll just be glad when the sun realises its OK to shine for more than two days at a time again.  No photos today I didn’t want to stop for fear of freezing up!

Afternoon Sun…

Today marked the occasion of the first afternoon ride of the year for me.  I was otherwise engaged this morning but the forecast was good for a ride this afternoon and I took advantage of it.  Now the days are drawing out and the light lasting longer its possible to fit a ride in.

It was only a short ride, just to squeeze in a few more miles before tomorrows club ride with Team MK.  I felt much better and more positive about my fitness than after Wednesdays ride.

Click Map For Detailed Ride Info.

I did my Short Ouse Valley Ride,  a distance of 21 miles on an undulating route.  My intention was to take it really easy but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Maintaining my new policy of a picture every ride I include the this one..

It is Chellington Church, close to Carlton, in the afternoon sun.  To the right of this church in the distance you can just see the spire of Harrold Church on the other side of the valley that I passed on the outward leg of the ride.

I am still way behind on my 400 miles a month schedule but hopefully I can pull it back in the next 15 days if this sort of weather continues.

Tough Decisions…

I just had to make the decision to go out on the bike today.  It had been almost a week again since my last ride and its not good to leave such a long gap.  I need two or three rides a week to keep in shape.

It wasn’t easy to persuade myself I needed to go out on such a cold day but it needed to be done.  I decided on my Clophill, Bedfordshire route as I needed some extra miles after a long run of short rides.  This would give me a ride of about 48 miles and on a route that I quite like, in the summer !!

Click on Map for detailed ride info.

I set off in the cold expecting to warm up after a while as usual but it never seemed to happen.  Once the Garmin settled down to a steady temperature after coming out from indoors it stayed around the 2c (35f) mark.  I was finding it hard to get going properly.  My legs never warmed up properly despite wearing two pairs of tights.  I was feeling quite disappointed with my performance and fitness as I was finding it hard to even maintain an average speed of around 13.5mph.  I soon realised this was due not only to the cold but also I was riding into the wind which is unusual for this part of the ride.  Its usually a tailwind.  Once I realised this I didn’t feel so bad.

There was one anomaly that someone might be able to shed some light on.  After I had been riding for an hour the average speed on my Garmin was showing around 13.8 mph and yet the distance covered was 14.5 miles?  I could have understood it maybe if the figures had been reversed as a stop would have accounted for the difference.  But I thought if I had ridden 14.5 miles in one hour then that was the average speed ?  Is there a mathematical explanation for this?

The ride itself was OK,  its quite a varied route and quite undulating.  No ‘mountains’ but plenty of ‘ups and downs’.  It all took on a different look with the remnants of snow still around.  I’m not surprised the snow is still there given the temperatures, its not warm enough to thaw properly.

I am actually quite high up here, high for Bedfordshire anyway!  Looking back towards home, about 6 miles away on the right side and Milton Keynes is away on the left.

This is just before Steppingley and typical of the sort of roads I try to ride wherever possible.  Small, quiet and away from traffic.  Main roads are unavoidable some times but I pick these whenever I can.

Apart from the cold things went quite well really.  Plenty of ‘thinking;’ time to distract my thoughts from the cold and if you look at the Garmin stats my speed picked up after the half way mark.  I just failed to make a 15mph average though  not so discouraging after all then.

I only saw two other ‘proper’ cyclists on my ride, which, despite being a weekday is quite low.  On a ride of this length I would usually see around four at least.  Obviously some people didn’t make the tough choice when decisions had to be made…

Suffering From A Touch Of Wind..

Back in the saddle this morning after another break from biking having been deeply involved in Blog building over the weekend.  The weather was looking good outside this morning after a rather un-encouraging start to the day.  Monday is put the rubbish out morning and has to be out by 7:30am.. I always think about doing it the night before but by the time I remember in the evening I am usually settled down and can’t usually be bothered to go out and do it.  So it was still dark when I ventured out at 7:15am and I could feel rain.  Not what was forecast at all but it soon cleared up and by the time I got out the sun was shining in a  clear blue sky.  There was however the forecast winds.  There was a Met Office warning of strong winds with gusts up to 40mph for this morning.

Felmersham Bridge

I did my Longer Ouse valley ride of about 30 miles so the first 25%, heading east, was with a tail wind and then when I crossed the river at Felmersham bridge I was heading west and into the wind.  The water was lower at the bridge than the other day but still quite a way above normal level.

Odell Church

Just before Felmersham I stopped to take a picture of Odell Church as my new policy is to include more pictures in my blog.  We’ll see how long that lasts, regular readers will know how reluctant I am to stop at all on a ride.

Odell Church in the distance

Whilst on the way back I stopped for another photo of Odell church taken from the other side of the valley, while heading in the opposite direction to the previous picture.

I started thinking on my ride which I do quite a lot.  I was doing a mental count of the churches I pass on this ride and in 30 miles there are 16 churches by my reckoning, a shade over one every 2 miles!  A project was forming in my head to get the touring bike out one day and my camera kit and take a picture of all of them.  Plenty of stops there then!

I got almost halfway round and stopped in Newton Blossomville to take a picture of this damaged old dry stone wall.  Just after I took this picture my iPhone went Phuttt! a flat battery.. I should have checked before I left.  I was going to take a close up of the wall cross section but it will have to wait for another time.  It could be of interest to anybody wanting to build one day to see how they are made.  They certainly are not rushing to repair it though as I have been seeing it on my rides since well before Christmas.  It was good job that no emergencies occurred during the rest of my trip requiring a phone call for assistance.

So, with no more photo opportunities to ‘snap up’ I could concentrate on just riding.  I was happy to finally turn around and head east again back to Olney for the last 25% of the ride with a tailwind again.  I could adjust my position from riding low down with my hands on the bottom of the dropped handlebars to sitting up like a sail in the tailwinds.

Cold Bedfordshire Ride

It was a chilly ride this morning thats for sure.. I was definitely under dressed for the occasion.  I should have worn my thicker top.. during my ride it dropped down to 2c and stayed there until I got back close to Olney where it rocketed up to 3C !!

Loop ride based on Maulden, Bedfordshire.   (Click the map for full ride data and larger image)

It started out as a planned 50 mile ride but a combination of the cold and remembering that the last time I did this ride just before Christmas there was some major drainage works going on near to Haynes that forced me into ‘cycle cross’ mode through some mud.  I didn’t want all that bother again so took an alternative route to avoid it.  It was shorter on miles by about 5 but not on climbing.  The repairs carried out to the rear wheel seemed to stand up well, especially given the state of some of our rural roads at the moment.  (Some of the major roads aren’t so hot at the moment either come to that ! )

My mileage is above the schedule for 400 miles this month.  I am at 38% so far so may need to adjust the target later but I’ll wait and how the weather adjusts itself first.  It looks like we may be in for a cold spell and some snow at the weekend is a possibility apparently.

Talking of being above schedule my blog viewing figures have inexplicably rocketed suddenly over the last few days.. from around the regular 25 – 30 views a day it jumped on successive days from 90 to almost 200 and yesterday was 514 !  I don’t know whats going but I am not complaining, just curious as to what might have caused it.  However I would like to welcome all the extra viewers and hope they hang around for when the season really gets going.  Meanwhile, as always, all comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

Hard Riding

It was the first dry day since last Saturdays ride and quite a bit warmer too, but still not warm at all if you know what I mean?  I took myself out on what I knew would be a hard ride as I selected a hilly route.  Although its not that hilly around here it was about as many hills as I could fit in on one thirty mile plus ride., almost 33 actually.  The strong south west wind of 20mph plus also added to the toughness and there seemed to be more headwind than tailwind or was that just my imagination??

Click Map For Detailed Ride Stats

I ventured just over the county border and into Northamptonshire for the bulk of the ride.  That might sound like a long way but its not really.  Olney, my home town is right in the top right hand corner of Buckinghamshire and just a couple of miles up the road at a place called ‘Three Shires Wood’ is the border of Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, hence the three shires in the title.

Castle Ashby House (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I rode out via Castle Ashby to Cogenhoe, then across to Great Houghton and Preston Deanery to Hartwell.  From there I went to Ashton and returned home via Hanslope, Gayhurst and Ravenstone.

All in all a good workout.  It has remained pretty much a dry day apart from a very brief shower, the forecast rain didn’t materialise this afternoon.  Hopefully I will get another ride in before Saturdays Team MK ride, weather permitting.