9°C, calm, grey and damp.
Climbed Bannister Lane hill, twice. Once the north route and then the Parbold lane route. From the start, I could tell this would be a good ride. I’ve started from a low base since having Covid-19; now I’m building fitness rather than just recovering from that persistent virus.
Arrow, 4°C, light W, bright and distant clouds
Getting better each day despite starting from a very low base. In effect, I’ve had a month off thanks to Covid-19. Now muscles are all fizzing like they’ve bounced back from that time off being ill. The year ahead is looking quite uncertain again with the possibility that foreign travel will be difficult this summer. It’s all to do with new coronavirus variations, I’m hoping I have some immunity to the main ones for the foreseeable.
As for cycling, most of the flooding has receded, there are no closed roads now. Croston usually floods so I approached it gingerly. All was clear. There was another noticeable effect I hadn’t anticipated. The last half-hour was hard, I blew up. Perhaps dehydration, but certainly poor form dues to the time off. Nonetheless, my muscles feel tight and it makes me feel stronger. During that illness, I felt terrible after even a gentle ride – all empty inside. that’s a markedly different feeling to normal post ride fatigue.
Each season has its own roadkill. Flooding appears to have brought rats out of their burrows, or sewers or where ever they live. I saw dead rats in 3 different places, big fat rats in the road. They were almost the size of a small cat.
7°C, light W, dry with only traces of ice left.
Rode over to check the house and it felt okay. I’m keeping a sharp eye open for Covid after effects but they’re definitely fading.
+4°C, muddy and damp. Clear sky though.
I’m occasionally venturing out with a knock to my physical confidence. One ride left me empty and exhausted for 2 days – that’s the Covid after effects. This walk was good and left me all warm and refreshed.
4°C, full sun but ice patches remain light NE breeze
This is Cheshire lines which runs up the side of Lancashire. It looks icy but there were no problems with grip. It was a fine day and I was so glad to be out.The muddiest part is by a sewage works and though the puddles look large, the best line is straight through the middle of them. Around there should stink but now it doesn’t. That is a Covid problem – I can’t smell bad things. You’d think that was good, but actualy it’s a nuisance. How can I tell if food is off, or whether a shirt needs a wash?
2°C, sunny with a layer of hailstones.
This is one of my Covid-19 recovery walks. The roads are too icy for cycling this week but I’m itching to get the bike out and can’t – it’s not safe yet.
I caught it.
Two weeks of mild, almost asymptomatic illness in the coldest leadup bro Christmas. For me, it’s not much worse than a heavy cold with a sore cough at the top of my chest. That bit only lasted about 3 days. The general fatigue held on for longer. Some days, were clear, like Christmas day.
12th December, I went back to bed feeling rather sleepy. The next day, a Sunday, I skipped a bike ride feeling rather empty.
14th December, phoned in sick at work and then later – booked a Covid test. I still felt okay, a slight cough when going upstairs and no fever or temperature. The thermometer went no higher than 36.4°C. To get a test, I lied on the form and put New continuous cough. It’s a good job I did because the result came back Positive the next day.
I booked the test for a time only in the next hour and drove into town to park. The test centre is a walk-in to I had to trot half a mile to get there. Even that felt okay. If I was seriously ill, that would have left me faint and gasping. Generally, I was in an elevated mood because I know how serious Covid can be and I was getting off lightly – I have dodged a bullet.
12th December: the test result finally came back at 17.30. Positive and I must Self Isolate for 10 days from the day after symptoms started. The next few days are a blur
21st December: book another test. The result from this one shocked me – positive! What do I do now?
The result returns as a text on my phone telling me to self isolate for 10 days from the day after 1st symptoms arise. Well, that means I can go out tomorrow, er..doesn’t it? To clarify, I rang the number provided and they were quite clear, I don’t nbeed to add another 10 days (which would have run ’till 4th January.
In response, I ventured out on the bike but was quite exhausted for a few days after.
7°C, light NE, no cloud.
A short outing that felt like a real effort, like it does when I’ve had a few days off. November and December have been much wetter this year.
9°C, mist and drizzle higher up. Still.
It felt cold in he damp air today. Nominally, 9°C should be comfortable but not so today. Higher up, near High Moor there was light rain too. I need to fit another water bottle, I was so dehydrated by the time I got home.
Now the speedometer is playing up again. The speed often read double what it should be and he distance was about 30% below. I will have to replace it. This time, it will not be wireless.
9°C, brisk W
4 days without a ride and feeling frustrated and fidgety. A short blast is such a good way to clear that feeling.
I’ve had an annoying time with repairs not working out well:
The problem is keeping track of how old componants are on bikes when you have 6. It was easier when I only had 2 or 3 bikes. Now it seems like a cluster of repears have come together.
Micycle 