Category Archives: Travel

A most satisfying day.

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12ºC, 3/5 cloud, mod W.
CA:36 miles.
Jobs done– marking while Dave measured the staircase; replacement part for the clock-radio arrived; paint some outside door-frames; go cycling, and enjoy feeling recovered.
Every holiday is the same- feel semi-ill with tiredness for days on end, then come to life mid-week.
Even the bike rode in a more sprightly manner. Those two hours yesterday carefully cleaning the derailler gave sweet, almost silent gear changes. The sun shone.

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Hawthorn berries are made of ruby.

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Over the top.

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12°C, rain,
I hit a car this morning. It pulled out, in front of me by a hotel near work. Traffic was slow and I was overtaking on the right at low speed. A car pulled out of the hotel and drove right at me. I rode at only ~9mph, but couldn’t stop in time to avoid landing on the car’s bonnet. In that split second, something snapped inside and I banged my fist  down on the windscreen and mentioned something about French connection UK. For a millisecond, part of me wanted the glass to break.
With the adrenaline up, I got up and rode on to continue my journey. Not the textbook action, I admit.
No injury apart from a tiny graze on my forearm.
Confusing, but at least the guy woke up.

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Backache.

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17ºC, wind + rain
Recovery ride- with MapMyRide! Distance: 38.74mi, time: 02:35:56,
http://mapmyride.com/workout/413076053

Recovering from backache, something that may stem from the cold that plagued my last 2 weeks. Perhaps the lack of exercise or excessive time spent in the car caused that.
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This picture tells me to get a better phone, one with an auto-focus camera. Close shots like this would not need all that pixlr treatment to hide the blur.
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12mph.

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15ºC, E wind.
Drive- heavy traffic and mostly stationary. Average speed was 12mph, meaning it took over 50 minutes to get there. I drove because I am still ill, but what about all the other drivers? Why are they in their cars? I don’t know where they get the patience, why don’t more of them do the obvious?

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Help! I need a mathematician.

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17C, rain later,
Are you a game theorist? If you design a game where you gain points for finding things. The aim is to collect a score but I want to be able to work out the identity of the original finds from the value of the score.
Perhaps, the scores should each be a prime number. Then, somehow adding them up will give values that reveal the identity of the component values.
It could be applied to something like a treasure hunt or maybe, spotting driving offenses.
Today I passed a woman driving while applying nail-varnish. That should get a lower score than applying makeup in the sun-visor mirror.
Anyway, can it be done? The score identification system I mean.
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14,207 calories!

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18C, Easterly, sunny.

Total miles this week is high and I only felt the miles in my legs on steep climbs. These after-work extensions are wonderful. I only remark on them because I will have to scale them back soon as the nights draw in.
weeksRIDE

Look at that- fourteen thousand calories!

Weeford mushrooms.

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11-18C,dry light breeze.

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Most nights after work, I ride the scenic route home. This adds about 2,000 kCals to my daily expenditure. With about 3,000 cal per day, for a chap my size I could work out my consumption of food. My weight stays about the same, so I must eat 5,000 a day. Is that right, have I missed something?

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Dragonflight.

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22C, light W. 1/5 cloud.
CR: 81 miles, 6,044 kCal.
Ideal day for a ride: in the sunshine. Plenty of whiz in my legs and only some work stuff to get back for.
Roads are quieter than normal but still. I have picked routes along lanes. Nearing the St. Harold estate, I rode alongside a dragonfly going in the same direction. We travelled in parallel for a while before she turned hedgeward. If they didn’t have compound eyes, I imagine she would have winked before going off alone.
It was an honour to travel with such a noble creature- they have been around since carboniferous times, if not before.
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Suit of armour at Bosworth battlefield cafe, 2nd stop on the day’s ride.
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Get up!

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11C, nice day to come.
Woke early: an unusual cause this time- hunger. Maybe it’s these extended commutes and all those extra calories. The extensions may only be 25-35 miles but they are a bit faster than average at 16-17 mph too. That’s not bad with a work bag on the back and a day’s work done.

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Ride home profile.

You know you’re a teacher when…

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12°C,light NE.
Riding in, on the last leg, I have to pass slow moving traffic. Then there is a BMW weaving slowly. It sweeps slowly to close the passing space by a bollard. Luckily the car moves away again, then I can pass. Typical! She’s on her mobile. Without thinking, I shout-
OI! PUT THAT MOBILE DOWN! ON WONDER YOU CAN’T DRIVE IN A STRAIGHT LINE.
She immediately snatched her mobile off the steering wheel and avoiding eye contact hid the phone like a naughty pupil.

What can be done about this? Increasing the fines has changed nothing. Despair.
Extended the ride home with 25miles. Very nice except the narrow lane where I faced an on-coming tanker lorry. There is no escape, the driver was talking on his mobile. He did stop when I shouted and let me gingerly ease past his Halso tanker that filled the lane from side to side..

A rather shouty day.
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