11-18C,dry light breeze.
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?
Posted on my phone.
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.
Suit of armour at Bosworth battlefield cafe, 2nd stop on the day’s ride.
Posted from my phone.
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.
Ride home profile.
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.
21C, bright start, dull later.
CA- 35 miles in total today. Added 25 mile extension on the way home. Average roadspeed was higher than a typical commute and I only turned home when I got hungry.
Grabbed a phone shot of these sunflowers in the last ten miles. It’s quite a striking image that of a field of sunny faces staring in your direction.
Posted from WordPress on Smartphone.
25°C, sun and light S breeze.
After work ride tracked with MapMyRide! Distance: 24.2mi, time: 01:33′, speed: 15.50mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/374566469
Another after work ride. Didn’t feel as sprightly as yesterday, but it felt okay. I suppose I was somewhat hungry at the time.
Photo- taken this morning at about 6.40. walking Rosie. Strange was that small patch of fog in the lower end of the field. It had cleared before we left.
lost– have you ever lost something and become almost obsessed with finding it? Do you re-trace your steps over and over? Even view the lost things are mundane and not worth a great deal? I do. It’s only a bag of shopping, but it has stuck in my head. If you see it, it’s the one with:
2 bags of bread flower,
A packet of pasta,
Dog bags,
Fresh garlic.
Box of loose leaf tea
It’s here somewhere, I am sure.
tracked with MapMyRide! Distance: 19.67mi, time: 01:15:09, speed: 15.71mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/373427865
Extended the commute home today.
Did consider this route before the big holiday but either rushed good and grabbed the race bike, of rode further west. Its a good route though. I was surprised by how quiet some of those roads were not long after rush-hour.
CK:Distance: 32.73mi, time: 02:01:37, pace: 3:43min/mi, speed: 16.15mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/36823944
I hoped to get weight down this summer so I can enjoy cycling more. 200lbs seemed a good number to aim for.
Well, here I am, 198lbs. It won’t last though. Normally, I gain half a stone in the winter. That itself is not such a problem, it’s good to have some resources in case you get ill.
As an aside–
This is the tree stump where I have cooked supper in Glen Coe over the last three years. Nostalgic moment.
Today’s ride: CR-Distance: 55.32mi, time: 03:31:23, pace: 3:49min/mi, speed: 15.70mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/366243771
last week of the holiday and a mountain of marking looms. England’s weather did a grand job of welcoming us back from the med. Temperatures reached 24C, even higher out of the shade.
As always, I ride better the further I go. The first ten miles were stiff and un-natural in feel. But after twenty miles, and numerous short bursts out of the saddle, the good feeling came back.
A problem next week will be sitting at work when I am used to long periods of exercise. I can sympathise with the restless kids though.
30°C, hot, sunny, ne wind.
Big climb: through endless pine and beech forest. The walk in was a long steady gradient through forest. A magical fairytale forest filled with strange animal sounds and clouds of butterflies that rise as you walk. Feathery lichens littered the ground and pillows of alpine flowers were in full but tiny bloom. What an enchanted place, intoxicating.
What a big climb too, a long long slog I stopped at the refuge, a wooden hut provided for hikers on stage 1 of the GR20. Three horses waited nearby, untethered. Were they used to bring up supplies for the warden?
From there, I found the trail to the col and thence the summit of Monte Corona, 2,144m. Bolders covered the ground which made for good scrambling. They were solid, made of granite and offered a good grip.
I couldn’t stay at the summit for long, I feared loss of light at end of the descent in a dense forest.
A day of good fortune though. An easy, fast 2 hour descent got me to the road just as light failed. Only then did I need the head-torch. Even my frayed boot-lace held right to the end.
Micycle 