Such a rubbish summer here in the UK that there's now a group to Like on Facebook for that one sunny day in Blighty - today.
To be fair, it was a proper English summer day; slightly breezy, slightly overcast and temperatures in the low 20's centigrade. Perfect weather for cycling.
Only challenge on the way out, travelling west, was the wind blowing east. Total distance covered was 95km in just on 4 hours. You could fly to Iceland in this time, and I'm sure that your seat would still be comfortable at the end of the journey.
Today's journey was out to Uxbridge, then onto Gerrards Cross on the A40 and into High Wycombe. From there I went south towards Marlow, taking a detour towards Cookham, then Maidenhead to Slough, back to Uxbridge and then home.
High Wycombe was brilliant - 75 metre climb over 2km at an incline of 3.1%. Map My Ride were kind enough to rate this as a category 5 climb; I only have 4 of these on day 1 when we cycle to Dover. Average speed today was 24 km/h, and I'm able to maintain about 30 km/h on the flatter terrain. With just on two months until I spend four days in the saddle, I think I'm on track to be able to enjoy a day riding and not be totally knackered at the end of it.
I'd never heard of Cookham before, but it's a beautiful little town right on a section of the Thames where there's a chance of a billabong forming. Went past a pub called The Ferry, which has seating right by the river. Will book mark this for the next English Summer.
Even managed to get a little more tan-like color on my arms. Given that I'm quite pale and that my natural condition when exposed to the sun is to burn, I'm quite chuffed. May keep up this cycling lark after my charity ride, just so I can keep my arms from their natural pale state.
Capped the day off with a lovely grilled piece of lightly smoked salmon and a very Med style spread of sun dried tomatoes, artichokes and olives. Plus a very nice Cloudy Bay sauvingon blanc that I'd picked up at Waitrose. Perfect.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Sunday morning - easy like
Cool, but warm and no breeze; perfect weather for cycling. Did 50km today in just under 2 hours, even though I took a wrong turn and ended up about 10 km east of where I thought I was going! At least I was doing an out-and-back circuit and not looking to meet someone in a given place.
Mad moment as I went under a railway bridge and past a large set of buildings thinking "I really don't recall any of this last time I was out here". When I checked out the map at home, I discovered a large set of lakes running parallel with my route, some of them look quite nice plus there's a couple of boat clubs. Will check these out in the car another time.
Definitely need to invest in another handle bar holder for the Blackberry. At least when I'm doing the charity run I'll be with 30 others and someone is bound to know where we're going - that and the marked trail might keep me on the right path.
I've been cycling regularly for three months now and don't feel daunted at the prospect of spending 5 hours a day on my bike. Commuting is easier, I'm able to keep in the low 30 k's on the flatter stretches, even when there's a strong head wind, and the quickest trip was 48 minutes door to door, including stopping for lights.
Fund raising is still going on; I'm just on a third of the way to my target with a couple of months to go. As I've now paid for the trip all I need to do is raise the remaining part of my target. If you're reading this and want to contribute, use the Just Giving link on the right. UK taxpayers can Gift Aid their donations, making your contribution more effective.
Mad moment as I went under a railway bridge and past a large set of buildings thinking "I really don't recall any of this last time I was out here". When I checked out the map at home, I discovered a large set of lakes running parallel with my route, some of them look quite nice plus there's a couple of boat clubs. Will check these out in the car another time.
Definitely need to invest in another handle bar holder for the Blackberry. At least when I'm doing the charity run I'll be with 30 others and someone is bound to know where we're going - that and the marked trail might keep me on the right path.
I've been cycling regularly for three months now and don't feel daunted at the prospect of spending 5 hours a day on my bike. Commuting is easier, I'm able to keep in the low 30 k's on the flatter stretches, even when there's a strong head wind, and the quickest trip was 48 minutes door to door, including stopping for lights.
Fund raising is still going on; I'm just on a third of the way to my target with a couple of months to go. As I've now paid for the trip all I need to do is raise the remaining part of my target. If you're reading this and want to contribute, use the Just Giving link on the right. UK taxpayers can Gift Aid their donations, making your contribution more effective.
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