Cycling 2026

[Nickslikk2112]

Sunny again! Two days out of four. Also had to do a rapid bowel clearance before going out again. Do I have squits caused by sunshine? Is there any correlation? Is it just coincidence? Thinking about it late last week I finished off some sliced ham which was past its use by date and yesterday Mrs S bought me a reduced to clear mini Pork Pie...

Did actually feel a bit jaded on the bike. Was hoping for 35-40 miles but settled for 33, it was a bit nippy and I'd put the wrong pair of gloves on, thought they'd be OK with the sun shining on them but it clouded over as the ride wore on and I was struggling with the front derailleur by the end.

Still, did some roads a bit less ridden due to recent obsession with riding round in loops, found out the unexpected Traffic lights are still there and the new ones promised on the same stretch of road were there. Thankfully no residual ice on the roads.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17427273160/

[Fishy]

Sunshiny day today so managed a 37 miler today.. crossed another couple of Ayrshire villages off the list ..Sinclairston was the one I was aiming for.... Not much to it but a decent route to it avoiding major roads..Back puncture repair from yesterday  looks to be holding so all is well

[Slim]

Another cold, but dry day. And sunny! Since the weather hasn't afforded many opportunities for bike rides this year so far, once again I thought I'd do a fondo. The wind was due to change direction late in the afternoon from eastward to westward (roughly) so I did the eastbound route. Had a tailwind on the outbound leg, and a bit of a tailwind on the return leg later on, although it wasn't strong.

I took the longer way out over the first few km, through Coleorton and Griffydam. Did the Sutton Bonington detour again, to avoid the roadworks on Rempstone Road. Unusually, I dropped down to Stanford on Soar via Leak Lane and did the Walton / Paudy Lane detour.

I love gliding along Paudy Lane. It's delightfully flat, like a topographical quasi-exclave of Lincolnshire.

At the eastern end of the ride, I took a right off Six Hills Lane to go exploring. But I didn't go far. I visited Wartnaby and a place called Ab Kettleby, where I took the pic. For some reason the sign at the entrance to the village has it as AB Kettleby, with the B capitalised. But I was back on the usual route and heading homeward after about 4 km. I came back via Wymeswold and Rempstone. Glad to see the River Mantle flowing copiously at Wymeswold. Usually it looks a bit green and stagnant, like a cabbage stew.

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Getting a bit cold in the afternoon after the sunshine went a bit hazy.

Back on 103.78 km. My last seven rides now have been fondos.

Because of the detour via Sutton Bonington I haven't been as far east as I usually go on that route for a while. Must go all the way to Eastwell one day soon.

Was going to start the next Reacher novel but annoyingly I left my MP3 player on my desk. I listened to 5 Live, LBC and the Sylvian / Fripp album The First Day.

Nice to be doing longer rides, though I do miss my Twycrossers and Bypassers. But with cycling opportunities a bit sparse at the moment, it makes sense to make the most of them.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17430140392

[Thenop]

^^ good spot for a cardiac arrest

[Slim]

^^ good spot for a cardiac arrest

You know - I was tempted to change it to "Masturbator" to see if anyone would notice.

[Slim]

And funnily enough I heard on the radio today that the first red phone box appeared 100 years ago exactly.

[Nickslikk2112]

No Sun today, but things were sold. That's enough of that.

Wish mhy riding were solid, but there was a blowy, cold ESE wind today. Got blown about a bit at times. I know that I won't get to 500 miles in February, but there's still time to complete the Strava climbing challenge, so to that I end I did some hillier loops out round Nether Handley today. Thankfully the roads were dry so I didn't get coated in mud like last time I did it.

Got 30 miles in, it was enough for today. Funny how doing just an extra 15 feet of climbing per mile takes it out of your legs. Or maybe I'm just old. It did look like today was old man out cycling day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17439034996

[Fishy]

Had to get a new tyre today for the back wheel.. when I was out yesterday it felt on occasion I was going over a bump on the back wheel.. so took it back off today and noticed that it had started to fray pretty badly at the rim which I'm sure would have torn at some point which could have been nasty.

Anyway will get out tomorrow as the days after that look pretty bad

[Fishy]

40 miles today.. screwed up Strava which only recorded part of the ride.. another Ayrshire village off the list.. Dailly

[Nickslikk2112]

Managed to get some cycling in today, between the morning drizzle and the afternoon heavy showers. Kept it all very local, just in case any sudden turnaround was needed. It kept threatening every now and again, but I managed to get 18 miles in, 18 miles better than zero, before it looked best to retreat. Got in just as it started lashing it down

[Nickslikk2112]

No rain today, well, not until the afternoon anyway, but I didn't really make the most of it. I think Mrs S may finally have given me her cold, so I didn't want to go too deep. Not that I do anyway.

So just a 26 miler, but it felt much windier than the forecast 14mph and what Strava - and Garmin - said was a 14 mph wind. There was one corner in Sutton Scarsdale where it really caught me, then when going down the hill from Sutton Scarsdale whenever there was a gate into a field it was cross your fingers time. I got out, that's the main thing.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17472249772

Just looked on the Strava profile of a kid from up the road, he's been in Spain this week and done 328 miles. Nice way to spend half-term. But he is on the INEOS junior's team.

[dom]

Last week we set off late to avoid the rain and this week early. Last week worked but today was less successful. The forecast predicted that any rain that would fall would be light but we managed to get caught by a 20 minute downpour. 

I was dressed to mitigate this though my winter gloves, overshoes and 2 pairs of socks one of which were waterproof minimised any water that penetrated and kept me warm.

The roads are looking in a pretty bad way and it's probably going to be a year of avoiding potholes unless Meath County Council gets it act together.

Another 50kms under the belt and the early start meant I was back before mid-day

[Slim]

A day with a mild threat of showers and temperatures forecast to climb to a balmy 13C. An immoderate wind coming from the west. I set off at about 1040 thinking I'd do the Lower Westbound, but within a minute I'd decided to do the Upper Westbound instead. Up over Swarkestone Bridge and west along the Beloved A Road.

I took the longer way up, up Top Brand then west from Isley Walton. Just to save myself a bit of climbing up Ashbourne Road at the other end.

I did slightly more than the half-fondo distance then turned and came home exactly the same way, not counting a tiny shortcut at Peggs Green.

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I'd dressed more lightly than of late of course and was a little bit too cool for the first couple of hours. But delightfully warm in the sunshine with a tailwind on the way back.

I did get rained on going west near Scropton, but only for a couple of minutes. Pleased to see that the flood that impeded my progress there last weekend has cleared now.

I listened to LBC, footy on 5 Live and the 20th Reacher novel, Make Me. It was only when the narrator announced "Chapter 11" after only an hour or so that I realised that my MP3 player had skipped a few tracks. Oddly, the story had seemed to flow quite naturally! I'll work out what's wrong with it and start again probably.

Back on 100.89. Eight fondos in a row now. And the Planet X had its first run out since October. Felt pleasantly light and comfy.

Looking at the spreadsheet, I'm only 10 km behind where I was on the same day last year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17486336605

[Thenop]

^^ are those the only signs in Britain that show distances in km 

[Nickslikk2112]

Didn't feel in tip-top shape this morning, but the sun was shining and I knew that 17 miles would get me 125 for the week, which is my weekly aim.

I dragged myself out and felt on it at first, heart rate well down on normal, going along at a nice clip. Then I turned away from the tail wind. Bugger. Slog, slog, slog. Got overtaken by a 12 year old kid on a mountain bike up one drag. Bastard was on an e-bike. Bloody kids, they don't need them, I could do with some assistance. I called him a cheat. Wondered if this was the correct thing to do as he was probably a delivery boy for the local drug Lord.

Thankfully picked up a tailwind for the last four - of eighteen miles - from wondering if I'd be able to average 15mph it got up to 15.5, not near where I'd like to be, but grateful for it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/17483630365