Cycling 2025

[Slim]

2024 is over as you're no doubt already aware. I'd have to say it was a pretty good cycling year, for me. The highlight was definitely breaking my distance record in June (323.88 km, to Sutton Bridge and back). Lovely long day out on a bike. I retired (or at least stopped working indefinitely) at the end of that month, which obviously gave me more time for cycling in the second half of the month.

I broke my yearly distance record (it now stands at 10621 km). I did 46 fondos in 2024 including 9 in October.

My ride frequency seems to be pretty consistent over the last few years. It mainly depends on weather conditions and holidays. I rode a bike 124 times in 2024 compared to 127 the year before, and 120 the year before that.

As the following graph shows, cycling took a bit of a hit in September. Mainly because I was abroad for a couple of weeks but I think the weather was a bit rubbish as well.

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I pie-charted my bike distances, as follows:

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The Cannondale didn't get much of a look in because it needed setting up, but I did sort it out just before the end of the summer so it should get used a lot more in 2025. Once again the first Boardman was used more than any other bike, very nearly a quarter of all rides. But I lean on the Planet X in the non-summer months more than I used to.

So, for 2025 - once again my targets are pretty modest. At least one fondo every month, to a minimum of 30. Definitely want to do Wales and back again, and East Lincs and back one long day in the summer. But not necessarily by a 324 km route. I said I'd do Newark and back in 2024, and I didn't. Must do that this year, the last time was in 2021.

I'll do at least 7500 km.

I shall visit all of Leicestershire's neighbouring counties in 2025 (although I'd probably do that anyway without thinking about it).

And I must find some new territory to explore. Perhaps a new county, one I haven't done before. Essex, maybe? The very north-western corner might be doable.

[Slim]

The temperature stood at a rather unaccommodating 1C when I set off, and I thought I'd probably tolerate about 35 - 40 km at most. But it was a sunny day and actually pretty comfortable out there.

I did a fairly standard Twycrosser, with the slight variation that I detoured through Nailstone on the way back up.

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Really lovely out there. I could have set off earlier and done a fondo. Ah well! It's a half-decent start to the 2025 campaign.

I listened to Suella Braverman, sitting in for James O'Brexit on LBC.

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Saw a helicopter on the de-facto helipad near Measham so I stopped and took a pic. I looked up the registration number; according to FlightRadar24 it visited Brize Norton a couple of hours later.

Back on 45.81 km, I want to do at least 550 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13246885650

[Nickslikk2112]

Got my year in cycling up and pedalling today. Didn't overly feel like it, I'd overslept, I'm suffering from stuffing too much food and drink down my throat, the catarrh had come back and it was cold outside. Still, these things have to be done, Man Up Slikk!

Funnily enough, I never felt cold once. Must have added a fat layer in the last week. The roads were a bit icy in places though, thanks to all the run off from the fields, in places the spray thrown up by vehicles had frozen and become slush, could be a bit hard to see at times too, but I got through. Unlike the truck on Dunston Lane which appeared to have gone through a hedge and was lying on its side in a field.

It was only 25.5 miles, but it was done steadily and I felt better for it. Onwards and forwards!

https://www.strava.com/activities/13246059183

[Nickslikk2112]

Got some more miles in today. Felt a bit more like it, but feel completely done in now. Think it's the lingering cold I've got and lingering Christmas excesses, think I've been living on chocolate, cheese and red wine for the past week. Well, I don't think I have, I know I have.

Today was a bit warmer than yesterday, but I felt colder thanks to the wind. It managed to penetrate my deep winter gloves today. Luckily my shoe covers kept my feet warm.

Had a ride out through Tibshelf and back with the odd detour to avoid roadworks which have sprung up and a detour to go through a set of roadworks which were on a downhill section.

Got 33 miles in which will do me, hopefully get out again tomorrow before the cyclocross.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13254734879

[Slim]

Ten years ago, in January 2015, an old Rush pal named Rob started a cycling thread on the old (now defunct) Counterparts messageboard.

Before the site finally died, I saved some of it for posterity. I'll post the screen captures here but I think you'll have to right-click and open the images in a new tab to read them properly (they'll get squeezed by the BTW board software).

In this first one, Rob suggests a Counterparts cycling club. You'll see from the fourth post in the thread that our own Mr Slikk offered to do 500 miles, ten years ago today..

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And later the same day ten years ago exactly, I agreed to aim for 500 miles as well. In the event, I did 2702 that year.

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This innocuous conversation was genuinely life-changing.

[Slim]

According to the BBC site it was going to be 1C all day, and overcast. I thought I might tolerate about 40 km or so. Set off to do a bit of the eastbound route at about 1130.

Definitely was cold out there but not quite as bad as I expected. The wind was light and that makes a positive difference.

At Rempstone, after 25km I took a left for Costock. Just thought I'd improvise a different route home. Turned left again for East Leake, then dipped down to Stanford, which is on a familiar version of the eastbound route. Came back the longer way after Zouch, through Long Whatton and Diseworth - partly to extend my distance a bit, partly because I've done the route back through Belton so many times that it feels a bit of a slog.

Back on 59.43 km and I'm quite satisfied with that. Given the conditions - my fingers and toes were icy over the last 15 km - I think I've gone above and beyond there.

Listened to footy talk on 5 Live.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13265120623

[Nickslikk2112]

And out for a third day in a row being as the forecast for tomorrow is a but dodgy. Must admit I felt a bit dodgy today, completely drained. Must be my chocolate diet, probably need some fruit and veg in there too and a bit of meat.

Tried to keep today's ride as flat as possible, which I managed, just a couple of pitches which briefly hit 10%. It did feel a bit colder today, no wind, but the lack of sunshine helped it feel cooler and my toes were decidedly icy when I got home after 32 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13263872207

[Slim]

Ten years ago today, I performed the first ride of my regular cycling habit. I wrote a brief summary on the old Counterparts messageboard, below. Fortunately it remains the only time I've been bitten by a dog on a cycling excursion.

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So for today's ride, I thought it might be fun to repeat the one I did ten years ago as part of a longer ride. I only did about 12km on that cold day in 2015, and I wanted to do at least 60 today.

I can't actually remember the route I took for the whole ride ten years ago to be honest. This was a while before I signed up to Strava, or started using GPS equipment. I could probably work it out. But I do know that I went through Swannington and along a small road called Limby Hall Lane. From Coleorton I went along a narrow lane to Farm Town. On my very occasional cycling trips before my habit kicked in in earnest, I usually went that way. I don't now. But I did today.

Except that as I climbed the hill towards Farm Town, I felt the back wheel spin freely. Ice. I stopped and checked the road under me. Looked OK, I thought I'd passed the icy patch, but when I put my foot on the pedal to set off, no resistance. Again, the back wheel was spinning on a very slippery thin film of ice. I definitely wasn't going to make much uphill progress on that, so I just turned back down to Coleorton. Very carefully.

From there, up to Rempstone Road, down to the Tesco roundabout at Ashby and along Corkscrew Lane to Packington, from where I basically did a Twycrosser.

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I stopped at the Packington village shop to get a sandwich and a mince pie. The lady behind the counter wanted to know if I did my own bike repairs. Mostly, I told her. But she wasn't put off. Her son has just opened a bike shop in Ashby so she gave me his card.

There's a general flood warning in effect for Leicestershire today but I wasn't really inconvenienced. I went down the Dad's Army route for a bit. I couldn't turn left along Spon Lane because it was flooded, with the fields either side transformed into temporary lakes. But that was fine. I kept on to Polesworth instead. I was met by a flood there as well, but I was about to turn back anyway.

Back home in the usual Twycrosser manner, or one of them. I dropped off some unwanted books at the public lending library at Sibson (a repurposed phone box). Been meaning to do that for a long time.

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It was supposed to be a dry day, with a chance of a shower at about 1330. In reality, I had a prolonged snow shower quite early on, then a couple of hours later, sharp hailstones clattering my face in troubling quantities for about ten minutes. Really painful. But the sun was mostly out in the afternoon. Quite pleasant out there when it was.

I note that I entered Warwickshire along the road to Polesworth, so that's two neighbouring counties ticked off (I did Nottinghamshire on Saturday).

Back on 69.96 km, can't say it was the most enjoyable ride overall, but I'm glad to have marked my 10th anniversary with a run out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13291048378

[Thenop]

Back on 69.96 km, can't say it was the most enjoyable ride overall, but I'm glad to have marked my 10th anniversary with a run out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13291048378

Congrats on your tenth! And many more to follow.

[Nickslikk2112]

Couldn't be arsed to go out today. The main road into Chesterfield from the M1 is shut due to flooding so that's overloaded the local roads, made worse by sets of temporary traffic lights. Then two of my smaller escape roads were still shut due to flooding. Bollocks to it.

[Slim]

Oh .. I've just noticed that my first bike ride was actually Jan 9th 2015, not the 7th.

Well there won't be a 10th anniversary ride on Thursday as I have to go to a funeral, so that'll have to do.

[Nickslikk2112]

Went out today, wish I'd not. I coped with the cold weather and icy roads fine, but whatever I've been suffering from a lately has left my lungs at about 50% capacity. It was a right struggle and as a consequence my Heart Rate was well up on what it has been. Of course I could blame the Gravel Bike and it's knobbly tyres, but it doesn't make that much difference.

Got caught up in too many sets of roadworks too. One was placed well out of location from what the roadworks map said and the other must have been set up between me leaving the house and getting there, it was marked on the map, but Google Maps was showing freely moving traffic when I set off.

Back on nearly 21 miles. And at an average speed of under 13.5 mph, I think that's my slowest ride ever.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13298523575

[Nickslikk2112]

Better than Wednesday I suppose. Well, the sky was clear and the sun was shining and riding uphill or on the flat it even felt warm, despite the air temperature only just nudging above freezing.

I'm definitely not on it though, over half the ride saw my Heart rate up in the Red zone. Before Christmas I was going out and I was barely spending any time in the red. I know these heart rate straps can play up sometimes, but today it was going up and down in direct correlation to the terrain.

Still, I got out in the fresh air for 22 miles and shifted a bit of gunk from off my lungs, most of which lands on the nozzle of my bidon...

https://www.strava.com/activities/13315969924

[Slim]

My firm intention was to do a fondo over to Eastwell and back today. Sure, it was going to be very cold. But the wind speed was forecast to be very low and it was going to be sunny all day.

Well, when I got up, I changed my mind. Looked rather frosty out there. But I set off at about 1100, thinking I'd do maybe 50k or so.

The road surface looked a bit precarious (icy in other words) over the first few hundred metres, but fine once I hit a well-travelled road. I wasn't too concerned about the surface I was pedalling along, but it was Baltic out there. My fingers were painfully cold after a couple of km, even in my thickest gloves. I genuinely considered turning back and if I'd known the conditions were going to be as cold as that, I wouldn't even have set off.

But I had set off. So I pressed on. And after about an hour, with the sun out and the air temperature having climbed a bit, I'd started to enjoy myself slightly. I still wasn't going to do 100km, though. I'd set off too late for that and I had the uncomfortable thought that changing an inner tube with icy fingers would be a nightmare, if I got a puncture.

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By the time I came to the junction with East Road, I'd decided I was going to turn back soon. So I took the left along there to do something a bit different. After another km or so I came to another junction with a left turn I'd never tried before. So I went along there. Quite a nice road. Well surfaced and quiet.

And I was gliding along quite happily in the sunshine when I noticed a car in the ditch, with two police officers in attendance, about 80 metres up ahead. In the same instant the bike gave way under me, and it and I both collided with the road. We both slid spectacularly along the ground for about three metres, like aggressively propelled curling stones.

Fair play to the two police officers, a young man who looked unsettlingly like Harry Maguire and a young blonde woman. They came running the second they heard the bike clatter against the tarmac and saw what had happened, but I already had a hand raised to indicate that I was OK, I think before I'd even slid to a stop. I think the sheer frictionlessness of the road surface, despite having caused the incident, had prevented an injury. Nearly all of the kinetic energy inherent from the momentum of the bike was expended on sliding along the road.

I took stock. The two coppers were creditably attentive but I assured them I was fine. The bike (my Planet X) looked alright as well. For a moment I thought I'd buggered the rear mech (again, I only replaced it last year) because the chain was hanging loose but once I'd threaded it back onto a chainring it was clear that it was working properly.

The road surface didn't even look icy, or frosty. But it had a very thin, transparent layer of ice that was incredibly slippery. My clothes weren't even scuffed. My bum does have a bruise but apart from that I'm unscathed. I realised when I changed into the easiest cog at the back that the bike didn't completely get away with it - the rear pulley rattled against the spokes like a ruler dragged along a set of railings. All the other gears are fine, and it was even changing up and down nicely. But the rear hanger is slightly bent inward. Just enough to shift the indexing by exactly one place, possibly. In any case I made a mental note not to resort to the granny gear on the way home.

I think I just need to bend the hanger back into alignment. Probably the best approach is to take it right off and straighten it in a vice or something, rather than pulling on the mech. I'll think about that when the garage is a bit warmer.

No more mishaps on the way back. I came a slightly longer way back after Belton, only because I thought the roads stood a better chance of being clear.

Back on 67.81 km. Be careful out there. 243 km this month now.

https://www.strava.com/activities/13317322460

[David L]

Glad you were lucky enough to avoid too much damage to yourself or the bike. It's no weather for cycling IMHO.