Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - cycling

A weekend of fresh air and beer

2010-06-14T10:43:00+01:00

Today's weather has returned to a sort of grey overcast but not overly cold averaging day which seems very out of place for June. Luckily the weather over the weekend was much better.

We had Jeff and Phil + family visiting for the weekend. Luckily the summer event calender threw up a local event which was easy to get to. The May Bumps which paradoxically run in June are a series of rowing races run on the River Cam. As the races start from the Fen Ditton end of the river and much of the action in a bumps race is in the first few hundred yards the river side becomes highly desired property. The parish council must make a decent amount of money allowing cars to park on the recreation ground and the local river side pub had put out a number of extra tents as well a food tent some rather expensive (but tasty) burgers.

To be honest we didn't see that much of the actual races given the throng of people pressed up to the river side however it was a nice day and there was beer present. The students were also very polite, say what you like about some of the privileged people we get at Cambridge but their parents generally seem to beat manners into them early.

After our guests headed back to The North we joined the rest of my family up in Rutland for what is turning into a regular event cycling around one of the countries smallest counties. This time we only followed a little of Rutland water and this time focused on cycling though the picturesque villages. Jason had yet again plotted a course that covered a good number of pubs to ensure we didn't get thirsty. Of course the millage meant each pint was well deserved ;-)

This morning the back of my neck feels a little sore to remind me I really should use sun-tan lotion when out and about. However if June is going to save up it's meagre allocation of sunny days just for the weekends I'm not going to mind if they are all as good as this one :-)

All downhill after the first climb

2010-03-21T08:57:00+00:00

Today I'm quite achey after Saturday morning's excursion to the top of Alderley Edge . Although the ride to the base of the climb was fairly easy the actual mile of steep ascent defeated me as well as the chain on Fliss' bike. By the time we got up to the Wizard Coffee shop we were both soaked through and looking forward to the promised "downhill all the way from here" back to Knutsford.

Unfortunately we couldn't get the chain on Fliss' bike working so she retired early via taxi to a nice warm bath while myself, Mufi and Daz continued on back via the predominately downhill route. I say predominately because there where still a number of rises we had climb as the landscape of Cheshire is still considerably more lumpy than the flat fenland that is my usual staple cycling experience. This wasn't helped by the occasional navigational snafu. The 10% incline was great to zoom down but not so much when we discovered we needed to go back up it to take the turn we had missed.

By the time we made it back to the house we'd managed 34 miles and some very soaked feet. The king size bath was a welcome end to the excursion.

The rest of the day was mainly concerned with the last three games of the 6 Nations. The Wales game was fantastic, all credit to the Scot's for saving themselves from the humiliation of the wooden spoon. It was also good to see England playing considerably better than they have been the last few days. It's a shame it wasn't enough to win but good that we held France to such a narrow lead. There was a mini party afterwards although no overly late nights as there was a preponderance of tiredness around.

The power of the wheel

2009-09-18T12:47:00+01:00

I suffered bike death last night on the way home. Thankfully the mechanical failure (which I heard) occurred about 1/2 a mile away from the house so I didn't have too far to push the bike. I'm not sure what failed but the rear wheel had a slightly eccentric rotation in the morning. After something audibly snapped the wheel rotation went completely weird and it basically stuck to the side of the frame. This necessitated me pushing the bike home with the wheel dragging along the floor giving me pause to think how useful a mechanical contraption the wheel is when it's working.

A few inches more

2009-09-07T13:07:00+01:00

I adjusted the seat on my bike by a couple of inches over the weekend. I now have to come off my seat when I stop (or lean fetchingly against a support) but it certainly makes delivering power to the peddles easier. This as it turns out was useful for the main adventure of the weekend with a visiting Lee. Leaving Fliss behind to tend home we did an ~30 mile round trip to near Thriplow to sit in a field. We were afforded a pretty good view of the planes coming and going from the Duxford Airshow and felt fairly good about nullifying the calories of the sandwich and beer Fliss had insisted we pack for the journey. While in no way the distance that some have done and certainly less grand than some of the regular jaunts I hear are going on in Manchester these days I still felt well exercised.

The house move is coming on like a relentless train at the moment. We exchanged last week and we complete on Thursday. We move in on Friday and have already spent a small fortune on white goods (actually brushed stainless steel) to equip our kitchen. Being a veteran of many house moves we have decided to go for the full packing option (encouraging work in the local community) leaving us to worry about bigger things. The house warming is tentatively planned for November, fingers crossed.

Topping up the tan

2009-06-15T10:01:00+01:00

My arms are starting to approach some sort of healthy* shade of brown as I've spent the last three days out in the sunshine and fresh air.

Friday I took advantage of my current employment flexibility to join my parents for a walk in Hertfordshire. My parents had been planning on going on Wednesday but the turn in the weather made Friday a far more preferable day to be walking. By the end of the day my neck felt a little red but not overly burnt.

Saturday was spent messing about on the river as we punted from town to Grantchester for Chris' birthday celebrations. I'm sure I've drunk Pimms before but it certainly goes well with the activity. Again the weather held up for the day and I returned home well illuminated.

Fliss and I headed to the tiny county of Rutland on Sunday with bikes attached to the car to join my brother, partner and parents for a cycle ride around Rutland water. All told it was around 18 miles of fairly easy cycling with a few pubs and a gasto pub/restaurant thrown into the bargain. The only downside was hearing my brothers power assisted mountain bike whir past me on some of the steeper climbs!

After 3 days of sunshine I won't mind the rain being forecast for this evening. The forecast has however been woefully wrong for the last 3 days I have no idea what today will bring!

* healthy/radiation burns, it all depends on your point of view