Its been a pretty miserable week of rain on and off in London and the temperature has dropped quite a bit. I guess I should get used to it again as I'll be commuting everyday for the whole winter. Except of course over Xmas when I'll be heading off to sunnier climates for 2 weeks (South Africa).
Taking the day off riding today as its Saturday and rain is expected...planning on a nice ride tomorrow in the countryside - weatherman says it should be good.
Saturday 28 October 2006
Thursday 19 October 2006
Came down with something...
I've just today gotten over a pretty bad bug or virus of some sort - basically involving a day of diarrhea followed by 24-hours of shivering and then a day of bad headaches. Just when I though it was over I had diarrhea again and more headaches. This was since Friday morning - though I am pretty confident that its over now...poor me!
I managed to commute through all this, but took yesterday off work and riding to rid myself of this bug. I also didn't ride this weekend past. Going in today to see how I'm feeling - wish me luck!
Hopefully I'll be riding again this weekend.
I managed to commute through all this, but took yesterday off work and riding to rid myself of this bug. I also didn't ride this weekend past. Going in today to see how I'm feeling - wish me luck!
Hopefully I'll be riding again this weekend.
Thursday 12 October 2006
Past couple of days
Sunday I decided to take it easy as I was really knackered after Saturday's ride.
Monday's commute was nothing special.
Yesterday morning I went to see an ostiopath for my bad lower back and proceeded to go for a ride straight afterwards! I took a 35km ride in the Barnet-Potter's Bar area in the afternoon. It was a cool, overcast afternoon, but not cold enough to wear arm warmers. I actually had a really great ride - it felt really gentle on my legs but was suprised to see my average speed at at the end of the ride being just over 30kph.
Commuted today and it was a bit rainy this morning, but not cold. Had my dodgy bottom bracket replaced this afternoon by Matt, the owner of my LBS. He charged me nothing for a new BB and nothing for the maintenance and even threw in a free bike stand - this guy is amazing and he really looks after me - always throwing in freebies and giving me discounts on stuff. He's also a really cool guy to chat to about cycling and anything in general. Definitely one of my top five best people I know! Go Matt!
Also, I managed to get my best time up Archway hill today 1.8km in 4min and 10 seconds - 25.7kph, though I must say that halfway up there is a flat spot for about 150m where I usually catch my breath before the final push up past Highgate station.
Monday's commute was nothing special.
Yesterday morning I went to see an ostiopath for my bad lower back and proceeded to go for a ride straight afterwards! I took a 35km ride in the Barnet-Potter's Bar area in the afternoon. It was a cool, overcast afternoon, but not cold enough to wear arm warmers. I actually had a really great ride - it felt really gentle on my legs but was suprised to see my average speed at at the end of the ride being just over 30kph.
Commuted today and it was a bit rainy this morning, but not cold. Had my dodgy bottom bracket replaced this afternoon by Matt, the owner of my LBS. He charged me nothing for a new BB and nothing for the maintenance and even threw in a free bike stand - this guy is amazing and he really looks after me - always throwing in freebies and giving me discounts on stuff. He's also a really cool guy to chat to about cycling and anything in general. Definitely one of my top five best people I know! Go Matt!
Also, I managed to get my best time up Archway hill today 1.8km in 4min and 10 seconds - 25.7kph, though I must say that halfway up there is a flat spot for about 150m where I usually catch my breath before the final push up past Highgate station.
Sunday 8 October 2006
New Route on Saturday
Tried a new route on yesterday's ride and it was well worth it. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me - real pity becasue the countryside I saw was really pretty.
Basically this route is 66km long and heads out to Hertford on a road called Kentish Lane which turns off Great North Road on the way from Potter's Bar to Hatfield. It covers some lovely forested area and afterward a HUGE steep decent where I was clocking 60kph - would have gone faster but there were a couple of tricky sharp turns. After the decent I got onto a narrow flat-ish road for about 5km with fairly large rolling green hills on the sides. Tall hedges line this route which made a nice wind tunnel for the strong tailwind on the way out. There was also some marsh land about 2-3km before I got to Hertford with plenty of birds flying about - even saw a couple of cranes.
The ride back was tough as I was going against the wind. Before I got to the big hill I knew I would have to climb I decided to avoid it and take the long way round on the freeway (A414) - This was a stretch of about 6km - straight into the wind and a slight incline brought my speed down to about 23-24kph - it was hell! I turned off to Hatfield and rode back along Great North Road into what then became a more manageable crosswind.
I got home at midday absolutely knackered. My time for the 66km route was 2h16min, an average speed of 29kph. I was going to ride again today, but my body is still limp from yesterday's effort - guess I'll stay off the bike today and start again tomorrow with my weekday commuting.
I'll definitely do this route again next weekend and tackle that hill on the way back - and I'll try and remember to take my camera. I need one of those helmet-mounted cams!
Basically this route is 66km long and heads out to Hertford on a road called Kentish Lane which turns off Great North Road on the way from Potter's Bar to Hatfield. It covers some lovely forested area and afterward a HUGE steep decent where I was clocking 60kph - would have gone faster but there were a couple of tricky sharp turns. After the decent I got onto a narrow flat-ish road for about 5km with fairly large rolling green hills on the sides. Tall hedges line this route which made a nice wind tunnel for the strong tailwind on the way out. There was also some marsh land about 2-3km before I got to Hertford with plenty of birds flying about - even saw a couple of cranes.
The ride back was tough as I was going against the wind. Before I got to the big hill I knew I would have to climb I decided to avoid it and take the long way round on the freeway (A414) - This was a stretch of about 6km - straight into the wind and a slight incline brought my speed down to about 23-24kph - it was hell! I turned off to Hatfield and rode back along Great North Road into what then became a more manageable crosswind.
I got home at midday absolutely knackered. My time for the 66km route was 2h16min, an average speed of 29kph. I was going to ride again today, but my body is still limp from yesterday's effort - guess I'll stay off the bike today and start again tomorrow with my weekday commuting.
I'll definitely do this route again next weekend and tackle that hill on the way back - and I'll try and remember to take my camera. I need one of those helmet-mounted cams!
Saturday 7 October 2006
Friday - stuffed!
Well, got through another week without loosing my mind at work or my life on the road - I'll rack that up as a good one then!
Anyway, too tired today to tell much about my commute - planning on taking a nice long ride on a new route into the country tomorrow - will probably get completely lost, but I'll take my camera again to show the www what an idiot I can be!
Later
Anyway, too tired today to tell much about my commute - planning on taking a nice long ride on a new route into the country tomorrow - will probably get completely lost, but I'll take my camera again to show the www what an idiot I can be!
Later
Friday 6 October 2006
Rain ride
Something crazy was happening in London today - my entire route was choked full of cars - one of the worst traffic jams I've seen in this city. Maybe it had something to do with the rain - absolutely chucking down. My ride was spent weaving between sitting cars - not my idea of a nice ride home...
2 close calls riding up Archway hill - first one was a pedestrian just walking out from between cars. Had to slam brakes on very hard and screamed at him to get his attention - very narrow escape as he saw me about half a second before I came sliding up to him. I called him a f***ing a****** because he was.
Second was a car that cut me off about 2 minutes later. I leaned into her window afterwards and called her a f***ing prick because from through her back window she looked like a man. Didn't have the time or patience to correct myself.
Anyway - got home in one piece...
2 close calls riding up Archway hill - first one was a pedestrian just walking out from between cars. Had to slam brakes on very hard and screamed at him to get his attention - very narrow escape as he saw me about half a second before I came sliding up to him. I called him a f***ing a****** because he was.
Second was a car that cut me off about 2 minutes later. I leaned into her window afterwards and called her a f***ing prick because from through her back window she looked like a man. Didn't have the time or patience to correct myself.
Anyway - got home in one piece...
Thursday 5 October 2006
Joe Blow
Bought myself a nice big bike pump today to get the ol' pressure up to 120psi. Problem was getting from my LBS next to my work to my place. I originally thought I might be able to courier the thing over, but our corier service at work, TNT were quoting £106 for a Saturday delivery (when I'd be home to collect it).
Stuff that I thought - take it on the bike. So I did - in my tiny rucksack with half the thing sticking out. Worked out fine and its stting here at home ready for action.
Stuff that I thought - take it on the bike. So I did - in my tiny rucksack with half the thing sticking out. Worked out fine and its stting here at home ready for action.
Wednesday 4 October 2006
Winter's here
Good ride in this morning, but noticed that the temperature has definited dropped a bit - arm warmers and under-shirt were the order of the morning ride. Traffic was busy as usual.
Stopped off at a bike shop on my way home to pick up a pair of clear riding glasses. Just as I left the shop the skies opened up and I got a good drenching - this forced me to pull over and put on my overshoes. I didn't bring my raincoat with me, so I just got wet. Oh well!
Riding was pretty dangerous and I could hardly see anything wearing my new glasses - I eventually put them away and just blinked my way through the downpour. The traffic became steadily worse and had to deal with a few cowboys in their death cages - why is it always the damn BMW and Audi drivers that seem to have the smallest brains?
Today was a good reminder of how scary the roads can be for cyclists.
Stopped off at a bike shop on my way home to pick up a pair of clear riding glasses. Just as I left the shop the skies opened up and I got a good drenching - this forced me to pull over and put on my overshoes. I didn't bring my raincoat with me, so I just got wet. Oh well!
Riding was pretty dangerous and I could hardly see anything wearing my new glasses - I eventually put them away and just blinked my way through the downpour. The traffic became steadily worse and had to deal with a few cowboys in their death cages - why is it always the damn BMW and Audi drivers that seem to have the smallest brains?
Today was a good reminder of how scary the roads can be for cyclists.
Tuesday 3 October 2006
Today's Commute
Pretty uneventful commute to work and back, so I'll give you all a run down of the route.
Total distance from my home to work is 12.4km and it usually takes about half an hour to get to work in the morning - this time includes stopping at traffic lights. The ride back is about 40 minutes as it's mostly uphill and includes the 2km drag up Archway Road hill - good for training! The route from home goes from East Finchley through Archway, Camden, Euston and down to Trafalgar Square. Then I go down passed 10 Downing St. and passed Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I work in Victoria.
I'm quite lucky because my work allows me to keep my bike parked inside, so it doesn't need locking up. Plus I have access to a shower in the basement that 2 other people use as well, but I hardly ever have to wait to use it.
Anyway - later.
Total distance from my home to work is 12.4km and it usually takes about half an hour to get to work in the morning - this time includes stopping at traffic lights. The ride back is about 40 minutes as it's mostly uphill and includes the 2km drag up Archway Road hill - good for training! The route from home goes from East Finchley through Archway, Camden, Euston and down to Trafalgar Square. Then I go down passed 10 Downing St. and passed Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I work in Victoria.
I'm quite lucky because my work allows me to keep my bike parked inside, so it doesn't need locking up. Plus I have access to a shower in the basement that 2 other people use as well, but I hardly ever have to wait to use it.
Anyway - later.
Sunday 1 October 2006
Today's ride
I live north of London city centre - about half an hour's bike ride and my weekend rides always take me further north into an area called Hertfordshire where there are quaint little towns like Potter's Bar, St. Albans and Cuffley and nice rolling countryside roads with some forest patches.
Today's route was my usual Saturday morning ride from East Finchley (where I live) along a main road (called a high street in the UK) known at Great North Road - this took me through Whetstone, Barnet and Potter's Bar and then a loop around a country route called the Ridgeway which passes through Cuffley. The loop comes back to Potter's Bar and then I ride back home. total distance is about 50km (30-miles) including a small warm up and cool down loop I do in my neighbourhood.
Today's route was my usual Saturday morning ride from East Finchley (where I live) along a main road (called a high street in the UK) known at Great North Road - this took me through Whetstone, Barnet and Potter's Bar and then a loop around a country route called the Ridgeway which passes through Cuffley. The loop comes back to Potter's Bar and then I ride back home. total distance is about 50km (30-miles) including a small warm up and cool down loop I do in my neighbourhood.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)