James was a bit hung-over so we did the ride at a comfortable, rather than fast, pace and it proved to be quite an enjoyable start to December and 32.5 miles in the bag.
9th December: Despite some fairly horrendous predictions on the BBC weather website, I decided to do the local 22 tonight. The weather was ok but by the seven mile mark the wind was getting up a bit and it was chucking it down so I decided to divert and do the Old Coach Road instead. Just as I was approaching the Old Coach road, I saw a road to the right I'd never been down before and decided to explore...
Anyhow, what followed was the usual few miles of really, really hoping I could manage to work out where I was before I eventually saw a sign for Knowsley Industrial Park. A couple of miles later I knew exactly where I was and happily carried on. By the time I was out the industrial park and heading down the Lancs I was feeling really good so I carried on and did the new section of bike path and came home via Billinge and Crank. An interesting ride and 25.1 more miles for December.
13th December: James isn't playing this weekend because he was too hung-over this morning and the weather looks really bad tomorrow. It was quite sunny so I dragged myself out and did the local 22. The weather was cold and windy at first but pleasant enough until it got really stormy and started chucking it down about four miles from home. At this point however the wind was behind me so still quite an enjoyable end to the ride and 21.9 more miles.
17th December: Managed to drag myself out and do the local 22 after work today. It was fairly warm at maybe 10 degrees but very blowy so a so-so kind of a ride. I carried on into the village on the way back to do a quick shop so 22.7 more miles for December.
20th December: Did the above 25 miler again tonight, I would have done it during the day but the wind was horrendous and I didn't want to risk getting blown under an HGV! The weather was ok but the ride wasn't without incident, I replaced the chain this morning because the old one had 1,200 odd miles on it and was looking rather tired and the new chain skipped slightly a few times so I've had to order a new cassette. Luckily, HG80 cassettes (which I think are MTB parts equivalent to 'SLX' level but 9 speed cassettes are interchangeable between Shimano/SRAM and MTB/road) are half price at Wiggle at the moment but still, it's an unwanted expense. Oh, and to top it off? I got a puncture just after riding through some slutchy mud - bum 'oles! Anyhow, 25.1 miles.
22nd December: The new cassette arrived from Wiggle so I fitted it and headed out for the local 22. I was hoping for rain so I could test the Swiss Stop brake pads but unfortunately (!) it was dry but very windy. Despite the wind it was one of those strangely enjoyable rides where I felt really good all the way around and I stopped in the village on the way back for chips with curry sauce another 22.6 miles for December.
25th December: Went out and did the local 22 today. It was cold and very windy so not the most enjoyable ride ever but another 22.0 for December. Somewhat annoyingly, I found a drawing pin in my front tyre when I got back so that's now 3 punctures in the Conti 4 seasons which are supposed to be epically puncture-proof - grrr.
29th December: I'm still short of miles for December so despite the sudden freeze I dragged myself out after work to do the local 18. The temperature was around freezing but I had my choob and some new Sealskinz wind-proof gloves so not too bad overall. I has one sketchy moment on the unlit section when I hit a section of frozen tractor tyre tracks I hadn't seen but by not grabbing the brakes and unseating slightly to absorb the bumps I didn't get launched so another 18.9 for the month!
31st December: Did the Old Coach Road in the cold and fog on new years eve for 14.8 and a monthly total of 205.6 miles.
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