2nd April: The BBC were predicting blue skies and less wind today and they weren't wrong. I took the Giant out and did the same ride as yesterday. It was warm with blue skies, as predicted, and not much wind. I don't know if you've seen the famous footage of the Swans flying through the air filmed by a camera on a microlight on the BBC but I had a similar encounter with a cock pheasant.
I was cycling along Ben Lane and there was a pheasant in the road who took off running so I ended up cycling along side him. When he took off he flew ahead of me for several seconds at head height and barely six feet in from of me which was really cool. After a few seconds reason prevailed and he flew upwards to the right and disappeared over a hedge into some fields. Anyhow, a cool encounter and another 22.1 sunny miles.
8th April: It was the nicest day of the year so far today, hot and sunny, so I took the Giant out for a spin. I did what is rapidly becoming my go-to route, the farm track and two loops. It was an uneventful ride but I did see a group of sparrows enjoying a dust bath together on the side of the road which was fun. Another 22.2 more miles.
14th April: It was a cool overcast day today but I was determined to get out for a ride.With that in mind, I took the Giant out to do the local 27. It was fairly windy but the rain held off which was welcome, Awesom-O's off the road temporarily and the Giant doesn't have mudguards. The ride was fairly uneventful, aside from seeing a young blackbird having a bath in a puddle which was cool, until I was heading up the hill that goes over the railway line behind Kirkby and felt sure my saddle was getting lower and lower!
I stopped at the top and found the seat wedge bolt was loose so I wiggled the seat up again and tightened it. I then did a mile or so into the industrial park with it too high so I stopped and lowered it slightly and got it perfect, maybe 1/8" lower than it had been originally. Coming back along the Lancs was fun, I had the wind behind me so I was holding 23+ mph on the uphill sections and 26 mph on the flat section in the middle which was fun. Because it's been raining recently, the Giant was absolutely filthy when I got back in so he got a thorough wash and it was another 27.0 miles for April.
17th April: It was dark, cold and overcast today but dry with little wind so I took the Giant out to do the local 27. My legs felt good and the weather started to brighten up as the ride progressed so it was an enjoyable ride. I saw quite a few other riders out which is a good sign that summer's on the way, they were mostly on Giants but I saw a Canyon and a Specialized as well. It was a fun ride with a pretty decent average of 16.7 mph and another 27.3 miles.
19th April: I managed to get out for a mid-week freshener on the Giant tonight. It was very overcast but warmish and not particularly windy so quite a nice evening for a ride. My legs weren't feeling up to much so I decided to do the farm track and one lap of my loop. As it turned out, I'd chosen to go out on a night the local TT club were having a race as I kept getting passed by strangely dressed blokes on exotic TT bikes doing about 30 mph! It's not a hobby that appeals to me to be honest but the bikes do make an awesome noise as they cruise past at top speed, especially the ones with solid carbon fibre back wheels! Oddly, when I got back and uploaded the ride, it turned out to be one of my fastest rides for ages with a 16.8 mph average. Cycling can be very weird in terms of how you perceive you're performing and how you actually are! Anyhow, another 19.9 miles.
22nd April: The weather was very strange today, absolutely blue skies and hot sun but with a fairly strong freezing cold wind. Anyhow, I took the Giant out for an amble. I did the farm track and was originally going to do a couple of loops but most of the way around the first one I saw the local TT club setting up.
There were cars and vans parking up and people on turbo trainers in the road so I decided to head for the back of Kirkby and follow the route of the local 27. It was pretty warm when I managed to get out of the wind and I had the wind behind me on the Lancs, which is always fun, and I ended up with exactly 27.0 miles.
28th April: It was overcast and windy but quite bright today so I took the Giant out for the inaugural ride with the new Brooks saddle. I took a shortcut to the farm path via the OCR and then did two of my new loops. The saddle was very comfortable even though it's new and still rock hard so that's very promising. It was a pleasant enough ride although I saw something that's puzzled me in the past. I had my Rapha underlayer on with my Aldi jacket over it and was very warm but I saw a few other cyclists dressed like it was the depth of winter - odd. Anyhow, another 20.5 miles.
29th April: I took the Giant out for a spin today to test the adjusted saddle. The weather was the same as yesterday so not too bad. It turns out I'd set the saddle too level and I think it's a bit low so I was constantly pushing myself to the back of the saddle so not a great ride. I was going to do the same ride a yesterday but do the loops the other way around. As I started the first loop I saw a horsist further down the road and I really couldn't be arsed with the whole creeping past them thing so I turned around went for a wander instead.
On the plus side I saw a a couple of groups of roadies out riding together enjoying the warmish weather. Oddly, the first group I saw were impeccably dressed in black bibs and smart cycling jerseys. The second group, who I suspect were a bit younger, were dressed like a colour clashing eighties nightmare; white lycra top and shorts covered in different colours, all sorts! Anyhow, I'm going to adjust the saddle angle and height again before the next ride and another 19.9 miles.
Well, I didn't manage to get out again because of the weather but I ended April with a pretty reasonable 207.0 miles on the clock, not bad!
No comments:
Post a Comment