Tuesday, September 12, 2006
There Ain't No Stoppin' Me Now - I'm in the Mood...
Today I mostly rode my bike to work... I had a meeting in the offices in Ipswich, so got a colleague and neighbour to take a bag of business clothes into the office and jumped on the bike.
Almost twenty miles dead, and whoever said there are no hills in Suffolk has never been to this lovely corner of England... Still, I'm pleased with the milestone. It was quite hot even though I set out at 7am. It's been humid these last few days and this morning was no exception. So here was I zooming along the country back-whacks with the sun creeping up through the mist over the sea, a few miles to my left.
I started off at a fair old pace and was averaging around 18mph for most of the trip. There was a long (about a mile and a bit) climb, although it wasn't that steep it took some hard pedalling to keep the speed above the 16mph mark. At around the 3/4 way mark I started to wain. The heat was becoming a problem accentuated by my bad decision to wear my fleece lined lon-sleeve cycling jersey (well it was freezing when I first left)... Still, the energy drink went down a treat and I carried on averaging 16.7mph over the whole journey. In true 'Tour de Suffolk' style, the final two miles included quite a long and reasonably steep climb followed by a lovely straight sprintable stretch.
However, the best entertainment came at the half way point. I was storming along a flat at around 24mph when I saw a climb approaching. "Time for a quick burst of Isotonic carbohydrate" I thought, so came off the gas a little and reached down for my bottle. It slipped and fell onto the grass verge. Instincts took over and I hit the brakes so I could stop and go back for it but compeletely forgot that I was still getting used to my clipless pedals. Of course, I stopped too quickly and didn't remember to unclip my feet from the pedals and as the bike wobbled to a halt and in slow motion I toppled over like a dead horse about to be flogged!
Luckily there were no cars about and as the first car came around the corner I managed to make myself look suitably cool as if I'd pulled over for a quick lie down on the dew wet grass as you do. Hopefully the driver didn't realise that my feet were still attached to the pedals and that my legs were at painfully hilarious angles with the bike held aloft in the air by my feet so I didn't get the gearing wet!
Anyway, I met the milestone and cycled to work. The first day of the challenge will be 90 miles so that means 4 and a 1/2 more of the same trip. I'm glad I've got 9 months to go still! Seriously though, although I was tired, I believe I could have gone on a lot longer. Maybe another twenty but little more... And it wasn't long before my muscles and strength had recovered so the ride home would have been possible had David not agreed to shove the bike in the back of his car!
I met another milestone on Sunday. I passed the 30mph barrier, hitting 33.5mph on a slight downhill. I then managed to sprint at 32mph on a flat. I was well chuffed as they say up North. I'm now officially a speeding cyclist as both milestones were met in a 30mph limited zone... Luckily cyclists don't have licenses on which to get points on....
Anyway, next challenge is to cycle to the office and back (40 miles). Better get practicing...
Almost twenty miles dead, and whoever said there are no hills in Suffolk has never been to this lovely corner of England... Still, I'm pleased with the milestone. It was quite hot even though I set out at 7am. It's been humid these last few days and this morning was no exception. So here was I zooming along the country back-whacks with the sun creeping up through the mist over the sea, a few miles to my left.
I started off at a fair old pace and was averaging around 18mph for most of the trip. There was a long (about a mile and a bit) climb, although it wasn't that steep it took some hard pedalling to keep the speed above the 16mph mark. At around the 3/4 way mark I started to wain. The heat was becoming a problem accentuated by my bad decision to wear my fleece lined lon-sleeve cycling jersey (well it was freezing when I first left)... Still, the energy drink went down a treat and I carried on averaging 16.7mph over the whole journey. In true 'Tour de Suffolk' style, the final two miles included quite a long and reasonably steep climb followed by a lovely straight sprintable stretch.
However, the best entertainment came at the half way point. I was storming along a flat at around 24mph when I saw a climb approaching. "Time for a quick burst of Isotonic carbohydrate" I thought, so came off the gas a little and reached down for my bottle. It slipped and fell onto the grass verge. Instincts took over and I hit the brakes so I could stop and go back for it but compeletely forgot that I was still getting used to my clipless pedals. Of course, I stopped too quickly and didn't remember to unclip my feet from the pedals and as the bike wobbled to a halt and in slow motion I toppled over like a dead horse about to be flogged!
Luckily there were no cars about and as the first car came around the corner I managed to make myself look suitably cool as if I'd pulled over for a quick lie down on the dew wet grass as you do. Hopefully the driver didn't realise that my feet were still attached to the pedals and that my legs were at painfully hilarious angles with the bike held aloft in the air by my feet so I didn't get the gearing wet!
Anyway, I met the milestone and cycled to work. The first day of the challenge will be 90 miles so that means 4 and a 1/2 more of the same trip. I'm glad I've got 9 months to go still! Seriously though, although I was tired, I believe I could have gone on a lot longer. Maybe another twenty but little more... And it wasn't long before my muscles and strength had recovered so the ride home would have been possible had David not agreed to shove the bike in the back of his car!
I met another milestone on Sunday. I passed the 30mph barrier, hitting 33.5mph on a slight downhill. I then managed to sprint at 32mph on a flat. I was well chuffed as they say up North. I'm now officially a speeding cyclist as both milestones were met in a 30mph limited zone... Luckily cyclists don't have licenses on which to get points on....
Anyway, next challenge is to cycle to the office and back (40 miles). Better get practicing...
