Weight: 10st 5lbs
I woke up disappointed to find that my shoulder/neck is still aching. Looking it up on the internet, if I had to guess, I would say that it's the top half of my left trapezius that's damaged/strained (although how it happened is still a mystery - I woke up with an ache the day after the Pedal of Honour.)
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| Doctor, it's my left trapezius! |
Not wanting to waste the day, and needing to bed in the new brake pads, I clambered on to the mountain bike and headed off towards the canal. It's always a pleasure to ride a mountain bike after a long period on a road bike - they're just so comfortable! However, the pleasure is short lived as soon as you have to ride along any stretch of tarmac...
The first few miles on the canal was a joy - just me, the bike, the canal and the occasional dog walker. However, I'd completely forgotten that it was a bank holiday: it wasn't just teachers who had the day off! So, as soon as I reached Lapworth Junction the towpath became awash with middle class families who all looked uniformally miserable. How can they look so glum when they have the day off and are spending it in the fabulous English countryside?
Not having a bell, I rely on the Hope hub to make enough of a racket to warn of my approach. This nearly always works fine, but if they don't respond I just give a cheery "Excuse me!"
I was making very slow progress, at one point riding past a young lady who felt it necessary to shout at her friends, "Bike! Without a bell, apparently!". To be fair, she probably didn't hear me approaching over the sound of her fat thighs clashing together in her overstretched yoga pants.
Once past Lapworth Junction (Kingswood Junction?), and now on the Grand Union Canal heading north, the crowds thinned and I could build up a bit of speed. Deciding not to go back through Lapworth, I rode off the canal at Knowle and got on the road for the last 5 or so miles.
15.7 miles at 10.7mph.
The left knee was clicking a bit by the time I got home...
Unbelievably, tonight we were having friends for barbeque. Yes, that's 4 barbeques in the last four days. No wonder I was feeling a little porky! So, another night of family, friends, beer and burgers!
Tuesday
A lazy day with a bit of shopping. In the evening, Martha and I attended an intensive kata class run by Sensei Ronnie Christopher. We practised a total of no less than 9 kata during the lesson.
It made me think of a particularly intense session, about 14 years ago, by Sensei Paul Hexley. He had us perform, at full power, all 7 of the kata that we knew at the time. At the end of each of the 7 we then had to perform Heian Shodan again! So that was a total of 14 kata at full speed/power and he'd let you know if your stance was slipping! He might have given us a drinks break at the end of that. Probably not though...
Home for a beer and a large glass of red with homemade lasagna and a leafy salad.
Wednesday
Spent a lot of the day at work marking papers. Back at home, I feasted on Lucy's fabulous homemade frittata which was full of vegetables and devoid of cheese.
In the evening, I went to a party and took a phone call from Jonnie - he had decided that he had too much to do in readiness for his son's birthday party to ride with me tomorrow as we'd planned. Rather gutted, I called up Nigel. He had no hesitation in agreeing to ride but he had to be back for 12. Nice one Nigel! Then, about an hour later, Jonnie calls back and tells me that he'd had a bit of a meeting with his Mrs and that he could ride after all. He suggested a 12pm start to give him time to get his jobs done!
Tomorrow is going to be a cycling-filled day!
After driving us back home, I drank two beers and then stayed up far too late watching a Buddy Guy concert and drinking tea with Lucy and Debs.
Thursday
Up at 7:30 after dreaming of plane crashes and Scotch whisky.
Nigel arrived at 9am and we set off on my Ireland's Lane route. It's a rather lumpy route full of short sharp climbs and steep descents. At only 20 miles, you have to give it some welly to get anything out of it. Nigel gave the climbs a good go and even dropped out of his beloved big ring!
We got back to my house to be served with homemade pudding with tea and coffee.
An hour later, I called for Jonnie and the two of us headed on to the canal. 7 miles later we were sitting outside the Navigation enjoying our first pint of the day! 3 miles on, we found ourselves supping a pint at the Black Boy. Unfortunately, they insisted on pumping modern music into the beer garden so we only stopped for one.
A steady pedal back to the Navigation was followed by two more glorious pints (each!) of Timothy Taylor Landlord in the sunshine.
Now feeling decidedly unsteady, we carefully rolled along the canal for another 4 miles or so to the Wharf Tavern. We enjoyed 2 pints each of Holden's Golden Glow before very, very carefully making our way back to Jonnie's house for 5pm to join in with Harry's 15th birthday party! What an awesome sunny day of cycling and beer! (hic)
Friday
This morning, I loaded the mountain bike into the car and went to meet Deadly Dan and Craig at Cannock Chase! Dan was riding his new fat bike (4" wide tyres) and Craig was on his trusty Orange 5 full-susser. I, of course, took my 6 year old Halford's bike...
Cannock Chase had changed a lot since I was last here. There had been a lot of forestry work done with whole sections stripped of trees. It looked quite eerie at first, being able to peer down a hillside to see the trail stretching in front of you instead of vanishing into the trees. The trail fairies had been hard at work repairing wear and tear and apparently putting in some new jumps and drops!
As usual, Dan was first up the hills but Craig managed to stay with him on the downhills today. I normally rolled in about a minute later, but still enjoying myself!
Mindful of my injury, I didn't attempt some of the rock gardens but took the chicken run. I want to be able to train properly next week!
Anyway, here's Craig followed by Deadly on one of the exposed hillsides:
Saturday
This morning I rode to Kenilworth with Nigel and his mate Lloyd. They chose a very direct route along the A452. So, with traffic hurtling past me at 50mph I held on for dear life and tried to stay with the two blokes ahead of me! We stopped at a Costa cafe in Kenilworth. Never having been to one of these places before, I asked for a banana. They offered me some strange looking fruit that was due to be turned into a smoothie. I visited the greengrocers opposite instead. Unfortunately, during all of this, I forgot to pause my Strava so my average suffered...
The way back was more to my taste - it was very slightly uphill all the way home! I got on the front and did my best to stay there for the 13 mile journey back to base.
Lloyd proved to be a very capable rider - I couldn't shake him off my wheel on any of the climbs on the way back. Strangley, he never once got on the front for the whole 27 mile ride. Hmm... I'll be interested to ride with this guy again and see what he really has to offer on some of the hills that Jonnie and I tackle!
Ride: 27.3 @ 15.2mph
With this in mind, when we got back to the Fieldhouse pub, I arranged to take Nigel and Lloyd out with Jonnie next Saturday. I intend to take them south towards Wilmcote and then see what they're made of on the climbs on the way back. I promised them the world's best cake stop (at Jane and Eric's) and Lloyd said he was sold on the idea!
Sunday
On Sunday, Jonnie wasn't able to ride so I went solo down to Wilmcote and back. At the halfway point, I spent an hour in the sunshine with Jane and Eric. It was sunburn weather by now. On the way back, I reached a 16.0mph average but after the climbing, it had dwindled to 15.3mph by the time I got home. Still, I think that this could be my fastest speed over that distance.
Looking forward to training properly next week!
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