Yesterday I didn’t ride. But I did do something constructive – I finally washed the Cinelli! Washed, scrubbed, flossed, sprayed, polished, buffed…all thanks to my Purple Harry kit. Not only are you to admire the transformation, but also my groovy little bike stand, which made it lot easier to clean it. It’s so elegantly simple whilst totally doing the job, and it’s making storage easier too as the mob can’t knock it over all the time! As for the cleaning – I did it all. Spray to clean, scrub to clean, bike floss to get the cassette and other tricky bits, spray to keep water out of the bottom bracket etc, and then proper polish. BTW, the polish is awesome! And talk about OCD…why oh why did I get a white bike?! But man, it does look pwerty now – all shiny and clean and just begging for a warm dry day to be shown off on. Best develop some patience then right? Could be a long wait! 😉
OK, so yesterday I decided not to ride on my own through floods. Today I could have done the same, but I’m so fed up of deciding not to ride the bike, and I don’t know when the next time I’m out there will be, that I just wasn’t bailing again. Monday can’t be a rest day when I haven’t done anything the day before, now can it? The weather seemed ok, the forecast was fair, and I wasn’t even looking for excuses not to go. It was however a tad nippy, so it was finally time for winter gloves, and for my new Rapha winter collar to be more than just a fashion accessory. It comes in very useful in my chilly office let me tell you! And it was good on the ride. Doesn’t slip down, can be pulled up over the face to keep your chin warm, and breathes enough for you to undo the zip a bit and get some temperature relief without wishing you hadn’t. I knew I liked it 🙂
I did the usual kind of loop around the Levels. The roads were better than I was expecting, with the odd inevitable exception to the rule. Interesting missing bits of road surface, some debris, some standing water…but nothing that soaked me to the skin, or that necessitated a detour. I avoided those roads I know are liable to be bad, and although the rivers, rhynes, and even fields around me were frequently full of water, my route was essentially clear. The air was chilly, there was a bit of a breeze, but it didn’t rain on me, and there was actually a fair amount of sunshine. Sunshine, reflections, seagulls, starlings, and remarkably well behaved traffic. Nice! 🙂
I didn’t take many photos – winter gloves are not conducive to such things – but I did have a brief stop about an hour in on the bridge near Burtle. The water was wide, murky, flowing fast, and I’m guessing not far below the top of the arch. The boat that usually languishes about 8 feet below the bank here finally seemed properly moored up and, if the water gets any higher, might be properly useful. I’ve always wondered if they ever use it as it never seems to have moved…maybe this will be the week? I hope for their sakes that it isn’t!
Although, and I know I keep banging on about it, I’m not on form, I did end up at going along at a fairly reasonable nick, though it probably felt a little more like hard work than sometimes. But overall I didn’t feel too bad, so there was some positive around the edges there. Bella will tell you what I did, that is if Strava hasn’t already. I’m glad I went out, even if the pleasure of my own company is debatable ;).
Cycling time: 1:48:39 hrs
Distance: 29.52 miles
Avs: 16.3 mph.
ODO: 15474.44 miles
Back home, where there’s still a lot of water going around. Bet they could have filled a second reservoir without even trying over the last week! Forecast is ok for the next few days, so hopefully some of the water will have time to drain away…
