Am off the bike for a few weeks, due to work commitments in the USA. (or so I thought). The problem with coming to the USA is I can’t resist all the bad stuff, burgers and fries are my weakness. I pile on a load of weight and it never goes. Luck has it I have sourced a loaner bike which means I can get a few miles in rather than spending the time eating.

With some local knowledge in hand, head down to the farmland areas south of Indianapolis. Now there is not a lot down here, plenty of cornfields and a few homesteads not a lot more. Dialed up a route on the GPS and off we go.

This is very different terrain to Surrey, long straight sections of road all on a grid pattern. You are basically riding North, South, East or West with a field on either side. Lucky the wind was very low otherwise you could be banging your head against an onslaught in this wide open country..

Sunset Ride

The Open Road

It was a great ride, timed to perfection as the sun went down just as it came to an end.

Highlights were……

• The cornfields
• The crazy dogs that charge out of the farms and force you to speed up or lose an ankle. (great motivation)
• The lack of traffic (only saw  1 tractor) – it was the size of a house of course and you could cycle between the wheels.
• Riding into the sunset.

Well things are coming on…
Did a couple of nice long rides down in the New Forest which is one of the best places to explore on a bike. The 1st ride I did down there was 64km which would not have been too bad apart from the Wind was running at gusts of 70mph. This was not too bad in one direction, but the last 20km was a gruelling slog, hunched over the bike in 1st gear on the flat. Thank goodness the roads were quiet as the bike was all over the place. Not the longest ride this year, but definitely the most taxing.

I repeated the ride with some extra distance a few days later. 86km

Even better my Italian Cycling chum sent me some new kit from his Florentine cycling club. So as soon as the weather was warm enough, that got an airing. (very Team Tinkoff)

Tour de Grassina

Tour de Forest (part 1)

Tour de Forest (part 2)

Surrey Half Marathon

Weather is looking better today, and its an early start to get down to Woking. The club are helping out with the Surrey Half Marathon. For some mad reason I volunteered to help out with the 1st recce group. I think the reason I signed up for this was the advantage that they close the roads for the runners, and I would get to ride the course with 13 miles of closed roads. We got our little group of 4 riders and the controller drops the bombshell that the roads shut at 8am… and he wants us to ride the full course and be back for 8:45am for the start at 9am. Well it was eventually ten past eight by the time we got out onto the course and the pace was punishing. The guys did a great job of pulling me round, especially as I had to radio in our position every couple of miles and the status of the course. I have no idea what they heard down at the control centre but I am sure it was pretty garbled with me blowing my lungs out, while trying to hang onto the back of what effectively was a team time trial,

We got round just about in time and I sloped off to refuel, as they sent us back out to marshal a number of cars and checkpoints. All in all it was a very tiring day and my Strava map looks like a plate of spaghetti.

https://www.strava.com/activities/264824195

Right … time to slay the demons…. !!!! Stop shouting at the legs and get out there and ride. Today’s exercise is – ride a slower pace but longer distance. Weather is still pretty awful but its hard adding to the mileage total if you are not actually on the bike.

A little jaunt out into the Surrey hills, taking in Staple lane and the countryside nearby. Actually starting to feel much better on the bike and the legs are starting to work again. Felt pretty happy making it up Staple Lane without blowing up and even managed to keep the legs spinning on the return route. Had a bit of an energy fade nearer the end so a small detour to the Hanger Cafe was in order for the obligatory coffee and cake.

The Hanger Cafe

A longer adventure.

• 70.2km
• 2:59:05 Hours