Friday, 4 April 2014

day 3 - an update

Update: Day 3 - 5.07 miles Cumulative 9.01 miles
Rode into town, to meet wife for a leaving do. Ended up going far further than intended. And got a flat tyre. And got accosted by a local lady on the way home who I've chatted to several times. Begs occasionally. Buys cheap strong booze from the corner shop near me. Between necking wine from the bottle, she was complaining about African babies being underfed whilst their parents are well fed, complaining about the cuts so unable to afford electricity to keep her kids warm, to complaining about life on the street, to trying to sell me the meat she had just pinched from the supermarket. Odd walk home.

So, now have a punctured tyre, and instead of having to do 4 miles on day 4, I need to do 6.01. bugger. and have a leaving do to go to in an hour. Might have to nip out quickly on the pub bike (no brakes, as I've just noticed, eeeek...) and make up the miles tomorrow.

Thursday, 3 April 2014

day 3 - forgot to blog days 1 and 2

So, anyway, the last few years, the good people at 30 days of biking have been been asking people to pledge to cycle every day for the 30 days of April. I pledged last year, but failed on day 3, as it was raining, and i may have had a hangover. This year, I didn't pledge til last night. I was going to see if i could do it on my own, but then decided that I would join in properly.
My history of riding, rode a bit as a kid, had a bike at university, which got stolen, then didn't have a bike until i moved to Exeter. That was very much a pub bike.
Then 2008, whilst in the pub, someone came up with the bright idea of cycling London to Paris. Managed to do that, then never looked back. I now cycle everywhere, as I have got rid of my car, as it didn't move for weeks and months at a time.
So why am I doing this? You would think that this isn't a challenge for someone who does all their travelling on their bike. Well, I've become a little lazy recently, and haven't been out on my bike as much as perhaps should. So, I'm using this as an opportunity to get myself back on it a bit more. And as an added physical challenge, I set myself a target of riding at least a mile more than I had ridden the previous day.

So, how has it gone so far?
Day 1 - 1.13 miles. Cumulative 1.13 miles.
Nearly failed at the first hurdle. Only needed to do one mile, and only just managed with a cycle trip to the shop. Wasn't really in the mood to get on the bike, but as my wife had cycled to work, I thought I should get out there. So, 1.13 miles later, back at home, sat on my bum, eating biscuits.

Day 2 - 2.83 miles. Cumulative 3.94 miles
Nearly failed again. Nasty horrible day out, and again didn't fancy it. As I had told my wife I was attempting it, she badgered me onto my bike at 10pm, as she was going to bed. Ended up riding a lot further than I meant to, around a nice quiet industrial estate. Best time to ride.

Day 3 so far. couple of miles. Target 3.83 cumulative 7.77
Horrible nasty weather. Chucking it down, but at least I had plans today to get out and about anyway. Helping out at a community project. Got very wet getting there, and very wet coming back, and for the first time of the month, I got the trailer on the back. Fully loaded with wood. Still need to get out to pick up some show tickets, and book my bike in for a service. hmmm...servicing my bike this month could make achieving the full month interesting. I'll update later with my full day 3.