Q2 Cycling

Dry, mild to warm weather, was the overall tone of the quarter, meaning that the ground was dry enough for off-road riding; and a lot of riding did get done.

St Helen's, Colne

Good Friday, an unscripted ramble up and around the busway took me north of St. Ives, and allowed me to add a little nubbin to the east of Earith to the "Outer Limits" map (mid-green), and from there things snowballed. The Easter weekend also saw a ride along the bridleway from Little Cow Lane through Linton, following parts of the Ickneild Way -- a much drier route than the previous, until Linton, and there finding that the bridleway had a river running down the middle. And from there, the next few rides kept up the theme, following the Ickneild Way west from Gt. Chesterford, and a bit further north from Linton. The month closed with a different big ride, up byways from Rampton to Aldreth.

Totals at the end of the month 947.8 on the old bike (+336.7), 250.2 on the new (+203.1), for a total of 539.8 miles for the month, 1141 YTD.

Avenue nr Little Bradley

May Day holiday, I took more of the Ickneild Way, north from Six Mile Bottom towards Newmarket (north from Burrough Green on the Outer Limits) and back to explore the byways that linked up to the Wilbrahams; and then having pushed the limits a bit, the next week I did the section south from Burrough Green to the Thurlows, with some exploration of byways near Carlton on the return. The following week, more Ickneild Way, from Melbourne to Letchworth, and another new section of limits. Finally, rounding the month off, I took my first cycling holiday since late '17, the CycleBreaks Gardens and Gallopers tour; marred slightly by pouring rain on the first day, it was a nice mix of new, familiar and "I've only cycled this in the opposite direction before".

Totals at the end of the month 1164.9 on the old bike (+217.1), 480.9 on the new (+230.7) + 14.1 off meter, and 151 on the tour bike, for a total of 612.9 miles for the month, 1754 YTD.

Bridleway

June opened with a ride out to Burwell, the byway-defined salient on the limits map, followed by another limits buster, going down from Wendens Ambo and Newport, south of Saffron Walden to Radwinter, then taking the Little Cow Lane path back, reaching the 2000 mile mark on 15-Jun vs 21-Aug-21, then finally a reprise of the Aldreth run, this time taking the byway looping north of Haddenham to Wilburton.

Totals at the end of the month 1164.9 on the old bike (+0), 923.4 on the new (+442.5) and 120.96 (+42.5) for the folder, for a total of 485.0 miles for the month, 2239 YTD - a number which I have considered a reasonable whole-year total in the past!

Stuck in a rut