25H1 Cycling

It's been a half year fraught with odo resets, so none of the forensic milages this time.

January started wet, then turned cold and dry, with only a brief slushy snow at the transition. A total of 98 miles done on the winter bike, all to get somewhere. February wasn't quite so cold, but I still didn't feel inclined to venture far afield, or even just go looking for flowers. A total of 163 miles on the winter bike.

Six Mile Bottom Windfarm

By the start of March it was warm enough to tempt me out for a first ride for pleasure, looking for the Spring flowers; and within the week, it was warm enough to want to sit outside in the sun on my first "and a pub lunch" ride.

At the end of the month, the continuing dry mild weather even led me to try Cow Lane again, and it was perfectly passable already. A total of 276 miles for the month, 538 for the quarter.

April continued warm, even hot by the end of the month, but by this point winds were starting to pick up, making long rides less attractive, but I still made the 30 days challenge. 280 miles on winter bike, 130 on the summer bike, 410 in total.

May Countryside

May, soon cooled down, but the winds didn't drop much; and I had the first serious prang for a while, putting the summer bike in for repairs. 144 miles on the folding bike, 267 on the summer bike, for 411 total.

June, starting cool and ending very hot, was a fairly disroganized month, with the only long ride going to lunch in St. Ives in the teeth of a howling gale. 58 miles on the winter bike, on wet days, plus 235 on the summer bike, totalling only 293 for the month, 1114 for the quarter, 1652 year to date.

24H2 Cycling

Q3 was windy again, cool and at times quite wet, so marked a collapse

The quarter started with 2594.1 on the winter bike, 292.8 on the folder, and 4825 on the summer bike, (2478.85 YTD)

Great Ringstead sign

July had the usual coach trip to Hunstanton, this time arriving early enough that I could ride out to the gin Trap Inn at Great Rinstead for lunch, then loop back through Heacham, and along the bridleway back on one of the good days. It was wet and windy on a day where I'd planned an early start long ride to an event, and momentum never built for any sort of expedition.

End of July went to 2725.82, 321.53 and 4974.2 with nothing off-meter, total 309.65 miles (2788.5 YTD).

Sudden puddle

August was cool, and dry, even though puddles still lurked on many off-road routes, but by late in the month, the railway underbridge on the Hauxton-Shelford permissive route was finally passable, as was the Thriplow-Great Chesterford bridleway. In some places, though, even when they had dried off, bridlepaths were difficult going, having become overgrown through lack of use.

End of August went to 2773.03, 343.6 and 5217 with ~2.3 miles off-meter, total 314.38 miles (3102.88 YTD).

Linton again

September had a last gasp of good weather, with chance to do a run up the Ickneild Way to Linton, and explore the new greenway on the return, near the start of the month, and one glorious day mid-month where I went on a river cruise rather than a long ride, but from then it was down to business rides.

End of September went to 2831.32, 343.6 and 5422.1 with ~2.9 miles off-meter, total 266.28 miles (3369.16 YTD).

Autumn colours

October, such a contrast to '23; where that had been T-shirt and shorts rides to mid months, this was getting out the winter gear at times.

End of October went to 3090.79, 346.95 and 5422.1 with ~1 mile during the folding bike's service, total 261.83 miles (3630.99 YTD).

Leaves on the bridleway

November was nondescript, until the stormy Saturday 23rd, where I was busy all the daylight hours, and for the first time in 693 days did not do a ride.

End of November went to 3357.74, 346.95 and 5422.1 with nothing off-meter, total 266.95 miles (3897.94 YTD).

Cyclepath works

December was comparatively mild, and freed from the daily chore, I still did longish rides to deliver postcards, and do shopping - though I didn't do the anniversary ride of the Abbey Bridge this year. New Year's Eve was even mild enough, ahead of a stormy New Year's Day, that I took a rather extended ride to mop up a couple of unrelated bits of business

End of December went to 3544.91, 346.95 and 5422.1 with nothing off-meter, total 187.17 miles (4085.11 YTD) - so not as much as the last couple of years, but better than others during retirement.

Q3 cycling

A ride every day, though either for some business, or on a few occasions, more than just a token couple of miles around the neighbourhood to make the every day happen.

A disappointing season, summer often wet, mostly cloudy and windy, at best sultry behind the wind, and few T-shirt days, only picking up with a belated spell of warn, clear, calm weather in September, so for most of the period the longest ride days are either multiple errands, or going to a moderately distant pub for lunch.

July was mostly a washout. Totals : winter bike reset to 0 (new odo), summer bike 3234.7 (up 371.4), folding bike 217.05 (up 41.1) and 13 off meter for 425.5 total, 2692 YTD.

August was not much better. Totals : winter bike still 0, summer bike 3610.3 (up 375.6), folding bike 234.44 (up 17.4) and 5.6 off meter for 398.6 total, 3090 YTD.

Birthday ride to new territory for a pub lunch

September brought belated summer, and rides to redo Little Cow Lane, and bits of the Ickneild Way, as well as long rides for pub lunches. Totals : summer bike 4121.8 (up 511.5), and 1.9 off meter for 513.4 total, 3604 YTD.

Q2 Cycling

A ride every day, though either for some business, or just a token couple of miles around the neighbourhood to make the every day happen.

A fairly nondescript quarter, generally cool and windy, with few T-shirt days.

April ended on a high note with one warm day where on a whim, I rode down to Bishop's Stortford to join a cycling provision rally (blue line on map) for a 52 mile round trip. Totals : winter bike 3459.4 (up 365.3), summer bike 2191.8 (up 58.8) and 0.6 off meter for 424.7 total, 1249 YTD.

May was disappointing, with continued cold NE winds, so almost all business rides until a badly timed holiday at the end of the month. Totals : winter bike 3610.5 (up 151.1), summer bike 2410.2 (up 218.4) and 78.2 off meter (holiday) for 447.7 total, 1697 YTD.

The cloud from the cold NE wind slowly burned off, leaving the end of the holiday slightly warmer, but June as a whole had few days that enticed me to rides for amusement's sake, and only one 40-miler.

Dullingham station

Still, I passed 2000 miles YTD on the 16th, only a day later than last year, despite fewer miles ridden each month in the spring. Totals : winter bike 3610.5 (no change), summer bike 2863.3 (up 453.1) and 116.5 off meter (holiday) for 569.6 total, 2266 YTD.

Q1 cycling

A ride every day, though either for some business, or just a token couple of miles around the neighbourhood to make the every day happen.

January was cool, ending cold, but generally dry. The long ride was scoping out the route to crem and wake for a friend's funeral, though on the day I ended up getting a lift from crem to wake and back. Despite other known cyclists amongst the mourners, none of them had braved the sub-zero temperatures. Just as well, given the state of the provision there

though I actually used one of the signposts in the car park as a hitching post.

Winter/black bike only, ending at 2569.1 + 1.5 off meter for 291.6 miles ridden for the month.

February, chill but dry, meant that towards the end of the month I could even use the bridleway for my routine trips, even if from time to time, the headwind and lingering soggy patches meant that some parts were wheeled. The long rides included scouting for, then attending, a screening appointment in Longstanton - and finding that some of the near finished cycleway by the Northstowe roundabout had been ripped up since I was there in the autumn

leaving the dual carriageway to Northstowe with no crossings over the crash barrier from the stub of the path. Ultra bad design.

Winter/black bike only, ending at 2873 for 303.9 + 4.3 off meter = 308.2 miles ridden for the month (599.8 YTD).

March, wet and at times stormy, was a bit of a collapse after the previous months, with no long business-related rides, and too cold/windy for the sort of long rides I was doing at the same time last year.

That was traversable by coasting through, with feet not getting too wet from the splashing; it lasted a few days, but the rain on the 31st resulted in another such flood, lingering into April.

Winter/black bike only, ending at 3094.1 for 221.1 + 3.4 off meter = 224.5 miles ridden for the month (824.3 YTD).

Q4 cycling

Overall mild, but wet in November, and cold in mid-December, so a steady background of utility rides, kept the numbers up.

Tree down

Despite the previous month's rain, such had been the drought that October remained off-road season, with firm going on bridleways. With mild weather and light in the afternoons, plenty of business rides, and a few longer ones to do things like checking the progress of the cycle-path signed to Longstanton, or the newly placed archaeological signs along the A1307.

End of the line at Northstowe

Totals at the end of the month 1862.2 on the old bike (+321.2), 2133 on the new (+87.3), for a total of 408.2 miles for the month, 4185 YTD.

Second load

November's weather was less clement, but, with old customs resuming, I did get the chance to use the trailer I'd bought for my birthday, to transport bits of old fencing that had been languishing for more than a year to the village bonfire for disposal. And while there were a few dodgy spots, off-road remained feasible until almost the very end of the month, provided a decent interval was left after each fall of rain.

Mostly dry, still

Totals at the end of the month 2048.9 on the old bike (+186.7), for a total of 186.7 miles for the month, 4372 YTD.

It was like that when I found it

Apart from a long ride to visit friends between Christmas and the New Year (partly into the teeth of a small gale on the way back), December's rides were at most into town. The main highlights were infrastructure related, like the unofficial opening of a stretch of the segregated route into town that had been fenced off for nearly a month; and, of course, an anniversary visit to the Abbey bridge to see that the desire line was not being thwarted by red tape - just that, as last year, the going was a bit soft just at the moment.

Desire line one year on

Totals at the end of the month 2279 on the old bike (+230.1), 175.96 on the folder (+16.2) for a total of 246.3 miles for the month, 4618 for the year; almost 10% more than my previous best of 4215 miles in 2014 when cycle commuting 19 miles was a regular thing. To think that I worried about retirement taking that base-load away, and leaving me lacking exercise!

Q3 Cycling

Hot and parched for the first two months, then cooler and damper. This meant a fair bit of riding when it was comfortable to do so, and a collapse in September.

Fen Road, Fenstanton

July was mostly business rides or enjoying the sunshine locally, with one long ride up to St. Ives at the start of the really hot spell mid-month. Notably, the month ended with the arrival of the "Our Place in Space" exhibition, which straggled from Midsummer Common, all the way to Waterbeach, with a return ride that time down Mere Way.

Inner System

Totals at the end of the month 1213.7 on the old bike (+48.8), 1438.7 on the new (+515.3), for a total of 564.1 miles for the month, 2803 YTD.

Ely in the distance

Early in the month, I did a ride through Aldreth, north through Witcham to Coveney, before returning, adding the northernmost point of the limits map. This was in the driest part of the summer, and there were signs of wildfires on Grunty Fen that looked like stubble burning had made a comeback. The dry weather also gave chance to see what Cow Lane was like in the dry (and how not-green Horse River Green had become).

I did the space ride a couple more times, to get pictures when there were fewer other folk around, exploring also the adequate (for during the day) cyclepath along the A10 from Waterbeach to Milton, and then towards the end of the month, riding up to St Ives again, up to Houghton and Wyton, before riding the St Ives perimeter road, gaining another bit of limits; then passing a major crash on the A14 and getting my photos onto the BBC news website..

Houghton Mill

Totals at the end of the month 1264.9 on the old bike (+51.2), 1913.1 on the new (+474.4), and 159.76 for the folder (+38.8) for a total of 564.4 miles for the month, 3368 YTD.

Rivey Hill West - the dry way up

Before the weather completely broke, I made another Linton to Gt Chesterford run, finding a third bridleway, and the dry way up Rivey Hill; but after a ride to explore some new trails and find lunch on my birthday, the weather broke -- some rain, but mostly cooler, so most of the rides for the rest of the month were pure A-to-B, including going to hear the city's proclamation of the new King.

Proclamation

The only long ride was the Camcycle/CTC byways and highways ride around Cambridge at the end of the month, and that mostly by virtue of having to get to and from the start in addition to the circuit (which was around the length of a pretty-way each way circuit-commute to the Science Park, if not quite the same track).

Totals at the end of the month 1541 on the old bike (+276.1), 2045.7 on the new (+132.6) for a total of 408.7 miles for the month, 3777 YTD, having passed last year's whole-year total during the group ride.

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

22Q1 Cycling

A milder winter than the last, with strong winds being the main feature; so a few longer rides early on, and storm-blown gaps in the record.

Late January snowdrops

January ended at 193.9 on the clock, or 116.1 miles for the month; February 314.2, meaning 120.3 miles for the month. March pushed the old bike to 611.1 on the clock (298.9 for the month including 2 off-meter), but the folder went to 78.5 (+11.9), and a new shopping bike clocked up 47.1, plus an unmetered 6.7 miles home for a total of 362.6 miles. Year to date, that's 601 miles, or about the same as last April.

Horse River Green

A burst of really warm weather near the end of the month allowed the first real exploration, rather than just pounding familiar nearby loops, this one exploring Cow Lane, from Linton to Great Chesterford, as a way of avoiding having to go as far as Saffron Walden to close the loop. Most of it is perfectly fine; but there's a section in the middle that suddenly went from dry to sodden, threading between ponds, and at times becoming indistinguishable from a river bed. Best for high summer, and from the Linton side, so the steep bit is downhill.

2H21 cycling

Ickneild Way, near Royston

In the second half of the year, I managed to do more each month than in 2020, reaching 2000 miles 21-Aug vs 29-Sep-20. At the end of November, I also managed to twist the frame on the old bike that had served me since '98, just shy of the 20,000 miles logged on that odo mark; and at the same time had odo problems on the newer bike, which just passed the 10,000 miles from new mark. Time to buy myself a present in the new year, I think.

As before, September was the high point -- monthly totals being July 361.1 (summer bike), August 504.4 (a little of the folding bike), September 609.9 (mostly summer bike) -- probably an all-time record -- October 429.1 (a dry month, this time, but mostly winter bike), November 309 miles (winter mostly, until written off), December 172 miles (including riding to both Christmas lunches I attended this year, much to the amazement of the others in the respective groups), for a total of just over 3700 miles for the year. The summer bike starts the new year with 77.8 miles on the (latest) clock, and the folding bike 66.5

While a lot of the rides were retreading old territory, I did a fair amount of exploration on byways, like taking the Ickneild Way most of the way from Royston to Baldock, even if many byways end up being just dead-ends; and from the ancient to the modern, making a lot of use of the new Girton to Fenstanton multi-use path in preference to the busway -- a very convenient fast route to places like the Golden Ball at Boxworth.

Henge, at Carriages, Fenstanton

The highlight of the year, though, was the opening of the long awaited Abbey Bridge, just before Christmas. Even if the Chisholm Trail itself is on the wrong side of the tracks for convenience (cycling it was only the second time in 40+ years living in the area that I'd taken the path across Coldhams Common), it means that I'll only use the Green Dragon bridge as and when I next visit the Green Dragon, which had been a regular location for pub lunch with former colleagues working on the Science Park, but alas such attendance has suffered under the continuing work-from-home regime.

Abbey Bridge, Christmas Eve, first full day of operation

Q2 Cycling

April was cool but dry -- only one "maybe thinking of spitting" in the whole 30 days event; and concluded with the re-opening of both the Coton footpath bridge and the jetty at Ditton Meadows, both of which I covered for the last ride of the month. At the end milage totals were winter bike 17954.3, summer bike to 3640.4 and then a battery change ending at 136.3 for 288 miles for the month.

May blossom in April

May was cool but also wet -- the usual rainy season -- though it did end with a burst of hot weather that just beat out March for hottest day of the Spring; concluding with a 48 mile ride through the fens to Wicken and Upware. The totals were 18268.3 and 136.3, for a total of 314.4 miles

Those wind turbines at close quarters

June's weather went downhill towards the end -- see the gap -- but that didn't stop me ending the month at 18718.5 and 136.3 for a total of 450.2 miles (just short of June 2015's total, but best month since), and 1319 for the year, after exploring more new cycle routes along the A14 which make for conveniant 20-mile level rides, and also going across the A11 at the Wilbrahams to explore a by-way that runs close by the foot of the wind turbine installation visible for miles around.