2012 Week 6

Week 6 (w/e 12 February)
Miles: 126.1

It was a foggy start to the week. I set off for a ride on Monday afternoon at about 4 pm and didn't have to go very far into the countryside before encountering it. I thought someone had a bonfire at first but then the penny dropped. So I took the sensible option and chose a quicker route home than I'd originally planned. That put 14 miles down on my weekly account. I moved on to 33 miles on Tuesday, which was clear and noticeably colder. This became 52 miles on Wednesday. Another good start then. Just as well really, because Thursday was dank, drizzly and wintry and so no cycling was done. Friday was cold and grey, with a bitter wind blowing in from the east. Despite this I pushed on to 70 miles. So that left 30 for the weekend to achieve another ton. Saturday was one of those cold winter's days when the skies are still and white. I made my usual trip into town to pick up a few bits, then had a brief ride when I got home, with another 30 minute trundle mid-evening. These three separate trips saw me move on to 96 miles by the end of the day. Sunday was very misty, but I got out there in the middle of the afternoon for a decent ride, rolling home with 117 miles. Excellent. That figure meant my weekly average was raised to 99.1 miles. I was less than 30 minutes cycling away from getting it to 100. Unfortunately, heavy fog arrived once the sun went down. Would I be able to get those few miles that I needed? Was I mad enough to try? Need you ask? At 9 pm I went out for a crazy ride in the fog. Luckily traffic on the roads I veered down was as limited as my vision, so I came back in one piece with the total I wanted. Loony.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hr 32 m.
Total for 2012: 603.8
2012 average weekly mileage: 100.6
Consecutive 100s: 5
Miles needed for 6000: 5396.2
Percentage of target reached: 10.06%
With 46 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 117.3

Racing away to push my weekly average to 100 by mid-February is unprecedented for me. I've got 10% of my target done already! The dry winter has almost certainly helped. Here's how many weeks it took to get the average to 100 previously, best first:

1998 - week 11 (mid-March)
2009 + 2010 - week 23 (early June)
2011 - week 27 (early July)
1997 - week 33 (mid-August)

Now that I'm averaging 100, I need to keep it there for the remainder of the year. Part of me groans at the thought; the other part says, "get on with it, fat boy."