2012 - Week 12 Graph

Another four weeks have flown by so it's time to evaluate the positions.

After a good four week period, I'm still ahead of the pack. In weeks 9 - 12 I put on an impressive 594.1 miles, a smashing average of 148.5 per week. In contrast, those 4 weeks in 1998 yielded 491.2 miles, a whole 100 miles fewer. My lead is as follows:

1998 - 144.6 miles
2009 - 360.3 miles

Looking forward to the next four week period I should be able to keep ahead of 1998 without too much difficulty. In 1998 I added 515.3 miles in that segment of year - the individual scores were 77.2, 104.2, 168.1 and 165.8. With my existing 144 mile lead, to keep ahead of 1998 I need to add 370.8 miles over the next 4 weeks, an average of 92.7 miles per week. Nay problem.

2012 Week 12

Week 12 (w/e 25 March 2012)

Miles: 167.3

Monday opened the week in grey, windy and chilly fashion. The wind was whipping in off the Irish Sea on this occasion so it made things a bit of a struggle when I turned back into it on my afternoon ride. I only did 16 miles in 65 minutes. There was some drizzle around in the evening so I didn't bother going back out again. Conditions had improved the following day, so I pushed on to 31 miles in the afternoon and topped that up in the evening to finish Tuesday with very nearly 40 miles. It was overcast on Wednesday, but fine, so an hour's ride in the late afternoon saw me to 54 miles. The skies cleared in the evening and the temperature turned chilly, but I managed a second ride that ended with me on 62 miles. For a Wednesday evening that was a good return on the week so far.

The weather now entered a glorious seven day period when it was unseasonably warm and sunny. At times it felt more like late August than late March. I went out on Thursday afternoon, coming back with 80 miles on the clock. I nipped back out in the evening, although by then the wind had whipped up a bit from earlier. I returned home with very nearly 88 miles done. By Friday I was able to dispense with my winter outfit of leggings, hat and thermal gloves. Marvellous! Just over an hour's cycling saw me home with 105 miles. Yet another week where the ton was achieved with the full weekend to come. I wasn't finished of course, as an evening trip resulted in me achieving 113 miles before Saturday had begun.

Saturday afternoon was pleasantly warm so I cycled into town as usual, this time wearing my summer cycling gear. In March? Incredible. Two further trips later in the day took me to 138 miles. Sunday brought the welcome arrival of British Summer Time. Another warm and sunny afternoon meant another bike ride; I came back with 158 miles. There was still time to squeeze in another trundle in the evening, so I finished the week with a commendable 167 miles. Incidentally, that's 32nd place in my all-time hall of records.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 33 m.
Total for 2012: 1417.5
2012 average weekly mileage: 118.12
Consecutive 100s: 11
Miles needed for 6000: 4582.5
Percentage of target reached: 23.62%
With 40 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 114.56

It turned out to be a slow time to rack up the first 100 miles of the week. This was odd, as it felt faster than that (the average speed was 15.25 mph). Still, there are a couple of things worthy of note this week: firstly, it was my best individual weekly score since May 2008, if you omit last August's frankly bonkers 341 of the Berwick trip of course. The second thing worth mentioning is that in order to crack 6000 miles in 2012 I'll need to average 115.38 miles per week. I've now pushed my average below the required level. So I'm ahead of schedule. In the last four weeks, my weekly average has leapt from 103 miles to 118. Fruity.

2012 Week 11

Week 11 (w/e 18 March 2012)
Miles: 137.2

My week started off with a zero. I was feeling under the weather on Monday and really didn't feel like dragging my bones out for a bike ride. So I didn't bother. Things were back to normal on Tuesday so I got out in the afternoon for an 18 mile ride and then dashed out later in the evening to close the day with 25 big ones. The weather felt distinctly autumnal: the skies were blanketed by high white cloud and the air felt very still. Wednesday was much the same, so off I went at 5 pm and pushed myself along to 42.5 miles. I got distracted in the evening watching Chelsea v Napoli on TV, otherwise I would have certainly shot out again to reach the half century by Wednesday night. Never mind, 42.5 miles wasn't a bad foundation.

More autumnal weather greeted me on Thursday, so I advanced to 61 miles in the afternoon and closed the day with 69 following my usual evening loop. By Friday, the weather changed. A brisk south / southwesterly wind was blowing in, to slow me down. Rain was also forecast for later. I went out in the afternoon and took myself to 85 miles. The rain eventually turned up just after 7 pm so that was it for the day.

Saturday was sunny and warm. Was this a strong hint of spring being just around the corner? I pedalled into town that afternoon as usual, rolling home with 95 miles. I cracked the 100 with a short trip just before tea and then ended the day with 109 on the clock after dashing out at 9 despite the ominous presence of some heavy showers that I spotted on the radar lurking off the coast of Southport and slowly heading this way. In the end they never arrived. Sunday was also clear and warm, although that annoying NW headwind had returned. My afternoon bike ride took me to almost 129 miles. A final trip in the mid-evening saw me come home with 137.2 for the week. It was only when I went to enter the figure into my cycling spreadsheet that I spotted that I had (probably subconsciously) beaten last week's score by 0.1 of a mile. Weird.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 26 m.
Total for 2012: 1250.2
2012 average weekly mileage: 113.65
Consecutive 100s: 10
Miles needed for 6000: 4749.8
Percentage of target reached: 20.83%
With 41 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 115.84

A fast time to get the 100 this week due to autumnal stillness of the weather most of the week.
I'm 20% of the way to my target and it's not even the end of March. This is a good feeling.

2012 Week 10

Week 10 (w/e 11 March 2012)
Miles: 137.1

Moo.

A sunny start to the week saw me exit Monday with 26 miles in total, following an 18 mile trundle in the afternoon and the usual 8 mile loop in mid-evening. Tuesday was clear but breezy to begin with. I added another 18 miles in the afternoon to take me to 44, but then steady rain arrived so I didn't add to the total. Wednesday was cold and blustery, with occasional wintry showers blowing in from the west. These cleared by late afternoon so I was able to get out and grind out 16 miles despite the unappealing gale. I didn't bother going out again in the evening, but I'd hauled myself to 60 miles which, for a Wednesday, was an excellent result for me.

Thursday was grey and drizzly. I dashed out at 5 pm despite the evidence of the rain radar that showed heavy showers slipping down the Cumbrian coast and heading this way. The rain began falling lightly when I was on my way back home, so I cut short the ride and came back before an hour was up with almost 72 miles on the clock. Conditions were clear later in the evening so I did my trusty 8 mile local loop and thus moved on to 80 miles. Friday was overcast but fine so I squeezed in a 12 miler just before teatime and then added 8 miles later in the evening so that I rolled home with 100 miles on a Friday night for the second week running.

Saturday was sunny and felt warm, although I imagine that the fact that I was wearing my winter layers didn't help. I made my usual trip into town and then had a quick dash out into the countryside and back at 6 pm to move along to 120 miles. I had an appointment with a curry house on Saturday night so resumed the chase on Sunday afternoon. I got out there for a good hour, coming home with 137 miles. A mist of drizzle was in the air for the last few miles of the ride and this thickened in the evening - so having enjoyed a good week I decided to put my feet up in the evening and not bother pushing on into the 140s. 

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 32 m.
Total for 2012: 1113
2012 average weekly mileage: 111.3
Consecutive 100s: 9
Miles needed for 6000: 4887
Percentage of target reached: 18.55%
With 42 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 116.36

Things are progressing nicely. Having smashed through the 1000 mile barrier in week 10, that breaks the previous record (1998) by one week - and I was only 24.1 miles off cracking the 1000 in week 9. Two good weeks have seen my average for 2012 leap from 102.9 to 111.3 which looks impressive. Another bonus is that I've now got the remaining miles I need to dip below 5000 miles. Wow, feels like I'm practically there already!

Roadkill

Cycling along country lanes as I do, you won't be too surprised to learn that I regularly see a fair display of roadkill out there. Most common are rabbits, understandably, but I often spot pheasants, a hedgehog or two in the right season and even the occasional farm cat. Sometimes I spot the more unusual: I've seen a flattened weasel at least once and on one occasion a few years ago, a dead fox.

But this week I saw my biggest piece of roadkill yet:

Who killed Bambi?

I've seen deer in the area before. One memorable occasion in October 2008 I was cycling along the road that skirts the River Wyre late one afternoon. As I came around a bend I found myself looking at three of them. Two were on the river bank and one of them was in the road. The latter jumped over the fence back onto the river bank when it saw me and all three then started running, with me following a short distance behind. They then sprang back over the fence and into the road, then scarpered a short distance down it into a field on my left. They ran across it in convoy, exciting a herd of cows that were already there, before disappearing into a small wooded area that bordered it. That was about a mile away as the crow flies from where I spotted the carcass this week.

Oh deer.

2012 Week 9

Week 9 (w/e 4 March 2012)
Miles: 152.5

I'm conscious that the content of this blog is quite dry and leans heavily towards statistics. To brighten things up a bit I've decided to add a cycling-related photo to each entry. This week's opening pic comes from a stretch of the A586, in case you want to make a note of it. Ok, let's get down to business.

Week 9 was a cracker - despite losing a complete day to rain.

Monday was washed out completely. Good start, there. So I got things underway on Tuesday. The weather was drizzly, but I managed 16 miles in the late afternoon along the usual lanes. I was able to top that up in the evening with a good 30 minutes or so, the result being 23 miles in the bank. The weather on Wednesday was very pleasant - mild and fine. I went off in the afternoon and did 18 miles, topping that up in the evening so that I finished the day with a 50.

Having laid that foundation, I looked forward to taking advantage of the pleasant sunny weather on Thursday. But first I had to drop off my bike at the local bike shop for some attention. In addition to the broken gear cable there were a couple of other minor things that needed attention. I noticed the difference when I got it back. It's amazing what an improvement a mini-service can deliver. I went off on a 20 miler to celebrate then did some more in the evening. Thursday closed with me on 78 miles. Good work. Friday's weather was similarly excellent, so I took myself to 95 miles in the afternoon and then broke through the 100 mark in the evening - to 102 miles, to be exact.

Having sorted out the ton with two full days to spare, anything over that was going to be a welcome bonus. Three short trips on Saturday brought me to 126 miles. Sunday was clear and cold and a bitter north-westerly wind was blowing in. Not much fun when heading into it, but with the wind at my back I flew. The afternoon ride took me to 144 miles, leaving me with a 30 minute dash mid-evening to complete my total this week of 152. A fine effort.

152.5 miles is my highest weekly score since the first week of October 2011 (158.1). It also saw my weekly average leap from 102.9 to 108.4.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 25 m.
Total for 2012: 975.9
2012 average weekly mileage: 108.43
Consecutive 100s: 8
Miles needed for 6000: 5024.1
Percentage of target reached: 16.26%
With 43 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 116.84

Fastest time of the year to get to 100 miles, I note. Just shows what having your bike serviced can do. Also, the "average needed from here to get 6000 miles" figure has been resolutely anchored at 117.x miles for the last 6 weeks; it's a boost to get that to fall, even if it's just by 0.8 of a mile.

Also this week: early on, I noticed that my back tyre was soft.
"Darn", I thought, "either that puncture repair was botched or I've run over another flippin' thorn."
I pumped up the tyre and left it for 30 minutes. When I returned to check it, the tyre was still fully inflated.
"Funny," I thought.
Over the next few days the tyre sometimes stayed up and sometimes went a bit softer.
I eventually worked out the valve is a bit dodgy and that's the source of the leak. Ho hum.