2012 Week 8

Week 8 (w/e 26 February)
Miles: 103.5

The week got off to a promising start with steady rain until late in the evening that ruled out any cycling for me. Never mind, there are plenty of days in the week. Tuesday afternoon was overcast but dry, so I took myself out for a 19 miler. Misty drizzle arrived in the evening. In normal times such weather usually puts me off getting the bike out, but I'd seen the forecast for Wednesday and wasn't impressed. So I dashed out for an extra 7 miles at 10 pm despite the light rain that was now falling. Wednesday did indeed bring rain, but this had cleared by mid-evening so I managed a good 40 minute pedal that took me to 35 miles.

Thursday felt quite mild out, at least in sheltered parts out of the wind that had whipped itself up again. I took a trip to my local town in the afternoon then did the usual hour in the countryside. The result of these journeys saw me advance to 58 miles. I didn't make it out again in the evening. And then Friday. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had somewhere to go that evening but set aside time to nip out for 12 or so miles and thus head into the weekend with 70. But it wasn't to be, thanks to a puncture in the back tyre. Bah!

I fixed the puncture on Saturday afternoon, despite a dreadful hangover. I managed to snap my gear cable in the process. Twit. At least the weather was good, so I ended Saturday with 78 miles in the end, despite being stuck with two gears in effect. So 22 miles on Sunday was the requirement and I did it all in one ride that afternoon, despite the distraction of the League Cup final on TV. The weather was great for cycling: still and calm, with a ceiling of high white cloud.

Having rolled back home with just under 101 miles, I had a couple of hours rest. Suddenly at around 9:30 pm I noticed that it was starting to drizzle outside. A quick look at the invaluable rain radar revealed that a band of heavy rain was moving in from the Irish Sea. Finishing on 101 miles this week would mean that my weekly average for 2012 would fall back by a fraction. By 0.2 miles, in fact. "So what?" you might ask. But the competitive spirit within me refused to allow that to happen, so I quickly dashed out for 10 minutes to add another two miles to my total to ensure that this didn't happen... despite the rain that was steadily growing firmer. Utter madness.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 37 m.
Total for 2012: 823.4
2012 average weekly mileage: 102.92
Consecutive 100s: 7
Miles needed for 6000: 5176.6
Percentage of target reached: 13.72%
With 44 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 117.65