Miles: 101
On paper, week 17 was a potential banana skin as far as keeping up the run of 100s went. I had commitments for two days that would rule out any cycling at all. In addition, I was still training for my annual fun run and so losing valuable cycling time there: a further day lost to bad weather would mean that I was potentially up against it. As you can see from the weekly total above, I just squeaked home. Here's how.
Monday. There were a couple of showers moving through on an otherwise sunny afternoon. One of them turned up at 5:30 just as I set off for an hour's ride. I'd only gone a mile and a half when I realised that the rain I'd hoped would just clip the northern tip of the Fylde was instead heading straight towards me, so I made a hasty retreat back home, just as the first advance spots were coming down. I managed to get back out later in the evening for half an hour, so ended the day with 11 miles at least. Tuesday was much better, being warm and sunny. It was also a scheduled running day for me. I nipped out on my bike earlier in the afternoon for 12 miles as part of my warm up. That took me to 23 miles. I didn't add to that in the evening, preferring instead to rest my legs. Unfortunately, I woke up on Wednesday with a very sore knee. I could tell that this wasn't just a slight ache or twinge but something more serious. It actually put an end to my training and I even doubted whether I'd be fit enough to do the fun run after all. Oh oh. What it really needed was a complete rest from activity. I should have given up the cycling for a week at least to rest it, but unsurprisingly I couldn't bring myself to do it. Wednesday afternoon was wet, but the rain had passed over by tea time so I was able to get out for around 40 minutes just before 6 pm, returning home with 34 miles. There was further rain in the early evening but by 9 pm there came an hour or two of fine weather. I should have seized my chance and got back out there for another 8 or so miles, but I got engrossed with watching Real Madrid v Bayern Munich on TV - extra time, penalties and all - and so let the opportunity slip away. I hoped it wouldn't prove costly, as with Thursday and Sunday lining up to be cycle-free days I only had two further days left to get another 66 miles done.
I spent most of Thursday on a social visit to Liverpool. It was a horrible wet day. The rain started coming down at about 1 pm and didn't stop. I gather that it was a little more patchy and drizzly back home, but even so I doubt that I would have got any miles done. Friday afternoon saw hazy sunshine, although it clouded over later on. I kept my eye on the rain radar and there was a large patch of rain to the south. Fortunately this seemed to stop on the edges of Greater Manchester and didn't venture any further north. I decided to get out for a longer ride to take a chunk out of the 66 mile target. I headed inland, crossed over the A6 and cycled along a stretch of NCN 6 and 90 before turning back for home. Two hours later I arrived back having cycled 32 miles, so the clock was showing 66. I wasn't finished either, as an evening ride on my usual loop pushed me on to 74, 40 miles up on the day. A fine effort.
That left 26 miles for Saturday and I got them thanks to three shorter rides. The weather remained mostly overcast but dry. I made my customary pedal to town mid-afternoon, then zipped out again for half an hour when I got back to advance to 92.5 miles. I polished off the target at 9 pm to end the week with 101 miles exactly. On Sunday afternoon I had to drive over to Yorkshire for a band rehearsal, but it was throwing it down all day until the evening anyway so I don't think I missed out on any cycling time. Just made it then.
The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 26 m.
Total for 2012: 2004.3
2012 average weekly mileage: 117.9
Consecutive 100s: 16
Miles needed for 6000: 3995.7
Percentage of target reached: 33.4%
With 35 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 114.16
Plenty of things to note this week. First of all, I've broken through the 2000 mile barrier in the shortest time ever as well. As well as meaning that I'm a third of my way to the target of 6000 miles, it also naturally follows that I need less than 4000 miles to get there. These little milestones are psychologically pleasing to tick off. On the downside, my weekly average average drops by a whole mile and the "average weekly miles needed for 6000" tips back over the 114 mark again after two weeks of being 113.x miles. I'll live.
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