Miles: 108.5
You wouldn't have guessed that this would be the case on the Monday though, as it was a splendid sunny day, much as it had been for the previous week. I took myself out on the bike in the afternoon for a 16 mile ride. This was the jubilee weekend and a Bank Holiday Monday, so I celebrated that evening in the customary fashion by going to the pub. No more miles were added. The weather then lurched to the other end of the scale. Tuesday afternoon was overcast and drizzly. I managed to dash out at 5:45 for half an hour or so despite the light rain that was swirling around in the air. I got back with almost 26 miles. Steady rain rolled in ten minutes later and got heavier as the evening progressed, so that was that for the day. Wednesday afternoon was mostly clear and sunny in comparison. But checking the rain radar I noticed heavy bands of rain moving up the country from the south. It looked distinctly ominous so I decided to get the bike out a few hours earlier than normal. An hour's ride brought me home with 42 miles in the bag. As luck would have it, the heavy rain showers missed the Fylde completely; the wind blew them over to the north east. Phew. This allowed me to dash back out on Wednesday evening for another half an hour to end the day with 50 miles. A good foundation once more - surely getting another 50 over four days wouldn't pose a problem?
Thursday came. So did steady rain. It came down until about 9 in the evening. There was a slight chance that I might have dashed out for half an hour around 10 pm, but I took up a better offer of going to the pub instead. Besides, the roads would have been pretty wet by that time. And with 50 miles already in the bank, there was no need to panic. Friday arrived and it was wild. A gale came howling in off the Irish Sea, bringing rain in the morning. By the afternoon it was merely grey and blustery, with spots of rain in the air. Flaming June? You're having a laugh. Friday also marked the start of Euro 2012. After watching the first half of the opening game (Poland v Greece) I nipped out for half an hour to edge along to 59 miles. Heavy rain came bucketing in by mid-evening, so no more miles were added. Into the weekend then, with 41 miles of the target remaining.
Saturday. More rain. A grim afternoon. Fortunately the rain stopped at about 2:30, enabling me to get the bike out. The first job was to cycle the short distance to my local bike shop to put in an order for a new back tyre, as mine was wearing through in too many places. You may have spotted that it gets a lot of use. Despite the grey and blustery conditions, I took myself out for 90 minutes to break the back of the run chase. I came home with 83 miles. With the rain holding off I shot back out later in the evening for the usual 30 minute loop, coming back with 91 miles. Sterling work. 32 miles on the day rescued the position. That left Sunday to get the remaining 9 miles to achieve another century. The weather was fortunately sunny. I went out for around 70 minutes later in the afternoon, rolling home with 108 miles. There was more football to watch in the evening (Republic of Ireland v Croatia) and then I took up another offer of going to the pub. I could have added another 8 miles otherwise to keep my averages from slipping, but never mind.
Something in the back of my mind tells me that when the year draws to a close, I'll be looking back on a week like this and mildly cursing myself for not taking advantage of the opportunity when I realise that I'm only a comparatively few miles off achieving a rounded figure for totals or averages. So it goes.
The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 21 m.
Total for 2012: 2794.7
2012 average weekly mileage: 121.5
Consecutive 100s: 22
Miles needed for 6000: 3205.3
Percentage of target reached: 46.57%
With 29 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 110.53
By posting a total less than the weekly average, the numbers slip back slightly.
No comments:
Post a Comment