2012 Week 24

Week 24 (w/e 17 June 2012)
Miles: 106.2

This is quite a novelty - for the first time in a while I find myself writing about last week's cycling larks rather than some distant time. Sadly, this week mirrored last week in the respect that the weather frustratingly held back my charge for glory. Here's how in unravelled.

Monday. Monday afternoon was overcast and cool. But a greater distraction presented itself in the shape of France v England in the Euros. So no cycling was done until later in the evening, when I made a start on the chase by trundling along my usual 8 mile loop. Tuesday's weather showed a slight improvement, with broken cloud cover allowing occasional sunny breaks. I took myself out in the late afternoon for an hour, returning home with 24 miles in total. This was improved to 32 miles when I dashed out once more in the evening to add another 8 miles. Wednesday morning was wet but by the afternoon the rain had moved on, leaving behind grey clouds and menacing threats. I cycled into town for a change, having missed out the previous Saturday. In the evening, after watching Netherlands v Germany on tv I slipped quietly out for another 8 miles on the familiar loop. I got back with a total of 51 miles. A decent result for Wednesday, all said.

What did I write about Wednesday last week?

"A good foundation once more - surely getting another 50 over four days wouldn't pose a problem?"

I'm getting a distinct feeling of deja vu here.

Thursday afternoon was generally sunny. Italy v Croatia was on tv but I eschewed this in favour of more pedalling. I got out there for an hour, noticing that the blustery easterly wind had turned up once again. Urgh. I got back with 67 miles done, half an hour ahead of the arrival of drizzle... that developed into firm rain by nightfall. I had a visit to the pub planned anyway, but there was no guilt attached as this wasn't cycling weather. Friday brought showers. Morning rain had eased away by noon but come 3:30 it was pelting down again. I managed to get out on my bike for a mile and a half, riding to the local bike shop to pick up my new back tyre. It was drizzling for the next couple of hours. There was a clear spell from around 7 pm until 9, but this coincided with Sweden v England on the television. I would have probably zipped out for half an hour after the match had it not been raining steadily again by then. Ho hum.

Into the weekend then, requiring another 31 miles to rack up another centrury. And the omens weren't good. The weather on Saturday was grim. Very grim. It felt like a November day than one in June, to be quite frank. The blustery wind blew and steady rain came down for much of the afternoon. By 5:30 it had appeared to have stopped. I really didn't want to leave too many miles to get on Sunday and 31 miles was too many in my opinion. I got myself ready to go out for half an hour and just then... it started to rain again. Bah! Fortunately, having watched the Czech Republic v Poland in the evening a window of opportunity opened again and I hurled myself through it. 9 miles later I came home with 80 on the clock, leaving a much more palatable 20 to get the next day. As luck would have it, Sunday was a fine and sunny day. The contrast with Saturday couldn't have been more different. I took myself out on a 24 miler to polish off the 100 in one gasp. Coming back with 104 miles, I then checked my cycling spreadsheet and noticed that I was only two miles off reaching the total of 2900 miles for the year. Never one to shirk the challenge of passing a milestone when dangled so temptingly in front of me, I nipped out at half time in the Portugal v Netherlands game and bagged a brace of miles to finish with 106.

In a re-run of last week, I then had an appointment with the pub. Once again, I would have otherwise nipped out for another half an hour to get the 8 or 9 miles needed to keep my averages from falling. But I didn't. So it goes again.

The stats:

Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 27 m.
Total for 2012: 2900.9

2012 average weekly mileage: 120.8
Consecutive 100s: 23
Miles needed for 6000: 3099.1

Percentage of target reached: 48.34%
With 28 weeks to go, average weekly miles needed for 6000: 110.68

A strangely slow week to reach 100 miles by recent standards. Blustery weather was the cause, I suspect.

A frustrating fortnight has seen me put on just 214.7 miles. Ideally I would have liked many more than that to maintain the gap between this year and 1998.