2013 Week 2

Week 2 (w/e 13 January 2013)
Miles: 101.2

The weekday weather was mostly dank and misty, then came an arctic blast for the weekend... but I was able to chalk up another 100 despite my increasingly decrepit bike. I got the week underway with a short trip on Monday afternoon for 9 miles. Rain arrived at 9 in the evening, so I didn't add to the total. Tuesday saw steady rain until around 4 pm, after which it was fine but foggy. I was able to go out for a trundle in the evening and returned with 18 miles in total. Wednesday was a very foggy day and not the kind of weather to be wobbling around the roads on a bike, so I left it at home. It was the best move.

Thursday was clearer and colder with it. I got out for almost an hour's ride in the late afternoon, moving on to 31 miles in the process. I came back just as the fog was forming, which was quite a hairy experience. The fog had thickened in the evening but I went out anyway for half an hour on the usual loop into the countryside and back. I advanced to 39 miles in the process. Friday was overcast but fine. An afternoon's bike ride took me to 53 miles. Come the evening, I noticed on the rain radar some heavy showers drifting in from the south west. I thought I'd better get some more miles done before they arrived. I thus pushed on to 62 miles by 10 pm. The rain didn't actually turn up until midnight. So that left 48 miles to rattle off over the weekend to get another early ton.

The weather changed again at the weekend as the cold snap crept in. It was clear and cold on Saturday with an icy blast coming this way from the east. I cycled into town in the afternoon as usual, then nipped out for a supplementary ride after returning home. That put me on 78 miles. The temperature in the evening really dropped. By crikey, it was cold! I took to wearing two pairs of gloves at this point. This helped slightly, but the cold still managed to freeze my digits. I dragged myself out for a ride in the evening despite the cold and came back with 86 miles. And frozen fingers. I was glad of the effort on Sunday, as I only needed 14 more miles but suddenly the weather had worsened... sleet started coming down at 1 pm. This alternated with wintry drizzle without firming up into snow. By 7 pm it had stopped so at 9 pm I ventured out for an hour in my double gloves to chalk off the remaining miles I needed to score a century. I kept myself to the main road (the A588) which had been gritted - resuming the routes I'd cycled last month when the temperature had similarly tumbled. By 10 pm the job was done. A fine effort.

Having set a new record last week with the very first 100 in the first week of a year, it follows that I've set another first this week by doing 100s in weeks one and two.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 7 hrs 4 mins
Total for 2013: 203.4
2013 average weekly mileage: 101.7
Consecutive 100s: 2
Miles needed for 6000: 5796.6
Percentage of target reached: 3.4%
Required average weekly mileage: 115.93

The slowest 100 on record this week as I'm pretty much limited to using the first 7 gears on my ramshackle bike. My average speed was only 14.15 mph. Urgh. Terrible.