2013 Week 4

Week 4 (w/e 27 January 2013)
Miles: 60.1

This field has been flooded a full 12 months I think.

Oh dear oh dear. A promising start to the year receives a blow thanks to the weather.

Monday morning. Snow! Thick, wet sleety stuff that didn't stick very much. It cleared away by 5 pm but I wasn't going to get the bike out in a hurry. Tuesday's skies were clear but oddly it felt quite warm - until the sun went down at least. I went out for a ride down the main road just before teatime, almost getting knocked off by some dick in a car pulling out of a goods yard as I passed under his nose. Fecking idiot. I got back with 9 miles then went back out along the same road in the evening to come back with 17.5 in total. Wednesday afternoon brought the sleet back for a brief shower. Brr. The evening was clear but cold so I donned double gloves and went out for the best part of an hour to push on to 30 miles. Crumbs, it was cold though. My fingers still felt it despite the extra layer.

Thursday. Clear skies became overcast by late afternoon. I got out on my bike at teatime. I didn't fancy going down the main road again after the previous evening's near miss. Cycling in the dark when people are travelling home from work can be a bit hairy. So I  headed off into the country lanes instead, correctly thinking that the roads wouldn't be slippy by now. The gritter passed me after a couple of miles anyway, which was reassuring. I got back with almost 39 miles on the clock. In the evening I took up an invitation to go to the pub, so no more miles were added. Friday saw sleet, then proper snow. The gritters struggled to cope with the deluge and even the main road was reduced to a path of white cut by tyre tracks. Not a cycling day, clearly.

Heavy rain arrived on Saturday afternoon and it continued to fall all evening. Not a cycling day then. At least it washed the snow away. Sunday at least was bright and sunny. I got myself out on the bike at 6 for half an hour, moving along to 48 miles on the way. I went out again later in the evening. By this time the wind had whipped up, which didn't make it much fun. I crawled back home almost an hour later with a total of 60 miles for the week.

60 miles! Very poor. The problem is that last year's mild winter let me zip away to a great start and having laid down the early benchmark of 100 a week in the winter, I never looked back. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have to chase a total in the ice and snow.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: N/A
Total for 2013: 347.5
2013 average weekly mileage: 86.87
Consecutive 100s: 0
Miles needed for 6000: 5652.5
Percentage of target reached: 5.8%
Required average weekly mileage: 117.76

My figures are getting worse on my knackered bike. 60.1 miles took me 4 hours and 23 minutes at an average of 13.67 mph.

Meanwhile, back in 2012...
I did 107.1 miles which gave me a total of 362.4. So I've been overtaken already. The lead is only 14.9 miles mind you.