2013 Week 8

Week 8 (w/e 24 February 2013) 
Miles: 120.4

The first three days of the week were clear and sunny, but cold in the evenings as a consequence. I got the week underway with a 12 mile ride on Monday afternoon and then pushed on to 20 in the evening. On Tuesday I actually had a day off cycling (shock!) but made up for this on Wednesday with another 12 miler in the afternoon (the bitter easterly wind that was probably blowing in from the Russian Steppes didn't help) and then advanced to 41 miles with another ride in the chilly evening. Roll on summer.

Thursday was cloudy but still bloomin' cold. I went out for an hour in the afternoon (57 miles the result) and added another 30 minutes in the evening to end the day on 64.5 miles. Friday afternoon was bitterly cold. My fingers were frozen despite double gloves. I went out for 40 minutes, moving on to 76 miles and then added 5 and a bit at 10 pm to close on 81.5 miles. Saturday felt very wintry. Sleet in the morning gave way to drizzly rain in the afternoon. Despite the conditions I cycled into town and then nipped out again for half an hour once I'd arrived home. I finished the day on 98.8 miles! Egg would most definitely be all over my face had I not bothered to clinch the 100 and Sunday proved to be  a washout... mind you, I would have gone out in lashing rain for just a mile to reach the landmark. As it happened, Sunday was mostly cloudy but fine, so I went out for an hour or so in the afternoon to reach 112 miles, then did another 30 minute loop in the evening to end the week with a comfortable 120 miles.

The stats:
Time taken to get 100: 6 hrs 56 mins
Total for 2013: 785.4
2013 average weekly mileage: 98.17
Consecutive 100s: 4
Miles needed for 6000: 5214.6
Percentage of target reached: 13.09%
Required average weekly mileage: 118.51

It was a disappointingly slow time for the 100 considering that this was my first full week on a newly-serviced bike. Over the next week or two it became obvious to me that over the course of a week my average speed was down on what it had been, by about half a mile I'd say despite the bike desperately needing a service. The comparison with 2012 was even bleaker: in the same week, my average speed was 15.1 mph as opposed to the 14.4 I managed this year. I had a new front tyre fitted as part of the service and my suspicion that I was given a slightly wider tyre than I'd previously had proved to be correct. It was difficult to find the figure because it was printed in very small letters right on the rim, but the new tyre is a 37 mm one as opposed to the 35 I had on previously. It's surprising how such a little thing can make such a big difference, to paraphrase Morrissey.