2015 Week 10

Week 10 (w/e 8 March 2015)
Miles: 125.4

Spring is coming.

Monday afternoon saw clear blue skies, but with a vicious westerly blowing in. I needed 17 miles to be assured of clocking up 1000 for the year. I got back to my village with about one mile to go, but the skies to the west were growing ever darker. Rain was quickly heading my way. Glurk! I did a tour of the village as quickly as possible to reach the 17 mile mark, then bolted for home. I just made it: five minutes later it was belting down with hail. Although it was clear later in the evening, it was cold and dank and I didn't feel like going back out. Tsk, lazy. Unfortuately, Tuesday was a no-cycle day due to domestic commitments. Happily, Wednesday was clear and sunny, so I did a good hour's worth in the afternoon (to 32 miles) and added another ten in the evening.

Thursday. A grey and blustery day. A ride in the afternoon took me to 52 miles, which became 60 in the evening. Decent weather on Friday saw me to 70 miles in the afternoon. An evening ride took me to 78 miles, but the wind had seriously whipped up since teatime. It was still blowing a gale on Saturday. Boy, was that westerly headwind vicious! I cycled into town, as usual, then nipped out again briefly once I'd returned home, pushing on to 91 miles in the process. With no distractions in the evening, I took myself back out and rolled home with another 100 in the bag. Job done.

Sunday afternoon was sunny and pleasantly warm, since that bitter wind had disappeared. I went out for an hour or so, coming back with 116 miles. There was time for another spin later in the evening. It was a bit flippin' chilly out due to the clear skies though. I finished off the week with a reasonable 125 miles.

The stats
Time taken to get 100: 7 hrs 1 mins
Average speed for 100: 14.23 mph
Total for 2015: 1108.9
2015 average weekly mileage: 110.89
Consecutive 100s: 9
Miles needed for 6000: 4891.1
Percentage of target reached: 18.48%
Required average weekly mileage: 116.45

Like last week, a very slow time to reach 100 miles due to the vicious wind.

Alas! I've had to relinquish the yellow jersey. 2012  has overtaken me... by just 4.1 miles. Now, you're probably thinking, "why didn't he just carry on riding on Sunday evening for another 20 minutes or so to make sure he kept in front?". Ah, good question. To be brutally honest, I'd had enough! Besides, in week 11 of 2012 I posted 137.2 and then a 167 the following week. So I'd only be delaying the inevitable by another seven days. Ho hum