Bike Riding Funs

 Now that good weather and lighter nights are here I've been able to get some decent 20 mile bike rides in on my new - ok new-ish now - Raleigh Cadent One hybrid bike.

It's a much racier ride than my mountain bike which I still use as a hack bike for going to work, and also a much bumpier one as it lacks suspension. It also gives me numb hands for some reason, so last night I tried out some fingerless padded gloves, which helped a bit but weren't completely successful.

I'm enjoying the rides though, you burn through a lot of calories while riding this bike with its bigger gears, and it goes pretty quickly on its skinnier hybrid tyres. 

I mainly ride the country lanes to the south of town, with last nights ride taking me through Cotham, Shelton, Hakwsworth and onto Screveton, where there is a memorial to the victims of a wartime air collision over looked by a giant sculpture of a woman farm worker. 

You then get the pleasure of going through Flintham and then mainly riding downhill on the old A46 back home. This would have been suicidal before they built the new A46 duel carriageway, if ever I found myself on the old road back then I was always terrified. 

I've been able to average over 30kmh on this stretch of road before, but last night there was a strong headwind and I was rather tired. 32km covered in the end.

Or in old money, 20 miles.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 28.06.21

Two Wheels not Two Legs

Two Wheels Good, Two Legs Bad.

The Animal Farm version of today.

So, Wednesday's exercise consisted of me riding the route of the charity bike ride I arranged for work last year, around the local South Notts villages of Cotham, Sibthorpe, Hawksworth, Scarrington, Car Colston, Screveton and FLintham before making a fast (ha ha) ride home.

Just like the charity ride last year, it was a rotten headwind all the way out, to the extent that my second 20km home was twice as fast as the outward bound journey. It was good to get a long 40km ride in however, to try and get the calories burning and the legs spinning in time for the dread winter commute.

I also saw some autumn cyclamen, Which I've been hoping to come across for a while. It wasn't really a sightseeing day however, it was just a little grey and gloomy, and I could see distant rainclouds I didn't want to get caught in. Metaphor for life! I stopped for the churches, for they had flowers growing and in Scarrington's case Cockerel's strutting, and the Screveton giants are always worth a viewing, especially as swallows and house martins feed themselves up around them.

Next day or two, they are gone for warmer climes, as I wish I could be.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 20.09.17

Back from the Sick

Aploogies for the absence, but literally while on my bicycle ride to work on Friday I started to feel very ill, and in the end was sent home with some form of norovirus or other bug.

Heaven only knows how I managed the ride home, but I did, then had a really nasty day feeling terrible and my body doing terrible things. Luckily, it was only a 24 and a bit hour virus, and I was able to go into town for supplies by Saturday afternoon, but I was very annoyed at missing a game of cricket on Saturday.

Luckily I was able to masquerade as a father for the "Lads versus Dads" match the next day, which was a lot of fun, and today, I found myself doing a reconaissance of the route I've worked out for a charity cycle ride I'm arranging with work.

To be honest, I didn't feel up to it at all, but I needed to get it sorted out before the event.

So, I found myself out and about on a lovely day, making my way through the cricketing villages of South Notts - Car Colston, Flintham, Syerston etc - with all their churches, and village greens grazed by animals, and wildflower meadows.

The most bizarre sights, however, were at Screveton, a village I've never seen in my life, where cycling towards FLintham, I was suddenly confronted with a giant green statue of a woman doing something "farmy".

There seems to be a few of these in these fields, made of a substance akin to, butchers grass and a handy information board was in place to tell the visitor about them.

In virtually the same place, was a memorial for the crews of two aircraft that crashed into each other during World War 2. There were a lot of incidents around here, as a lot of airfields in the area were involved in training and heavy bomber conversions. This was one of the worst, however.

In the end, I did nearly 40km, and saw more village signposts than I ever have in my life.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 30.08.16