I had the day off work to get various jobs done. All morning, it poured
with rain. Around 1:30 p.m. it dried up...
Half an hour later, I'm putting a bit of extra air in the
700c tyre, checking my trip computer, adjusting my
wristguards... and I'm off along the river bank!
The first part of the ride is along familiar paths, past the
football ground, under Trent Bridge, and along the
embankment. There's a strong headwind, and riding is
challenging. I pass a group of young males who appear to be
physiologically optimised for answering no-brainers. Their
witty comments range from, "What the f***?" to, "Yayaya
yayaya yayaya! Whoooo!" I politely ignore them.
Up the steep ramp onto the suspension bridge. Here there's a
strong cross wind, but that's no excuse for the soft UPD
when I fail to make enough allowance for the unevenness of
the slats making up the deck of the bridge. So I'm a couple
of miles into the ride, and there go any ideas of 20 miles
"at a sit". (I've only achieved that once - and that was on
the Coker.)
I follow cycle tracks alongside the road. Most of the people
I meet are friendly. A few drivers toot their hooters;
others hoot their tooters - a subtle distinction, but not
wasted on a man of my sensibilities.
I decide to aim for the University Park, but the cycletracks
draw me to the entrance to the main campus where I have to
approach a security booth and a barrier. I try to look like
any other road user. In the end, I'm forced to dismount.
Then the guard raises the barrier. With an ironic smile, I
prepare to remount and ride through - until a loud blast on
a horn warns me that the barrier wasn't raised for me, but
for the bloomin' great lorry approaching from behind me!
The university is on a hill - a surprisingly large one - and
I slog my way up, wishing I'd not worn the extra top. The
weather might be miserable, but it's not cold. My route is
fringed with students, and I prepare for witty comments. My
riposte is ready: "I see you're studying mediaeval humour."
No comments are made - I just get a few friendly grins.
Over the top of the hill and down to the exit, where I skirt
past the barriers before following the pavement round to the
park entrance. From there, I do a clockwise lap of the lake,
exploring some narrow and quite steep paths. The walls are
marked with notices: "Please do not climb on the wall."
Presumably, these hark back to an age when students were
assumed to be reasonably literate and moderately obedient!
About now, it starts to rain, quite heavily, and I'm about 5
miles or so from the car. I decide to cut through a
residential area, following a posted bicycle route. I'm
riding on the roads some of the time. Most of the drivers
are courteous, but one sees me signal to turn right, and
accelerates to get past me before I make the turn. I give
him the internationally recognised signal that he could have
waited 2 seconds.
Eventually, I reach the canal. The tricky cobbled bridge
awaits - and the cobbles are wet and slimy, and my tyre
is rock hard. I'm pleased to make it over the bridge AND
to make the tighter of the two turns available
immediately after.
From here, it should be an easy sail along the canal towpath
- the wind is behind me, but the towpath is a muddy mess of
puddles. Oh for some mudguards! Then a mile or two later,
the towpath is closed for maintenance, and I have to divert
through more backstreets and along cycle paths before I
return to the canalside.
So far, I've had one UPD on the suspension bridge (about 2
miles into the ride) and one UPD when I failed to idle at a
junction. I have one more (totally expected) UPD on a steep
slope up to a bridge, and one unexpected UPD as I drop down
from Trent Bridge back onto the river bank. From there it's
an easy ride back to the car.
All this on a 700c (28) with 110mm cranks. Riding time
2:00.48 (elapsed time about 2:10). Top speed 13 mph. (21
kmh) Distance covered, 15.97 miles. (25.7 km) Average speed
approx 8 mph (12.8 kmh)
Question: would I get a better average speed on 125 mm
cranks? I know that every time I approach an obstacle on
the 110s, I have to slow down well in advance, and ride
with extra care. Would the extra control on tricky sections
buy back the time lost on the straight flat sections? I
might try it.
--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling
Sometimes I ride like a demon, sometimes like a lemon. It's an L of a
difference.
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