Two perfect cycling days in a row !!

Succorso said:

With a new ice-age being hyped up by the media (and the Met-Office in blatent "we told you so"
litigation avoidance mode) for this week, I made the most of this weekend to get some
acclimatisation miles with the new bike.

Did a 20 mile round trip to Dereham yesterday, and a another 20 miler today, this time a mini-tour
of the Acres (West Acre, South Acre, Castle Acre).

Both days absolutely fantastic- little wind, cool but not cold, and both sunny with excellent
visibility.

Can't fault the bike (Dawes Sonoron for those who missed the earlier post) - light, spritely and
an excellent range of gears; bottom gear I will never use because hills just don't get that steep
in Norfolk, and top gear I'll not use for a long time yet as I don't have enough strength in my
legs to maintain cadence in that gear.

I still need to lose another 20lbs or so of lard to avoid hauling that weight all around Norfolk,
but I figure I'm doing pretty well for someone who was smoking 40 [censored] a day and four stone
overweight just two years ago; when I would get "winded" just climbing a flight of stairs.

Down Snap Hill near Marlborough, into a headwind, on the Nomad with mudguards, rack and rack pack
attached, I got 51.9 mph yesterday :-) Fastest I've been for nearly 10 years - and yes, I did
carefully calibrate the computer with a rollout test.

On 25/1/04 5:44 pm, in article [email hidden],

Succorso said:

With a new ice-age being hyped up by the media (and the Met-Office in blatent "we told you so"
litigation avoidance mode) for this week, I made the most of this weekend to get some
acclimatisation miles with the new bike.

Thought I'd better take the bike out yesterday. The roads were mostly fine on the main roads. Went
into Blairgowrie for the first time and stopped for a cup of tea. Frosted benches, blue sky, a nice
town square and a good cupap at the cafe. I'd driven the road from Blairgowrie to Alyth before and
knew it was twisting and rolling, with fast driving on poor visibility. I took the top road instead.
A long climb up on frosted roads. No traffic (except the few tyretracks in the frost) Silence,
sunshine over the mist rising from the fields and great views. The fun part was dodging the black
ice and feeling the rear wheel slide a few times.

Coming down into Alyth was interesting. One of the few times I have got off a bike to walk *down* a
hill. It'll be a great ride when the weather warms up.

..d

Did 100km from Souhampton to Dummer near Basingstoke, and back again. Lovely
weather for it: not a drop of wind.

Simon

"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Did 100km from Souhampton to Dummer near Basingstoke, and back again.

Lovely

Quoted message said:

weather for it: not a drop of wind.

Lucky you! The wind made its presence felt up here in Yorkshire.

Vernon in Leeds

Succorso said:

With a new ice-age being hyped up by the media (and the Met-Office in blatent "we told you so"
litigation avoidance mode) for this week, I made the most of this weekend to get some
acclimatisation miles with the new bike.

Did an offroad ride in Dorset from Old Harry Rocks along the ridges to Corfe and then beyond to
Kimmeridge before returning along the sea cliffs. Mainly nice and sunny but the occassional heavy
raincloud ran through. Fortunately the worst I had was to catch just the edge of one. Headwind all
the way out, tail wind home. Then off on Sunday to find a motocross and 4WD mecca just north of
Salisbury. Must have seen about 30 bikes and 10 4WDs ploughing the byeways up into a mudfest. About
1/3 round, riding buddy had a tyre wall go so it was limp back and repair to the pub for a rather
excellent late lunch then home to excavate the bike from the face pack.

Tony

Succorso said:

Both days absolutely fantastic- little wind, cool but not cold, and both sunny with excellent
visibility.

Snow this morning - with predictions of worse on the local weather so I left the bike at home. Half
an hour later the sun came out and it stayed nice, but cold, all day.

:-(

two great days,

cycling saturday just under 100miles, same again sunday but different route through the new forest. lovely crisp morning at 8.10 on sunday morning.
got just outside southampton and couldn't feel my feet. so i kept sprinting up the 'hills' in the new forest to try and get some warmth.

bought some overshoes today, hopefully they should help.