K
Keith Willoughb
Guest
As my regular readers will remember (*cough*), a couple of
weekends ago, I beat my personal best distance with a ride
of 17 miles. Well, this morning I went on a ride to
Abercynon (6 miles there, 6 back). Got to Abercynon, felt
good, decided to carry on to Merthyr Tydfil (another 10
miles or so) and get the train back down the valley.
So, I got to Merthyr at 09:55 (the last mile killed me for
some reason), went in to Tesco, had a bacon and egg roll and
a cup of coffee, came out and went to the station. First
train down the valley is at 15:25.
Now, people who have been to Merthyr will realise how crappy
I was feeling when I say that I seriously considered
spending 5 hours in Merthyr on a Sunday. However, 20 minutes
slumped on a seat outside the station had me feeling much
better. So I cycled back. It was much easier dropping down
500 feet that climbing it, so there was plenty of
freewheeling, but I was still pretty tired when I got back -
but I made
it. 33 miles. Yay me.
Things I have learned :-
The bike clothing I previously thought was for posers turns
out to be presumably a damned good idea. I could have really
done with sunglasses coming back south. And, I found I
couldn't remove either of my top layers when the sun cam
out, because my cotton t-shirt was sodden with sweat and I
froze everytime I removed a layer.
Despite this, of all the people I said 'good morning' to as
I passed, the only ones not to reciprocate were the ones
wearing lurid cycling jerseys and trendy shades, who looked
at me as if I were a nutter. (Two separate groups.
Presumably they weren't impressed with the jogging bottoms
and the cheap MTB)
I really want clipless pedals.
I really want non-knobbly tyres. The road noise was
driving me mad, and I could feel them holding me back on
down-slopes.
Laces should be tucked into shoes.
The Taff Trail from Ponty to Merthyr is pretty damned nice,
except for the stretch between Abercynon and Pontygwaith,
which doesn't deserve the description 'bike path'. I know
the real MTBers would laugh, but bouncing from stone to
stone with a drop of 30 feet into a river immedately to my
left isn't my idea of fun. I got off and walked. Next time,
I take the road for that stretch.
Even fat dudes like me can cycle 33 miles.
--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/ Fair and Balanced
- http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_view_of_the_bbc_player.htm
weekends ago, I beat my personal best distance with a ride
of 17 miles. Well, this morning I went on a ride to
Abercynon (6 miles there, 6 back). Got to Abercynon, felt
good, decided to carry on to Merthyr Tydfil (another 10
miles or so) and get the train back down the valley.
So, I got to Merthyr at 09:55 (the last mile killed me for
some reason), went in to Tesco, had a bacon and egg roll and
a cup of coffee, came out and went to the station. First
train down the valley is at 15:25.
Now, people who have been to Merthyr will realise how crappy
I was feeling when I say that I seriously considered
spending 5 hours in Merthyr on a Sunday. However, 20 minutes
slumped on a seat outside the station had me feeling much
better. So I cycled back. It was much easier dropping down
500 feet that climbing it, so there was plenty of
freewheeling, but I was still pretty tired when I got back -
but I made
it. 33 miles. Yay me.
Things I have learned :-
The bike clothing I previously thought was for posers turns
out to be presumably a damned good idea. I could have really
done with sunglasses coming back south. And, I found I
couldn't remove either of my top layers when the sun cam
out, because my cotton t-shirt was sodden with sweat and I
froze everytime I removed a layer.
Despite this, of all the people I said 'good morning' to as
I passed, the only ones not to reciprocate were the ones
wearing lurid cycling jerseys and trendy shades, who looked
at me as if I were a nutter. (Two separate groups.
Presumably they weren't impressed with the jogging bottoms
and the cheap MTB)
I really want clipless pedals.
I really want non-knobbly tyres. The road noise was
driving me mad, and I could feel them holding me back on
down-slopes.
Laces should be tucked into shoes.
The Taff Trail from Ponty to Merthyr is pretty damned nice,
except for the stretch between Abercynon and Pontygwaith,
which doesn't deserve the description 'bike path'. I know
the real MTBers would laugh, but bouncing from stone to
stone with a drop of 30 feet into a river immedately to my
left isn't my idea of fun. I got off and walked. Next time,
I take the road for that stretch.
Even fat dudes like me can cycle 33 miles.
--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/ Fair and Balanced
- http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_view_of_the_bbc_player.htm