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much of the country has woken to snow!
And that includes us here in Brizzle! Not that it'll be here long but there's @ 2cm coating everything as i type this and more is falling.
So, this week huh. Monday was cold but i had stuff to do so i got straight into it, first job, fit new chain. It's not rocket science and with the advent of 'quick links' and job specific tools, its within the grasp of anyone to do, my biggest job was locating the speed link on the old chain! I was planning the job this week but looking at the stretch, over 2cm across the 112 links, maybe i had been pushing things a bit! Still, the new chain was soon installed so job done for a few months! I did go for a walk but only to post a gift to GS#1, he got a special cerificate at school last week for being kind and helpful in class so a small reward from me seemed appropriate.
Tuesday started a bit damp but the forecast was dry from mid morning so i got ready and just delayed my departure by an hour for what i set out to be a shorter ride. I caught a bit of light rain up on the Cotswold massif then, with the mercury hovering @ 0c, that changed to light snow! It didn't last long, alternating with plain ol' wet for a while before things finally dried up. By this time my 'short' ride was looking more like a metric century so i factored a tea break in at Chippenham having ridden 60+km to get there.
I do try to mix my use of roads/routes up a bit so i took a fairly direct but none the less wiggly route back towards Brizz using roads i've not travelled since last summer before reaching more familiar tarmac closer to the city. Not the worst days ride by far, almost 900m of up over 105km so a fair effort.
Today? Well i had planned on a walk to get some lunch but given the weather i might dial that back to a shirter leg stretch - we'll see.
Whilst i do my bike rides primarily for my own mental and physical well being, this month my efforts are supporting a local charity, PROPS, who support those with mental disabilities with help aimed at physical and work place inclusion. Supporters are being ebcouraged to raise funds by commiting to riding 100 miles during March. As most weeks i ride @ 200 miles, i've set my own target of doing an imperial Century ride during the month. If you'd like to encourage me in this and donate to a great cause click here. (yes its the right page, its under my legal name) You can get more information about the organisation there too.Thank you in advance, i know times are hard but the target is a very modest £100.
Its still snowing here, the birds are all taking shelter, some of the flakes are nearly as big as the little uns! I'll be back at the weekend with more Gaby and tales from the south west's premier city!
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid
Comments
Snowing again here
in Hampshire. 2in last night and after a few hours of dead calm, the big flakes are coming down thick and fast.
I have a decorator in doing my stairway and he's just been to the paint shop. This is midday and he was only the second customer of the day.
Brrrrrrr,
I'll shortly be lighting my log fire.
Samantha
sponsored riding
Mads, done my bit to help, is your imperial century still 100 miles? or have I missed summut in my edification? Happy chip hunting this month.
Thanks for
Your support, yep, it’s still 100 miles or 162km, plotting a route is nearly as difficult as doing the ride!
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Can be hard
- to muster the mojo in these conditions. My outer kit is in the airing cupboard drying out a bit from the icy sleety muck hurling in off the North Sea today.
"Reach for the sun."
Imperial Century?
Interesting. Here in the former Colonies (AKA, the United States), a Century ride is 100 miles. A Metric Century is 100 km. And...where I live, 0C is NOT winter weather; that's a nice spring morning. It's -10C here and we had another 15cm of snow last night.
Janice
despite
being further north than most of the US, the UK has a maritime influenced climate unlike your continental climate which means we don't often get very high or low temperatures. 0c is, well, freezing point and riding a bike at that temp or below is well nithering! The humidity and strong winds we get, straight, well slightly bendy, from the Arctic circle makes it feel a lot colder than the posted temps. I've ridden over on the mainland in midwinter and felt warmer at -10c than in the low +'s in the UK. Back up in Yorkshire, up to 18"/40cm fell on Wednesday night - cycling was out!
The metric century, 100km was championed by Gran Fondo events in Europe with 200km events becoming Marathons - they haven't used miles for a good while so multiples of km make sense. Hundred mile events are called just that by most people, only Americans used the Century term but given the global nature of things like Strava and even BC, this terminology has received wider recognition. I usually do @ 110 metrics and @ 10 imperials each year with maybe a couple of 200km's thrown in for good measure. I don't often do the longer rides before the clocks change as i like to have plenty of daylight!
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Still winter?
Here in the American Midwest, we got a fairly mild winter this year. Of course our thoughts here on what is considered a mild winter is completely different. I don't think it ever reached 10F below zero here this winter and the day time temps hovered around the freezing point or not far below that. Not a lot of snow either, and it didn't stick around for months without melting as it can so often do. And not once did the weatherman compare our temperature the temperature of the north pole this year! Normal January temps can have highs as low as 10 below. January 30 of 2019 we set a record low of negative 33F with wind chills of 55 below. I can remember taking my kids Easter egg hunting in the snow.
Last Sunday it got up to 42F and I fired up my outdoor grill and was outside in a short sleeved shirt enjoying the warm temps. Of course that was an oddity and this last Thursday we got 5 inches of snow just to prove it.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.