My Bike Shaped Valentine...

The end of a tiring day.....legwise;)Bushy Park yesterday.


Well it seems my lungs are alright. Bit of a runny nose but no infection down inside the old lungs, which is good. I feel worse if I stay indoors doing nothing when I have a cold thats for sure! I felt great out there yesterday on my bike. I wasn't going to go to start with, but the thought of staying in doing nothing (especially on Valentines Day) like I did on Tuesday......Well, I did wash my bike mind, and replaced my front brake pads with some new ones and had trouble getting the front wheel back on the bike. The disc wouldn't fit between the new pads and the brake fluid needed bleeding. Anyway, where was I? Yes. The thought of staying indoors again, and on such a wonderful day too, was just non-existent. It's just a cold and not Flu thank goodness! It does remind me a liitle of how I was feeling at the start of my tx last year, but without the aches and chills. I won't be calling the RFH now as I am fine as far as I am concerned. A snotty nose does not make Flu!
I had a nice long ride on a Lovely clean bike. It is sitting in the garage right now absolutely covered in mud waiting for another wash! 3 hours and 45 minutes worth of mud! Pretty long as weekdays go but I just didn't want to go home. So off I started from my flat near Hampton Wick at about 13:40 along the main roads and the Thames tow-path (past Marble Hill House) to Richmond, over the bridge and back along the river to the bottom of the Royal Star & Garter building, up the hill to Pete Townshends house and into Richmond Park. During my lap of the park, I noticed just how much it must have rained in the night! The stuff was literally pouring down off the higher ground like no ones business. The problem with this is that it pools right where the trail is and in places it can get rather wet and muddy. Fresh on the old legs though. I had shorts on yesterday:) So after the wet but sunny lap, then a quick look at the view over Twickenham and the surrounding area, down behind Townshends house again, along the tow-path to Ham House carpark and by road to Teddington Lock......Trust me when I say that the tow-path between the car par and Teddington Lock is atrocious at the best of times, but when it has been raining it's bloody awful! So onto my short detour down Riverside Road and down a little alley back to the lock. On my way down the alley, I saw a little bunch of Crocuses surrounding this small tree & two middle aged men were looking at them. Maybe they were quite rare? The flowers....not the men. Maybe the flowers are attracted to all the piss, poo and litter along this section. No it can't be that or there would be crocuses everywhere.......Maybe this was the only tree that the dogs don't wee against;)
Right, Teddington Lock, not just two minutes from my flat & a nice hot bath, but the sun was still in the sky, albeit very low, so on I went along the river to Kingston. I cycled into the area just by the bridge where you're not allowed to cycle and duely jumped off when I saw four Police Officers on patrol;) It gave me a few minutes to check the view out up the Thames, looking towards Hampton Court, the sun shining directly towards the bridge. This is where all the worlds Swans that aren't in Bushy Park or Richmond Park come and float around and eat white bread from Tescos with their babies. I on the other hand downed an entire Cadbury's dark chocolate flake and a medium sized banana. All I had to eat up until this point was a bowl of cornflakes and another banana for breakfast.
Back onto 'Dessert Storm', over Kingston Bridge, sharp left onto the tow-path all the way to Hampton Court Palace, looking as wonderful as ever I might add. Then by pavement to the main road entrance to Bushy Park. Before I began my lap of the park I made my way to the very expensive snack kiosk in the main car park to see what they had to eat. I chose a blueberry muffin for £1.30 and scarpared! I had stuffed it inside my rucksack for later, in case I needed it.
I continued my sun filled lap of Bushy Park, trying to stay as close to the perimeter as possible, making the whole lap longer and more enjoyable. It was sticky though. Very sticky. Afterwards, I felt as though I had been around twice. The park is beautiful on a day like yesterday. Much flatter than RP and a lot smaller too. I prefer RP to BP just because of the size and the couple of hills in there. I do like a hill climb even if it is only little. And the descents are cool too. There are absolutely no hills whatsoever in Bushy Park. Unless you count the tiny hump back bridge (called 'The Red Brick Bridge') crossing the stream running between the 'Pheasantry Woodland Gdns' and the 'Waterhouse Woodland Gdns'. If you're going fast enough you can actually get a little air;)
After completing the whole lap, bumping into a small herd of pure white Deer! (very unusual), then passing the NPL complex (National Physical Laboratory). I made my way to Kingston gate and crossed back over the bridge, past where the Swans hang out and along the Thames tow-path again back to Teddington Lock. This is where I stopped to scoff my muffin. Right in the middle of the little suspension bridge there. I was looking into the car park of Teddington Studios and wondered who owned the brand new silver Rolls Royce Phantom parked there. Then I saw the water coming over the weir into the Thames where it becomes tidal. Absolute torrents! To think I kayak in that stuff. It really must have rained in the night! The non-tidal (up-stream) side and the tidal (down-stream) side were nearly the same level!
The muffin was great, but not as nice as the ones my Mum makes. And my Mums are free;) It is only two minutes to my flat from the bridge at Teddington and I still didn't want to go home. So I went back to Bushy Park thinking I would see the sun set behind the Diana Fountain. Which I did. I cycled right by my flat down Broom Rd and continued to Kingston Bridge roundabout and into the park and over to the fountain, just in time to take a photo of the sun set behind the statue. Trod in a few piles of Goose poo and headed off (finally) back home before it got too dark (I got back at my garage door at 17:25). I had no lights with me.
Got home, ran the bath, took off my cycling gear and noticed just how dirty I was when I took off my socks! It looked as though I was still wearing them;) So that's it........My Valentines Day. A date with a bike;)

Yesterday in Richmond Park.


I am off to Kingston to look at some wireless trip computers for my bike (I might wash my bike tomorrow, ready for Lee & I and our Holmbury/Pitch Hill Friday night ride ). You probably noticed my little mileage counter thingy right at the bottom of my Blog. I just thought it would be interesting to see how many miles I do this year. This means I am going to have to work out the old fashioned way all the miles I have done so far. I jot down in my calendar when & where I have been out. These jottings, an OS map, a sharp pencil, a blank piece of paper and a ruler should give me a good idea of my mileage. It might take a few days though, so bear with me;)

Crickey! I just worked out how many miles I did yesterday.......just over 33 miles.....approx 53 and a half km. It amazes me just how many miles one can cover on a bike in that time. I will add it to my mileage bar right away:) The most miles I did in an afternoon last summer was 25, all over my three favorite hills in Surrey.



Jason






(C) JPT 2007