Miles & Miles & Miles...& a tiny bit of kayaking too.

Three feet above the roads surface and not a car in sight....not a dry car anyway;)


What a great weekends cycling (see bottom of post to see explanation for kayak photo). And to boot, the weather was absolutely perfect and hopefully a sign of things to come for the rest of the year. Well it's been a long time coming but after weeks and months of low pressure dominated weather, we are now beginning to see the first signs of a pattern change with high pressure becoming the dominant weather type. Has spring finally sprung? It seems like it and the rest of the week looks to be pretty nice too. Those soggy, sponge-like hills are going to be well drained by mid week if this dry weather continues and Wednesday, they (the hills) will be very happy to hear that I will be uponing my pressence on the backs of their much appreciated slopes in the form of some quite pleasurable mileages.

But for now, I think I have covered enough miles this weekend and may do a little kayaking tomorrow & maybe a little cycle ride on Tuesday instead.....just to warm up my skinny & scabby legs.
Since 7pm on Friday evening, I have covered a total of 86 miles during three rides.....all local to where I live and everyone different from the last. The first ride on Friday was alongside my friend Lee & our old friend Ian Davidson, who we last went mountain biking with last summer in a place called Swinley Forest near Bracknell. That was the day that Lee's work boss Martin split his head open and Lee & I had to meet the ambulance and direct it back to where the crash had occured (in the middle of nowhere & miles from anyone). That was a very long day and the temperature was in the 30's! I was bang in the middle of my Hep C treatment (not that that made any difference), but it just seems like such a long time ago.
Anyway, Martin was fine in the end....needed stitches etc and didn't come out cycling for a while.....quite a long while as it goes. This crash was what prompted me to start wearing a cycle helmet. I never leave home without it now.....when I am on my bike.
So Lee & I followed Ian around the very edge of Richmond Park all of it totally off-road and also totally illegal & ridiculously muddy! But it was dark and we were on a mission. It is three miles longer than going around the legal way and three times as bloody muddy too! If I want mud, I will go up to the hills and get me some there.....it's less sticky & has less doggem poo's in it too. It was fun though, although Lee found it hard going as he doesn't get out as much as me for obvious reasons. But having said that, he should be very proud of his acheivments (you reading this Lee?).
Right near the end of our naughty loop a fallen branch flicked up from this leafy, branch littered downhill part and was pulled into the gap between my forks and spokes! I heard the branch smash to pieces as my spokes made mince meat of the woody windfall and I stopped to see if it had knocked off my trip computer sensor that is attatched to my forks........it had and was nowhere in sight! It was pitch black (the sensor is black too) and we only had our bike lights to see with......over a stretch of about 20yds. Leaves & branches strewn everywhere...the park was about to close and be locked up for the night as the Deer are being culled this time of year. But we found it and the rubber piece that goes with it. The two cable ties that held it on were gone forever and I slipped the thing into my pocket (fortunately I knew the mileage from where it fell off back to Lee's so I could easily add them on) and rushed to the gate to avoid being locked in with a truck full of the Queens trigger happy Deer cullers! It was unlocked still and Lee & I went back to Twickenham to the Maple Leaf Pharmacy to collect a prescription of much needed pain killers for yours truly:) Ian went off back to his place up Richmond Hill for another nine months I suppose. He has a 100k mountain bike race in Portugal in April.......lets hope he survives it.....he is a bit of a maniac.
Lee & I got my sensor fixed back on and all is well again on the mileage front. Cheers Lee:) Then I washed my bike at 10pm by my garage ready for the next day. It was absolutely covered in the stuff! Like clay it was! Fridays mileage came to 21 miles exactly.

Then the very next day (Saturday) I was out for another ride and this time I met up with a fellow Blogger Warriorwomen and met her at Bushy Park at 10:00am right after her Time Trial run that she has been entering the last several Saturdays (quite early for me usually, but one look out the window and up into the beautiful blue sky & I was ready). You can read her great blog over in my "Family & Friend's Blogs" section over on the right hand side. Her latest post has a cool map of where we cycled together from Bushy Park to Richmond Park. It was a wonderful day again and the sun was shining the whole day. There was a bit of a breeze some of the way and the park (RP) was absolutely packed with walkers, cyclists and runners. We are so lucky to have something like this right on our doorsteps. WW, it was a pleasure to ride with you and I look forward to showing you around the Surrey Hills soon:)
After we split up after our ride, I went round the park for another lap and then went home......boy was I exhausted. I even contemplated having a mid-afternoon nap but though better of it and went to pump up my friend Jacs tyres & adjust her brakes and went shopping to Waitrose also to get some much needed bananas & hummus. Then it was over at my Mums with Daisy to eat take-away food and watch the great "Primeval" on TV. My Mum is recovering very well after her knee op.....still in pain, but recovering nonetheless. Saturdays mileage came to a total of 32.43 miles.

Then on to today....Sunday. Another glorious day (better get out in it before it all goes tits up so to speak;) and another ride in the sun. I even contemplated going up to the hills but decided not to as I will be spending the day there on Wednesday. So instead I did BP and RP again with a little diversion halfway through to Hampton to see my Twin Nicola and her Hubby Lee working on their new house. Loads of work going on over there! It's gonna look fantastic when it is finished.
The rest of the ride saw me in RP again and it was even more busy than on Saturday. It was nice and dry and therefore quite fast:) It's quite taxing on the old nerves though, as you are forever looking out for other people! As you can imagine, there is a lot of braking and speeding off again. I saw Pete Townshend from "The Who" again up on Richmond Hill.....one of these days I might even see him with a guitar over his shoulder;) Todays mileage came to a total of 32.80 miles.

I am pretty much done for this weekend and look forward to a day off tomorrow for a spot of kayaking in the afternoon.....hopefully in the sun. My inner thighs keep threatening to cramp up and my right elbow has had enough as have both my ankle joints! The funny thing is is that I only took one photo over the whole of the weekend (today)! And that was of a bench up behind the back of the Royal Star & Garter home. But I can't use it for this post as I have it saved specially for another post. The photo I did add I took on Thursday night in Twickenham when I went out in my new kayak for the first time on my own! It was pretty scary as the river was so fast and high.....as you can see from the photo and the street sign being almost submerged! I paddled around Eel Pie Island three times & just generally mucked around in the water where there are usually roads and tarmac for an hour & a half or so. It was great fun and the boat is a dream to paddle and is much easier to lift on my own. I could eat it:)
Oh.....did I mention that on the 22nd March Lee & I have a course in kayak rolling (eskimo roll) over at Ealing swimming pool. Much needed training I think, just in case I fall in the river! So much more likely in this tiny new kayak! I will tell you all about it after the course.



Jason







(C) JPT 2007.........717.58 miles.