Week 12 Allsorts but not the liquorice kind......

.....although that would be nice

No riding Monday

but

Tuesday saw me pedal to a school parent evening thing at my son's school, a fairly simple ride, made more interesting by my later than I wanted departure and also as I could brag to my son when i got home that I could cycle to his school, why couldn't he?.

I chose a route which followed the jubilee river as far towards maidenhead as it would go, then popped onto the main roads, from there it was pretty much a straight line down the A4 to his school. A beautiful evening with clear skies and the sun still out, i arrived on time at my destination but more than a little sweaty..errrr...on arrival I was greated with tea and some of Mr Kipling's exceeedingly nice cakes.

The ride back was cool and refreshing and my lights did a sufficient job of keeping me out of the water and the stresses of work were a distant memory.

Wednesday followed a similar pattern as I decided to cycle to Bible class, our church being pretty much on the same route as going to my lad's school this came in the form of another lovely jaunt down the jubilee river, dark both ways this time and sweaty both ways too but still thoroughly enjoyable.

Thursday i decided to cycle home from work, all the way, i deliberated over which route to take and settled on what i call my "cross country" route. Not strickly speaking mountain biking as it doesn't include any single track and mountainous hills and terrain but it is mostly off of the road following towpaths and fire roads through woodland areas, you wouldn't want to do it on a normal road bike that's for sure.
As my route home is generally down hill I can do the commute home on any of my bikes, this weeks weapon of choice as is the norm of late was to be my single speed, cyclocross, On-one Pompetamine. I whipped along nicely and with another clear night, the sights and sounds were lovely and felt quite new as this route had mostly be done previously in the dark.

As i approached the 3/4 mark of said journey I was reminded of the weather forecast I had seen earlier in the day.......sunshine at 3:00pm, rain at 6:00pm....well I was going through Windsor Great Park at 6:00pm and right on time, the rain started, bizarrely I didn't notice much, it was certainly evident when i got home and de-robed but my spirits hadn't been dampened.

For Friday I needed to commute back in to work, I did this partially using the train as I don't like my full commute back in to work, partly cos it is up hill and partly cos i dont like the roads and some of the areas i go through. I started quick but ended slow, having not eaten before leaving home i got to the train exhausted, having left a little late, after the restful train journey i was still knackered for the second leg but i did it in an ok time.

Another single speed week much enjoyed.

Saturday more cycling related activity came in the form of finally doing something with my DIY frame after the repair by Argos Cycles. In between supporting both kiddywinks with homework and revision I masked, rubbed down and filed my frame to remove the burnt paint from the repair and tidy the repair welds. Following this I lacquered the bare steel.

Initially I was feeling a little despondent that after all the hard work a year ago, my beautiful creation would look like such a heap of junk, however after a couple of tubes prepared, optimism ensued and in the end I was actually quite pleased with the result.
Now really looking forward to building it back up again

total distance for the week 117.3km
total distance for the year 1037km