Week 7 2013...castles and canals

No repeat week........

Didn't get around to doing anything with the brakes on my single speed, seem to be some life left in them so it got a clean and was pressed back into service Monday lunchtime for a variation of my usual lunchtime off road route, this time with trying to add some of the extra single track which i had been on many times before with other guys but could never remember how to get to, well i still didn't manage to find them properly but it was a good route just the same, although the cleaners at my work weren't impressed, i was absolutely caked in mud from head to foot, it was quite funny but i had to shower with my clothes on first which made a right mess of the shower

A new strategy was required so no cycling Tuesday

clothes washed, bike cleaned and waterproof trousers packed, game on again for Wednesday.....

Some time ago i bought a book about a ramblers walk called the "3 Castles Path" this path tracks from Windsor Castle to Winchester Castle via Odiham Castle. Well i live in sight of Windsor Castle and a work up the road from Odiham Castle, whats left of it. so i had thought i could use this path as a potential commute route off road. This route i have tracked on "Ridewithgps" and it is this route that formed the basis of Wednesday lunchtimes ride, I peddled along the roads to get on the Basingstoke Canal which then joined part of the route to the remains of Odiham Castle, it was fast and flat and pretty remote, racked up some nice miles, just right for the single speed.

Plan for Thursday was slightly more adventurous...off road commute home on my single speed. Due to the previous wet and muddy rides i made better preperations for this ride....this meant the fitting of a dreaded mudguard. I hate mudguards on mountain bikes, i dont mind crud catchers on the down tubes but the ridiculous seatpost mounted monstrosities are an abomonation and this is exactly what i fitted, it looked aweful, i felt like i had done to my bike the same as if i had taken a dog to the vets and come out with one of those plastic dishes round its neck, you know it's humiliating and you feel sorry for it.
Anyway.....I plotted the route some time ago using the Basingstoke canal going the other direction to wednesday which i have done before but i got a little lost before and ended up using the roads to get home from Mychet where i got off the Canal but not this time, GPS programmed the whole route could be discovered. It was one of the best rides ever, hardly saw anyone, really peaceful, i felt like Forest Gump wanting to just keep going, i knew i was burning the calories though as normally i can get home on a homemade flapjack, unusually i had a sandwich, flapjack and an energy gel (don't like energy gels but this one had a little split in it so it needed using) 3/4's of the way home i was getting hungry, i still had a flapjack in my pocket so all was good. It felt like a summers evening, the sunset was beautiful and the clouds were dispersing, this also meant the cold was coming. I got home with a frosty beard (yes i have a temporary beard) absolutely knackered but really chuffed, 31miles, nice.

Friday required the obligatory commute back in to work, for this is used my cyclocross, i was a tiring 28 miles but not in too bad a time.

Day off Saturday for No.2 sprogs Happy Birthday party

Sunday i needed to finish the secret ride i started last saturday. It was a nice ride but as with other secret rides they seem a bit Jekyll and Hyde, some of it challenging audax ride'esque other bits family ride along the towpaths, great if you have a cyclocross bike but otherwise it would be hard work .

Overall a good week with no repetition and lots of new roads and trails explored

Additional news this week is that i had mastered (enough) Adobe Illustrator to create my own Decals for my new frame. This is a week behind schedule but at least they are now done, i printd them out and sellotaped them on to the frame and they looked how i wanted them, quite chuffed, files to be sent offto the Decal maker H Lloyd cycles.
Next week means filing and rubbing down ready to send for paint when the graphics come back








cant get pictures on at the mo so will update later

Target for the week 120K

Total distance achieved 178K