Killing two birds. . . ?!

So why killing two birds with one stone? Well, planning works well but sometimes unfortunate circumstances takes over!

I planned a 15mi ride for today only to get a desperate text/sms from my daughter asking: Mum, can you cycle to school and bring my PE kit?
School is sort of on the Holt/Farndon route so I thought I could do my 15 miler tomorrow. So while I did my duty as a good mum, I also got some exercise in.

I packed my pannier with the PE kit and head off. To my surprise it only took 40min to do the trip to school. Before heading off, I text my better half to ask if he will spend his lunch with me in Sainsbury's which is close to the school. I thought that I will probably need a cup of tea by that time so after the PE kit was dropped off, I headed for Sainsbury's. Had a lovely relaxing time waiting for him to arrive whilst I read the paper.

Coming out of the shop, it seemed that the weather decided that the nice morning was now over and it looked quite threatening. I covered everything up with rainproof covers and headed out, back along through town. I wasn't keen to go down to Holt due to the weather.

But the weather played along and it merely gave a drop here and there so I decided to stretch my return a bit and go via Eccleston and Pulford. The photos was taken just after I went through the arch bridge outside Eccleston, on my way down to the Grosvenor estate (Duke of Westminster lives there). The weather still kept at bay and I got my mileage in which paid off in calories (950 Cals burned).

So a successful cycle on my first day of leave! Roll on tomorrow...:)

The view towards the Welsh hills.

The arch bridge outside Eccleston.

Boris Bikes

I plucked up the courage tonight (yes you read correctly - tonight) to rent one of the Boris Bikes in London.

I travel to London fairly regularly and there is a docking station just outside Euston, but so far I've only glanced at it as I have been too self-conscious to go to the machine and try and figure it out.

Tonight was a different story. I was on my way to my hotel and passed another docking station outside Russell Square station. Mmm, I thought...one day.

That one day turned out to be tonight when I realised that the restaurant where I wanted to go is 0.7mi from the hotel. Of course it is walkable distance, but why walk if I can cycle. So a plan started to form and I went online to check out the procedure. There are also a few short videos to watch (which I did) but somehow I missed the fact that you need to insert your card twice into the pillar - once to register for usage and the second time for the release code for the bike to want to use. It took a phonecall to their helpline to get that info.

Well bike was released and off I went. And it was fun!! I rarely cycle in the dark so first of all - this was in the dark (well, you get it, lit streets in London) and secondly, I was on one of these sturdy bikes with wind in my hair. I checked the map before I left, so I had a good idea where the docking station was where I was heading.

Docking was a bliss and not difficult at all. Cycling back after my meal was more difficult for obvious reasons !! ;-)

So how much did these two rides cost me? Well only £1 (access charge for 24hrs) as you get the first 30min free of each journey. And I can do more journeys tomorrow as long as it is shorter than 30min and before 18h30 when my 24hr access expires.

I can recommend the Boris bike if you are in London.

Hibernation

There is really no excuse for not posting. I am really sorry if you've been following me and (almost) gave up!

I can only say in my defence that it has been one of the coldest winters so far since I arrived in the UK. Blinking freezing cold. And I went into hibernation.

I don't have a turbo trainer or anything remotely as fancy as that so I had to do with an odd bike ride on days when it wasn't so icy or snowy. And those days were far in between. But hey! On the bright side, the buds are coming through and new leaves are on the verge of showing the world their gorgeous new green and my plans have since matured for 2011.

I'm very excited as I have next week 'off'. I've got 11 days leftover leave and as I can only carry over 5 days, I need to take 6 days before the end of March. My March is already pretty full so it is almost a squeeze but next week is special as I've set aside 4 days (Monday, Tuesday, Wenesday and Friday) to spend outside on my bike. I almost want to say that come rain or shine I will go out.

I have several rides booked for the next few months - I'm booked onto the Spring Tourist Trial, a 50mi CTC (local) ride on 17 April and the Wiggle Sportive Cheshire Cat on 27 March. In between there are local ladies CTC rides and I've been invited up to the Fylde Bicycle Belles on 20 March to join them for one of their rides in the beautiful countryside surrounding Preston.

So my March seems very busy with 3 rides booked on different weekends and I'm also considering joining the CTC Fabulous Ladies on their annual weekend away - this year in June.

I have nothing as elaborate as last year planned. Last year I did Land's End to John O'Groats in June - one of the most marvellous experiences I've ever done. If you haven't yet read my blog about that epic ride, here is the link again - welna-lejog.blogspot.com

So there you are, I have some good times to look forward to and will soon have some more bits to share.

Happy cycling!

Two girls on bikes

Brrrrr!! What a freezing day yesterday was!




I am homebased (Whoohoo !) this whole week and after being encouraged to look more after my own well being, I just couldn't resist the excellent weather we had yesterday.

I sent a Facebook update on Sunday asking if someone wants to go with and Jo responded as she planned to go out for a ride too. We agreed to meet at the Queens pedestrian bridge that spans the Dee in Chester.

Good grief but it was cold!! The frost was everywhere and by 9.30am nothing had melted. The fields were white and cycling was difficult. It felt like my bike weighed a ton and I just couldn't get going. My face was freezing and I even put my balaclava (under my helmet) over my lips with only my eyes showing. I must have been a funny picture to some motorists! My lips are quite sore today - usually I wear lipbalm when out and about on my bike but somehow I forgot that yesterday. Mmmm.

Frost on the bridge

Arriving at the Queens bridge was interesting. Usually I cycle over but this time I had to get off. See the picture!

The bridge was covered in a thick layer of frost with some marks where other cyclists have gone over - some looked like skid marks!

I met up with Jo on the other side, both of us arriving simultaneously. The route took us out if Chester, down Sandy Lane and down the B5130 towards Aldford where we planned our first stop.
The fields along the road were slowly starting the defrost but had still severe frost under trees and in the shadows.

Jo sitting in the sun!

We stopped as planned at the Grosvenor pub in Aldford. First thoughts were that it is shut but we saw a gardener at the back with a leaf blower so he went in and got us a yes for some tea and outside sitting in the weak chilly sun.

The rest of the journey went smoothly and after reaching Dodleston I lead Jo to get back towards her route home. I did just over 20mi and burned almost 1000 cals!

Thanks Jo, that was a lovely ride and I hope one of many in the coming winter.

Tea! All cyclists preferred beverage (me thinks!)

CTC AGMs

I had the privilege on Saturday 16 October to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Manchester and District CTC as Elected CTC Councillor for the North West. I am one of two councillors, the other being David Robinson.

I met very friendly cyclists who have cycling close to their heart. The venue was quite interesting; at The Friends Meeting House in Manchester opposite the library on St Peter Sq. When I walked into the building, there were lots and lots of tables on both sides displaying Socialist literature and it seemed that they had a student meeting scheduled !

The AGM started promptly at 2.15pm and finished at 4pm. It was not very well attended - I guess about 12 people at the most, but I guess that is typical of AGMs. A special award was given by the President Laurie Green to a very long serving member, Graham Trunks (see photos below). Graham has been publishing the 'Northern Wheel', the Manchester and District quarterly magazine for 26 years and has now retired. One of the sad things is that nobody has yet stepped forward to take over the editing of this wonderful magazine. I was very fortunate to receive the very last copy of the 'Northern Wheel' and what a beauty this is! Not only are there the regular features in it but also reports from other groups like Macclesfield Wheelers, Bury, Warrington Road Club and many more.There are also some very interesting touring tales in!

My next AGM is this week Thursday when I will attend the AGM of South Manchester CTC.

 The photos here are of Laurie Green presenting the long service award to Graham Trunks.

Another photo of Laurie and Graham with Mike Wigley, their Secretary in the backdrop.

The last of the Summer Wine???

Today was going to be a cycling day anyway - come what may! The weather was predicted to be good, in fact, it was said that it would be superb with lovely sunshine and a proper warm temperature.
So why waste it and do something indoors?

We headed for a Farm Shop near Hawarden for a quick short ride just to find it will shut in 10 minutes so we got a couple of Cokes and a packet of double Choc biscuits. A bit dry but nice and crunchy.

Cycling back was a whizz and a quick ride home. Past lots of sloes and blackberries which are definitely export quality! What a summer we had!!

Brilliant!!

London adventure!

I've bought a lovely Brompton bike in February 2010 (delivered in April 2010) but so far the poor bike has not seen London. So last week Thursday, I've decided to stop being afraid of London cycling and take the Brompton to London. After all, cycling is now supposed to be one of the preferred methods of travel in London. After the July bombings 5 years ago, cycling picked up - not only because of the Tube being out of action for repairs but also as people decided that it would be safer on a bike than on the Tube. When the Boris Bikes (Barclays London Cycle Hire Scheme) got launched, even more people took to the streets on two wheels! You would think there will be now more safety (in numbers) on the streets than three years ago. Hence why I decided that I should use the Brompton.


I had a meeting in Smith Square, so my travels had to take me from Euston station down to Smith Square. Planning a route was more difficult , so I used the Cyclestreets website which basically give you 3 options: a green route which is supposed to be the quietest, a yellow route which is the balanced route and the red route which is the fastest (but obviously also the busiest!)

Getting the Brompton on the train was fine. Someone was sitting in my reserved seat so after pointing that out (to him), he pointed to my Brompton and said that I might want to take it to the end of the carriage as there is space there. I politely pointed out that as the seats were back to back, there is enough space for it to fit between the seats. Silly man! Maybe he just had a go at me and my bike!

I got off at Euston and went to the side entrance where the folded bike took shape. Hooked the Brompton S-bag onto the frame, set up the Garmin with the loaded route, put on my yellow Viz jacket and pedalled off.

I'm an experienced road cyclist, or so I think, but let me tell you this: you haven't cycled until you've cycled in a big city like London! Whoa! The traffic was horrendous. Not exactly knowing the streets were also a disadvantage as early on in my route I found myself on a cycle path (hoorah!) but on the right hand side of the road and at the next traffic lights I had to turn left. Dilemma as the cycle path is a segregated path with a curb stone between it and the road so no moving over to the left side. So my route got adapted.

I pedalled hard and fast but you need to continue to look over your shoulder ALL the time and be aware of everything and everyone that is happening/moving around you. Quite exhausting really. At one point during the ride I found myself next to Trafalgar Square, stopped at a traffic light. Another cyclist stopped next to me and I said 'It is my first time cycling in London', when he replied: 'I just got knocked off my bike!' and showed me his bloodied knee and as he cycled away I could see some damage to his tracksuit. Mmm. NOT really the thing that I wanted to hear - being on my first ride in London!

Cycling back from the meeting was much better. I'm not sure why, maybe less traffic, maybe because the 'ice has been broken' but it was slightly better. Still quite daunting especially at a specific roundabout at the bottom of Trafalgar Square trying to get to the other side.

It was great seeing London from a different view. When you use the Tube, you see London where you enter the Tube and obviously where you exit it again, but you miss the middle bit. It was great to experience the sights of London. Cycling alongside Trafalgar Square was a surreal moment!

Retrospectively I should have taken the green route, although it was the quietest but slowest. It would've been better for my first time, but hey! I cycled in London and I will do it again from now on.