The Skyride 2009 has come and gone. Colin, Ben and I met up at Ladywell Fields at 10.00am. There were a lot more riders than last year. In fact we were split into two groups in order to manager the numbers more effectively. The first group left just after 10am and our group left at 10.15am. The guy leading us really didn’t know where he was going. In fact, Ben was giving him directions at one point.
I’m not sure but I think that the event has become a victim of its own success. There were so many riders that it became difficult to actually stay on the bike.
The event was pretty much the same as last year with the addition of ‘pit stops’ where you could rest and check your bike before continuing to the traffic-free course.
Again, as last year the weather was glorious. At the end of the ride we collected out goody bags and tucked into our picnic.
Ben took us on another route back along the Thames Path on the north side of the river. It was nice to pootle along the river and around the glass edifices of Canary Wharf. What definitely wasn’t nice was carrying our bikes down and then up the stairs at either end of the Greenwich foot tunnel :-(.
I have just been perusing my favourite cycling website wiggle, looking for bars and powders to provide rehydration and energy for my ride to and from Bedfont. After half an hour of looking at the myriad array of tablets, gels, powders and bars it became quite apparent that the cost of these products on a daily basis would outweigh the savings made on my train travel to and from work. They are not cheap!
So I cast my (inter)net further, and came across The Hungry Cyclist, a.k.a. Tom Kevill-Davies. He has cycled across continents in search of the perfect meal and is passionate about food and cycling. In his article he argues that we have gone too far down the road of fluorescent powders, energy gels and the such-like. They do have their place in competitive cycling. But, and its a big but, for the average cyclist like myself it is simply overkill. To illustrate this point he tells the tale of cycling across the Sinai desert. At the beginning of each days cycling his Bedouin hosts would give him a bag of dates for the journey. These became Tom’s staple energy source and he grew to love them. Consider the composition of the humble date:
31 grams of carbohydrates
Contains naturally occurring sugars such as fructose, glucose and sucrose
Almost zero fat content
No cholesterol
Three-times as much potassium as a banana
Then he gives a wonderful recipe(shown below) for making your own energy bars.
Date and Nut Energy Bars (makes 8 bars)
0.5 cup of chopped dates (stones removed)
0.5 cup of walnuts
0.5 cup of plain almonds
1.5 tablespoons of golden syrup or natural honey
0.5 cup of desiccated coconut unsweetened
0.5 cup of raisins
0.5 cup of dried cranberries (can be replaced with sultanas to keep the cost down)
The zest of half a lemon
A little extra coconut for dusting on top the energy bars if you feel creative.
1. Pour the almonds and walnuts into food processor and grind into a rough powder. 2. Add all the other ingredients and process into a sticky dough like consistency. 3. Press the dough into a rectangular shallow baking dish and sprinkle the top any remaining coconut. 4. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before cutting into bars. 5. Wrap in grease proof paper, slip into your pocket and hit the road.
My version didn’t have the walnuts(forgot to buy them) and so it was especially sweet. I also added a little lemon juice to give the sweetness an edge. I had one in my pocket on my ride to work and had a nibble at around the 10 mile mark. I don’t know whether it was just that my legs were fresh after the weekend but I did notice that I could breeze up the hills without any trouble. I will be making some more in the future. A typical quality energy bar costs around £1. A batch of these will come in at around 50p each.
I arrived home at a reasonable time, 6.20pm to be precise. For the third time I have cycled the full commute of 23 miles. I’m glad I had the rest day yesterday because this evening I struggled somewhat. I learnt my lesson from the ‘bonk’ the other day and made an extra peanut butter sandwich for lunch and saved a lovely Trek Energy bar for the ride home. The trip, cycling only without stops took 1 hour 45 minutes. Door to door was more like 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Before reading Jake his bedtime stories(4 of them) Jake sang me the song he had learnt ay school. Five Speckled Frogs completed with gestures and counting down the frogs using his fingers. What a little angel :-).
Today was my second day riding The Full Monty, no not naked riding but riding all the way to Bedfont Lakes, an impressive 24 miles. At around 3pm I glanced out of the office window. The words deluge, torrential and downpour came to mind. Mmm I thought “The dry spell has broken in a spectacular fashion”. I decided the leave the office at 4pm, ostensibly so that I could arrive home at a reasonable hour. When I left it was still a veritable deluge. It didn’t let up either, oh no, not until Wandsworth. Only then did it stop raining, slightly…
By now I was completely soaked. My socks were squelching in my shoes which were squelching with every turn of the pedals. My hands had gone all wrinkly and my toes had acquired a numb feeling quite unlike anything I had ever felt. Anyway, as I soldiered on through the rain. Fighting wind that was determined to always blow me back the way I had come. I entered an almost zen-like state of tranquility. I shut myself off to the unforgiving environment and just…was. I concentrated on my pedalling, reasoning that with every stroke I would be a little closer to home and food and a bath.
Then it happened, bonk, I hit the wall. My body simply ran out of useable energy and started to look elsewhere. This resulted in a slight sick, dizzy feeling. Soon my legs were like lead weights only heavier. My speed dropped to 5mph and shamefully I was overtaken by a Brompton.
Then I saw Sainsbury’s and admitted defeat. After a nice walk along the aisles of dreams I was as right as rain(with the help of a high protein energy bar) and continued on my journey.
Note to self: eat more carbs at lunch-time you silly sausage(as Jake would say).
Train/Cycle
Leave house : 6.20am
Arrive Richmond : 7.25am
Train leaves Richmond : 7.36am
Train arrives Feltham : 7.40am
Bus arrives 7.45am
Arrive Bedfont Lakes : 8.00am
Door to door:1 hour 40 minutes
Saving : £5.30
Cycle
Leave house : 6.20am
Arrive Bedfont Lakes : 08.05am
Door to door:1 hour 45 minutes
Saving : £9.80
Stats
Distance:23.32 miles
Average:15.1mph
Max:24mph
Time:1:32:14
So there you have it, an extra 5 minutes to cycle the entire journey. I stopped three times to check the map so taking that into account the journey would take the same amount of time and with a fair wind behind me, quicker!
Well, the days are getting shorter and the temperature is descending into single figures. After my slight mishap last week, I thought I would buy a better front light so that cars would definitely see me coming. A little research landed me at the Evans website. Lo and behold they had a sale on too! I managed to pick up a Blackburn Voyager 4.0 for only £23. This little beauty throws out a respectable 45 lumens. It has low and high power modes as well as the usual flashing mode. What is unusual are the flashing amber lights giving side visibilty, similar to my blackburn rear light.
I have read a few reviews stating that the bracket is poorly made. I have not yet had any issues and the unit clicks in firmly. Time will tell whether this beast stands up to a Winter London commute.
I will still use my old Cateye EL530 for backup, held in place with a trusty rubber band(the bracket snapped).
Yesterday was Jake’s first full day at school. I worked from home so we could pick him up in the afternoon together. As soon as he saw his uniform he started crying and saying that he didn’t want to go. That he wanted to go tomorrow and that he didn’t want to go again and again.
He was still crying when we left the house with Amy. Apparently he was fine by the time he met Antonia and was happy when Ames dropped him off.
When we arrived to pick him up in the afternoon Mrs Whitely said he had behaved very well. He got a special sticker for eating all his lunch. He also did a drawing and a painting. As we left he said “I love school!”. As a treat I bought him a tube of Smarties which he shared with his friends. He was charging about the playing field with Antonia then we walked home through Ladywell Fields with Finn and Martha. When we arrived home he was beginning to flag somewhat. He was getting a little hyper and a little bold. Classic signs of tiredness.
This morning again, he cried when he realised that he was going to school. He was saying “I don’t like school”. Very stressful, especially for Amy. I wonder how long this will last. I must say, I think 9am to 3pm is a long time for 3 year olds to cope with. Not many nurseries have their children for a full school day.
It was with trepidation that I left the house early this morning. Yesterday we spent a few hours filling out his first day school book. He drew his fire engine, coloured one of three balloons, drew a big picture of his daddy and lastly drew about a hundred candles on a birthday cake.
Carol spent a long time shortening his over-sized-last-minute-bought-because-John-Lewis-is-pants tracksuit bottoms and sewing and sticking his name into everything. Well done!
Amy just phoned after dropping him off. His was crying until he saw his friends and then happily went running into the school saying “Bye Mummy!” :-). I am glad that he wasn’t upset on his first day.
I got home later than usual because the bus to Feltham station had broken down. When I arrived Jake and Amy were upstairs reading stories. I went up and he told me about his day. He made a new friend but couldn’t remember his name. He had some fruit and milk. One of the boys asked for biscuit but they didn’t have any. There were four teachers and they all were very nice. They read a story from a big book which was about a dog. All in all we enjoyed it a great deal. Fingers-crossed for Wednesday and the 9am to 3pm touch.
There I was cycling up Battersea Rise riding up the left of a long line of stationary traffic. I was just passing the entrance to Emanuel School and I saw a van waiting to pull out. He decided to wait just until I was abreast with his bonnet before driving out. The outcome? He hit me and pushed me against another car. Luckily he and the other car were going slowly. I managed to pull myself up and fearing that my bike had been damaged pulled it onto the kerb.
I confronted the driver.
Driver: “I didn’t see you”
Me : “Well you should open your eyes then!”
Driver: “You were speeding”
At this point I lost my rag,
Me:”I was only doing 5 f****** miles an hour. I was on a bicycle.”
It got worse. I then tried to grab his keys fearing that he was going to drive off. At this point I thought my back wheel had been trashed.
This seemed to animate the man and he scrabbled for his key before reversing up the school entrance and out of sight.
Me:”I’m calling the police!!”.
I then went to look in my bag, but had forgotten my phone. I checked over the bike, which was okay and then rode off.
The moral? Try not to lose your temper because it serves no purpose. Also watch out for idiots in vans driving with their eyes closed. What worries me is that there could have been a child crossing the road. Would he have still done the same and just pulled out before checking the road was clear?
I have just fitted my new dual SPD/flat Shimano pedals. One one side is a normal flat pedal and on the other an SPD binding. Great for touring or when you don’t want to/cannot wear cycling shoes. I’ll review them in due course. I mainly bought them because I have been getting paranoid that my cleats are not properly adjusted. They don’t hurt my knees when I cycle but I have acquired a click in my right knee when I walk upstairs. I shall do a weeks commute without the SPD’s to see if the twinges stop. I’m not sure if the clicking could resolve itself in that time. Probably not, but it will put my mind at rest.
