Bad Weather Coming - Ride While You Can
The weather forecast for tomorrow is for snow. We won’t get much here (the sea keeps us nice and ‘warm’, but that’s a strictly relative term), and although I don’t mind riding on snowy roads, you do have to take things carefully. So any training session would end up being more about spending time with my butt on the saddle, rather than working my legs, heart & lungs.
So even though it didn’t look like ideal weather today, I knew that it was better than its going to be tomorrow, and after an hour’s dithering & coffee drinking I set out to put in a quick 25 mile loop. The cycling Gods were obviously looking after me, because although it was quite gusty, the rain that’d been falling while I was drinking my last cup stopped just as I was unlocking Trixie The Fixie from her stable, and apart from a few half-hearted attempts, held off ’till about 10 minutes after I got home.
The loop I took was to head through North Shields to the tunnel, and then up through Jarrow and Hebburn to Felling, and then down to Gateshead, crossing the Tyne at the swing bridge. I tried to do this using cycle routes, but quickly got so cheesed off that I just got back on the road. The Felling bypass, down past Gateshead Stadium’s not exactly a fun & picturesque route, but at least with today’s tailwind it didn’t take long 
I stopped for some fuel under the Tyne Bridge, and had a look at the 3m length of cycle lane that Andy mentioned on Friday. I took a photo, but with my phone . . . the lens of which is covered in lint & fluff. So it’s not a very good or clear photo.
I’m not entirely sure about this one - it may be that the council had intended me to ride all the way along the footpath from the Baltic arts centre. Or it may be that they want me to get off the road at this point, and then get off my bike. Or get off the road, but stay on my bike, thereby breaking the law once I pass the second sign.
Whatever the intention, I’m absolutely sure that it’s for my own good and to protect me from the dangers of the road. I’m so glad that Nanny State is there to look after me in this way.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 04/05/2008
- Time: 09:55:40
- Total Time: 1:35:00.00
- Distance: 26.5 miles
- Average Speed: 16.74 mph
