Back in the Saddle

It’s been a while so I took the opportunity to grab a quick 11 miler to continue the physic on my knee Bing Map
Owner: CaptainBlue
Location:
Activity Type: Cycling
Event Type: Fitness
Distance: 10.93 Mile
Time: 01:13:19
Elevation Gain: 196 Feet

Hampton Court

Followed Fi on her 20 mile training run for the Berlin Marathon in 3 weeks, hence the slower pace. Bing Map
Owner: CaptainBlue
Location:
Activity Type: Cycling
Event Type: Recreation
Distance: 20.02 Mile
Time: 03:08:05
Elevation Gain: 296 Feet

No Barriers

Went for a little exploration out beyond the Thames Barrier and back across the Woolwich Ferry for the first time since 1988. Still just doing physio for the knee. Bing Map
Owner: CaptainBlue
Location:
Activity Type: Cycling
Event Type: Fitness
Distance: 20.12 Mile
Time: 02:09:18
Elevation Gain: 237 Feet

Onward and Upward

So I’ve covered the Sprint GT’s first service over on its own blog – I just need to start giving it the berries a bit more (although its trip computer must be over-reading…).

I also received a letter about my stepmother’s estate which was a piece of pleasant news and well timed, given I’m planning to buy a house or maybe even my apartment which may soon be up for sale.

Due to a change of plans, I had Saturday free so I decided to get the pushbike out to go for a little spin: maybe 5 or 6 miles on the advice of my Consultant Knee Surgeon and my physiotherapist at the excellent London Bridge Hospital. 11.4 miles later and I’d had a great time, keeping the cadence up and not putting too much effort through the knee. Same thing next week, I think.

GT popped over in the evening, meeting me for dinner at the O2 where we were then due to see Iron Maiden play. An excellent gig! Then over to Waterloo to say goodnight and back home to the apartment.

Up at a reasonable time on Sunday to head up to Norfolk for lunch with the ‘kids’ which was made more difficult by the completely inept road closure arrangements for the Prudential Ride London: every main road out of London to the East was closed despite the official sites claiming they’d be open earlier.

Monday saw more check-ups and blood tests – all fine – and a nice, long phone call as arranged the week before from Humberside Police to explain, as expected and agreed, that they wouldn’t be pressing charges against the psycho ex for her theft and disposal of some of my stuff (“intention to permanently deprive”), but only because it wouldn’t be in the public interest to waste taxpayers’ money on a prosecution: there was the passage of time caused by them, sadly, which they accepted was the case and they knew she would never admit guilt – she never does – and accept a caution, so the options were a full trial or nothing and the thefts were, as I told them, insignificant (I’ve long since replaced the stolen goods with better quality, newer things … a bit like I did with her, I suppose). They suggested I start a private prosecution, which is always an option, but I can’t be arsed to waste any more time on her.

But the good news is that they’ve now got the proof of what she’s really like: a liar and a thief. So that’s the end of that: maybe she’ll stop stalking me one day too?

So it’s onward and upward!

First Ride

So as I’m having physio for the knee, they’ve advised some low resistance, high cadence cycling, so here’s a little amble to start off. Bing Map
Owner: CaptainBlue
Location:
Activity Type: Cycling
Event Type: Recreation
Distance: 11.40 Mile
Time: 01:18:30
Elevation Gain: 237 Feet

London Sky Ride

As part of my new fitness drive, I took part today in the London Sky Ride: a loop from Tower Bridge to St James’s Park and back plus the two miles or so each way along the Thames Path from my apartment to Tower Bridge. Here are the stats:

It was looking overcast when I left but by the time I reached Tower Bridge, it had started raining and by the time I was on the route itself it was lashing down. The route was still very busy indeed with many cyclists not being aware I was coming up behind them fairly swiftly despite the regular stops to allow pedestrians to cross. By the time I was halfway around the ‘course’, I was absolutely soaked to the skin and my canvas Adidas trainers were full of rainwater and squelching – eeyyoo!

Not quite sure how I managed speeds of 112.8mph – see charts – or a max. speed of 64.8mph – see summary – but the rest is pretty accurate!

On my way home, I had an ‘off’ on the now-slippery Thames Path, landing heavily on my bad shoulder and also banging my head on the block paviors. Maybe a bike helmet might be a good idea after all? I crashed with sufficient force to buckle the front rim too, so I’ll need to get that fixed soon too.