Farewell High Wycombe Day 2

Well it’s day 2 and Garmin decided to go stupid on me and not record the first 7-8 odd miles to Marlow Anyway I’ve never actually ridden to Marlow so decided to do that today and have lunch by the Thames. It was then on to West Wycombe a place I learnt to drive but again never ridden the bike too. There was a site there that I had seen for 40 years and wondered what it was but never got around to going there so I made the effort today. I ended up at a place called Hell-Fire Caves which I didn’t know about, it wasn’t the place I could see at the top of the hill, that was further on. Anyway it looks like an interesting place but you need to pay to get in and I wasn’t carrying my bike lock so I couldn’t go in. As I carried on to the top of the hill I could see what I was after a place called Saint Lawrence Church which has a very distinctive globe on the top of its spire which is what I can see from a long way away or when I drove past it going to Princes Risbourgh. It has a very unusual octagon shaped building around the back of it which you can’t see from the road. Suffice to say I did take photos but I forgot the camera cable to upload the photos so I’ll do that at the weekend when I go home. Tomorrow will be my last day of cycling if I get any done as the house cleaners are coming tomorrow as well so we’ll see.

Farewell High Wycombe Day 1

So this will be the last time I cycle in Wycombe, the place I grew up in and learned to ride a bike. For the record I’m at my dad’s old house before we sell it and this will be the last time I come to High Wycombe. I’m glad my cycling memory is still intact as I was cycling roads I hadn’t done in nearly 30 years, so it was a nice surprise that I could remember where I was going :-). I started by heading to all the schools I used to attend and then on to Loudwater where I used to live old forge road hadn’t changed much, albeit the surrounding area had, and number 4 was still there but only a different colour. I then continued on to Beaconsfield and Gerrard’s Cross where I used to ride my bike for a job I had there. It was then onto roads I hadn’t cycled before heading to Amersham and then back to Hazelmere down to the Rye and back up Hatters Land hill which is where the secondary school was that I went to, after that it was back to Dads. Tomorrow I’ll be heading the other way over to Marlow and West Wycombe.

Ride 08/10/2016

Just a little ride today after collecting my bike from its service and upgrade to Shimarno Ultegra groupset Also had to get new wheels on since I was going from a 10 speed to a 11 speed so got some Mavic Ksyrium 700C Wheels.

Ride 10/09/2016

Well after a week with a stupid tummy bug I finally started to feel a little bit more normal today but not enough to do a big ride, so I kept it to a small one, I certainly didn’t want to not ride at all though A small quick ride to Cumbernauld and back and I’ll live with that. Next week I’ll be starting my China ride so this and maybe, depending on the weather, rides through the week will be my last training rides.

Ride 03/09/2016

So after riding a good 5 years on my SPD cleats and pedals I decided it was time to try some proper road shoes, since I’m riding more my road bike than my mountain bike. So last week I bought some Garmin Vector 2 pedals and a pair of Sidi Kaos Road shoes cost me a fortune but the pedals do have power meters on them. I’ve never used Sidi shoes and today’s ride was my first ride with them. I kept the ride to a short one as I’m not sure how my body is going to react to this change but this mornings ride went without a hitch and I never fell off my bike which is a good thing The statistics the power meters give you is a bit over whelming but interesting and compared to my Bontrager shoes the Sidi ones are as good if not better, they allow for a bit more tightening around the foot. It’s still early days with these shoes and pedals but I certainly like what I feel :-D. Weather wise today was a bit dull with a few spats of rain but little wind so although today’s ride wasn’t the fastest it was still quite quick.

Ride 27/08/2016 Loch Earn Loop

Well thats my first 100 miles of the year and what a nice ride it was. The weather was quite good today, a little overcast but with sunshine intermixed in and most importantly little wind. Decided I would do a loop around Loch Earn, something I had planned to do a couple of years ago but never really got around to it. Riding through the country side and Trossachs is a very beautiful place to ride especially when your cycling through the mountains. And given I did reasonably fast 100 miles I don’t feel too bad

Ride 21/08/2016

Bit of a dull wet windy day, but better than yesterdays weather hence the ride today. Decided to ride to Loch Lomond, it’s been a while since I was there and wanted to do it at least once this year. Had lunch at Loch Lomond but of course once I finished it started to rain not too heavy but enough to make me wet through, thankfully it stopped after about 45 mins, and held off at least until I got to Kirkintilloch. So it was rain all the way to Denny where I popped into my Uncles and accidentally reset the Garmin clock which is why there are 2 activities listed today. Thankfully by the time I got back to Falkirk the sun came out and I carried on cycling until I broke 90 miles. So the stats are 92.6 miles in 5 hours and 59 mins at an avg speed of 15.6mph.

Garmin Connect

Ride 13/08/2016

A rather wet and windy day with some sporadic sunshine, was planning to go to Crieff but then the rain came down and I had no wet gear with me. So I detoured towards Glen Eagles and headed back over the Ochils through Glendevon down to Dollar and Alva. Thankfully by the time I hit Dollar the rain had stopped so I stopped for lunch and then headed home.

Ride 06/08/2016

It’s quit a nice day, I even got sun burnt on this ride so I decided to do the Full Ochils Loop which ironically is only around 20 miles longer than the half loop that I did last week I even managed to time it well that it started to rain just as I got home so lucked out their. 6 weeks left to my China ride so will keep up the miles until then

Ride 30/07/2016

Bit of a mixed bag weather wise, cloud, sun and wind but nothing to drastic, so did my Ochils Half Loop.

Ride 23/07/2016

It’s a nice day a bit overcast but warm and I didn’t have anywhere in particular to go. So did a quick loop into Kirkliston, South Queensferry and back.