It is amazing how time flies when you are having fun, and err, it also seems to fly the older you get. When I was knocked off my bicycle in February I was expecting to be off the road for 12 weeks and miss one of the best seasons here in the UK for cycling - Spring. Fortunately in the end I was only off the bike for 6.5 weeks and got back to cycling just as Spring was really starting to happen, the weather was also springlike as well which was a bonus. Mind you pleased as I was to get back on the bike after the break, in what I thought was a short space of time, I have just read that Lance Armstrong will be racing just 5.5 weeks after his break and subsequent operation to get his clavicle back together. That is dedication for you, even now, 10 weeks after my accident my shoulder is still sore from time to time, especially first thing in the morning. The only cycling related problem though is my right arm is still a little weak which I notice when trying to heave my bike over stiles when out in the countryside.
I started cycling again on the 9th of April and have managed to cycle 1008Km (630miles) during the rest of the month, which is better than I thought I would achieve. It will make achieving my distance goal for the year a little trickier. At the start of the year I set a goal of 12,000Km which breaks down to around 33Km (20miles) a day. On the day I was knocked off on the 21st Feb I was 600Km (375miles) ahead of the target, for that point in the year. When I resumed cycling on the 9th April I found myself 900Km (560miles) behind my target when calculated on a daily basis. At the moment I am not trying to push for speed but getting in a bit of moderate distance and enjoying the scenery as I get acclimatised to cycling again. One of the high points for me in terms of cycling fitness was toward the end of my ride from Bangkok to Saigon last year I was quite happy spending 5 hours of so on the bike and found holding reasonable comfortable in the glorious heat of Vietnam in the November. After 6 weeks off it takes time to get used to the sitting on a saddle and pushing those pedals. I still find it slightly uncomfortable switching from my Marin (flat bars) to my Longstaff (dropped bars) and back, just because my body has lost the "muscle memory". Mind you the contact points (hands and bottom) quickly got over the shock of being on a bike again and I seem to have stopped putting on weight - hopefully I will start losing again as my speed picks up. According to my GARMIN GPS device I have used around 33,000calories on my April cycling trips. Some of the benefit gets lost though as I allow myself a bottle of beer in the evening as a reward for getting some cycling in. Current bottled beer favourites are Old Peculier and Old Crafty Hen. When out and about my current favourite pub is the Dyke's End at Reach great food and home-brewed beer - Dyke's End a pub that was rescued by its locals.
One other little snippet of data - I have also taken over 500 pictures on my small Sony Camera since getting back out on my bike.
So what has happened in April apart from the cycling - well round here in the flatlands the fields have turned yellow and for those not whizzing past in cars there is quite a strong, pungent, smell from the yellow fields. The weather is variable, but not much rain, some blue skies, some cloudy skies, but on the whole very pleasant, with not too many windy days. Whereas at the start of the month the fields would turn yellow only on the south facing aspects they are pretty much yellow all over.
Off-road I find the tracks almost deserted, I occasionally see the odd person walking and tractors in the fields but rarely pass people. You do share the views with technology though. In these parts there are quite a few Electric Pylons for power distribution. When I first moved to the Flatlands we used to have what seemed to be more than the average number of power cuts, which I was told were due to lightening strikes on the exposed power lines. Things are much better nowadays so I assume that they have got better ways of dealing with the strikes. It reminds me of a lecture I attended on Electrical Transmission through England - it was called something along the lines of "Bang-Bang Control of Electrical Distribution". The title was the most exciting bit of the lecture. The pylons/lines do crackle and sizzle in wet weather though.
The plant life in the ponds is also growing.
Some of the recently sown fields are also showing a bit of green fuzz. One of the tracks runs alongside this huge field and the field is only visible from the occasional gap in the hedgerow.
This path near Lode is a by-way but seems more like a single track footpath. It is probably not used by tractors to get to the fields very often. I have met one or two people on this path walking their dogs. It is fun to cycle along as it twists and turns without any massive tractor wheel ruts.
This field has appear in posts a few times. It started off with strips of plastic, a few weeks later the crops are growing strongly.
One of the crops that are in the ground over winter are leeks. I originally thought these were onions but a closer look shows leeks. This one has been recently harvested in what seemed a very labour intensive manner with bunches of people following tractor pulled trailers down the field.
As the Fens are really low-lying "peat-beds"they are prone to shrinkage. Some of the country lanes undulate because of the shrinkage. It would cost a fortune to build flat roads so signs are used to warn drivers rather than keep the roads flat. On a bicycle you do not notice it, but in a car it can be quite alarming as the vehicle bounces up and down on the suspension. When my son was a baby and just would not sleep and prefer to cry we would drive out on these roads with him in his baby seat, the noise of the car and the rocking movement helped to get him to sleep and give his parents a bit of peace.
I do moan a bit about poor and thoughtless driving so this is a good point at which to say that the tractor drivers round here are very considerate, they often pull in for me, they always wave their thanks to me when I pull in, indeed most of the lorry drivers using these roads are just as considerate. The worst drivers are the "boy-racers" who tear along and would happily whizz by me with inches to spare. You also see one or two learner drivers as well, not that they are a problem.
Although there are crops are growing in the fields, there are still places where the plastic is on the ground.
You never have to cycle far though to pass a yellow field, Here is a picture with Ely Cathedral on the skyline.
This is the path that led down to the spot at which the previous photograph was taken. Although you have to share it with modern technology - Electric Pylons and a Cellular Base station on the left in this case I have never seen any vehicles or people walking on this path at least at this end. Where the path meets the road you sometimes see cars parked.
I mentioned the village of Reach with the Dyke's End pub - well this is one of the by-ways that go through/around the small village. Just before I took this picture my chain snapped as I was heading up the hill. Nothing untoward happened I just stopped. it is only the second time I have had a chain snap. The last time was November 2008 in Thailand. I usually carry a few tools with me when cycling - pump, inner tube and a multi-tool - this is what it look like. This particular one has 19 functions.
The key tool in this case was a chain splitter. Chains are made up of links with rivets between the links to hold them together. To join a chain you have to hold the two links to be joined together and then push a "rivet" through.(You do the reverse to split the chain). It also has spanners and Allen keys etc to sort out other problems when you are out cycling.
Fortunately at the top of the path there was a bench where I performed the chain surgery I had to remove a link to re-join the chain, not ideal as it shortened the it, but more than OK to get me home again. The seat was a useful place to rest and to lay out the pins/links of the chain as it is only too easy to lose them in the grass. I have since replaced the chain, which was fairly worn. Depending upon the amount of chain wear it can be wise to also replace the cogs on the back wheel otherwise the gears will slip. In this case I have not done so and am hoping that the chain will bed in. So far it does not seem too bad, but does slip a little when cycling along bumpy tracks so I might not get away with just replacing the chain. It did force me to go out cycling on my touring bike though. The touring bike has dropped handlebars and is not quite so suitable for some of the rough tracks. It was actually the first time I went out on it since the accident. The bike sustained little damage, some scratches and grazes and I did have to straighten the handlebars. The worst thing was that mud under the mudguards had dried solid and took a while to dig out to allow the wheels to run freely. I also found the dropped position slightly less comfortable than the more upright position on the Marin - but I dare say I'll get used to it again.
I have commented before on the Wicken Fen Vision - the National Trust would like to create a Nature Reserve of around 22 square miles between Cambridge and Wicken Fen over the next 100 years. The map below which is from the Wicken Fen Vision (copyright National Trust) page shows what they own today and what they hope to achieve. Personally I am in favour of it. There are significant plans to develop more housing around the Cambridge area and without such foresight it would all to quickly take up the countryside. So having a bold plan to preserve some of the land for the pleasure of out future generations sounds great. I have already taken pleasure from the new cycle path and bridge that has been built, as a result of collaboration between the National Trust, Sustrans and others.
However it is also important to consider how others might see the situation. When I earned my living as a Salesman on the road I always tried to understand my customer and impressed upon my colleagues the important of putting yourself in the "customers" shoes. So I stopped to read this notice I found pinned to a telegraph pole near White Fen. It has some serious points although tends to lump all the problems together without data to support those points. Such lumping together of many points weakens the central tenets of any argument in my view. So my somewhat sweeping assessment is that this, probably unfairly, is a NIMBY problem. (NIMBY - Not In My back yard). I for one am in favour of the NT approach. Which made me think that when the Government set up a facility for Petitions that they should allow one to sign the petition as in disagreement as well as agreement. That might help to give a view as the the number of people on each side of the argument.
And on that slightly controversial point I will end as the sun is trying to shine and call me out for a spin in those Fens!
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