Hard Work. Wet. Fell Over. Damn you #July150

By 19 commentsCycling Challenges, Rides, , , ,

I’m all in favour of being motivated, but jeeees!

Tuesday Night Is Hollingworth Lake Loop Night.  The weather looked a bit ropey, but I crossed my fingers, made a (delicious I must say) quick pasta tea and lined myself up for an hour’s ride out.

By the time bike o’clock came, it was raining a bit.  “Ah well, never mind”, I thought as I pulled on an extra layer and my buff.  I set off. The rain got a bit harder. The wind got a bit blusterier (that’s a word, really).

By the time I got the t’Lake I was knackered.  I resolved to do one lap instead of my usual two before heading home.  Halfway round the Lake I checked my phone in a sheltered spot, to make sure my new tracker software was working…

User Error 1.

When I started the new tracker software, I hit the standby button on my phone.  Don’t do this kids.  Use the “backlight off” button on the software instead.  Balls!

I did it right, after losing about 5 miles of tracking, and set off again from under the shelter of the big trees.  It was very windy by now, and pretty rainy too.  Ah well, I was nice and warm and this was dong me good.  Wasn’t it?

User Error 2.

I thought it wise to double-check the tracking software.  There’s a little bench opposite the Wine Press pub so I rode the bike down a couple of steps to get under the shelter of some more lovely big trees.

And fell off! Mossy paving slabs and rain do not mix well with MTB slicks.  Before I knew what had happened, I was rubbing my knee and elbow, whilst the Fat Boy lounged somewhere off to my left.  Balls! Again!

Time To Go Home.

From there, I was relived to be heading homewards to be honest.  I’m glad I put a few miles in but I’m crossing my fingers that the next time I go out, the weather’s a bit kinder and that I’m a bit less of a numpty with the tech. 🙁

I’ll review the new software in a bit more detail when I’ve tested it properly.  Initial feelings are positive, I think.

The route’s on MapMyRide if you fancy a gander. Sorry there are no photos, since the weather was pants and my touchscreen phone wasn’t happy so I kept it in my pocket as much as possible.

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19 comments on “Hard Work. Wet. Fell Over. Damn you #July150”

  2. Phill

    I am glad I went out, but it was fairly crappy. Character-building, they call it. 😉

  3. @ridingthemoor

    hmmm, I was going to go out this lunchtime but its raining and I can’t be ar$ed. Might go out tonight for a shorter blast.. Seem to be losing my motivation :-/

  4. Phill

    If I were you mate, I’d wait for the rain to stop if you have the choice. I knew that last night was my last chance for a few days so I resolved to get out. It is crap riding in the rain though. If Rain Miles actually did Count Double it might have been worth it!

  5. @ridingthemoor

    I’ve got HTN over the weekend so i’d be hoping to get 30+ miles in there (falling off permitting) but it would have been nice to get to 100 by today.. We’ll see, I might go out later and do a couple of loops.

  6. Phill

    Good point, you have tapering to do. Get the pies in! I didn’t know how close I was to 100 or I might’ve gone a little further – bloody tracker (user) error! 😉

  9. Clive Chapman

    As I’m cliche man, here’s two for you.

    1. You only get wet once.
    2. There’s no such thing as bad weather only poor equipment.

    Glad I could help.

    Oh, and well done mate! 🙂

  10. Lost

    Since when do you do falling off? I thought that was left to other people to do, lol.

    On a serious note, ouch. On another serious note, I hope the fat boy is ok 😉

    Good on yer for sticking it out in that crappest of crap weather 🙂

  11. @ridingthemoor

    lol.. The Pasty.

    The JC wasn’t too bad. The lady asked me what i’d done this week and I explained I’d registered on Monster/Jobserve/Jobsite/TotalJobs/CWJobs and defined specific searches for roles so that I could receive email alerts.

    She glazed over and said that I was doing much more than I had to (1 application per week)FFS

  12. carrie

    fish4jobs, NHS jobs, Sector1.. yup and yet when I was 6 months pregnant they were all over me to try harder.

  14. Phill

    Clive, you’re right, I only got wet once. And it wasn’t such a bad fall. The wind was the worst part as it was so hard to pedal through.

    Lost, Oh I do fall off, just not as stylishly or hard as some people! 🙂 The weather was horrid but at least I got out.

    Riding, it’s another world isn’t it? Lumped in with, and measured against, the Kylewatchers. It’s only temporary though.

  15. LTMWB

    Wind and rain don’t mix well with cycling that’s my thought for the day

    Well done mate when you said Fat Boy I thought for a second you was making reference to Joby 🙂 then I realised its what you ride

    Thanx from LTWMB for updating my July 150

  16. Phill

    Yeah, the Fat Boy is what I ride. Joby’s the slim boy I plan to ride with! 🙂

  17. JobySp

    You should get a garmin 😉

    And bless you for calling me slim – everyone else keeps calling me fatty.

  18. PhilR

    Nasty fall Phill, I don’t go out in the wind and rain so you’re ahead of me there 😉

    @ridingthemoor good luck with the job hunt, you looking at any specific area/skillset?

  19. Lost

    @RidingTheMoor: it’s weird how different JC have different criteria – I have to apply for 3 per week, but on average apply for 10-15. They’re stuck as to what to do to help me and have been for the past year as i’m doing so much!

    @Phill: you’ll just have to practice until you get as proficient at falling off with style and panache as the rest of us 😉

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