#30daysofbiking 2015, Exhibit A

I tried the #30daysofbiking challenge two years ago but didn't get very far. Last year, I dismissed the idea out of hand because, to be honest, by the time we reach April, spring itself is incentive enough to ride. 

I have not "signed the pledge" this year either so, on an official level, I am not doing it. But unofficially, looking at how my schedule is shaping up over the next couple of months, there is in fact a very good chance I will be on a bicycle of some description for at least a few minutes' duration nearly if not every day. And I've got this new toy to play with. So I may as well record a few rides as we go. 

Wednesday, 1st April 2015

As is usual on Wednesdays, I did a split day at home, studying in the morning (on this particular day finishing and submitting an assignment) and working in the afternoon. I didn't really have time to get out for a proper bike ride but I have finally called it quits on the very last remaining Brooks saddle in my fleet, so needed to fit and dial in the new Selle SMP that I purchased for the Cross Check. 

Ride:  only 1km or so! No photos. 

Thursday, 2nd April 2015

My commute:  20k in Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire plus 4.6k in London. The London segment is long-standing, the Bedfordshire thing is new. I used to cycle to and from Luton station to catch the train to London but that (a) was fraught with traffic and (b) included a dreadful hill on the way home (in terrible traffic), resulting in (c) the temptation to get a taxi home far too often. 

Commuting to Harpenden includes a stretch along a busy main road into and out of Harpenden, so this is makes up the final bit of the morning commute and the beginning bit of the evening bit. And the evening is not too bad. If I end up working a bit late, I'm riding this around 8.30pm and the whole ride home is just bliss, in cycling terms! There is one slow grind of a hill but it's on a very quiet country lane so I just chill out as I spin. Meanwhile, taxi costs are half again what they are from Luton and I am finding that price difference to be just enough of a greater disincentive to actually be effective at discouraging me from falling into a taxi when disembarking the train, as happened all too frequently from Luton!

Ride: 24.6k. No photos. Must try and get a few from my commute!

Friday, 3rd April 2015

Another fettling session, this time testing the Garmin, having reinstalled the Polar... "just in case"! I had decided I didn't want to risk "losing" perfectly good data from rides on the Enigma due to user error, so for a few weeks I'll be running both units side by side. 

My pootle round the block revealed that on steady efforts, the units record the same speed and distance, but the Garmin is much more quicker to respond to changes in speed due to being GPS-measured, whereas the Polar relies on several readings from the transmitter lined up with the spoke magnet, so it takes several revolutions of the front wheel before the computer has enough information from the transmitter lined up with the spoke magnet to record a change in speed. 

Ride: 1.7km. No photos. 

Saturday, 4th April 2015 

I intended to ride out with the Ivinghoe Veloes today, for their weekly social called the Tea Ride, but unfortunately I set off from home too late to make the start (12 miles from home). I gave it a go but once I realised there was no chance of getting therein time and asking them to wait upwards of 20-30 minutes for me wouldn't be fair, I set off on a "frolic of my own" round the country lanes on the eastern edge of the Aylesbury Vale. It's lovely and flat out there -- a welcome respite from the Chiltern Hills where we live -- but very exposed. I chose to cycle directly into the strong headwind for a time, saving the tailwind for later to get a power boost home! This worked out very well. I got a decent work out -- my first non-commute ride of any length at all since last autumn. 

Ride: 38km

On the Sewell Greenway - a disused railway line.
A nice change from the unplanned stint on the A505!

Do you think I'm collecting enough data?
(LOVING my new Dill Pickle handlebar bag!)

https://www.strava.com/activities/278999731

I may only get out for brief rides tomorrow and Monday, as my law course approaches the final exam, but I should be commuting Tuesday and Thursday if not Friday -- with a day ride in France planned for Saturday. So we'll see how I get on.