More than anything else this was an experiment in how suitable cycling for utility is over greater distances than is typical in Cambridge. I’m home for the weekend, having got the train to Stoke (On-Trent) on Friday afternoon (I’m only typing this now as I’ve been pretty busy). In need of some new trainers (the old pair had split, presumably from too much pressure on the front from cycling), I cycled straight from the station to Newcastle (Under-Lyme) and bought a new pair (which will hopefully last longer than six months). That bit in itself was surprisingly quick, though given how short it was I didn’t bother recording the route/any stats. The bit of interest here is that I then cycled from Newcastle to home in Wetley Rocks, a journey which (when I was at school in Newcastle) took 40-50 minutes by bus and 30 minutes by car – so I was very keen to see how quickly it can be done by bike.
Surprisingly, I did it in a total time of 39m37s (moving for 35m24s), despite the hill climb that is Ash Bank; just look at the elevation gain of 233m – greater than that of the Cambridge Semi Oribal route, which is about three times the distance – to see that it’s reasonably hilly. This is a good result for cycling and really makes me wonder why it isn’t more popular just for utility – I’ll certainly be cycling to the railway station this afternoon.
Route:
View Newcastle to Wetley Rocks in a larger map
Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB
An interesting thing happened after the Cambridge to Oxford and Oxford to London trip. I lost sensation in my ring and little fingers, on both hands (more specifically just the outer half of the ring fingers) and the outer half of my palms. These symptoms point to ulnar nerve entrapment, and given that I’d previously done a greater distance in one day than we did going to Oxford (the longer of the two days) I don’t think the distance was the issue – maybe the fact I was going below my optimum speed changed my weight distribution somehow. Anyway the point is I decided that continuing to cycle certainly wouldn’t help the situation. Supposedly I should have regained sensation within a week. That week has passed (nearly two now). My little fingers and palms have returned to normal, but the outer halves of my ring fingers remain numb.
This evening I decided to go ahead and cycle despite the above – my normal routes never caused the problem so at worst can delay the return of sensation – the other option being to not cycle at all and then end up having lost speed when I was able to return to it. Given how long it’s been since I did any distance worth noting (I’ve continued utility cycling e.g. to and from railway stations a fair amount, but I don’t log that of course) I was expecting to be fairly slow, so I’m pleasantly surprised with an average moving speed of 27.45km/h – one of my better times for this route. If you look carefully at the route you’ll see the start/finish is further North East along Huntingdon Road – this is due to the “Summer Move” mentioned in the title – on Saturday I moved house from 94 to 138 Huntingdon Road – college like to have everyone who’s staying over the summer in one place (the move took a while carrying, everything on foot – a good 10 hours just for moving it, let alone packing and unpacking!). The move also means that the distance for this route has increased by about 0.5km.
Route:
View Cambridge Semi Orbital 20 in a larger map
Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB
Average moving speed: 21.87km/h. Distance: 78.09km.
Judging from the speeds of yesterday and today I suspect I’ve lost a bit of fitness, having gone to Download 2010 on Wedndesday last week and arriving back on Monday (I saw: Coheed and Cambria, AC/DC, Atreyu, Megadeth, Rage Against The Machine, Cinderalla, Slash, Billy Idol, Airbourne and Aerosmith).
Route:
View Cambridge Orbital 3 in a larger map
Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB
I had my last exam yesterday, so have now finished my second year! Making the most of the freedom and good weather I went cycling (with a couple of housemates), doing a slight variant of the semi orbital route. Average moving speed was a reasonably relaxed 25.44km/h and we stopped quite a bit, though I was pretty pleased with managing to sprint up to 48.6km/h / 30.2mph for a short stretch on the road to Oakington.
Route:
View Cambridge Semi Orbital 15 (Variant) in a larger map
Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB
Having not cycled in over a week due to not wanting to take too much time away from revision, it was about time today for a (brief) escape from the madness – so I’ve just done North West Cambridge Trip 30 (I chose a short one because I have an exam this afternoon and so didn’t want to risk not being able to get back in time in the case of damage to bike/anything else that may occur). Given the weather (wind and rain) I’m happy with an average moving speed of 26.5km/h.
Route:
View North West Cambridge 30 in a larger map
Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB