I returned to Cambridge today. Making the most of the good weather and longer daylight hours I went cycling on my usual trip.

There are two things to note with this one.

Firstly, I did it at a new best moving average speed of 26.84km/h.

Secondly is what I managed to find time for while going up the small gradient past the American Cemetery, heading towards Madingley Road. My hands/wrists were getting a bit achy so I started cycling with no hands for a bit – normally this is not a problem, but I learnt the hard way that it only really works at decent speeds – when slowed down by gradient, balance is harder. I came off, putting some fairly deep gauges in the brake levers, snapping the quick release bracket attaching the saddle bag to the saddle, tearing the saddle, knocking the front light off, and landing fairly hard on my left hand and side – slightly concerning because I keep my phone in my left pocket and I landed pretty hard on it. Impressively the screen is fine. My hands and left knee got fairly bloodied up. Having already had the suspicion that I was doing a good speed however I was keen to get back and maintain the good speed, so did (albeit unable to use my left hand on the handlebar in order to avoid putting too much blood on them).

Just to add, I never cycle without hands when there are cars around.

Route:

View North West Cambridge 26 in a larger map

Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB