January 2nd – This was one of the things that cheered me up in Lichfield. The railings around Minster Pool. Someone with an idea, some blu-tak and a small pair of googly eyes. The expression is beautiful. I only noticed it by chance.
I don’t know who did the deed, but I thank you. You made me grin from ear to ear, and chased my black dog away. So now I’ve preserved your random act of happiness and shared it for posterity.
Thank you.
January 2nd – Today, I was at a loose end. Things hadn’t come together well, and I felt miserable and disconnected, but I got my rug together and headed into Lichfield at dusk. It rewarded me beautifully – I love the Christmas lights here; even more poignant at the close of the festive season. It’s amazing how poncing about with a camera and creating a little can cheer you up.
For those counting, it’s the third anniversary of riding 365 days a year. I actually started the project in April, 2011 in order to ride every day of the 30 days of that April, mainly to stop fellow twitter cyclist Renee Van Baar from nagging me about it. At the end of that month, i was enjoying the thing so much I carried on, and vowed to make it 365 days.
Sadly, over the new year of 2011/12, I suffered bad food poisoning, and was off the bike for two days. I was gutted, and so feeling cheated, I started again. Today was the third anniversary of that resolution.
I often agonise over to whether I continue this, and I welcome reader opinion, so please do comment; but this journal is so much part of what I do on a bike every day now that it would be hard to stop. The readership continues to grow; over 5,100 followers.
Statistics for this year gone have been a total distance of 9,296 miles. That’s still about 25½ miles a day. A remarkable total of 14,446 photos have been taken. On the journal so far, there have been 3,028 posts. I have cycled continuously, every day, for 1095 days.
In total, the journal has run for 1,368 days from the start, and something in just shy of 35,000 miles. Think about that; I’ve cycled every day, rain, snow, wind or shine of the last 1,368 days, all except 2. I’m proud of that.
I guess I proved a middle aged, ordinary geezer with a fondness for cake and tea can do this.
Thank you for riding it with me. As long as people are enjoying this, I’ll keep doing it.
Your comments are, as ever, welcome, even if it’s just to tell me to shut the hell up…
New Year’s Day – I was miserable. The weather was miserable. That’s all there was to it.
I wasn’t feeling good – not over-indulgence, but the semi-regular bad stomach and that post-Christmas feeling when the work that seemed so far away two days ago is suddenly noticed, bearing down.
I span out after dark, up Coppice Lane and the cycleway, and back along the canal. It was raining, and windy so quite tough going. But I felt better for it, and got home more cheerful than I left it.
I always find January 1st difficult if I’m hemmed in. Tomorrow will be a better day.
December 31st – I’m concerned about the fate of the sculpture at Catshill Junction in Brownhills. Since the new housing development started, due to lack of access, it has become increasingly overgrown. I’m worried it might be lost completely, and fear that Walsall Housing Group have made no provision for it in the plans for the new build.
On the subject of which, it’s very early days yet but I’m finding the building flat and characterless at the moment. Any new homes here are good; the land has been dormant and unused for a decade – but I do hope this currently somewhat bland construction develops some character as it’s topped out…
December 31st – A middling day with ice still on the ground, but a building wind; I nipped to the supermarket in Burntwood, and returned via Chasewater. On the way, I noticed this peculiar method of mounting a poster.
The screws already existed, but heavens, have drawing pins suddenly shot up in price or something?
Astounding.
December 30th – I had loads of local stuff to do today, and very little time. Plus, I was having a bad day with everything failing, so I felt it probably wasn’t best to be out in difficult conditions.
The feeling was compounded by a couple of intemperate drivers who hooted at my very existence.
The sunset was nice though, from Pelsall Road to Chasewater, it was gorgeous through all it’s phases; these are good winter sundowns right now.
Sadly, the weather is to warm op over the next couple of days, so I think this is probably the last decent one until the weekend. But what a corker.
December 29th – The return was no less magical, but very challenging. I was mentally and physically exhausted when I got home. I’ve never seen black ice this bad, and by the time night fell, it was very challenging riding indeed on all but the main routes. It was good though, to see the sunset reflected in the snowy pink-white landscape, and my old muse Rugeley Power Station was clearly at full tilt.
The mist rolling off the Trent at Wolseley Bridge was enchanting, too, but I saw too many cars slid off the lanes around Longdon to feel comfortable on the roads, despite the ice tyres.
I was glad to get home, but glad to have seen this, to have experienced it and to feel that pain in my forehead and the icy grip on my chest.
It’s not often one feels so connected to the environment.
December 29th – I saw her in the usual place, near Penkridge Bank – an elderly, lone fallow doe. Split from her herd, she was clearly in good health and not troubled, just sheltering in a patch of scrub. Oddly, she was the only deer I saw that day, but it was good to see her.
People seem to get overly concerned about deer this weather, but this really is the kind of winter they’re built for. They’ll be fine.
December 29th – It was a cold, hard, clear day again, and nothing for it but to get my ice chops back in shape up on Cannock Chase. I threw there bike over Rainbow Hill, through Birches Valley, up Penkridge Bank, down Abraham’s Valley, back up it, over Pepper Slade, down the Sherbrooke Valley, and over Haywood Warren back to Seven Springs. I returned via Rugeley and Longdon Edge.
The forest was gorgeous in the winter sunlight, but it was brittle cold and the black ice was thick on the trails. Challenging, but very cold on the feet and face.
A great day.
December 28th – The winter boots are on. These Schwalbe Marathon Plus Winter are on their third season now. A 38mm 700c tyre with grippy central rubber tread, flanked by twin rows of proud, carbide studs, they grip well on black ice and make short work of snow. They’re not infallible but give me confidence when cornering and feel sure-footed and secure when the chips are down.
They are, however, noisy in use and not terribly fast; but they’re home for the next few weeks at least.
If you’re out on the roads over the cold spell, here are my tips for safe cycling, even if you don’t have winter tyres…
Take it easy, folks.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 