January 29th – Despite an icing sugar dusting of snow and a very cold wind, the dates and emergent daffodils of the industrial estate where I work know spring is a thing.
Jack in the Green has tapped the ground with his stick and it’s all systems go.
The cold might slow things up a few days, but it’s underway now. It’s coming.
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January 29th – The cold weather for this winter has finally arrived, and the roads are icy. I’m fairly OK on the ice tyres, but it still takes time to build confidence back up when hitting black ice.
Thankfully, everywhere I’ve been, the major routes are well gritted, even though many motorists swear they haven’t been.
Road salt is not magic. It won’t work instantly, won’t de-ice the whole troad, and won’t allow you to drive like Sterling Moss in cold weather.
Tae care and take it easy, folks.
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January 27th – At least it wasn’t raining.
At lunchtime, the wind was horrendous as I rode to Chasewater. Stood on the dam fighting it, it rose white-crested waves on the reservoir that broke angrily around the pier, shore and wakeboard ramps.
It was impressively dramatic but not an easy day to cycle on.
I suppose a clear day with little wind is too much to ask?
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January 23rd – The snow quickly petered out, and it went very cold overnight, with a small, further flurry in the early hours. I had stuff to do near home early in the morning, so left for work when the sun was well up and the sky a precious, azure blue.
Jockey Meadows in Walsall Wood and the Mystic Bridge in Darlaston were nothing short of stunning.
It’s not often we get sun and snow together like this. It was absolutely captivating, and a joy to be cycling in it.
For a while, my commute was like the kingdom of Narnia, and it ma=de me happy.
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January 22nd – A further shock to my sensibilities was the snowfall. I left Telford in relatively dry, clear conditions, but noticed the icing-sugar dusting of snow becoming more evident as the train neared the Black Country.
Leaving the train at Shenstone, there was more snow, but it was very wet. Whilst there was a little snow falling, I thought I’d missed the worst.
Within ten minutes I was cycling in persistent, large flakes of snow, making visibility difficult and soaking me to the skin.
I was glad of the studded tyres once more, and when I finally got there, glad to be home, too.
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January 22nd – This winter has been so mild that I’ve not got used the cold yet, and neither have I yet regained my confidence in my winter tyres.
A morning journey to Telford was chilly and felt precarious, with lots of black ice. I stayed upright, though, and honed my skills for another season – but I must say, I felt sorry for the blackbird on the cycleway at Telford looking for scraps of food. He clearly didn’t want to move!
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January 18th – Despite the cold, spring was still gently pushing forward in a garden in Darlaston – with snowdrops in full bloom and crocuses now up and in bud.
At such a very cold, grey time it’s good to see some signs of spring around the corner.
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January 16th – I was tired, it was late and cresting the Black Cock Bridge wearily I suddenly realised there was a hazard about: Hitting the higher ground towards Brownhills coupled with the semi rural nature of Green Lane, I could see in places the familiar sheen of frost.
The road was gritted well. But towards the kerbs and in places the grit hadn’t yet reached, ice lurked.
A warm winter has made me complacent. Time to be careful.
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January 3rd – On my way home, I crossed Kings Hill Park. I expected this cold, harsh evening to have much clearer air, but it was in fact quite misty and the view of the twin sisters of Wednesbury I’d hoped for – clear and well defined – was actually a murky grey image in shades of grey and very pale yellow electric light.
But it was rather beautiful in a very dark, Turner-is way.
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January 2nd – I’ll start this with a note about this journal. Older readers will know I started this journal on 1st April 2011after being encouraged to do 30daysofbiking by ace cyclist and top Dutchperson Renee Van Baar. From the moment I agreed, the die was cast.
Sadly, I was very ill with food poisoning the following New Year, so never rode a bike on 31st December 2011, and 1st January 2012. But I steeled my resolve, and I carried on, and I never missed a day since. Every day from 2nd January 2012 I have got on a bike and ridden somewhere.
From 100 mile plus rides in one day, to trundles to the shops, I have recorded my daily life as a cyclist, in all its ups and downs. That’s 7 years, or 2557 successive days (including 2 leap years), and about 63,000 miles.
I adore keeping this journal – both writing it, and creating the photos.I welcome feedback. If you have something to say – that I should stop, continue or do something differently, please get in touch by commenting or mailing me – BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.
Today was my first day back at work and on my way back, I headed up the canal to Newtown. I had forgotten to charge my camera, and it was flat, so these are actually photos from an iPhone, which just shows how much phone camera technology has advanced.
When I started this journal in 2011, my phone would not have been remotely capable of images of this quality.
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BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 