Benington and back

This weekend saw the penultimate decision point - do I feel I can do the ride? - with a final check with the doc in a couple of weeks' time. So two lengthy rides in quick succession were required. Following yesterday's 74 miles the knee felt ok this morning so off I went, this time eastwards past Welwyn Garden City to Watton-at-Stone and Benington, then back through Knebworth and Wheathampstead. The rain held off and it was another pleasant session. Although I can still feel the sensation in the right knee most of the time, with an Ibuprofen before starting to minimise inflammation I wouldn't really call it pain and I was able to complete just over 50 miles. As long as that continues I'm good to go on 24th June. Still so much to sort out, what to take, equally what not to take, is the route ok, having the bike serviced, the list seems endless but it'll get done.
  

Luton loop

A repeat of the round Luton 60 but this time with a detour into Dunstable for a morning cuppa with Sue who was working today. This helped to increase the mileage to over 70 for the first time, but the real test will be doing another long ride tomorrow. It's an enjoyable circuit, mostly quiet lanes or B roads and Bedfordshire countryside looking very green after recent sun and rain. The climbing was almost identical to the top of Snowdon from sea level. Came close to colliding with a muntjac deer that I startled right next to the road. Later saw two low-flying F15 jets apparently travelling from RAF Lakenheath at about 2000' to a flypast in Surrey - certainly made a lot of noise. And it didn't rain until I reached home just after three. 

Ruined church at Ayot St Lawrence, near George Bernard Shaw's birthplace

Palladian church at Ayot St Lawrence

Pitstop at the Bright Star, Peters Green 

Some may recognise Woodcock Hill and the mast at PSDB, later HOSDB, now CAST
 and soon to merge with the defence equivalent

Evening ride in the sun

An hour's ride that I did on Monday lunchtime and again this evening - it's good to be out in warm sunny weather. No adverse reaction from the knee so I'll be doing a couple of longer ones at the weekend, and then I hope to be able to decide whether I can start....in exactly a month from today!

St Albans to Oxford

St Albans to Oxford through the Chilterns again on Saturday and with a precautionary Ibuprofen the knee stood up reasonably well to 50 miles so I'm a bit more hopeful for June 24th, only a month away now.

The satnav took me via the Phoenix Trail, a well-surfaced old railway line between Princes Risborough and Thame - very pleasant riding but not what I was expecting having saved the route from last time, or so I thought. Satnav is a real time-saver allowing you to ride long distances without stopping, but if you go off course you have no context to help you get back on track. The basic route is complete but will need some tidying up and I need to decide what other mapping is necessary and in what format - I am intending to travel as light as possible. So there are still lots of decisions to be made, what to carry, accommodation, and more.

St Albans to Oxford - route

The Phoenix Trail

Doctor's report

Well, the doc showed me lots of internal pix of my knee from all angles and said it looked like a 59 yr 10 mth-old knee should look. Signs of wear but nothing to stop me completing the ride.  So it's Ibuprofen as a preventative measure before each training session and see how it goes. Here's hoping for some reasonable weather on Saturday when I'm off through the Chilterns to Oxford again. 

Some stats to date - 
672 miles outdoors in 51 hours of pedalling, average speed about 14.2 mph, max. speed just short of 40mph
32 indoor spinning sessions of 45 minutes each

Sunday 22 miles

Another St Albans circular, pushing back up to over 20 miles on a fine afternoon. Pic while crossing the River Ver at Redbournbury Watermill.

St Albans circuit

When I go walking with my ex-Met friends we have a 5 minute embargo on matters medical. So suffice to say I had an MRI scan today on my knee and will see the consultant on Thursday to discuss the results. Took a painkiller and went out for a short ride this afternoon as shown, no ill effects so far. Suffering Eurovision at time of writing - it anyone deserves to win it's the Bulgarian boy for having the confidence to get up there and sing pretty well despite being the only contestant born this century.

Today's ride here... St Albans circuit: Distance 13.51 mi | Time 1:05:28 | Speed 12.4 mph | Elevation 623 ft

Back on the bike

After more than a week out of the saddle, a twenty-five mile circuit from home to try out the knee. I noticed it from the start but wouldn't say it hurt, and had a good ride. I'll do another shortish ride as soon as I can while waiting to see a specialist next week. It's less than two months to the start so I need to know if there's a real problem as soon as possible.

Cycle City

Last week we were in Amsterdam where the bike is king, but resting the knee so no cycling for me apart from a 15 minute session in the hotel gym