The possible death of Queenie

Started the week with a nice road bike jolly with Ron. It was strangely quiet when we were out (guess a number of folk didn't have to go to work today). What a lovely way to spend a Bank Holiday.

Road bike jolly 45k

Ron and I went out again mid-week. This time I took my single-speed MTB out for a blast. Our MTB safari started out well. Got stung a few times as we scrambled across 'Cart Hill'. Ron took me on some new single track that stretched quite a distance. This part of the route was fun but the brambles cut my legs and oh, the stinger menace. Towards the end of our trek I punctured. The puncture was a menace to fix because the tyre was covered in mud and a hornet (about the size of a sparrow) kept buzzing right by us. I swear this hornet had teeth too! With puncture fixed we headed home via Coughton Ford. Once in Sambourne my Rock Shox forks failed and the front end of the bike just dropped. Queenie was having troubles with her disc brakes not so long ago and now I think she may have completely turned her toes up.

Menace MTB jolly 21k

On Thursday I took out Slinky for another road blast. I cycled Cobley Hill and went through Cofton Hackett before tackling Lickey Hill. After these hills, the route was relatively easy and I leisurely cycled home via Bromsgrove and Redditch.

Road jolly 51k

Once in a blue moon, I like to race. Not very often you understand. On occasions when I do race, I like to race against Gordon (my virtual friend). Well, Friday was such a day that I felt like racing. My route was decided - the AM SR 1 route. Back in April I raced this circuit and had KOM (King Of Mountain) status for the 'Bill and Alex's 23 miler' segment. Think I was only king for a day with 2 riders beating my time shortly after. My average speed back in April was 29.6kph. Friday, I gave it my all and raced. At the completion of the route I checked my average speed and it was 30.6kph! Sadly, the 'Bill and Alex's 23 miler' segment seemed to have vanished. I would not have been KOM anyway, but I would have been in 2nd place! It would take an average speed of 31.1kph to be king.

AM SR 1 42k

Cycled a total of 159k this week. Yearly total stands at 9,276k.