Cycling

[Matt Cycle]

You were braver than me today Matt, couldn't face the cold walk this morning. I'll be doing my normal work to the office in the morning though.

It was absolutely freezing Stitch. Took my glove off to get a drop of blood for the meter (the meter stopped working as it was too cold so I had to resort to shoving it in my bibtights to keep it warm) and I couldn't feel my fingers, never mind getting a drop of blood. Cold I can usually cope with but the very strong wind and snow showers/sleet made it hard going. 🙄

 

[Lindarose]

As usual a very impressive ride in such cold weather. It was all I could do to go to work earlier and walk Henry after. Rest of the evenings been a very lazy one.
I'd also be scared of falling off in bad weather. As you get quite a speed going is that ever a worry to you?

 

[Matt Cycle]

As usual a very impressive ride in such cold weather. It was all I could do to go to work earlier and walk Henry after. Rest of the evenings been a very lazy one.
I'd also be scared of falling off in bad weather. As you get quite a speed going is that ever a worry to you?

It sounds like you took the sensible option. The forecast had given light snow for most of the day yesterday so I thought I wouldn't be getting out. In the end though it was just sleet and snow showers and didn't settle.

I'm not particularly quick on the bike anyway but do take it extra steady when there's frost and ice about. Damp on the roads from rain, sleet or snow can make it tricky as well especially if Farmer Giles has just come out of his muddy field in his tractor. 😱

 

[Matt Cycle]

Back to the hilly Peak District this week for a ride that took in Flash, Hollinsclough, Longnor, Crowdecote and Monyash. I decided to face my bete noire head on and tackled the Crowdecote climb from the other direction. 😱 I've done it the other way several times. Managed to get up without stopping and it wasn't as bad as I feared. It was a strange day weatherwise being fairly mild but with a misty drizzle up on the tops, sun on the way back and the roads had dried out. A few daffs starting to appear now (there's probably some summer flowering plants at Byley in Cheshire 😉), loads of snowdrops - very Spring like. 🙂

Strava stats are 53.5 miles completed at an average speed of 12.9mph and elevation gain just shy of 4500 feet.

Levels as follows: started at 6.0 mmol/l, at 10 miles 4.9 mmol/l, at 21 miles 4.4 mmol/l, at 29 miles 5.3 mmol/l, at 35 miles 6.2 mmol/l, at 45 miles 7.6 mmol/l, at 49 miles 6.8 mmol/l, and back home 3.8 mmol/l. A few lows there as I'm aiming for between 6.5 to 10. I'd reduced my Tresiba this morning. I had energy/protein bar, malt loaf and 4 gels plus a latte from the Old Smithy cafe in Monyash.

I realise I've more than likely taken photos of these before at various times!

Dark skies near Bradnop


Tittesworth reservoir in the distance viewed from near Morridge


Photo opportunity - who's that k***head blocking the sign at Flash? (This is taken at the other side of the village than I usually take)


Heading towards Hartington


The Garmin (Few bits of moss in the block paving there - need some Roundup 🙂)

 

[Robin]

You need Jeyes fluid for moss, not roundup!
Impressive ride, impressive views, as usual, Matt!

 

[Lindarose]

Well done again Matt and love the pics. There are so many snowdrops around. Love seeing them. 🙂

 

[Matt Cycle]

You need Jeyes fluid for moss, not roundup!
Impressive ride, impressive views, as usual, Matt!

Shows the extent of my horticultural knowledge! The power of advertising as I just put the only one I'd heard of. Cutting lawns and hedges, weeding and digging is the extent of my gardening skills. Half the time I wouldn't know the difference between a weed and a flower. If they've got nice flowers I haven't got a problem. Thanks for the tip with the Jeyes. 🙂

 

[Stitch147]

Great pics.

 

[Matt Cycle]

Cheshire this week for a 100km ride which featured an 'incident' and more exciting news for those daft about daffodils. Not many photos but it's quality not quantity. 😉 Conditions were dry, not too cold but extremely blustery - this dried out wet on the roads from last nights rain but made riding conditions difficult. A few bits of drizzle on the way back which didn't amount to much. I headed out towards Macclesfield and onto Knutsford, over to Byley and back via Goostrey. Struggled on this one a bit. It was okay going out but the legs were saying no coming back. The strong wind obviously didn't help but no excuses. 😉

The 'incident' was a regrettable traffic misdemeanour involving cycling on footpaths resulting in an injury although there are mitigating circumstances. Unfortunately, I strayed onto a footpath whilst tapping the ash from my meerschaum pipe onto a wall at the side of the road. A person on the footpath at the time suffered from a badly scuffed shoe whilst moving out of the way. Paramedics were called and arrived with kiwi polish and a brush and fortunately for all concerned the shoe buffed up very well. The IP was able to continue their journey to the shop around the corner. A most unfortunate incident. 😉

Strava stats are 63.0 miles completed at an average speed of 14.5mph and elevation gain of just under 2100 feet.

I've got a libre sensor on at the moment but it was playing silly beggars some of the time so the blood readings were as follows: levels at the start 7.8 mmol/l, at 20 miles 9.1 mmol/l, at 39 miles 7.8 mmol/l, at 44 miles 7.2 mmol/l, at 49 miles 4.6 mmol/l, at 54 miles 5.3 mmol/l, at 59 miles 5.1 mmol/l and back home 7.8 mmol/l. I had energy/protein bar and 3 gels. Reduced the Tresiba this morning.

Here you go - the Byley daffs. (Saw quite a few other daffodils now flowering, loads of snowdrops and crocuses)


They carry on from behind where the above photo was taken although those are not all in flower yet


The Garmin

 

[Robin]

Glad to see the daffs didn't all get Dorised!

 

[Matt Cycle]

Glad to see the daffs didn't all get Dorised!

No, they all seemed fine and upstanding. 🙂 Very breezy today as well. Some of them I think are on the turn. I don't know how long they last but it's probably not surprising really as I first saw some of them that were already flowering on 22nd January. 😱

 

[Northerner]

Surprisingly, I've seen very few daffs as yet, although the park is full of crocuses 🙂

 

[Robin]

Surprisingly, I've seen very few daffs as yet, although the park is full of crocuses 🙂

My miniature rockery daffs are just out, they're called 'February Gold' so they only made it with a couple of days to spare. None of my tall daffs are out yet. The ones that face south are budding, but the North facing ones under the hedge are only a few inches up.

 

[Northerner]

My miniature rockery daffs are just out, they're called 'February Gold' so they only made it with a couple of days to spare. None of my tall daffs are out yet. The ones that face south are budding, but the North facing ones under the hedge are only a few inches up.

I always thought daffs flowered from the south of the country northwards - I remember something on QI about the rate at which they move north being the answer to one of the questions

 

[Matt Cycle]

Just a short ride around the hilly Staffordshire Moorlands this afternoon. I'm busy tomorrow (and the forecast isn't looking great) so managed to get out for 2.5 hours ride. I walked into town this morning and in the sun it felt quite warm. I was tempted to go with the short sleeved summer jersey with a long sleeved base layer underneath but decided against it and stuck with winter jersey - I'm glad I did as it was breezy up on the tops and the sun went in with rain threatening and a bit of a shower just as I got back.

Strava has it as 32.1 miles completed at an average speed of 13.5mph and elevation gain of just over 2600 feet.

Levels have been a bit of a rollercoaster this last week and I'm seriously tempted to ask to go back on Levemir. (Still waiting on the pump - I spoke to the DSN about it a couple of weeks ago). On today's ride at start 6.7 mmol/l, libre was saying 6's to 7's I checked blood at 20 miles and it was 3.7 mmol/l 🙄, at 27 miles 6.3 mmol/l and back home 7.6 mmol/l. I had 3 gels and half an energy/protein bar.

River Hamps near Waterfall just before the long climb to Morridge


From the Roaches looking towards Tittesworth reservoir - that's where I'm heading next


The Garmin

 

[Robin]

No daffs this week? Here's some I found on Wednesday in central London.
I've forgotten, did you swap to Lantus or Toujeo or something? I've often wondered if Levemir would be a bit more 'instant' than Lantus if I wanted to alter the dose. I'm on a quest to iron out my washing line shaped Libre trace overnight.

 

[Matt Cycle]

No daffs this week? Here's some I found on Wednesday in central London.
I've forgotten, did you swap to Lantus or Toujeo or something? I've often wondered if Levemir would be a bit more 'instant' than Lantus if I wanted to alter the dose. I'm on a quest to iron out my washing line shaped Libre trace overnight.

Impressive. 🙂 Saw a few daffs but nothing to get too excited about.

I swapped from Levemir to Tresiba last year. Tresiba has a flatter profile and longer life and is just one injection, you don't split it. It's fine if you're doing the same things day in day out. The problem for me is work during the week can be a bit more active and when I go out on the bike then this is very difficult on one basal injection. I'm not saying it was easy on Levemir but with two injections there was a bit more control. Yes, I found Levemir to work fairly quickly if doses were altered whereas with Tresiba whilst not bad does seem to have more of a delayed response in comparison.

 

[Robin]

Impressive. 🙂 Saw a few daffs but nothing to get too excited about.

I swapped from Levemir to Tresiba last year. Tresiba has a flatter profile and longer life and is just one injection, you don't split it. It's fine if you're doing the same things day in day out. The problem for me is work during the week can be a bit more active and when I go out on the bike then this is very difficult on one basal injection. I'm not saying it was easy on Levemir but with two injections there was a bit more control. Yes, I found Levemir to work fairly quickly if doses were altered whereas with Tresiba whilst not bad does seem to have more of a delayed response in comparison.

Ah, thank you for that. Yes, my problem is not having a consistent routine, and there are times when I'd like to lower basal and see a result more quickly, but then, Lantus seems to last the full 24 hrs, and now I've shifted it to lunchtimes, it's not causing such a whoosh downwards at midnight. I guess it's swings and roundabouts!

 

[Matt Cycle]

Back out for another 100km ride today in what was a lovely Spring day. Mild, dry conditions with sunshine. Daffodils (and crocuses) everywhere - Spring had definitely sprung (at least today anyway 😉). I headed into leafy Cheshire and the footballers residential area of choice - Alderley Edge to lower the tone of the area on my £350 bike. I came back through Knutsford, Byley and Goostrey. I had winter gear on again and got a bit of a glow on in the sunshine - saw some cyclists in short sleeved jerseys and shorts. However, the cloud returned on the way home and it cooled down.

Strava has it as 62.8 miles completed at an average speed of 15.0mph and elevation gain of just under 2200 feet. This ride now takes me over 600 miles for the year in 11 rides.

Libre finished last week so it's blood readings - at start 6.2 mmol/l (had a couple of biscuits), at 11 miles 5.8 mmol/l, at 22 miles 4.7 mmol/l, at 30 miles 8.3 mmol/l, at 40 miles 12.8 mmol/l (think this was duff reading with gel on finger but didn't check 🙄), at 45 miles 5.7 mmol/l, at 51 miles 5.0 mmol/l, at 55 miles 5.9 mmol/l, at 59 miles 6.1 mmol/l and back home 6.6 mmol/l. Lower readings than I'd like really when on the bike and had quite a bit to eat - 5 gels, energy/protein bar, malt loaf and latte from the Jodrell Bank cafe. As per recent times I'd lowered my Tresiba this morning but may need to re-think it. 🙄

Byley daffodils - stretch all the way along and all in bloom now but some are definitely on their way out


There are loads of random daffs on the verges - I presume these though have been planted outside this house in a quiet lane near Siddington (evidence of last nights rain on the lane)


Going up, almost home near Rudyard


The Garmin

 

[Robin]

Lovely pics again, Matt. Oh, and I sometimes think it looks like I only notice the scenery, and not your amazing times/distances, for which I am full of admiration.