Yesterday's dogsh*t sandwich of a day brought me down to earth with a bump following Tuesday's euphoria... although I did manage to wax the chains for both the Brompton and Fuji - the significance of which will be revisited later.
Today held surprises; which largely made for a good day in the saddle.
To start we had the usual waft into the city on the Brompton to solicit sausages; today's being hand selected for crispness at my request and proving to be the finest of the week
After traffic chaos yesterday due to the main route being totally blocked by some emergency water works, I again made my way past the blockade to enjoy a bit of the journey totally car free..
Once at work it transpired that a large-ish delivery was required to a local customer; and with all the car-positive grown-ups out of the office this ultimately fell on me. Fair play to my colleage (who's the sort of person who'd drive to the bathroom if the car would fit up the stairs) for telling the customer that the delivery might have to wait, rather than trying to browbeat me into going home and getting the car so that I could crawl for miles in ringroad traffic.
This motivated me somewhat and after a bit of thought I figured it might go on the Fuji... so, after sitting out the rain (with the help of the excellent
netweather radar site) it was back onto the Brompton in the drizzle to go home and swap to the Fuji, then back to work to lash on the payload before travelling back to the customer.
This went surprisingly well, thanks largely to the super-useful three / six way bungees appropriated from work - the like of which I think I'll have to obtain for myself..
The ride out was nice and dry but I got caught out on the way back - thankfully being well prepared to keep at least myself relatively dry..
Back to the office near the end of the day for a bit of a sort-out, before a departure from the usual route home in the fresh evening air. Having the Fuji on the commute for a change I though I'd play to its strengths so took the cycle path on the ring road to north Oxford with plenty of the steady-state cruising at which it excels.
As usual I encountered muppets from all walks of life, and witnessed first-hand the tragedy of car people enduring car people problems.. thankfully this time not being one myself.
Then it was out to Yarnton and back on the tow path; nearly running over a toad that seemed committed to remaining very still an exclusive approach to self-preservation..
Given how well camouflaged it was against the tarmac I didn't fancy its chances so transported it to the other side of the path; where it seemed to be heading. Having initially reacted defensively, it then refused to let my hand go (and relinquish the sweet, sweet warmth) so I had to coax it off before the situation felt any more inappropriate..
Onward again to the monkey bars for a bit of a hang then to M&S for some disappointment; and at this point I thought I'd had enough so started heading home. By town I felt differently however so dropped by Waitrose for a few reduced bits before finally heading back.
After a shower and a bit of tidying I completed the hat trick by taking the Routier to the chippy and back; scoring two medium bits of delicious, freshly-cooked fish for the price of one large since they'd run out of the latter. Much of this has since been consumed with a big pile of broccoli and sizeable dollop of mayo..
Ballpark 38 different, somewhat productive and largely pleasant miles today which is the most I've done in one day for a long time. This, and the fact I've ridden every day since last Saturday brings an unexpected 7-day total up to around 170 miles; the most I've done since Covid. If I could squeeze in another 30 tomorrow I could top 200 (which would be the most I've ever done in seven days) however I need to go back to the homestead and while it's tempting to ride I think it might be pushing it a bit too much.
The only downside to today was that both bikes got wet literally the next day after their chains were waxed, so I might have to repeat that process soon. Still glad I got out though
