robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
November's ride done yesterday, Monday 6th.
There was a good south-westerly wind so I headed north-east to Cromer on the Norfolk coast. It was already half-light when I set out at 6.20, and got my first puncture after 18 miles near Dullingham, which is on the higher ground above Newmarket. Annoyingly the hole was in exactly the same place, and went down with exactly the same sound and speed, as one the previous day, and I'm still not sure I've found the cause. Still, it held perfectly for the next 93 miles.
Breakfast stop was at Brandon at 41 miles, and I then crossed a corner of Thetford Forest through the picturesque forestry commission village of Santon Downham, and along a sandy/potholey 'byway open to all traffic' for a mile or so through the trees. The 23mm tyres weren't the most appropriate but I went slowly and for a short distance like this it was quite fun.
It was a sunny day, and the Norfolk lanes from here up to the coast were lovely. Had another snack stop in Holt at 88 miles, then it was over the last ridge of woods and heathland and down to the coast at Weybourn, and I was in Cromer by about 3.15, on 101 miles. I considered carrying on round the coast until sundown, but it had clouded over and the temperatures were dropping, so I caught the 15.57 train home from Cromer.
Two trains later I arrived back in Cambridge, only to find the front tyre was flat again. I could have repaired it again at the station and ridden the last 8 miles home, but seeing that there was a train to my local station due a few minutes later I wimped out and caught that, and rode just the last mile home on a spongey tyre which had gone down again by the morning.
Consecutive monthly centuries : 59
Century rides ever : 135
Puncture
Sandy byway in Thetford forest
Arrival at Cromer
There was a good south-westerly wind so I headed north-east to Cromer on the Norfolk coast. It was already half-light when I set out at 6.20, and got my first puncture after 18 miles near Dullingham, which is on the higher ground above Newmarket. Annoyingly the hole was in exactly the same place, and went down with exactly the same sound and speed, as one the previous day, and I'm still not sure I've found the cause. Still, it held perfectly for the next 93 miles.
Breakfast stop was at Brandon at 41 miles, and I then crossed a corner of Thetford Forest through the picturesque forestry commission village of Santon Downham, and along a sandy/potholey 'byway open to all traffic' for a mile or so through the trees. The 23mm tyres weren't the most appropriate but I went slowly and for a short distance like this it was quite fun.
It was a sunny day, and the Norfolk lanes from here up to the coast were lovely. Had another snack stop in Holt at 88 miles, then it was over the last ridge of woods and heathland and down to the coast at Weybourn, and I was in Cromer by about 3.15, on 101 miles. I considered carrying on round the coast until sundown, but it had clouded over and the temperatures were dropping, so I caught the 15.57 train home from Cromer.
Two trains later I arrived back in Cambridge, only to find the front tyre was flat again. I could have repaired it again at the station and ridden the last 8 miles home, but seeing that there was a train to my local station due a few minutes later I wimped out and caught that, and rode just the last mile home on a spongey tyre which had gone down again by the morning.
Consecutive monthly centuries : 59
Century rides ever : 135
Puncture
Sandy byway in Thetford forest
Arrival at Cromer
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