A Man, a Van and a Bike - Lessons Learnt

Today was far from the longest cycle ride I’ve ever done but it was the first real try out on the new bike so was a fact finding mission. I did 10.9 miles in all, actually a bit further than planned (see below). I cycled down into Long Sutton to have a wander round and have some lunch. 

Lesson 1

The bike is fantastic, it’s the rider that’s at fault! I need to get a lot fitter (no surprise there) before next years holidays. The whole 10+ miles barely put a dent in the bike battery. 

Lesson 2

The OS maps on the iPhone screen are almost invisible with the current handlebar mounted case. That resulted in me taking a more scenic (not that there’s much scenery, it is the Fens) route than intended. It didn’t help that I’d got the whole round trip for tomorrow up on the map and ended up going down the road I should be returning on tomorrow instead of where I should have gone. 

Having the app set to the default road mapping instead of LandRanger helps a bit but I think a new mount might be in order. This one cost me under £8 on the ‘net so I can’t really complain. The only problem I see is that with a mount that doesn’t fully enclose the phone it won’t be usable in heavy rain.  I will also investigate other mapping apps but so far I haven’t found anything better than the OS. 

Lesson 3 

When you plug the iPhone back into the bike controller for charging and it doesn’t, then pull away and think riding isn’t quite as easy as expected, it probably means the controller isn’t pushed fully onto its mount! The controller is removable but has a small rechargeable battery in it so you can check trip mileages, etc. That means you can turn it on and it’s not immediately obvious that it’s not actually connected to the bike. 

Lesson 4

Posh Fish Finger sandwiches on crusty bread sound delicious, and they are, but they can also be huge! The side order of skinny fries was probably a bit too much. That may be why the ride back was a bit slower (it was uphill as well, see below). 

Lesson 5

The Fens are flat, very flat! If it wasn’t for the fact I was cycling into the Nene* valley there’d have hardly been any slope at all. 

Lesson 6

Long Sutton Church spire is said to be the oldest lead covered  wooden spire in the country, dating back to the early 13th Century.

I’m now relaxing for the rest of the afternoon, I suspect a snooze may happen at some point, as usual on the first night away I really didn’t sleep last night. I could do with replacing the amber coloured Wright’s hand wash with a red alternative. I was lying in bed trying to figure out why there appeared to be green and amber lights at the back of the ‘van; it was the site light shining through the green washing up liquid and the aforementioned amber hand wash! If they’d been green and red they’d have acted as nav lights. 😀

*Wait until tomorrow for how the river is, and should be, pronounced! That’s if I remember.