Nothing but a Number

November’s been a fairly rubbish month for cycling. Well, for most things, actually, but what with the weather and everything else I’ve been out on the bike just a handful of times. This is bad for the body and bad for the soul but most of all it’s bad for my numbers, and particularly my unofficial New Year’s resolution goal of increasing my Eddington number by one every month, not that numbers are important at all in cycling, ahem*. My problem is that I’ve been pretty successful to date and my E number is now 20. My tactic for increasing it is to aim for a ride at least two miles longer than the number I’m currently working on – to get a few more for the next target under my belt – which means planning rides of at least 23 miles these days. As my longest regular ride is 20 miles, even with the odd mapping detour (which are getting harder to come by), progress is definitely slowing down.

But today is a Wednesday, the day that the BNCC – a sort of Cycle Social unplugged, now I come to think of it – meet up and the weather was not as horrible as had been promised. I checked the schedule for their next meeting point and I could make it if I hustled. So, without stopping to think too hard about it, I hopped on my bike and was off. We’ve had some really biblical weather recently, and the roads were fairly flooded, it was cold and it was grey but the rain held off long enough for me to get there and back undrenched. I made in time for tea and chat and some rather excellent parsnip soup. And then I plugged my way home again, tireder, colder, achier and much much happier than I have been for a while. Thirty miles of November riding will do that to a person, I find.

*Ok, maybe a bit.