We came back from Corralejo, Fuerteventura, in early May 2023 so this month was a mixture of real-world cycling, virtual cycling and the occasional walk.
These are the stats:
May 2023 Stats
Activities: 29 Distance: 502.23 km Time: 22:12:12 Calories: 18,956
Moving on to weight, at the end of April I weighed 85kg but by the end of May I was down 2.9kg to 82.1kg with a low of 81.8kg.
April 2023 was spent in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, so that meant lots of real-world cycling and the occasional walk or hike during photoshoots/location scouting.
One downside was an ear infection needing a visit to the Centro Salud – which is still not properly sorted – that seemed to be going around friends and family.
Still, these are the stats:
April 2023 Stats
Activities: 28 Distance: 304.14 km Time: 18:27:44 Calories: 12,657
Moving on to weight, at the end of March I weighed 83.7kg but by the end of April I was up 1.3kg to 85kg due to family being out for 2 weeks plus my birthday meals. {sigh}
We flew back to Fuerteventura in the early morning this week and the following day I was back on it with the cycling – real world, rather than virtual – so today I recorded the ride to show the difference in weather since the start of the year.
It’s unlisted over on YouTube:
We flew out to our place in Fuerteventura again on Saturday 1st October and after the weekend I started back with the real-world cycling on the Monday, having decided to up the ante a tad with my distances and to make sure I was following my consultant’s orders to do at least 30 minutes a day.
I’m still pleased with the result: 331.33km this month (including walking).
In other news, we’ve gone a bit keto with our diets and the results are promising: I weighed 93.3kg on the Garmin Index S2 scales we have here at the start of the month and today I weigh 91kg (up 0.5kg from yesterday morning, which was a new low since the crash and muscle-wasting in July 2019).
Cheeky 32½km ride, stopping off near the end at our favourite restaurant, Le Pont de la Tour, for champagne, oysters and cocktails before heading home.
Because both the bloody treadmills were taken…
Yes, I’ve gone and done it: I’ve bought one of those ridiculous-looking folding commuter bikes, but in my case a strictly limited-edition one with a rather nice paint finish.
When I say “ridiculous-looking” it’s not been one of those bikes that lends itself to too much in the way of ridicule unlike the MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra) shots or at least that was until the BBC’s “W1A” satirical show featured them:
Anyway, I’d long thought about riding in to the office on my Carrera Kraken 09 20″ mountain bike but its lack of mudguards, our lack of a shower at the office and more particularly my lack of anywhere to keep a full-sized bicycle safe whilst I’m inside had put paid to that idea so instead I’ve been walking both ways, which is fine in itself other than arriving a tad sweaty in a suit and spending around 35 minutes each way walking the 3½km each way.
The downside of that is my getting through a pair of Nike shoes every year and it taking so long.
By chance a review of Brompton’s new electric bike appeared on my Twitter feed the other day and that got me to thinking about a Brompton as a sensible choice for the short journey, given I can fold it and bring it into my office each day… a la W1A.
So I had a look on their website and decided that they looked quite good, but what colour to specify? Easy: when i saw the Nine Streets limited edition, I was sold.
“Originally launched in 2017 to celebrate the opening of the Brompton Junction Amsterdam. Nine Streets sports the never before seen, special fade finish. The effect is a special fade finish of Red and Blue lacquer which is created using a hand sprayed [sic]. The process leaves a unique finish on each Nine Streets bike, meaning no 2 bikes are the same.
“Nine Streets is produced in the Brompton factory in London. Each bike is handmade with the highest quality craftmanship to create the Nine Streets unique finish.
“Inspired by Amsterdam 9 Straatjesis well known for it’s stylish shops and creative influence, Nine Streets is a nod to the iconic canal-district area in the Netherlands.
“Only a small batch of Nine Streets Edition bikes have been produced…”
Brompton Nine Streets
The paint job is fantastic, starting with blue at the front and fading into red at the back:
Red at the back…
and blue at the front
Click on the first image to see it at larger scale.
I’ve gone for the higher-barred H-series handlebar version and a longer seat post for my 33″-34″ inside leg measurement. It comes with the 6-speed set of gears: 3 internal hub and 2 external rings.
H-type handlebars
Gearsets
It also comes with dynamo-driven front and rear lights powered from the dynamo mounted in the front wheel hub:
Front Wheel Hub
As it’s limited in numbers, I couldn’t order one direct from Brompton but found one at Evans Cycles near Waterloo; I pick it up tomorrow. This is the spec.:
I’ve also ordered a cadence sensor from Garmin to grab a few more stats like on the Carrera onto Garmin Connect.
Not a good year at all: lots of injuries and illnesses plus work getting in the way.
Over the course of the year, that showed by a weight gain of 2.6kg/5.7lbs.
I cycled 119km in May, June and August rather than trying to cycle regularly at the weekends.
My running was limited to just 121km and May’s total came purely from just the MK Half-Marathon.
Walking to and from work with the occasional weekend wandering led to a total of 666km, which wasn’t really “Beasting” it…
Must. Try. Harder.
Not a bad little ride out today as we were a bit pushed for time. We did stop for a little refreshment at Le Pont de la Tour though…
A bit of a different route here having to be diverted out to the Blackwell Tunnel Southern Approach due to all the residential development there. The usual break for alcohol and snacks at Zizzi’s Canary Wharf in the sunshine.
You must be logged in to post a comment.