Week beginning 6 April. Round and round and round the lanes
It is
corona -lassitude or
corona- boredom setting in. I can't settle, wandering about the house ignoring the cans of paint waiting to be spread, picking at the news, picking up a book and putting it down with no memory of what I have read. I know that I have it good; retired, garden to sit in, enough money to get by and not ill so I should be counting my blessings but I have never been any good at that. I have stopped looking at
cyclechat, stopped talking to people, just impatiently waiting for something to change. We have self isolated to the point of hibernation. The car is anchored to the ground by cobwebs. Even after we run out of fresh food we don't want to shop and run down the store of tins that we keep for a rainy day.
Four rides this week. Impatient to get out, impatient to get back. Afraid of meeting people....holding my breath as I pass walkers and sun-dizzy children in case I catch it. Hard to hold your breath when going uphill and for how long is it necessary to do that? The sun has got warmer all week until I feel I am back in France again, sweating along deserted lanes, quiet countryside, the people sheltering indoors. The virus stalking the land.
Monday we went west, Madame Crow and myself, our peloton of two and intended to go around Stithians Lake which is a landmark of sorts although an obscure one as the lake is only visible in a couple of places. We got most of the way there before creeping anxiety levels (mine) started to close my throat and restrict my chest. Madame knows the signs all too well and we steered off the route to go home by a new way. Wahoo was confused, then angry and then sullen. The red flashing LEDS stopped as did all instruction. We did more hills than I wanted to but by the time we neared Truro again I was feeling better, the sky was blue and I could hear birds singing. Strava said 25 miles, 2300 feet and I searched every segment for some news about improving fitness. In cycling I am about the equivalent of Truro Town Football Club - holding its own at its level but don't let me play in the big leagues.
Tuesday it was warmer again and so shorts and short sleeves were required. Madame wanted a ride that had no climbs, no main roads and lots of scenery and so
RidewithGPS and me had a long talk and found that between the A390 and the A30 is a lot of empty countryside. Much of it either goes down or goes up, a wrinkled landscape of secret woods and hidden valleys. I read an account by some American cyclists who did a 50 mile loop around the Mendip including Cheddar Gorge. They wrote about how often they had to change gear and cadence as the road never stayed flat for long. They marvelled at how just 3000 feet of ascent felt harder than an Alpine pass. These were guys who had done the Ventoux three times in a day, complaining about how hilly it was crossing the Mendip which are all of a 1000 feet high at the most. They didn't marvel at the Cheddar Gorge but if you have the Grand Canyon in your country it would be a bit like taking a Cornish surfer to Margate and asking them to admire the tiny waves. Anyway my point is that the number of feet of ascent doesn't tell the whole story and the whole story is burning lungs, lactic legs and all round exhaustion - I was exhausted anyway as was Madame's battery but she seemed pretty serene about it all admiring the views and expounding on virology, immunisation therapy and the shortcomings of the government. Oddly it was another 25 mile, 2300 foot ride.
Wednesday I was shamed into moving paint from the tin and onto the external wall of the house sometimes avoiding painting windows and other things that shouldn't be painted.
Thursday was much the same (more painting) but it was so warm and so still, no wind at all in fact, that a ride was necessary and I sneaked out on my own at 5pm. I had read that short fast rides were as good as long steady rides for improving fitness and having read so much advice about not going far and not bothering the NHS, I decided that short ride without being fast would be the best compromise. But the legs were spinning nicely and the breathing was steady, the roads empty of virus spreading people or cars so that I just kept going faster. It is always good to come home to a Strava page full of PRs. I shared a screenshot with my son, where I was the fastest (of three) on a segment. He expressed incredulity that anyone would bother to find out how fast they had pedalled up a hill. I must not become a Strava obsessive but it is a good displacement activity that stops me thinking about how awful everything is and when will it all be normal again and when will I only have to worry about being run over or gassed by traffic once more. 17 miles and 1200 feet. And a top ten place (OK, tenth) out of 300 people on another Strava segment.
Friday was another painting day. And scraping paint off the places it wasn't supposed to be including the cat.
Saturday was the warmest day yet and we planned a ride that coincidentally passed Madame's fathers house that meant we could deliver his Easter eggs. I packed them carefully into my black saddle bag and they didn't break - just melted. When we arrived I put them on the lawn and retreated ten yards. The eggs were picked up and Madame's father then retreated ten yards. It was like a spy exchange at an Iron Curtain border crossing. We had a conversation across the lawn, but it is hard to come up with new things to say when all you have done all week is painting and all he has done is a puzzle.
Then it was on and up the hill - apparently a Category 4 hill - but as we had a rest part of the way, it doesn't count. Strava keeps counting though and tells me later my average speed up the hill was 1 mph. That was the Easter egg delivery. The lanes today were beautiful, dry, flower lined, green-ness bursting out. All life is exuberant today except for humans. The crows and magpies, who don't like humans much anyway, watched us moodily as they paused nest building to make sure we had moved away. I had a friend who rescued a fledgling crow that had fallen out of the nest. He hand fed it and the crow thrived. When he released it the other crows killed it. My friend said he thought that would probably happen. "They don't like men or anything that smells of us." he said.
Today by accident I have found some hills that are longer but less frequent and the rolling nature of the ride makes it more relaxing, gives us time (and breath) to chat and watch the passing countryside. The views are extensive from the high lanes, low green hills and fields under a few cumulus clouds, a high summer day in April. It is happy couple who are sharing beers on the deck in the afternoon after 29 miles and 2300 feet. I even forget to look at Strava - until later.
We will know when the the corona-emergency is over: it will start raining.