https://www.strava.com/activities/388735049
I didn't get a ride in this morning as feeling fragile but Kenn wanted to go for a ride this evening We got on our bikes, after grabbing lights off the roadies, and away we went. Cake route, up the Marriotts on the CXs. The light was fantastic out there, we watched the setting sun and thought what fun it would be riding back on the trail by bike light.
We got to the cake place at 7.45 and got the last bit of cake in the place, and the last coffee out of the kettle. We were just in time. We are regulars so they said that, if they'd locked up before we finished, to leave the mug in the corner. They'd given us paper plates for the cake.
Once the cake was scoffed and the coffee drunk, we headed off home in the gathering dark. I turned my awesome cateye light on and the Marriotts Way was lit up for all to see. Kenn's light, not so bright but fine to see by. We rode home as fast as we dared, as once under a tree tunnel, it was pitch black. Kenn's light decided that now was a most excellent time to go all dim on him. Fantabulosa! Nevermind, my Cateye was brilliant so we rode, side by side, along the old rail track, chatting as we went. We put Kenn's frog-light (flasher or solid light) on solid for a bit more vision for him and kept a steady 10mph. We got to Ashwellthorpe and noticed that the on/off button of my Cateye had gone red. Thinking that this couldn't be good, we poked it to the 'dip beam' setting to save the battery. We did another mile and it died. USB lights don't go dim. We discovered this tonight. They are bright, bright, bright, turn-off and plunge you in to darkness sort of lights. Joy.
Kenn had a bit of light from his dim battery light, I took his frog and put it on my bike and we put our gears into little ring and pedalled slowly, at about 5mph along the Marriotts. We thought we would head for the Reepham Road at Freelands Corner or turn at Freelands and head to Taverham and then pick up the cyclepaths.
Woodland paths are very dark at night. I just thought that I would mention this. Passing Muntjaks are big and they make you jump when they appear then vanish 3' from your front wheel. Then, this bloke turned up, with proper 2000 lumen Mountain bike lights. We explained our problem with the USB light dying etc and he said, where were we off to, so we told him about the Taverham plan. He was going that way, so we hung on to his tail and rode 3 abreast down the cycleway (I can hear Daily Mail readers hurrumphing from here, even though we were nowhere near a road. Yeah, I know, we don't even pay car tax, blah de blah de blah de blah).
At Freelands, we rode, kind of, two abreast along the road. Kenn tucked up on my back wheel and nice man with mahoosive lights level with my shoulder. At the end of the road, it's cyclepath and pavement all the way home. He went straight on to his hotel (Engineering Contractor) and we headed off towards Drayton on the cycle path. Under the streetlights, our lights were enough to be seen by.
Once at Drayton, we decided to go 'the long way' and not that 2.5 miles up the marriotts in the pitchy pitchness of the tree tunnels. We'd run out of cyclepath mostly, so were naughty and rode on the pavement. We didn't see one single pedestrian at nearly 9pm in the wilds of Drayton/Helleson. Not a one. At Hellesdon, we crossed at the hospital and got back on the pavement and rode all the way down past the ambulance station and to Hellesdon bridge and onto the cyclepaths up the hill to back home.
Only 24 miles but 2 hours 21, which is pretty darned slow. That's what 5mph through the dark does for you. USB light now on charge. Kenn now looking through packed boxes for wherever the heck all those AAA batteries have got too. I think that I'll just buy some tomorrow. Funny thing is, there are spare batteries in the saddlebag on my roadie. I moved over the CO2 but not the batteries. DOH!
Very glad of that sweet and sour quorn thing in the slow cooker, when we got in. We put some rice in the poppety-ping and walked the dogs while it was cooking.
If the engineering contractor from Yorkshire who is working in Norfolk is on here at all, thank you so much for your lights and helping us to the cyclepath. Kenn is on his laptop researching better lights as I type.
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