Back to cycling and other stuff

According to my blog, the last day I cycled was October 16. It’s quite a long time, huh. So I decided to kick myself out of my cozy nest and have a ride. It was March 21, when I decided to visit my Latvian friends in Mickleover. The morning was coldish and I knew that all the way to Mickleover I will have to cycle uphill. That was quite a big challenge, especially because of the fact it was my first day of cycling. My bike computer didn’t work, because the computer wire was damaged. And it is only natural that you can’t expect a miracle, if you lend your bicycle for someone else. It took me a little more than usual to reach Mickleover. I cycled cautiously (AKA slowly) and also uphill wasn’t a piece of cake. At least the way back was easy and fast enough. Altogether I cycled a little more than 10 km.

Photo: Martin Fisch (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The next week I had a visitor, my friend Ella. She really likes shopping and that is of a great value, because in a very magical way she always manages to find something also for me. I got really nice shoes, a dress and some nice cardigans for the summer time. So the first day we did a shopping marathon until all our money was gone. As the result it was crystal clear that on March 28 we’re going to cycle. The weather was really great – warm and sunny. So I took Ella to the Elvaston Castle. We cycled a little more than 20 km. It was her first cycling day, so I really admire her endurance and avanturistic spirit.

Ella's visit to Elvaston Castle

These two days of cycling are my first steps to a bigger goal. I have made a decision – this season I’m going to cycle to Loughborough (40 km in one way). I almost did it the previous time (in August), but I run out of water and got confused in finding the right way. So this year I’m going to prepare better: 1) I will prepare a proper map (it wasn’t really reasonable to try to find the way just like that; however, it was a spontaneous ride without knowing I’m going to cycle a long distance, so eventually it was a great adventure); and 2) I will take plenty of water and food with me. But first, I need to practice on a little shorter cycle routes. 🙂

Coffee morning 2

Today it was time for my monthly activity – the coffee morning. After the yesterday’s late blogging thing, it was hard to wake up. But still I managed. This time I took my little laptop with me, so I could show my exile Latvians some photos of Cycling for Libraries. I even did a good thing – I took a lost letter to its addressee. And now I know I have a Latvian family in a house next to mine.

Altogether I cycled for forty-seven minutes and managed a distance of 11,3 km. My average speed was 14,4 km per hour, but the maximum – 26,7 km per hour.

The pink whale

Joy of the day – I received a postcard from Sanita!!!!

Coffee morning

Coffee morning that starts at 11 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. is a really special event for me. Who would know that conversation can be as gripping and fun as during our monthly coffee mornings. Politics, ethnography, history, linguistics, internet providers, social networks, rumours – these and other topics were brought up during the meeting of 10 really great Latvians.

It was a foggy morning and I needed to get to a suburb of Derby – Mickleover. It was more like spontaneous idea how to reach my destination. And the funniest thing is – all the way I needed to cycle uphill. And I enjoyed it so much! Maybe it’s because of energizing morning sense and a desire to sing during my way. And so I did – I hummed one melody after another.

I started my journey from Normanton Road towards city centre and turned left onto Mercian Way, it’s a final section of Derby’s inner ring road which was opened just yesterday. At the end of Mercian Way I took Uttoxeter New Road and continued along towards Mickleover and passed Royal Derby Hospital. Now Uttoxeter New Road turned onto Uttoxeter Road. After crossing bridge over A38, I turned right onto Western Road. Well, nothing is as easy as reaching Mickleover!

In total I cycled for one hour and managed a distance of 11 km.

P.S. It’s quite funny to observe a reaction of people when I’m saying that I’m going to attend Cycling for libraries where one hundred librarians and library lovers are going to cycle a 650 km distance in 10 days. Unbelievable, huh?! But it’s true.. 🙂