Posted on 31 December 2006
Well, that was surreal.
The sky cleared this evening so, mad fool that I am, I decided to knock off the remaining 14.75 miles to meet my monthly target of 600. So I went round the block. 28 times.
I’m not sure, but I think I might have had a bit of insight into the wacky world of Michael Hutchinson. It’s boring. And it feels like cheating! Cycling isn’t supposed to be for an abstract purpose, viz. putting a number of beans in a bag. It’s supposed to be for getting to work or enjoying the countryside. OK, there is a satisfaction to be had from the physical exercise, but not just for making the mileometer tick over.
Why just round the block? Well, I didn’t want to meet any piss-heads and where I live, it’s a short urban one-way system of two parallel residential roads. I didn’t want to brave NYE traffic, and if I’m going round the block, I am never more than a 5 minute walk from home in case tere is a puncture of whatever.
On something like the 18th lap, a small but noisy group of teenage girls noticed me. Thereafter, I got a loud cheer every time I passed their house, and one one occasion a camera flashed. I only saw 4 moving vehicles during the entire 1 hour 21 minutes 59 seconds it took me, and one of those, bizarrely, was someone out having a driving lesson! At 11.30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve!
Just for good measure, and a bit of variety, I did the last lap in the opposite direction.