Sunday 5 January 2014

January Challenges Day 5 - cheap bike in the Chilterns

Up bright and early to get my daily mileage out of the way before the weather goes off.
I took on Tring Hill again, but this time the weather was dry!
After climbing Tring Hill, which MapMyRide counts as a "Category 4" climb (5 miles of modest uphill, in this case, with a steeper bit near the end), I continued out through Tring.
On the far side of the town centre, I saw the cycle path that runs out to Tring Station (confusingly, not part of Tring at all, but several miles outside - I believe it used to be a refuelling and water stop on the main railway line, and that is why it is where it is - a little village in the middle of nowhere!).

Ah, I thought, seeing that path.
Infrastructure.
I like infrastructure.
So I cycled out to Tring Station, which has a nice bike rack, and a VERY small station building!
A little before I reached the staion itself, I stopped by the bridge over the Grand Union Canal, and ate a packet of snack biscuits, and had a drink of water - baskets may not look stylish for touring, but they hold stuff rather well!

After that I continued on until the church in Aldbury, and my, was that last bit hard - there is a big hill just before Aldbury, so whichever way you go, it is up then down.
That was enough for me, so it was round and back up that hill out of Aldbury, then back through Tring Station and Tring itself.
When I reached the top of Tring Hill, I decided to go back down the way I had come up, rather than down the fast bypass road I used last time - there seemed a good bit more traffic about today than last Wednesday!

Then home for a cuppa, and a bit of breakfast.

A quick trip to the shops later on in the day completed today's mileage figure of 37,4 km (about 23 1/4 miles).
I'm quite pleased with that - it is my longest daily mileage since the challenge started!


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