Riding my age in 2025

That’s right – I’ve just had a birthday and need to ride my new age.

That means today the trike and I will have a ride to Westbury and back, a ride which should be far enough to ‘ride my age’.

It’s Autumn and the mists linked to mellow fruitfulness have arrived. Luckily this morning the sun began to break up the mist as soon as it arose. I started out at 9.00am and the blue sky was showcasing some little fluffy clouds while the air was calm and relatively warm, so all was looking good. To propel the trike I have two almost full batteries to assist the pedalling today. Also loaded were the necessities for cooking up a quick lunch!

I had the 360° camera fired up but, as I found out later, something has happened to the inbuilt stabiliser software. It seems it’s buggered. Luckily for this blog post I was able to pull a few still images out of the video files to add to the few I took with the “normal” camera. Anyway, off we go after I stuffed about getting some video footage then realised I would have to speed up somewhat.

Recumbent trikes are not the fastest way to travel and the days are getting short as we approach the winter solstice. The low sun in the early morning / late afternoon creates difficulties for driver’s visibility so, I didn’t want to be cycling then. (I suspect there may be shadow pictures later!).

For that reason I upped the power levels (both trike and me) and quickly rode through Bishopsbourne, went along Pitts Lane and then Oaks Road before turning towards Westbury.

Once off the larger, busier Oaks Road and back onto quiet rural roads I slowed and checked the battery level. Hmm. OK. That’s not so good. By the time I arrived at Pitts Lane the wind had started to blow and I was mostly travelling into it. The impact on the battery was high – so I stopped to see which battery was in the holder. Yep, the older one which is approaching 6 years of age. While it still reads that it charges to 41.7 volts, the energy seems to dissipate faster than it used to and cycling into the wind does not help. I know how that feels!

We plugged on with some protection provided by the almost leafless Hawthorn hedges whenever the twisty road put us side on to the wind. I used lower power levels and pedalled harder! There is something built into the back of knees that was twanging by now. No idea what muscle or tendon it is but I guess it’s showing I haven’t cycled much recently. There it is again – a little in the right knee and more in the left one – must be birthday presents!

Before the run-down into Westbury there are several hills to climb. They are steep(ish) – up to 14% – but luckily short. At one point the height gained provides a great view across the agricultural land spread out before the climbing cyclist. It was a good feeling to get to the top of the last one with some useable power left to get along and into Westbury. Breathe a sigh of relief.

At the village green there were a few people lunching there but not very many. Maybe office workers from the Council offices enjoying the park.

Using the Trangia I brewed up a mess of rice and tuna including chillies, soy and oyster sauce. It looked boring but was pretty tasty.

The table was next to a Cedar tree which seemed to be dropping the “katkins” in the above picture. They were huge.

It wasn’t too long before I had to clean up and pack up ready for the trip back – time was getting on. On leaving Westbury I was pleased to see the wind had not changed direction – ie I would now have a tailwind! And installation of the newer battery, well, 5 year old one should provide enough power. Let’s go…

I had my usual trouble finding my way around the backroads of Westbury to get on the road to Glenore. I was able to stickybeak at the new housing – mostly on lifestyle properties of one acre or more. The different types of houses being built are interesting. For my taste some work and some don’t but I guess all their owners feel good about their chosen style. Interestingly solar panels are not always added even though large sheds are.

I had passed some electricity line works on the way in and once I saw them in the distance I was sure I was going in the right direction. There is a climb out leading up to the high point with the great scenic view. Then there are three fast descents to enjoy – the first one fast enough that I whooped with pure joy as we passed 56 kph at which speed the speedo did it’s trick of resetting to 30 kph for some reason.

With the wind behind and high gears in use the distance covered built quickly as I was averaging around the 20 kph mark.

I stopped to take a shot of the Tiers. It was a bit misty there still so the shot didn’t work as intended but I still like it.

Oaks Road and Pitts Lane provided some hassles with over-wide truck/trailers on them. I hit the gravel for each as there really wasn’t a lot of room and they were in a hurry. By the time the fourth appeared I was well over them – but they couldn’t hear what I was saying.

I pulled into Bishopsbourne once more to use the facilities. Then I checked distance travelled with Ride with GPS. 64 kilometres. Now, I needed more than that plus the distance back home so I decided to head out towards Carrick for a while in order to make up the difference and complete a ride of the correct distance. I must have gone a bit further than necessary simply because it was an extremely good ride and the trucks weren’t coming or going to Carrick. After noticing the sun was starting to feel evening-ish and the air cooling down it was time to pull in and put on a windproof jacket. A quick battery level check showed plenty of herbs left and it was on.

Shadows gradually lengthened, the tailwind pushed, the legs whizzed and before the sun’s angle got really dangerous I was back in Longford.

Once home I checked the ride length. Had I done it? Well, Ride with GPS said I had ridden 89 kilometres!! That’s 10 over the requirement, so, yes, job done.

Final thoughts. I am very pleased with the longevity of the batteries. When I looked up the date of purchase I was really surprised at how long I have been riding with them. I can say that in my experience looking after batteries works. Charging up to 80-90% instead of 100% when you know you don’t need 100% for a ride. Charging to 100% plus allowing time for a cell balance every few weeks and generally leaving them to sit idle at around 60% must be the way to go. Now to fully implement that regime with our Plug-In Hybrid!

The knees continued to twang all day which was a worry but the next morning all was well.

That’s it folks. ’til next time …………………….