Well, that was a cracking little ride. So, after leaving work, instead of heading south back to deepest Bulwell I headed north towards Mansfield. It was my intention to ride up there and back, followed by the six miles back home.
However, when I got to Mansfield I decided that I wanted to go a bit further, so I decided to head towards Sutton-in-Ashfield through a park area called Quarry Lane something or other. It was at this point that I nearly got run over by a tractor.
I got bored on the way to Sutton, so I changed direction at one point and decided to go to a little village called Rainworth (pronounced 'Rennurth' by t'locals). For those of you who don't know where this is - and I'm suspecting that's most of you - it is the other side of Mansfield to Sutton. However, halfway there I found a sign pointing towards 'National Cycle Network Route 6'. This sounded far too exciting an opportunity to pass up, so I followed it. Sadly, it wasn't that spectacular; just a massively long cycle path attached to the side of the A617. I rode up there a bit before turning right into Rainworth.
Once I got there, I felt a bit tired so I stopped at a petrol station and bought a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate. I sat where I had chained up my bike and refueled. A woman walking her dog went past and said, ''Ey up, me dook. Thar cudda fownd a better playess to 'ave a picnic' (Roughly translated: 'Hello there, young man. I believe you could have found a nicer place to have a picnic'), to which I told her that it wasn't a picnic; it was a Starbar. She didn't laugh.
At that point I'd cycled 12 miles, so I looked at my bike computer to work out how long it had taken me: 57 minutes. Not bad. My next plan was to cycle back through Rainworth, along to Mansfield and back down past Hucknall and home. This part of my journey wasn't particularly exciting. Partly because it was roads I'd already ridden on, but mainly I was knackered and couldn't be arsed in taking in any of the scenery. I did pass a Lambo Murcie and two Ferraris (although I suspect it was the same one as they were both the same light blue colour), though.
The best bit of the final few miles was racing a tractor (a different one to the one who nearly ran me over). He kept overtaking me going up the hills, but I then raced past him on the downhill stretches. He must have been going about 20mph, I reckon.
Halfway home I looked at my computer and thought it would be really odd if I managed to ride a whole marathon. Sadly, I fell agonisingly short; clocking up a total of 26.039 miles at an average of 12.9mph taking 2hrs00m36s. Add to that the 5.5 miles I cycled to work this morning, that means I've ridden a whopping (for me) 31.5 miles today.
I'm going to the gym in 45 minutes.