Off to see Inspector Morse

In preparation for the epic France fest planned much further down this blog, I've taken this week off to get some miles in on the bike on longer trips, and also play with loading it up with luggage, riding with extra weight on the back.

Today's ride out started at the crack of just after 8am with my light luggage pack of backpack with cereal bars, extra t-shirts in case it got cold, paper map and garmin GPS in case I got lost. My target for the day was Oxford which is about 80 miles away and all was well until I hit Bedford where the roadworks started and it was 30 mph for about 10 miles which slowed me down somewhat. Bah Humbug.

Eventually I made it to Milton Keynes where they appear to have no signs on any of the roundabout exits. I guess if there were any everyone in Milton Keynes would leave ;-). A quick stop in a Walmarts car park and my GPS was fitted and ready to get me out of there. In no time I was whizzing through Buckingham, speeding down the M40 which my GPS thought would be fun for a single junction, and somehow into the centre of Oxford itself. More by luck than judgement I found myself riding along that wide street that Morse/Lewis always drive down. Following random signs for parking, I found myself at a car park just next to the bus station and after parting with all my change (£2.30) I had an hour to wander around and stretch my legs.

Obligatory picture of an old college-y thing (All Souls apparently)



Another old building that appears quite a lot in Morse (outside all souls)



After my legs had a good stretch, and my bladder had a wee break, I jumped back on the bike again and plotted a route to Bicester, then across to Aylesbury, then home which would avoid Milton Keynes and also the roadworks that plagued me on the way down.

The GPS got me to Bicester easily but I hadn't plotted the next point and missed the turning for Aylesbury so after pootling around lost for a while admitted defeat, pulled over, and used the GPS. This took me back to Bicester for the second time along roads now looking somewhat familiar and then off to Aylesbury where I got lost once more and the GPS battery went flat.

Luckily, I'd planned for this and out came the cigarette adaptor for the GPS.



You can see the mobile phone holder that came clipped onto my tesco value backpack cunningly recycled to hold all the spare cable letting out just enough to reach the cigarette lighter socket on one side and the GPS on the other. It has Velcro on the back so even clamps on the bars.

However, and this is the one thing you don't notice till you ride with the charger in place, the observant will note the bars are cranked right over to the left. The speedo is easily visible. You can see what's coming next can't you? I didn't.


Yep. The charger completely blocks the line of site to the speedo so you only know how fast you're going on tight left hand bends. D'oh. Well that's my excuse... officer.

A bit more route entering and got me over to Luton to pick up the A6 which you could go too fast on quite easily if the GPS didn't keep flashing red "mobile speed camera location" warnings, which is probably a good thing. Right turn at Bedford saw me on the road for home, and just in time as my arse was starting to complain after so long on the bike.

As I pulled into the garage the trip meter was a couple of miles under 200 which is not bad for a days riding (and the longest I've done so far).

So lessons learned from the first long trip.

2 hours is pretty much as long as you want to sit in the saddle.
Your right wrist aches a lot when you're "making progress" all day.
A cereal bar in the pocket to nibble on is a handy thing to have so you can eat something while you try and work out where the hell you are.
GPS. A good thing. It just is.
Make sure the mods on your bike actually work and don't obstruct anything important, like your speedo.
Plan your route before you set off. It would make things much easier.

Tomorrow... well let's see what the weather brings :)