In Which We Journey Well Beyond Norwich

The kind of day it was in eastern England. Quite gorgeous.

Like me, my son-in-law is a bicycle commuter. He works at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich as a plant scientist, and use a bicycle year-round as his mode of transportation.

He is younger than me (not exactly a shock), in better physical shape and has a nicer bicycle than the one I rented for use this week during a visit with the family, but today I learned that the bicycle ride that we went on together to Beccles, a small town of a bit more than 9,000 people some 18 miles southeast of Norwich, was his longest in the UK so far.

Our route took us a bit more than 20 miles to get there. By the time we returned to the house in Norwich, we had ridden 46.74 miles at an average speech of a bit under 10 mph. My son-in-law often had to wait for me or return for me—I was using a heavier, slower bike, but also brought a heavier, slower rider.

It was a beautiful sunny day in England. A bit cooler than Saturday—while yesterday got into the low 80s and the locals were convinced that the world was melting (this is, apparently, considered hot in Norfolk), today the high was around 70. There was a refreshing breeze and bright sunshine, a few clouds in the sky but nonetheless about the bluest skies I’ve seen in England.

We began the ride just after 9 a.m. We rode through central town, where some large local bicycling event was starting. It was amazing, however, how quickly we left Norwich behind and were in pretty countryside, punctuated by a few villages, farms and churches. Some places looked almost like Iowa, with a rolling landscape fading into sunny distance.

We ride by start of big bike race as we pass through Chapelfield Gardens early in our bike ride.

Those farm fields weren’t exact matches—Iowa grows corn and soybeans, and that’s about it. It seems like English agriculture is more diverse. I did see a few corn fields, but also many crops that I could not identify. There were plenty of fields of what or barley, too.

At one point, a barley field by the road was waving fetchingly in the breeze, and Matt, a scientist whose main research area is barley genetics, stopped to shoot some video.

Matt makes barley movie history, shooting opening scene of "Grow the Right Thing."

Beccles, when we got there, turned out to be a pretty town. Matt had checked reviews online and selected the pub that we were to eat, but it was not yet open, so we walked for a while and paused to rest on a bench.

It was not a long wait. We went to the pub and sat inside—they have an outdoor seating area, which would have been nice on this pretty day, but I suggested we sit inside because it would be good to get a break from the sunshine.

Business street in Beccles. My great lunch, below. Unsure of pub, I think it was called "Graze." It used a zebra as its logo, but there is no pub of that name Google could find.

The lunch was very good. Matt said his surf and turf burger was filling and tasty. I ordered the pork Sunday roast, which came with veggies, potatoes roasted in goose fat and pork gravy. I added a Yorkshire pudding as an extra, and I don’t regret it in the least. The food was filling and delicious.

The ride home was a little more taxing—we were in a food coma, and maybe the pint with lunch was not as helpful as it could have been, but then again, we did need hydration.

The kind of narrow road we road most of the time (above). Fortunately, most drivers are polite. A British water tower (below) seen on the way. These are not as common to see as towers in America, I think they are sort of bigger and more scattered--and guarded more, too, apparently.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t all that late when we got to Norwich. By some magic of local knowledge, Matt plotted a route that did not take us through downtown, and suddenly we arrived.

It was a very nice bicycle ride. It was not as many miles as the 60 I rode Thursday, but I think almost as intense a ride—there was more climb today, plus the pace was faster than when I rode alone.

The ride today followed 15.6 mile solo journey I did on Saturday, the “hot” day. I plotted a route out west towards the edge of town, intending to ride there and return via the same route. However, I managed to not recognize all the turns on the way back, and got a bit lost.

I did have my cycle map with me and was able to figure out where I was—but the streets in England are a spaghetti mess and knowing where you are is not at all the same as being able to figure how to get to there from here. But I did my best, which, with my poor navigational skills, is honestly not all that well.

On my Saturday solo ride, a trail for pedestrians and bikers. This is well before I got lost.

Anyway, as I was trying to find one of the bike routes, I saw a sign pointing to Marriott’s Way, the bike trail I’ve used most often. The ride there took some time, and there were many signs and turns on the way, but I got there, rode for a while, and then returned home. When I left the house shortly before 4, I expected to return by 5, but got back around 6.

No harm done. Matt was barbecuing that night, and I texted about a mile out that I was on the way, so he could light the fire.

I missed riding Friday, which was the first sunny day in a while, but it turned out to be followed by more sunny days. All in all, with the long ride today and the 60-mile ride Thursday, I feel a bit better about RAGBRAI. I can survive two RAGBRAI-like days, and I logged well over 150 miles this week.

The rental bike gets returned tomorrow, but I do feel like I got good use out of it. It was a decent, serviceable bike, good for the riding that I used it for. I may do a quick morning ride tomorrow before returning the bike, but my biking adventures in the UK are coming to a close.

At the start of Sunday ride--the rental bike. The Bike Shop in downtown Norwich is a good place if you ever need to lease a bicycle here.

Despite navigational difficulties, it’s an activity I do recommend. Seeing the land around you from the seat of a cycle gives you a more intimate view than if you toured in a car or bus—and you can cover so much more ground than if you hike. It’s a nice way to tour a little patch of another country, as long as that country is biker friendly, which England mostly is.

In Which U Police Chat Pleasantly

Most of the cemetery ride was on smooth pavement, but part of the route was like this (above)--which slowed me down. The newer part of the cemetery (below)--the British do attend to their graves.

At 7.7 mph average speed, today’s bike ride was glacially slow.

However, at least I went farther today. It took me almost three hours (2:53) to ride 22.22 miles. Several points in my defense: 1) It rained overnight and this morning, so I did not ride for any great distance on the nearby bike trail, which is mostly dirt (more likely today, mostly mud). 2) I was thus doing in-town riding—including through a cemetery and on a university campus—in an unfamiliar city. The pace was partly dictated by traffic, pedestrians, ghosts and the need to gawk at new scenery.

I climbed 507 feet in those 22.22 miles. And in miles 16 through 20, I was averaging more than 10 mph for each mile. So there.

I call today a success. Despite the confusing tangle of streets in Norwich, I found my way through the Earlham Cemetery and along a bike route to Eastern Anglia University, and rode in the environs there. When I headed back towards home base, I was only in the teens for miles, so I headed over to Marriott’s Way, and rode back and forth on a few paved miles, which is where my “fast” miles were.

Well, back to the start. The ride began shortly after noon—we had a full morning (and a rainy morning), so both weather and life events made the post-lunch start most practical. After the rain, the day turned fair and breezy—the high was in the low 70s. It was a gorgeous day, even if it did not lend itself to a long trail ride.

I consulted the map (and my daughter) and decided I would have two venues today—Earlham Road Cemetery, with winding paths through old and new graves, and East Anglia University.

The cemetery was a leafy, pleasant ride. A number of locals walk, jog and bike there—and although traffic was light, I did have to take it a bit slow. I didn’t want to be tearing through the place. It’s an active burial ground and the British do attend to their graves. They also clearly use the cemetery as a nature preserve and walkway, so I was not out of place but I wanted to be respectful.

And I kept getting lost. No matter, I was just riding loops around the roads there, waiting to find a familiar street at an exit.

I think today’s map, at the end of this post, looks a bit like a badly drawn stick figure of a headless girl wearing a bulky backpack and miniskirt. The “backpack” in in the middle is where the ride mostly began—loops around the graves.

I eventually found an exit onto a street that I knew, and then attempted to use the Norwich bike map to find the route to East Anglia University. It worked—I didn’t get lost on the way there, just after I got there.

Some signs at the university. Meh. I found them a bit helpful--a bit.

EAU--Not looking all that busy right now, but there are some bicycles in the racks--and a lot of bike racks.

There is even a bike shop on campus.

The university is an interesting place—very plain, utilitarian buildings in a utopic setting of open green lands and trail next to a river and lake. As I noted on Facebook, it looks like a prison in a park.

I rode around and around. It was disorienting, because the buildings all looked alike, not that any would have been familiar anyway. At one point, I pulled over to a wide area of paving beside a street, and took out my map in an attempt to get my bearings. As I sat there, a police cruiser pulled up directly beside me, and I could see the driver (in the right seat in Britain, the car was immediately to the left of me) vigorously writing on a tablet.

Dang. What was I about to get a ticket for? Eventually, the driver lowered his window, and I tensed, waiting for what came next.

“Can I help you?” he politely asked. I asked if I was in the way or parked in the wrong spot.

“Oh, no,” he said. “This (gesturing at the wide pavement) is just where we park.”

We chatted about the difference between American and British streets, and I assured him I was both deeply lost and not in distress—as an American biker in Britain, “lost” is my normal state. I was guessing where I was on the map, which I showed him, and it turns out I was exactly right, so I wasn’t really lost at all, I was just unsure.

After our pleasant chat, I was off. And I quickly did get for real lost again. I was looking for the Student Union, where I knew I could use a restroom and get water, but was having a heck of a time finding it.

Until I did. Suddenly, there it was. Then, I wondered how difficult the borrowed lock on the rental bike would be for me to use, and it turned out to be very easy. I locked the bike, went into the union, had my brief break, came out and sat on a bench for a few minutes of off-the-bike time. Hint: If you are riding any distance, say over 10 miles, make yourself take such breaks now and then, they are important to maintain your energy and circulation in your legs.

Anyway, after that break, I was off towards home base. Except as I drew near, I knew I had only ridden 15 miles or so in two hours—and I wanted to increase my ride miles, not decrease them.

That’s when I went over to the familiar trail and zipped back and forth on the paved section between the edge of town and the start of the busy central area—which is what makes the arms on the headless girl of the map.

I've been here before--but did not notice this at the place were I turn back before getting to the center of town.

As the trail goes from urban to rural, in a field beside a bridge by the trail--a warning to other bikes to stay away ... or perhaps instead of a girl in a miniskirt, today's map is a drawing of this bike?

I still hope to do a truly longish ride, something of RAGBRAI-like distance, say 50 or 60 miles. But that will come later in the week, perhaps Thursday or Friday, when this soggy little island has some chance to dry out a bit.

I have not made biking plans in the meantime. I am not sure what my next target will be. We’ll see. But for today, more than 20 miles on a ride that didn’t start until the afternoon still feels like a win. That, and the fact that the bobbies didn’t give me a ticket.

In Which Plans are Made for UK Adventures

Purchased at the bike shop, a bicycle map of Norwich.

I’m still finding my way around Norwich, England. My wife and I are to handle the school drop off Thursday morning, and there are two challenges: It may rain. And we may struggle to find our way back again.

Hopefully, the granddaughters will help us find their schools. If I were the kid, I might intentionally get my grandparents lost—“Oh, darn, can’t find the school today, guess I can’t go”—but, fortunately, I don’t think my granddaughters are either that devious or my wife and I that seriously directionally impaired. Then again, we do have a talent for getting lost.

And I’m set to begin another phase of my English adventures, too. Today in a bike shop, I scheduled to rent a bicycle next week. And my son-in-law leaves for a trip tomorrow, so before then I may be able to borrow his bike (I packed a new bicycle helmet for this vacation in the UK).

Map of Norwich, England, bike routes. Unlike many American cities, arranged in a rectangular grid, this  is an old Roman city arranged as a wheel with spokes. May that be a good omen. Wish me luck.

Stay tuned. Hopefully, your biking correspondent will figure out how to navigate the streets of Norwich well enough that you’ll hear from him again. The map may help—I hope so! Because no google on the fly—I can check my phone at my daughter’s house where there is WIFI, but otherwise the phone is merely a pocket watch and camera while I am in the UK.

Well, wish me luck. You’ll know if I achieve it, because I’m sure I’ll report on my English biking adventures.

In Which Jet Lag Pleasantly Combines with Sunrise

6:30 a.m. Tuesday--shortly after leaving home. Morning sky at Rockwell-Collins pond on C Avenue.

I thought I was late Tuesday and was a little anxious as I got Francis out of the garage.

Maybe the inky darkness should have been more of a hint. My body clock is still on UK time, and far from being late, I was pretty super early—as in, leaving home around 6:30 a.m even if my body thought it was early afternoon.

With the time change, it’s just starting to get light that early in the morning. Of course, I was running with lights on. It was still, cool and very pretty.

I am not typically a morning person, although on RAGBRAI I usually rise at the crack of dawn. I guess it’s a matter of the situation—in my family, I have a reputation, deserved, for being among the first children awake on Christmas Day to see what Santa brought (and I’m not talking about when I was a kid—I mean now).

But anyway, other than being the first full day back in the U.S.A. and the first day of class after spring break, there wasn’t anything special about Tuesday that would have me biking at 6:30 a.m.

I don’t plan to make dawn biking much of a habit. But the world was a pretty place at that time—theyroyal blue sky reflected in the pond at Rockwell-Collins, the buildings of MMU batched in pinks and yellows.

Two views of the Tuesday morning light--U Center on Rohde Plaza bathed in pink, above, and, below, looking from Warde Hall bike rack towards the Battleship Donelly, turned golden by the rising sun.

Today, Wednesday, I wasn’t quite so crazily early, so I didn’t see the dawn’s light. But there were daffodils in bloom at the end of the ride, so I guess the biking morning was special today, too.

And she is off ... 6-year-old on bike sans stabilizers.

I’m did a lot of walking in the UK, and my knees seemed to have benefited. While there, I observed a 6-year-old granddaughter taking off confidently on her sister’s bike—the one they had removed the “stabilizers” from because it’s smaller and little legs can reach the ground better.

That was fun to see. It was fun to be in a country where biking is more common—racks in downtown Norwich are filled with the vehicles of commuters and shoppers.

But I am glad to be back home. The sky is bigger here—houses in town are not so close, so on a dark early Tuesday, you can really enjoy the cool expanse of blues and pinks as the new day begins. Best enjoyed, of course, on a bicycle.

I was a bit later leaving Wednesday morning, and the morning was cloudy and grey. I hope I beat the rain home tonight. Anyway, at least on Wednesday, I noticed this daffodil in bloom near the bike rack at MMU.

A Quicker Ride on the Mended Bike

Today's biking fashion tip -- if you don't have trouser holders, you can create faux capris. But they would look like this. And second images proves Tolkien wasn't totally right -- sometimes the road ends rather than going ever on. Bike trail ends in a confusion of lorries.

I had my second UK ride this afternoon. It was cooler, and I almost was under-dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, but it was still a beautiful day.

I decided that this time, I would take an urban ride, so rather than turn west at the trail, I headed east. For about 10 minutes. There was a narrow little street with a building under construction, and some trucks had it mostly blocked. I went around the block, but couldn't find the trail again on the other side, so I went back and headed west out of town again.

I didn't get as far as the village, this time. I didn't fully trust this bike . The handlebar was nicer—Matt's main bike has a slightly wobbly handlebar, and his secondary bike has side rails coming up at the end of the handles, giving the rider more grip options.

But I don't think I got the back wheel as fully inflated as I would like, so it was my own work that made the bicycle slightly more fickle. Or I fickle to it. Anyway, I rode for about an hour total and then came back to Amanda's house.

Still, it was nice to get out on a fine, if cool, afternoon. Thank you Matt, for allowing me to use your wheels while here. The Raleigh bikes that Matt owns are good machines, lighter, I think, then my bike. Still, it will be nice to get back in the USA and ride my own bike, but it was also good to get some RAGBRAI training miles done while on holiday in the UK.