May roundup

Another month has gone by. We are just over 40% of the way through the year, and it's time to assess progress.

The big event of the month was a fabulous week cycling in the West of Scotland. I took the bike on five ferries and a couple of trains but more importantly I rode it for 327 miles. I know that's not a huge distance in a week, but it has helped the numbers along a bit, and after the trip I seem to be a bit better at hills than I was beforehand.

I'm aiming to cycle 3,759 miles in the course of this year. At the start of May I was just on track, having pulled back from a bit of a shortfall at the start of April. At the end of my Scotland trip I was about 200 miles ahead of plan. Things have fallen back a bit in the last couple of weeks because life has been a bit hectic, but I'm still comfortably ahead of plan. The trick in June will be to try and build up a bigger lead again.

At the start of May I also reached the last of the 15 churches that I was trying to cycle to this year. That brings the rolling total to 40 since I started this scheme a couple of years ago. So the plan now is to reach another ten by the end of the year and bring the total to 50. I've been recalculating the distances and as a result I ended up re-organising the list. It turns out that some of the ones I've already reached are further away than some of the ones I haven't. There's quite an interesting mix left to do, including some near central London, which will be a different kind of challenge.

On the Eddington numbers I'm up to 24 for this year, and 45 for all time. Getting to 50 doesn't look too difficult because I've already accumulated quite a few rides in the range between 45 and 50 miles. Getting beyond 50 will be a bit more of a challenge because I haven't done enough rides of more than 50 miles.

I've added a few bits and pieces to OSM, including all but one of the blue plaques in the local area, and a string of about a dozen milestones on the old Bath road. That's may not be as interesting as joining up a few bits and pieces of ferry routes and cycle paths in Scotland - but the local plaques and milestones are a darn sight easier to reach on a short evening or morning ride.

In brief, May went well and I'm getting complacent.