February... I managed to raise the cycling mileage a little during the month with a total of 375 miles covered. I also logged my longest ride of the year so far, a rather feeble 26.23 miles on the mountain bike! Still, the year isn't supposed to be about clocking up a large number of miles by the year end, it's all about just enjoying being out on the bike. With that in mind, I'm happy with how it's all going so far.

One ride that I did put a bit of extra effort into was the commute to work on the morning of February 28. It had been very cold and frosty overnight and this had left the unmade cycle paths dry and firm - ideal conditions for a fast ride on the mountain bike. So, I left home at 7:00AM and headed off towards Elvaston Castle for an attempt at getting the "lap record" on the Strava web site for a 2 mile ride around the park! 

The best time logged on Strava had been 7mins 27secs, an average speed of 16mph. By the time I'd completed my loop it was down to 7mins 01sec! Not bad for an old 'un that, even after all these years riding bikes, still can't bunny hop the speed bumps I encountered on one part of the ride though!

A hot lap of the castle.

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My aim of getting out with the camera more during this year isn't going quite as well as I'd hoped so far. The weather hasn't been good enough, I've been short of time and, well, I've just been plain old lazy! But, some encouragement to keep at it has come my way in the form of our local paper, the Derby Telegraph. They have printed two of my photos in recent weeks.

The first was the photo of Alvaston Lake I took back in January...

...the second was also taken in Alvaston Park, on one of the few sunny days we've had so far this year!

Hopefully as the year progresses I'll be able to post more photos here - if the weather allows that is! Right now... it's snowing once again!

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And finally... we, or should I say Lynda, have changed our car again. I don't drive enough now to have too much of a say in what we have or when we change our cars! This one is, once again, another Ford Fiesta. It's a Titanium model, metallic silver, and just a few months old. 

The new car.