9500 k

If I could easily take a a photo of the inside of the sewer system, it would be here.

I'm not one hundred percent sure that's where my bicycle computer ended up, but the romantic in me thinks that clattering off the road and into a gutter grating is a good way to go, even if the clock was only 500 kilometres from clocking over.

Last Friday evening, when this micro tragedy struck, I'd been pondering the distance on my way home – just five weeks of commuting until the clock ticked over, less if we managed some weekend rides into November. I wondered how far you'd get if you travelled 10,000 k in a straight line? Could I have cycled to Russia?

The computer will have filtered through the waste water system and has probably been fished out with leaves and rubbish and empty cola cans by some mechanical arm.

As for the 1000k photo project, I'm not sure if I should try my luck with another Cateye Strada 8 and reset it to 9500 (which frankly feels like cheating), start again with something new, or give up the idea all together? I'm going to have to think this one through.

A map named Asia

We're the proud new owners of a map named Asia. Its a thing of beauty, and its not just its size ( it's length is just shorter than the width of our double bed) or the bright colours; or the twin expanses of Russia and China through the middle. No, the brilliant piece of art, which had me idling in bookstores with the weight of it in my hand trying to justify the spend, this map stretches East from Ireland past England all the way to the tip of Australia. Yes it covers Asia, but the clever mapmaking boffins who designed it don't let Asia sit in isolation.


The reason this is so exciting is not just because of my fetish for cartography. Next year we hope to be lucky enough to be travelling some of that by bicycle and while we've been plotting things we want to see on our trip on googlemaps sometimes the big picture is worth looking at as well.

Even if its just to remind ourselves how big things are.