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Trying to expand my cycling as a source of serious exercise while I avoid running and maybe even long walks until I'm confident my knees are ok, yesterday I aimed for a 40 miles cycle, the longest ever for me.

I made a loop up to Huntingdon parallel to the A14, then back through St Ives and the busway.

I start off along King's Hedges Road, then along the heavily fenced cycle path between Histon Rd and Huntingdon Rd. Then dodge up to Girton, and slip out the bottom end onto the cycle path which runs parallel to the A14 all the way to Fenstanton. That path is the opposite of some -- well paved, lots of space, but not especially nice scenery. But because it's easy to just GO, it's quite a nice way to start. And I like seeing the random bits of untended scrubland around.

That passes Bar Hill and Cambridge Services if you need a stop, although I didn't.

Through Fenstanton, then onto a passable A-road (or narrow on-pavement path if you prefer) round to Hemingford Grey. Now we reach villages just off the Ouse, oozing picturesque. I stopped on a bench here for lunch. Then along to Hemingford Abbots which is equally picturesque but with much bigger houses.

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The Thicket: 13/10, perfect place.
St Ives: 9/10, nice place, easy to cycle, only occasional cars
Busway: 10/10, easy cycling, familiar, passes through nice places, WCs conveniently at Northstowe

Retrospective:

It was a nice day. I'd previously done 30+ miles and felt like I could do more if I just stayed out a little bit longer so I was fairly sure 40 miles would be ok, but I also felt like Huntingdon was a long way away and perhaps I was kidding myself. But it was about right: enough to push me a bit, but not enough to end up with a long painful slog home in the dusk. Hopefully I will keep it up.

I'm used enough to following the routes I didn't have much worry whether I'd find my way through. National Cycle Route 51 which I've followed E of Cambridge also comes this way, up the busway, and then at St Ives cutting across a bridge to join the route I took through Hemingfords and the signs were often helpful.

I feel achy today but in a mostly good way, my knees aren't sure but don't seem to have got worse.

I stopped at a lot of nice places for a bit of a read, if anything I want to make sure to keep that up, maybe even fit in more of it. I found a lot of nice places on the way.

I'm still not going very actually fast, but faster than I used to. I guess I hadn't dived into proper cycling gear, and I still have panniers for lunch and jumper etc, so I'm not as efficient as I could be, although at least my new bike is better for this than my old bike.

When I drive, there's a convenient thermometer that automatically comes on when I start, but when I cycle, there isn't. Since I don't normally actually need to know the temperature, this is fine, except that when I don't know, I tend to assume the temperature is somewhere in a "normal" range, and if I feel really cold, assume I'm just sensitive today, not that the temperature was below -5.

This winter I felt very proud of myself for responsibly having gloves to wear in cold weather. However, today my fingers were going numb with cold inside the gloves, and I started to think that maybe I needed more gloves.

I also need something to cover my ears and face. I don't normally wear scarves because normally I just find them constricting and annoying, but presumably they are the answer to cold faces? Or am I better with a balaclava or face mask or something? I have a scarf, but it's 12 ft long so it's really inconvenient to ever actually use, I think I need a more manageable one.

Just before traffic lights, there is a cycle-lane like box the width of the main lane, in which cyclists can stop at lights without being rear-ended by cars.

0. Is there an official name for them? "Advance cycle box" is in my head, is is equally likely to be something else entirely, or made up.

1. What is the intended use if the cyclist approaches the traffic lights behind three cars? I feel it should be obvious what they're supposed to do, but admit I can't tell. Obviously if you can accelerate briskly to 20mph, there's no problem, but if you can't, or don't want to?

Undertake if there is a clear cycle lane, else wait in the queue? Always undertake if you can? (But it's not clear when the highway code permits undertaking.) Overtake if you can? (But this is unlikely to be possible.) Always wait? (But that leaves a frustrated driver behind you.) Dismount and cross the intersection from the pavement? (But that's annoying and takes several times as long.)

2. If it were safe to do either, which would delay the drivers least: moving ahead to the cycle box, or waiting in turn. One way, the drivers ahead go past, but the one behind probably misses the lights. The other, all the drivers are delayed until the road is wide enough to overtake safely again.

3. What do you do?

I feel silly for not knowing, but most of the time, it doesn't come up, either because there's not enough of a queue, or the road is wide enough to permit cars overtaking cycles safely. And then when it does, I don't actually know.