Monthly Archives: June 2010

Shine

Sunday morning solitary sunny cycling.  I made up my route as I went along, which is not the most satisfactory way of cycling. Too much time thinking about where I’m going, and not just enjoying the going there.  I’d have plotted myself a route first, but my PC was moving at the speed of glacier, and if I’d waited any longer for it to get its act in gear, I’d never have left the building.

So, I went out to Cross, past the Webbington, and up through Christon,  I took the steep left over the top that brings you down past Banwell Caves to Banwell, which I don’t usually do, so that was novel.  I crossed over the main road, to go down the appropriately named Summer Lane, and to wiggle around roads that I’ve only been down once before in the mud with the ACG, to get to cross the A370 and head for Wick St Lawrence.  Yes, I was on my way to the seaside.  Remind me not to do that again for a while.  The bit through and round Kewstoke was fine, but I then got stuck behind a grockle in a 4×4 doing less than 15mph and being deliberately obstructive, which wiped out much time and much of my average speed, until I managed to get past him and drop him at one of the innumerable sets of road work generated traffic lights – *grrrrr*!  Ah well, that’ll larn me.  There isn’t an open season on grockles is there?    Not when there’s a J in the month, or some such?  No, thought not…  I came home direct through Uphill and Bleadon, and back past the Webbington again.

Cycling time: 2:01:02
Distance: 31.3 miles
Avs: 15.5 mph
ODO: 4874 miles

Even in the morning it was getting to be a bit warm for me.  It wasn’t the flattest route either.  Actually the annoying headwind at the coast was almost not annoying because it was quite cooling!  Rarely have I been known to thank a headwind…  I spared a thought for GB, who was doing some stupidly hilly sportive in Dartmoor today.  I don’t think I’d have managed a flat sportive in this heat…  Mind you, I am kinda hankering after something to do in the next few weeks.  Maybe not if the summer weather continues though 🙂

There definitely wasn’t as much in the legs today as there has been, so I reckon it may be time for a day off.  I declare that tomorrow is officially a rest day 🙂

Bust a move

Another sunny day, another early start.  I was time limited today so was planning on doing variations on the usual loop and just getting ’round.  However plans don’t always go, well, according to plan.

About an hour into my flying lap, around 16 miles in, the road surface started feeling suspiciously more bumpy than usual, and a little while later the front tyre deflated completely and I came to a wobbly stop just outside Burtle.  B*gger!  And it had all been going so well up until then.  Zooming along in the sunshine, overtaking all in my path…  The cheery tandem riders I had not so long ago overtaken passed me, checking I was ok as they went.  Which at that point I was.

I set to, stripped out the old tube which seemed irritatingly fine, replaced it with a shiny new one, got the tyre back on – all remarkably easily and then….discovered my pump was, as Dad had suggested a while ago, gebuggert.  Some internal bit where the valve goes in just isn’t there any more, so that was that.

I called my pit crew, who happened to have the day off, and sat down to wait.   One other cyclist passed in the meantime, who also politely enquired as to my wellbeing, but it was too little too late.  Hubby turned up 15 minutes later complete with track pump, to find me sitting disconsolate in the sunshine, fighting off the wee biting beasties.  A few strokes of the pump (literally) and I was back on the road again, champing at the bit.  My already limited time was even more constrained now, so I decided to cut out the planned Nyland variation and just head for home.  But if I couldn’t do my time, I decided I’d do what time I did have FAST!

Cycling time: 1:48:22
Distance: 31.48 miles
Avs: 17.4 mph
ODO: 4843 miles

And I did.  I pushed it all the way home.  I upped the average from 16.something to 17.4, which is fair flying for me.  And I’m sure it’s all good training.  Not to mention that it was fun too!  *grin*

Now I need to buy another pump, and some handlebar tape, so I foresee a session of online cycle website browsing 🙂

Just another one of those glory days

Sometimes, when I’m planning a ride, it feels a bit like I’m giving myself a gift.  I don’t know why, maybe it’s the preparation, or the anticipation, or both, or neither.  But it’s a nice feeling 🙂  It may not be everyone’s idea of “me time” but it works for me.  I had decided, with sunny skies forecast, and time to spare, I would treat myself to a longer ride than usual, and duly plotted a 50 miles ish route on Bikely last night.

I got up this morning, had my traditional cycling breakfast, and headed out fairly early so as to avoid the heat later in the day.  It was, as predicted, sunny, but to start out with there was a veil of clouds helping keep things a little cooler, and the wind was mostly more of a cooling breeze than a wind.  Nice 🙂  Although I had a long one planned, I decided not to do too much sitting back and enjoying the ride, so first off I attacked the hill past the Webbington.  My next hill was at Brent Knoll.  As I started to ascend I was sure there was a car behind me, so I looked back, looked forward…and discovered I had veered slightly too far to the left and was now cycling through the edge of the hedge…  It was a bit hairy for a minute there…I extricated myself, but not before a protracted period of nettle self-flagellation.  I was so distracted by the firing of pain receptors down my left hand side that I was at the top, looking for dock leaves, before I knew it!  Not a tactic I’d recommend mind…

From there it was back across to Mark Causeway via Dutch Road which was, miraculously, a road I have never cycled down before – and there can’t be many of those left around here!  Is it Dutch because it’s flat and there are rhynes and streams all around, or is there some better reason I wonder?  Are there links between Somerset and Holland?  And while we’re at it, why are there so many place in WSM with Madeira in the title?  What’s that all about?

Where were we?  Ah yes.  From there it was a long flat fast session heading south, through East Huntspill, before the climb up Woolavington Hill.  I took the left turn at the top onto Sustrans Route 3 to take me through the very pretty, and undoubtedly expensive villages on the way to Shapwick.  The road was closed at Edington but, as I was hoping, this didn’t effect me.  I checked with one of the guys working there to see if I’d be able to get through, and he said he reckoned so, especially as I was on the best form of transport going.  I have to say that today I agreed with him.  And I do like it when unexpected people are nice to cyclists 🙂

As I was admiring the view from the ridge on my way Shapwick, where you can see the Mendips from end to end, with Glastonbury Tor looking all scenic ahead, a fighter jet zoomed past over head.  I spent a little while trying to figure out who was having more fun – him or me?  OK, so I can’t do mach whatever, but I bet we were both grinning, and my sun tan is going to be way better, albeit localised and stripey 😉

Then it was through Shapwick, down via Ashcott to Glastonbury, and along the main road to Wells.  Somewhat bizarrely Wells Reclamation yard has a a full size rusty metal copy of Rodin’s The Thinker by the gates.  Like, who orders one of those in the first place, and who then decides to get rid of it?  Sadly I don’t think it’s going to fit in my garden…

By the time I took a break on the grass on Cathedral Green, I’d done 35 miles at 16.3mph.  I admired the facade, munched Lucozade jelly beans, and contemplated my near future.  You see I’d been planning to go home via Wookey Hole, Rodney Stoke, Cocklake and Cheddar, which would have brought me at at over 50 miles.  But I’d had a random thought last night, and, maybe it was sunstroke, but I thought I could put a cherry on top of my gift.  Or a bow, if you’d prefer me not to mix metaphors.  So I did.  I cycled all the way out of Wells on the A39, up Bristol Hill.

I’ve only ever done it once before, and I remember feeling distinctly nauseous by the time I reached the top.  Not today.  Today it was fine.  In fact it was nicely sheltered, with a cool breeze to keep my temperature down, and it was verging on pleasant.  It doesn’t half go on a long way though!  And not far from the top a Graham Sweeting lorry (I’ve had problems with these before) came past so close that I could have reached in, leaned over, and punched the driver for being a prat, if I was tall enough.  I swear my heart stopped briefly…

I stopped in the layby at the top, in the shade, to regain my equilibrium and to drink.  And of course to congratulate myself on a job well done.  My average speed had only dropped to 15.3mph and it taken me about 16 minutes, which I was pretty chuffed with.  I headed for home via Priddy and down through the Gorge which, as with the rest of the ride, I handled better than I sometimes do.  The car behind me maintained a respectful distance, and there was also a shortage of grockles to avoid, whilst the wind was blowing up the Gorge helping with the whole natural braking thing.  Nigh on perfect conditions really 🙂

Cycling time: 3:07:10
Distance: 49.85 miles
Avs: 15.9 mph
ODO: 4811 miles

It was a day for butterflies, for avoiding beetles crossing the road, for the scent of honeysuckle, and for grinning at other cyclists.  Especially the one I met twice *grin*.

I thought I’d traded miles for hill, but as you can see, it turned out to be nigh on 50 miles anyway.  And I dragged my average speed back up on the way home too, which is nice.  Mind you, If I was GB, and paying attention, I’d have gone up the bypass and back in to town that way to make up the numbers 😉 I’m definitely a better, and faster, cyclist when I’m being abstemious.  It’s nice to know that this month’s detox has some positive effects.  And I’ve got time for a few more lovely rides before I fall off the wagon…*grin*.

Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride 2010

Today was Fathers’ Day.  Not that this makes any difference, I’d have been doing the ride whatever.  However I did take my Dad with me again, which makes the fact sort of pertinent.  GB is also a father.  And Hubby was at home being allowed to sleep off the Cheddar Ales Beer Festival.  So there you go, a day for fathers of all sorts.

GB kindly played chauffeur and drove him and I into Bristol, pondering what the weather was going to do, to his amazingly handily located office parking.  OK, so maybe we should have cycled in and back, but with a 9:20 start, I’d have had to get out of bed hideously early, which never appeals!  We cycled over the harbour bridge in the sunshine to the start, with GB complaining about a slight chill in the wind, where we met up with my Dad and DMC at the start, turning our ride into an informal ACG ride.

We weren’t too early this year, and having met up with remarkably little logistical difficult – considering the number of cyclists due to be around – we headed straight for the start and got a lot nearer the front than last year.  We made good progress out of Bristol, and it even stopped being “cold” once we got into the sunshine.  I always always forget how much I hate the first 20 minutes or so of a ride – it takes that long for me to warm up, whilst in the meantime feeling slow, unfit and out of breath.  Well, not that slow as we were hurtling along at a fair pace down the Portway – GB had rocket powered legs today and was definitely off on one.  Then again, maybe he was just trying to keep warm?

We kinda stayed together…  Well, ok, we sort of spread out but caught up with each other from time to time.  We regrouped for the final time at the top of Brockley Coombe, a climb which I really enjoyed.  Yes – I did say that.  I pushed hard all the way up – doing over 13mph for the whole middle section.  In fact I pushed hard for most of the ride, and enjoyed doing so.  We spread out again shortly after that – GB and DMC leading the race for base, and Dad dropped back.  Left in the middle I just put my head down and pushed myself all the way back.  I stomped my way up the Barrow Gurney steep bit, and basically had a fab time zooming along (comparatively speaking) in the sun.

I met a fly in in the ointment just as I arrived back at the start.  Just before the pedestrian bridge over the basin, some *insert impolite word for stupid person here* on a mtb came out cycling towards us all, talking on his mobile phone.  There was skidding, and stopping, and shouting, and I stopped but…couldn’t unclip too.  That would be asking too much.  Being virtually stationary at the time, this meant bruises on the legs that encountered the road or frame, and a very sore wrenched little finger on my left hand.  We exchanged words…but of course since I hadn’t actually hit him and had only fallen off avoiding him, it wasn’t his fault, right?  *grrrrrr*

Turns out Dad had managed to have a tumble too and gashed his leg.  Mind you, he hadn’t really noticed until someone pointed it out to him!  The pleased to finally be doing something St John’s Ambulance guys who iced my finger and strapped it up were concerned that it might be broken so, post ride, I spent some time in WSM A&E checking that this wasn’t the case.  Which it wasn’t.  Which is good because if I go on another summer holiday strapped up and incapable my family may well have a sense of humour failure…

Cycling time: 2:18
Distance: 38.3 miles
Avs: 15.9 mph
ODO: 4761 miles

Considerably faster than last year, and it felt it.  There’s something naughty but nice about cycling with a very mixed ability crowd – you get to overtake lots of people and be fast – very good for the ego *grin*.  Mind you, some of them could use some road sense…  Still, GB and I reckon on a good day, if you pushed it, you might bring it in at 2 hours…  I said that last year though.  Got to be worth a shot next year, right? *grin*  Well, it’s a lovely ride, and I don’t see any reason not to do it again.  And again.  🙂

Oddly tho, maybe due to the accident, or the pushing hard, my thighs are killing me now…which is really weird and unprecedented for such a short ride.  Hm.  Probably good for me in the long run though 😉

Thanks go to GB for driving Miss Accident Prone both to the ride, and to the hospital afterwards.  He deposited me there, and took the bike home.  Which, as it turns out, is a good thing because I’ll be able to ride it this week as planned now!  ‘Rah!  Put me back on my bike!

On a ragga tip

A Thursday morning ride with GW is becoming practically a regular thing.  What is not normal is being joined by SH – an occurrence that announced itself by the unusually rapid exchange of texts this morning.  Well – rapid for him.  I actually didn’t notice my crackberry flashing at me for a while as I had it set to silent…  Anyway, all’s well that ends well and a crowd of three would a cycling go.  So we did.

We did a loop that included, just so as you can join up the dots, Nyland, Wedmore, Panborough, Glastonbury, Ashcott, Shapwick, and Sweets…where we pooled funds and sat outside in the sun chatting with another Tor ride who we picked up for a bit.  Interestingly all three Tor riders managed to have three different versions of Tor kit.  These are the kind of things you notice when people are discussing cycling and you have no idea quite who they’re talking about and can only chime in from time to time when the flow of conversation touches on a familiar name – Armstrong, Landis, Cavendish.  However it was a very pleasant interlude in a very enjoyable ride, and it would have been easy to sit there for ages…tempting too!  Must remember to take some money with me next time though – drinking more  would have seen us doing the washing up…  Thanks SH!  🙂

We came back via the Levels, Blackford, Cheddar, and the almost chemically blue reservoir.  Life’s a beach – well, at least it looked like one up there.

Cycling time: 2:31:18
Distance: 40.58 miles
Avs: 16.1 mph
ODO: 4723 miles

It was, unsurprisingly considering who I was cycling with, a relatively fast ride for me.  I made a conscious effort to keep up and not to sulk about having to keep up and to take a turn at the front when I could.  After all, I’m supposed to be trying to get better at this cycling thing.  So that was 2 1/2 hours cycling in the sunshine, enjoying the gorgeous weather and scenery, having a good natter, and topping up the tan.  I may not always be able to get the hang of Thursdays but there are definitely worse ways to spend one *grin*.

Sound of silence

Which is what you get when a) your mp3 runs out of batteries on your ride and when b) you’re too busy pushing to keep up to talk…

Ten of the ACG gathered in the Square this morning, including he who shall henceforth affectionately be know as Tri-Boy (previously know as Boy Wonder) and his parents.  Apparently he was a bit under the weather today…which doesn’t bode well for future “on form” rides!  Anyway ten was a pretty good turnout while still remaining a manageable number – well, just about anyway.  It depends on the amount of traffic on the road, and today wasn’t too bad.

We set out towards Brean Down in the sun and hurtled our way there.  The group initially set off at speed…and didn’t slow down any as legs warmed up!  I didn’t bother trying to keep up too much, being a little concerned as to how on form I was.  I’ve been post-Dragon tired all week, on a detox, and with swollen glands…  If I wanted to race, I’d have joined a racing club 😉  Blessedly the grockles hadn’t woken up yet so we had the wiggly road there to ourselves, which was nice as it can be a bit unpleasant there sometimes when you get between desperate grockle and his candy floss destination…  We spread out a bit along the way but re-united at the café by the sea front at Brean Down which, unforgivably, did not have any of their fantastic scones.  I’d been looking forward to one of them and I may have sulked…*grin*.

After chatting over tea outside as it clouded over, and doing my ACG kit sales pitch to everyone, we headed out again into what was now distinctly chilly weather.  I was, as ever, very glad of my arms.  The ACG rapidly broke up into splinter groups as commitments and speed took their toll.  A faster than usual peloton was left going the long way home, and  this time I did a much better job of keeping up – mostly because the Tri-umvirate don’t know where they’re going yet and have to keep stopping at junctions to wait and see where we’re going!  Having the wind behind me may have helped too.  A lot!  The sun came out, and that combined with the speed we were going at meant it got quite warm.  I did my fair share of sitting on the front and pulling, I think, and was happy to see that my legs weren’t protesting.

Cycling time: 2:07:58
Distance: 38.23 miles
Avs: 17.9 mph
ODO: 4682 miles

Have you seen the AVS?  Have you?  Really?!  So much for a leisurely Sunday morning ride!  *grin*.  I won’t say it was unpleasant because oddly it was quite enjoyable, if hard work.  It was very weird to be coming back in the group on the Wedmore road doing 24mph and practically free wheeling.  I rarely get to experience the drafting effect to such an extent – it was pretty awesome.  So there are some upsides to being totally out-classed! 😛  Having kicked a*se all the way home I sat behind as Tri-Boy led the way back down the bypass and into town only to be overtaken by his mum and a very colour co-ordinated GB fighting for the stage finish.  Does that count as sling-shotting? 😛

Having had no scone I was at least entitled to have a slice of the very nice Rhubarb and Vanilla Yoghurt Cake that I made yesterday with my lunch.  I reckon that has to count as one of my 5 a day.  It’s got carbs in it and everything…*grin*.

Goodbye yellow brick road

Day 4 after the Dragon and yesterday was time to get back on the bike.  Admittedly this came with some trepidation as my Tuesday and Wednesday gym sessions had made it fairly clear that there wasn’t a lot left in my legs…

However it would appear I needn’t have worried.  I did an easyish loop with GW, chatting all the way, with the odd hill thrown in, and maintained a respectable average.

Cycling time: 2:04:56
Distance: 32.12 miles
Avs: 15.3 mph
ODO: 4644 miles

I was more tired than usual afterwards, but I think that’s allowable.  Now that I’ve done the Dragon (again), it’s time to start thinking about my future goals…  Do I aim for the Etape?  Is SH really serious about joining me in that?  Or do I look for some multi-day touring type trips – L2P without the fundraising?  In the meantime there’s Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride, AMR Bristol to London (sponsor me, go on, you know you want to…) and Cheddar Cyclosportive, so the season’s not over yet 🙂

Verenti Dragon Ride 2010

The start of the Dragon Ride is brought to you by the letter Q and the number 5000.

I woke up before my alarm on Sunday and was well on schedule as I left my Travel Inn at around 7am.  A quick hop down the motorway, off at Bridgend and…straight into the Q for the car park.  *yawn*.  Once finally parked I reassembled the bike, loaded up my pockets, eyed the ominous clouds, considered the dodgy weather forecast, and opted to add my windproof vest to the mix.  I headed off towards the start and before leaving the car park, joined the Q for the toilets…which took about half an hour.  Still, it wasn’t exactly an optional extra…  That done I headed off to the start – a short ride away.  Where I discovered a massive Q as thousands of cyclists filtered through a one bike width entrance to the path to the start.  It’s clearly quite hard to fit 5000 cyclists through the eye of a needle…  We all patiently waited, in true British fashion,  feeling pretty warm as the weather had brightened a bit.  Mind you, there was no way I was taking that layer back to the car and starting over!

By the time I met my incredibly patient L2P mate Kevin by the start, and we headed off, it was nearly 9:00am, I was under-amused and an hour behind schedule.   Not the best start but at least we were finally underway.  It’s not easy, under such circumstances, to stop yourself from hurtling off like a bull out the gate, especially as the first section is fairly easy.  And Kevin is a whippet, which doesn’t help, as I found myself unconsciously keeping up as we chatted away.  We met the Phuk.dis crew, also L2P veterans, at the exit from the Llantrisant forest section which provided a handy excuse to stop, chat, remove the layer, and juggle provisions around to find room to stash it.  Just as well I did, as after that is where the hills begin.

I can’t decide whether being familiar with the route helps or not.  I think it tends to slow you down in between hills as you know what’s coming and want to pace yourself.  But then you probably actually deal with the hills themselves a bit better.  They’re mostly long slog hills and they really felt like slogs this time since I knew exactly how long they were going to go on for.  Actually it was amazing how much of the route I remembered from last year.  I’m not saying I could ride it on my own but…

Inevitably I have to compare this year’s ride with last year’s.  Bwlch 1 didn’t feel as good, but I got up Bwlch 2 without taking a break.  Llangenor barely troubled me as I knew it was there.  The worst hill, which I had forgotten about, is Cimla because it’s the steepest, and it’s steep for quite a long time, in an urban area, towards the end of the ride, with no stunning scenery to distract you.  At least the last feed stop is at the top and very welcome it was too!  Two things you get at the top of long hills – photographers to capture your misery, and food stops to relieve it.

The best bit of the ride?  The downhills. 😀  I’d been worried about how I would be with those, due to the nerves I have now about such things, but I actually handled them really well.  Some of them were just a joy.  My max speed was 39.4 which is awesome for me.  Long straight go on forever downs…as the memory of the climb to get there fades.  I think my mp3 player may be psychic.  Eddie Reader thought the first good downhill was “Perfect”, as I was practically flying down the back of the Bwlch for the second time, Glee were convinced that I was  “Defying Gravity”, and as we neared the end, Hue and Cry applauded my “Labour of Love”.  Pure coincidence?  I think not 😉

Cycling time: 8:24:52
Distance: 118.39 miles
Avs: 14.0 mph
ODO: 4610 miles
And, according to Kevin’s Garmin, 2715 metres of climbing…

So that’s slower than last year.  I’m a bit cross about that as I know overall I’m faster than I was then, and I was really hoping to better my time this year.  That’s what comes of doing the same ride twice – you get all competitive with yourself and set yourself goals.  For some reason I thought last year was 112 miles, which is weird, because it wasn’t.

The first half of the ride, or more, was into a nasty blustery head wind which was particularly noticeable going over the chilly and overcast Brecon Beacons.  Nowhere to hide up there, and precious few cyclists to hide behind too.  It’s amazing how spread out that many cyclists get, and after the split for the Medio route, there were even fewer around.  I think the wind was probably the main contributing factor to my slower speed.  Plus the weather, though seriously variable (hey, at least it didn’t rain as forecast), was also still too warm for me, and I think I got a bit dehydrated, which is never good.  I thought I’d eaten and drunk properly but clearly not.  Near the end I’d totally hit my sweet taste threshold and was very grateful that I’d made up one bottle of seriously dilute stuff at the last stop, where I had also downed some plain water.  I definitely perked up a bit after that.  Although lots of the ride was lovely, I just feel like it was harder this year than last, but I have no idea if that’s true, or if I’ve just blotted out last year!

So, I’m cross I’m slow.  There’s news for you.  However when you look at it – we cycled 118 miles on nowt more than a couple of bars, a ham roll, the odd banana, and some energy drink.  Compared to normal folk we’re practically super human!  So I’m fine as long as I don’t compare myself with my peers *grin*.

I was very glad of Kevin’s company.  We had quite a laugh from time to time, and having someone to chat to definitely got me through my usual mid-ride dip.   He was also very good at leaving me to get on with it going up hill – I like to suffer in private – and then waiting for me later.  I swear the man barely broke into a sweat all day.  I really wasn’t expecting him to stick with me for the whole ride and I’m both grateful and impressed that he did!

I’ve come to the conclusion that doing sportives is like giving birth.  It takes a long time, involves a lot of pain, and ends with a sense of achievement and euphoria.  And, amazingly quickly, the memory of the pain fades, and you find yourself contemplating doing it all over again next year…

Next year?  We’ll see…

Update: Official Time : 9:15:39.  Hard to believe we spent 45 minutes faffing around eating etc but I guess we must have!  1642 out of 1734 Gran Fondo riders.  Very poor…

One more step around the world I go

Last night saw another sunny evening, and another ride.  This time I opted for the evening to let some of the heat go out of the day, which was a nice, if novel, position to be in.

Bearing in mind that which looms before me, I plotted nearly the flattest route possible, which I did clockwise.  Odd, but I definitely prefer anti-clockwise!  I wonder why that is?

It wasn’t as enjoyable as the last ride, but it was far from horrible.  And, as it turns out, it was quite fast too, which came a bit of a surprise – the wind had been irritating me.

I’ve wiped my computer stats , but you can have what I remember for tradition’s sake.

Cycling time: ???
Distance: 29.00 miles or so
Avs: 16.5 mph
ODO: 4490 miles

Right now I’m packing up for the Dragon Ride.  Hubby is cooking me up some pasta to take with me, for my tea tonight.  I had carbs for breakfast and lunch, and have carbs galore packed with me.  My bike is in the back of the car, all snuggly wrapped up.  Oh and it’s clean too, as I washed it this morning.  Once that’s all done, I’ll be heading off, following the sun down the M4 to find my bed for the night.  Wish me luck! 🙂

Roses and Rings

It’s half term, which is sanity stretching at the best of times.   By the time hubby came home last night I was like a coiled spring.  He walked through the door,  and with barely a backward glance, my bike and I hurtled away into the evening sunshine.  No wind, warm low evening sun, shadows stretching across the fields…  I was by no means the only one out there, and we all grinned at each other as we passed by, words being unnecessary when it came to expressing how much fun we were all having.  The roads were quiet, the towns were empty, and it felt like my own private playground.

In Mark a pair of displaying peacocks were being pointedly ignored by a dowdy female as she “accidentally” walked past them.  There were the inevitable herons, some very cute ducklings, and some awesome aerial acrobatics from the buzzard being harrassed by crows.  The rhynes were millpond still, reflecting yellow and green, blue and white, back up at the sky.  It was all gorgeous 🙂

Cycling time: 1:49:43
Distance: 29.00 miles
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 4461 miles

I’d taken my new camera with me and have the photos to prove how lovely it was.  In fact I got my first chainring tattoo of the season stopping to take them 🙂  I’d have been faster if I wasn’t stopping from time to time as I really was going for it – what with being limited by both available time and remaining light.  It was an outstanding ride…and by the time I got home, showered, and collapsed on the sofa, I felt almost human again.  Well, as close as I get anyway *grin*.