Monthly Archives: February 2012

Heaven

I love my Ultegra brakes.  I really do.  Not only do I love how they make me stop, but let’s face it, in that sort of gunmetal grey finish, they’re awful purty too :).  But, as is often the way with pretty things, they do seem to be a little more high maintenance than less attractive models.  Today’s ride got off to somewhat of a false start as I set off and was noisily reminded that the front brake wasn’t releasing once applied and had to turn around from the Square and go home and apply WD40 before I could be on my way.  Gotta love WD40 though :).

As I have my first event of the season on Sunday (about time too!) I should be taking it a little easy this week.  Not that I ever have gotten the hang of tapering, but I know it’s something you’re supposed to do ;).  I went through my library of routes and dug out a seaside loop to do.  I even avoided those that involved starting with Shipham Hill though I was sore tempted…  This one was relatively flat, and for novelty value I decided to do it clockwise.  Not just for novelty…let’s be honest, doing it that way around meant that I could finish up by going up Winscombe Hill and home down the bypass *grin*.

So how was it?  Overcast, indecisively damp, relentlessly grey.  Mild however, with not a lot of wind, and therefore the first ride this year without a base layer, which was noticeably more comfortable.  That’ll be the feeling of Rapha next to your skin for you 😉 *grin*.  I got my kit choice totally spot on.  So spot on that I didn’t make a single adjustment the whole way ’round.  No zip maneuvres.  No layer removals.  Nowt.  Unusual.

It was the kind of route I don’t really have to think about, though maybe I should have paid slightly more attention as I did deviate slightly by taking a turn too early and going through Lympsham by accident.  But then Lympsham is pretty, so it’s hardly the end of the world.  By the way, if you’re ever in the business for some wrought ironwork, there’s a company on a scruffy plot along by the railway line not far from there that you should look at just because this makes me laugh every time I hurtle past it…and it’s a long straight parallel flat stretch, so I do mean hurtle :).

...buying a stairway to heaven...

I know, small things please small minds…*grin*.  It was the only thing worth showing you today really, what with the world being covered in a blanket of grey cloud.  Not the best day for visiting the seaside, but at least when the sun’s not out, neither are the grockles.  Silver linings ‘n all that.

Cycling time: 2:06:47 hrs
Distance: 35.65 miles.
AVS: 16.8 mph.
ODO: 12241 miles

It was, oddly, a blinding ride.  I can’t explain why, but I felt like I was flying along.  If you’d told me my bike had an engine I’d have been tempted to believe you!  I guess it was a zone day – it just felt easy.  Effortless.  And right.  And fun :D.  I barely registered some of the ups, and even Winscombe Hill was marginally less strenuous than usual.  Just for fun I pushed it down the bypass a little and easily made it over 30mph before I had to turn left and ruin a perfectly good sprint finish *grin*.  Mojo rising :).

PS.  In deeply sad statistical analysis fashion I should inform you that today’s ride takes this month’s total to a nice round 400 miles.  40 miles more than February 2010.  Not that I’m keeping count at all.  Or competing with myself.  Yep.  Sad.  *grin*.

With a pink dress and a white smile

Well actually the dress is purple, but the smile brought on by today’s ride is pretty white, and very wide :).

Yesterday was gorgeous and sunny.  Which would normally have brought on some sort of biblical, I need to give you a rainbow to apologise afterwards, type of  weather today, what with the fact that yesterday I wasn’t riding, and today I was.  I have been known to joke that I can be paid to stay home and not ride the bike – my rates are very reasonable – just to ensure that other people get decent weather to ride in! 😉  When I drew back the curtain this morning, it was pretty impossible to ascertain what the weather was doing, because I couldn’t see beyond the end of my (extremely small) garden!  Resorting to the ‘net, as ever, I was informed that it was foggy (no, really?) and chilly, with practically no wind.  But that’s forecasts and we know how much faith I now place in those.  I layered up just the same as on Friday, and headed out for the Square to meet the ACG.  I was the first there…so got my camera out.  The fog was a fluid thing, but looking up the sky was an unfamiliar shade of…can it be really? No, yes, oh, hi, oh my eye!  Blue?  Blue!

High Street, and a funny coloured sky...

Flowers. It's Spring, right?

St John the Baptist Church, Axbridge

GB was the first to turn up, and by the time we were all gathered together at 9:00am, there were 6 of us.  A good round well-matched number.  By which I mean that 6 is a round number, not that any of our number is round 😉  Myself, GB (self-explanatory), DM (I eat hills for breakfast), Mike (mine’s an Etape please), Steve (from MTB to Maratona) and Gary (been away, and very welcome back).  Our proposed route was a hilly one, a fact that we’d been kind enough broadcast in advance, so we all knew what we were letting ourselves in for.  In consideration of this there was a reasonable flat stretch to start with to get us all warmed up, and we headed off towards Wedmore.  Yes – I’ve been taking photos when riding along again.  I’m practising for my first Cyclosport review at the Mad March Hare next weekend :).

GB leads the way into the mist

I always forget how wet mist is.  In a way that completely covers your glasses with water and makes seeing through them impossible.  I ended up with my glasses sitting right down the end of my nose, and breathing/talking like I had a clothes peg on my nose as a result.  Not massively comfortable, but I do like to see where I’m going.  Especially on the road across from Wedmore to Westbury sub Mendip which is Paris-Roubaix-like in its surface on a good day, which, mid winter and covered in crap (probably literally), this was not.  Ick.  I think I shall continue to avoid that particular road.

No more procrastinating.  No more putting off the inevitable.  Time to start climbing hills and leaving the Levels behind, by heading up in the direction of Wookey Hole, towards the climb up past Dear Leap.  Time to engage crawler gear as ever.  A small breakaway group hared off, but I figured I’d stick to what I knew best and pace myself.

atmospheric, no?

We re-grouped before the left turn and then headed for the hills.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well it went.  It fits my kind of profile – steepest at the bottom, a bit better after that, whilst be long enough to settle into.  After a brief out of the saddle bit to get that steep section out of the way, which also saw me overtake a couple of people, I hunkered down and actually quite enjoyed plodding my way to the top, where the skies were blue, the roads dry, and the fog was behind me :).

nearing the top of Dear Leap

And the views from the top?  Almost worth it.  In fact, most definitely worth it.  Time to stop and take some photos, just in case my little camera was up to capturing the scale of the scene.  I’ll let you be the judge of that.

see the Tor rising above the mist? Very Isle of Avalon.

fog filling the valley below

Mike coming up to admire the view

That was but the first climb of the day however.  It was time to go find the next one.  Being on top of the world already, with therefore nowhere to go from there, the only way find an up is to start with a down.  In this case the very lovely, and long, and very fast down that is Old Bristol Hill.  Such fun :D.  Well it is as long as it’s dry and not too busy, which was the case today.  Add moisture to the mix there and it’s a whole different ballgame.   We flew all the way down into Wells and out the other side, through some very pretty villages, to where GB had found us a brand new hill to go up.  Yes – fanfare time – tarantara – we now have a Guy’s Hill!  Took long enough, but I think it was worth it.  It turned out to be a very lovely long steady climb, up from Dinder and pretty much all the way to the Rock Cake Café.  A climb worthy of the name association :).  There was a steeper bit at the bottom, again, but after that my plodding turned out to be faster than some of the other plodding going on, I gradually pulled ahead, and it was left to me to try and catch GB up as he disappeared into the distance with nary a glance behind him.  I didn’t so much catch him as get close enough to yell at him to wait for us mere mortals! 😉  Definitely time for coffee :).

Gary and Steve deep in thought.

a well refreshed ACG 🙂

Thus refreshed and rehydrated it was time for the second leg of our ride, albeit one we decided to curtail a little due to time, and democracy.  We cut out the loop that would have involved climbing a Harptree and headed straight over the top towards Burrington Combe which I really fancied descending.  It’s a long essentially straight wide route to get there, although with a surprisingly amount of incidental climbing.  Three of the ACG decided to head home via Charterhouse, leaving 3 of us to carry the ACG  flag a little longer.  My maths is good like that.  The Sunday driver traffic, having also seen the sun, was out en masse.  Silly season has definitely started.  Too many cars, too much behaving badly.  Luckily there was a pause in hostilities for the actual descent of the Combe, and the car behind me stayed well back, which is just as well as I spooked myself a little on one of the bends near the top and came a tad close to the already occupied wrong side of the road.  Disaster averted though, and the rest was as much fun as ever :).

Steve, GB and I wiggled through Langford and along to the next climb – up through Rowberrow to Shipham.  I swear that climb used to be worse!  Maybe I’m getting better at this? 😉  It was all worth it to get to go home down Shipham Hill though.  Well nearly.  I particularly enjoyed Mr White Transit Van Man, who absolutely had to overtake me very fast…before realising there was a bend coming up and then having to brake hard enough to make me have to brake to avoid him.  *sigh*.  I’d quite like to have been able to communicate to the driver that usually brake lights come in pairs, along with sharing my critique of his driving skills…but luckily for both of us he hurtled off down the main road in the wrong direction before we regrouped and headed down the bypass to home.  Still he didn’t ruin it totally for me, so I’ll let him off.  It’s amazing how much more I enjoy downhills these days.  I’ve even been known to go up hills I’m not keen on just to get to some of my favourite downs.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! *grin*.

Cycling time: 2:56:46 hrs
Distance: 48.13 miles.
AVS: 16.3 mph.
ODO: 12205 miles

I had SUCH a good ride.  I can’t tell you how much difference the sunshine makes, and it feels like so long since it’s been around.  Sun, no wind, miles, friends, great hills, glorious descents….I mean, man, does it get any better?  My max speed was 41mph which is truly amazing for me.  Today I could do it.  I could do hills. I could do flats.  I could do fast.  I was solar-powered!  Yep – still smiling :).

Something inside so strong

Another Friday, another Somerset Cycling ride.  Whether or not this becomes a regular thing remains to be seen but two weeks in a row is a good start, right?  Since we were meeting by the church in Mark at 11:00am, I set off around 10:30am and went the quickest and fastest and most direct route there – straight down the A38, and across into Mark along the Kingsway.  I’m not sure you can get a route any flatter around here!  It was quite mild, I was pushing it, and the wind was temporarily fairly absent, and by the time I got there and discovered the BW already waiting, I was convinced I was wearing one layer too many.  Since removing a layer wasn’t really an option since I hadn’t anywhere to stash one, and getting to the base layer which I really wanted to take off would have involved a degree of public indecency, I settled for taking the Buff off my head to aid ventilation instead.  Probably a good call as it turned out.  In the meantime we loitered with intent for a while, and discussed the necessity for remaining upright this time around, before we were joined like an Ark by the animals, by John, Sarah & Rob, and then Michael.

Andy, John, Rob and Michael

Michael and Sarah

There are several nice things about cycling with a new group, probably the main one of which is not having to think about or take responsibility for the route!  Michael had plans for going to Langport, so that’s what we did.  Our route went something like this – though I’ve had to guess the odd bit as we got lost on the way back and ended up in hell on earth (aka Bridgwater) – more of which later.

The route out was pretty good.  Essentially flat, apart from getting up to Edington and Shapwick.  It could have included High Ham Hill, an alliterative favourite, but luckily it didn’t :).  Michael did a good job of making sure I knew when to be where, which is really handy when you’re getting used to a new group, and I’m always happier if I feel like I’ve taken my turn on the front rather than just wheel sucking all the way round.  I like to pull my weight!  It was fairly fast.  Even faster every time the BW and John were on the front as they half-wheeled each other constantly.  Shall I make a comment about male egos or would you like to make your own? 😉  When it came to hills there was also clearly an invisible polka dot jersey up for grabs.  John attempted to put the BW in his place, occasionally successfully, and on one occasion he was so busy worrying about doing that that Sarah kicked his a*se and got Queen of the Mountains all for herself *grin*.  This is most decidedly not my thing and since I did hills on Wednesday and intend to do hills with the ACG on Sunday, I didn’t see the need to wear myself out keeping up :).  That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

We had our coffee stop at the Potting Shed, up at Old Kelways.  This was our second choice as we’d meant to go to a café in the centre of Langport but the snooty lady in the office adjacent to the space where we were going to park our bikes informed us, with ill grace, that it was private property and we should go elsewhere.  As it turns out this was a good thing, as the Potting Shed had very friendly staff, equally friendly clientele, and had plenty of space both for bike parking and inside for us.  To gild the lily, they’d had a minor baking catastrophe and their recently baked fruit cake hadn’t gone quite according to plan so they were giving it away free to cyclists *grin*.  Now that can’t be bad, can it?  Well yes, actually it can, if you’re me and currently unable to eat cake, free or otherwise *sigh*.  But hey, the mug of filter coffee to wash the next dose of painkillers down was good, as was the banter, so that’s definitely one to add to the list.  I reckon free cake earns a certain degree of customer loyalty don’t you? 🙂

The Potting Shed

spot my chair...

Sarah, John, Andy (BW), Michael and Rob

The route back, as mentioned before, went a little pear shaped, probably because there was too much racing and/or talking going on, so we missed a turn.  We ended up in Bridgwater.  Now I have attended some very nice civic events there.  And I’m sure it has redeeming features.  But they’re notable in their absence if you have to ride a bike through there.  The always busy traffic quite clearly hates you.  Random people shout at you, both from cars and from the pavement.  It is just horrible.  I will own up to having earned the car horn sounded in my direction at the junction where we turned right, but that’s because I thought there was a right filter and there wasn’t.  And if I’d tried stopping once I realised that, at speed,  I would have failed to unclip and ended up in an ignominious heap on the floor.  By the way, that’s a good word isn’t it? ;).  So apologies to the motorist concerned – mea culpa.  If I hadn’t been so spooked by the behaviour of the rest of your ilk I might have done better at reading the road though…

The wonders of traffic and so on started to spread the group out and there was a degree of stop starting to allow people to catch up.  Somewhere around the last climb into Woolavington I realised I was flagging a bit.  Luckily I was also ahead a bit – thanks to catching Michael after the lovely descent – and I had time to take in a packet of Lucozade jelly beans which seemed to do the trick.  But having been lost, and with time ticking on, I got to the point where I really needed to get going, so from around Watchfield I just had to take myself off and head for home.  Apologies to you all for being antisocial, and it’s nothing personal, but I needed to get home before the jelly beans and painkillers ran out!  I pretty much time-trialled myself all the way, as fast as I could, along the Mark Causeway, straight back along the Kingsway with my head down into the now quite irritating headwind, and then up the slightly more wind assisted A38.  I properly kicked ar*e!

Cycling time: 3:23:20 hrs
Distance: 59.92 miles.
AVS: 17.6 mph.
ODO: 12156 miles

If I were to say that by the coffee stop I’d averaged 17.1mph…?  Yep – kicked ar*e on the way home. *grin*.  It was good to feel like I could hold my own, to ride a different route, and to meet some more new cyclists.  Well new to me, not new to cycling, quite clearly! 🙂  I’m sure I’ll pay for my uncustomary effort in the next day or so, but it was kinda fun :).

PS: If you’re a girl, and a Rapha addict, you might like to know that they’ve got a 50% off Festa Della Donna this weekend.  I think, as my birthday is coming up, there are a couple of treats in there with my name on. 🙂

When I’m back on my feet again

You know, generally speaking, I’ve always found that breaking rules is more fun than following them, so why it should be so important to obey the velominati rules is slightly beyond me…  But it is what it is, and today I shall mostly have been obeying rules 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 21…  I could go on, but you’re bored now.  I could also list the rules I was breaking but…*yawn*…I’m bored now too ;).

Today was a day for hills.  Well if the weather is going to be crap, and there is going to be wind, then you might as well be going uphill right?  It keeps you warm, and is frequently more sheltered than the Levels.   You can see my precise route here – c: 40 miles, with 1049 metres of climbing.  Not too shabby I’ll have you know.   That’s nearly as much climbing as the Mad March Hare, but over less distance, so hopefully I’m well prepared for that now.  Less than two weeks to go and the sportive season will have officially started, which is quite exciting if you’re me :).

First hill – Shipham, of course.  I decided to actually try and push it up there for a change, and as I got near the top, you could possibly have heard me shouting at myself to push a little more.  Hey, it may sound nutty, but I guess it worked, as I beat my previous PB by 2 seconds.  13:53!  Get me!  How cool is that?  Yes I know it’s only 2 seconds, but every second counts! :).

Second hill – Burrington Combe, and as I neared the top, the rain started.  There were also some interesting wind tunnel effects going on which made the bottom section more challenging than is necessary.  Is going uphill not enough I ask you?  Up on the top the wind was, predictably, strong, gusty, and mostly sideways, leading the bike to do that dancing around like it’s on hot coals thing.  Not somewhere I wanted to be spending too much time – and I cut across to go down Harptree Hill.  I took the descent down very carefully, better safe than sorry as ever, and then pootled my way around Litton and the like to Chewton Mendip.  Interestingly enough it was about 2 degrees colder the wrong side of the Mendips, which made the rain that little bit more unpleasant.

the cattle grid to mark the start of Burrington Combe

going up Burrington Combe

the cattle grid that sadly does not mark the end of Burrington Combe! And as you can see, there was rain...

Third hill – the long climb up the A39 to the top of Bristol hill.  It was proper raining by now, but crawler gear was firmly engaged, the legs were going round, the wheels went around, and the descent the other side was much fun, even into the rain and wind!  I nearly managed to avoid braking altogether :).  However I decided to take the right turn near the bottom for Wookey Hole, for which braking in the pouring rain was then a little interesting.  Once that was safely negotiated I had to stop, put on my gilet, and swap the mitts for winter gloves, as I was soaked to the skin and getting colder by the minute, even if it was that bit warmer being back the right side of the Mendips again.

the view, in the rain, down to Chew Valley Lake

That pretty much covers the hills – there’s the lumpy bits around Wookey but compared to the first three hills, they don’t really count!  From there it was back across the usual flat roads to home.  The extra layer and winter gloves did the trick and meant that I got home still in touch with all my extremities, albeit soaked to the skin.   And for one blissful stretch on the Wedmore road the wind was behind me, Axl Rose wanted me to know how sweet I am, and all was very well with the world… 🙂

Cycling time: 2:35:08 hrs
Distance: 39.80 miles.
AVS: 15.3 mph.
ODO: 12096 miles

All in all I’m pretty pleased with how that went.  PB, hills, miles, time…tick tick tick tick :).  I was really pleased with my form – and I felt good out there.  Imagine how could it could have been if I really was on form and the weather wasn’t crap? 😉 *grin*.

Me - clearly a little damp, but happy 🙂

You’re unbelievable

Friday, and the mob are back at the KOW Leisure Centre being kept amused, leaving me able to ride my bike again.  Hallelujah!  *phew*.  Etc.  But what to do?  Well I’ve been meaning to join the Somerset Cycling Friday ride for ages and today seemed like as good a day as any.  To be honest I’ve been avoiding it because I’ve been worried about how fast/good they are, plus on the logistical front it’s a little late in the day for me – I usually ride first thing (ish) and they meet at midday.  But procrastination is bad, right?  Besides today I had the time, and as I’m currently happier cycling with other people than on my own, it seemed ideal.  That made today the day.  Carpe diem and all that.

A little after 11:00am I took myself off on a 13 mile cross country wiggle to Burnham on Sea to try and meet up with them, which turned out to be 48 minutes of slogging into a headwind with distinct absence of mojo.  This did not bode well, and when I was standing around getting chilly trying to meet them a little (ok quite a large) part of me was tempted to just say s*d it and head for home.  But thanks to the joy of text they were able to tell me where they were and where I should be, and I was able to find them.  Five of them, as it turns out, all kitted out and professional looking.  *gulp*.

Cycling with a new group is a tad scarey.  Different riding styles, etiquette, speed, personalities…it takes a while to figure out how it all works.  Luckily it was a pretty flat route, and for the first stretch out to Glastonbury the wind was behind us.  In those circumstances group riding is a lot of fun, because it’s fast! *grin*.  That kind of riding I can usually do, for a while at least, so I’m also less likely to get left behind.  In fact I managed to keep up pretty well until we turned into the headwind to head via Godney to Sweets when I did get dropped slightly.  I really hate wind…  However being a chivalrous bunch they slowed down for a while and I got enough second wind (pun intended) to hold my own until coffee.  Hard work but in a good way.  It’s probably very good training to push myself a bit too.  Mind you I’d have been doomed if it had been a hilly route though!  Maybe if I get good enough I can even take my turn at the front?  😉

We sat around a busy Sweets café and I got to watch cyclists eat large amounts of cake.  I’d love to be eating cake.  I’d love to eat cake and stay skinny like some of them.  Well let’s be honest, I’d love to be eating full stop but more of that later.  So would you like to meet the guys?

Astana Man

Peter

the Boy Wonder

Coxy

a camera shy Michael

Following coffee it was straight back to the top of Mudgeley Hill, where we variously parted company, leaving just me and the Boy Wonder to head back towards Cheddar.  The BW came a cropper as he turned the last corner before the descent into Wedmore and hit the deck.  Luckily I was a bit behind him but even so instinctive braking made my back wheel wobble a little so I think the road must have been a bit greasy.  After having been impressed earlier that he was actually wearing long trousers, it’s a shame that he now has large holes in them :(.  He claimed to be ok – hope you are! – but he may have been a little shaken, if not stirred, as he sat on my wheel for the entire way to Cheddar, and I think he scratched his plans to go up the Gorge :(.  He went right, I went left, and there I was, home again.

Cycling time: 2:34:44 hrs
Distance: 44.34 miles.
AVS: 17.1 mph.
ODO: 12056 miles

Quite fast no?  Especially as the first chunk on my own was only 15.something – and by coffee it was 17.3!  Coming home into the wind was caffeine and painkiller fuelled so didn’t noticeably drop the average.  My legs were really feeling pretty strong, which is encouraging.  There were times today when I was slogging along into the wind feeling like it was hard work, and then I’d look down and see that I was going at 19mph.  Let alone the speed I was doing keeping up with the group.  So it felt like hard work because I was working hard! *grin*.

So I’d like to take a moment here to tell you how impressed I am by my body.  And I don’t mean that in an immodest look at me kind of sense.  I mean that it’s an amazing machine.  Given all that it’s going through at the moment, the essentially liquid diet, the percentage of its calorific intake that has come from medicinal fermented grapes of late, the painkillers, and the fact that breakfast was just a banana, it’s just incredible that it can still do what it does and did.  Chapeau, mon corps :).

mobile MRI scanner

You come from out of nowhere

It’s half term.  Deep joy.  A week of being at home with the mob, with hubby away, and when the weather is meek and mild.  Unlike MiniMe who has remembered he’s a teenager and is testing out all the clichéd behaviours associated with that, and possibly throwing in a few new and innovative ones just to see how that goes.  In case you were wondering, this did not go well ;).  It’s just possible that I’m a little less tolerant than usual, all things considered, so when I remembered that the KOW Leisure Centre was running Half Term Activity Days it was manna from heaven…and I booked them both in for today and Friday.  They get a day of doing lots of things, and being generally kept entertained, amused, and stimulated, and I get a day’s peace and quiet, when I can ride my bike and get on with not killing small children ;).

Tricky though because even given the weather and the time, I wasn’t sure riding would be a good idea.  I’m still not 100% and I appear to be brewing a new cold to boot.  It never rains but it pours right?  However taking it easy and doing the usual loop on my own just seemed a little boring, and wasn’t motivating me.  I was considering doing the hilly training loop since at least that has more of a challenge element to it, and I do need to do some hills.  Then it turned out that there was a fledgling plan for a few various cyclists to be at Sweets at 11:30am.  The thought of adding a social element and a goal to the ride really appealed, but I didn’t want to give up on the hills completely, so I knocked myself up a compromise route.

First up – Shipham Hill.  In 15:06 – my 5th best time ever.  Ok, not brilliant but still – wow – wasn’t expecting that.  I need to do hills.  I want to do hills.  I need to check that I still have my crawler gear – that ability to just plod up hills however slowly, however long it takes – and it’s quite hard to find hills that are long enough to practice that.  Shipham is good because it’s a fairly constant gradient, an average of 9% I think, all the way up.  Clearly it doesn’t go on for hours, but it’s a start, and it clearly went pretty well :).  Having gone up, it was time to go down from Shipham, and around to Sandford, to go up Winscombe Hill.  More plodding, but still doable, and well worth it to go down the fabulous descent on the A38 which I only do once in a blue moon since it’s never on my way anywhere.  Up Weare Hill next, which was going pretty well until I got the kind of bit in my right eye that hurts so bad your brain explodes and you literally cannot ride your bike.  So I had to stop, fix it, and get back on again.  Annoying, but these things happen.  Hill climbed, and time to go over the top, past the golf course and the windmill to get to Wedmore, and then down to Sweets.

Ashton Windmill

As you can see it was a grey day.  You can see Brent Knoll in the background behind the trees if you look carefully.  Anyway it was grey, not very windy, and fairly mild.  It certainly made a nice change not to be freezing!  I did get a bit chilly at Sweets, as it’s never warm enough there, and sitting around there in clammy clothes is not nice.  The coffee was good though, and I chatted to various riders from various groups, which made a nice change from the usual riding by myself and talking to myself!  I came home over Mudgeley Hill to warm up, and down through Wedmore where the traffic was playing silly b*ggers so I just weaved my way through and left them to get on with it.  Gotta love being on a bike and not in a metal box right? 😉  That just left me to go round the muddy Nyland loop and then back through Cheddar to home.  Job done, and at a fairly respectable speed – there were hills in there and everything!

Cycling time: 2:03:23 hrs
Distance: 34.06 miles.
AVS: 16.5 mph.
ODO: 12012 miles

Not so long ago my little back light stopped working again.  Sometimes this is batteries.  Sometimes it’s just too wet.  This time I took it apart to see what I could see, and bits fell out of it…never a good sign!  Since I like to have something red flashing back there to make me a little more visible, I replaced it with this which is very lovely.  Visible from all round, with three different settings, plus it looks like a spaceship – what more do you want? 😉

Topeak RedLite UFO

It attaches to my saddle bag - handy

I also had to replace the inserts in my Giro Saros helmet.  Why is this noteworthy?  Well I realised that I’ve never had a helmet last long enough for that to need doing!  I’ve been too busy proving that they do what they say on the tin – which thankfully they do *grin*.  Somewhat impressively the inserts only cost me £3 too – bargain!

new Giro Saros inserts, in black.

Winter Mini Sportive

Sometime last year I signed up for 3 of Performance Cycles Winter mini-Sportives, in an attempt to keep getting the miles in over the winter.  I missed the December one because I wasn’t well and over-slept.  The January one was also a no-show as I was ill (I’m sensing a theme here!).  Today was the third of them.  Sadly I’m still not well, and I added the after effects of the wedding into that mix, but there was no way I was missing another one, especially not as it was the first of this year’s planned events.  I’m stubborn like that!  Besides, if I’m going to continue to be ill, then I’m going to have to learn to cycle ill!

So, 6:00am.  Dark outside.  Cold inside and colder out.  Ah…that familiar feeling again.  Yep – time for a sportive :).  The car was already loaded up, partially as a preventative measure so as to give me no excuses to bail this morning.  It was just a question of putting on every layer I own, grabbing coffee and a breakfast banana, and hitting the M5.  As I headed north the sun was rising, and the street lights were going out as I went past them, which was a little surreal…

You have to wonder what planet cyclists are on sometimes…driving 80 miles to go ride a bike in the snow and ice in February?!  And before you go thinking it’s just me who’s nuts – I had company.  My mate Kevin joined me, along with 40 or so other hardy souls (from the 100 signed up).  Hardy souls or foolhardy?  Either way I guess that makes us all badass right? ;).

two things that should not really go together - my bike and snow!

Kevin - also mad 😉

It might have looked horrible out there, but it wasn’t actually as cold as it could have been, or as it has been lately.  Which was just as well since it was quite cold enough, though thankfully not very windy.  They’d re-done the route to stick to less minor and therefore much clearer roads, which was a good thing.  I’m actually vaguely familiar with the area usually…but not when it’s covered in a blanket of snow!  White sky, white roads, white scenery…  Quite pretty in a winter wonderland kind of way, but actually a bit boring and featureless after a while!  Especially as you can’t really be spending your time looking at it when paying attention to the potentially icy road is a far better idea…

Malmesbury, I think.

another snowy church

Actually I shouldn’t have seen the second church, as it came a while after we (and several others) missed a crucial “turn right” sign, so I actually got to see it twice when we re-traced our steps trying to find our way back to the right route.  And we all know that re-tracing a route is wrong… 😉  As we were huddled together trying to figure out which way to go, there was the added amusement factor of being berated by a “lady” horse rider (of Thelwell proportions), in tones that could have cut glass, that we hadn’t even passed for having passed her too closely,   We thanked her very politely for sharing her opinion of cyclists with us…as opposed to helping us find our way to where we were supposed to be.  Apparently if we don’t behave correctly we shouldn’t be surprised when she comes past us too close when towing her horse box. Charming!  Maybe it was her who moved the sign we missed?

Anyway, as we were retracing our steps, eventually we found a sign for Tetbury, and since Tetbury was on the route, we just headed for there, somewhat surreally going past Westornbirt Arboretum which I hadn’t realised was quite there.  Geography never was my strong point – ask anyone.

It was, by necessity, a fairly flat route.  Mostly.  A properly nice lady, who we politely accosted once in Tetbury, pointed us in the right direction for the road to Minchinhampton whilst warning us about the steep hill and the dodgy right turn half way down it on the way there.  And she wasn’t wrong!  Thank you nice lady – things could have gone distinctly pear shaped if I hadn’t know about that in advance.  As it was, it was a choice between indicating or braking, and unsurprisingly braking won hands down, so I’m glad the car behind us was paying attention too!  After such a descent there was bound to be an ascent but once in hill mode it was totally doable.  Having a proper hill to deal with is way easier than those stretches of road where you realise it’s harder work than it ought to be and that there’s probably a gradient going on, which happened several times today.

I said it was snowy, right?

We took a breather for refreshment and photo ops near the top, as you do.  Well, not being on form, I need to stop to get it together a little more often than usual.  At this point we ending up playing tag with Mr and Mrs Specialized.  We’d met them when we were all lost, and ridden with them, dropped them, been caught by them when in town…  On balance we were a little bit faster than them, and we had quite a lot of fun on some long straight fast bits trying to prove this to them *grin*.  I may not be on form, there may not be a lot in the tank for sprinting, though I did have fun trying from time to time (I do love sprinting *grin*)..but I can still keep up on the flat if I have to :).  Kevin manfully rose to the challenge and led the race for home, and I cheerfully sucked wheel to get me there too.

Thanks to our little unintended detour the “short” route ended up being nearly as long as the long route would have been so when it came to a choice between heading for warm refreshments or adding another cold 15 mile loop to the total…there was no choice.  And look – they even had my current beverage of choice – soup!  Not to mention cake and bacon butties – all included in the bargain £6 entry cost.

Performance Cycles HQ

Cycling time: 3:24:35 hrs
Distance: 58.69 miles.
AVS: 17.1 mph.
ODO: 11978 miles

Actually, that was pretty fast, no?  Faster than I had any right to expect to be, and way faster than I would have predicted during the 45 minutes it took me to warm up, when I was feeling pretty hellish.  If I hadn’t had the event to do, today would probably have ended up being another sofa day, and I’m very glad it wasn’t :).  *fingers crossed* we get me fixed and back on proper form soon!

When Smokey sings

With all these events to do, and the start of the season rapidly approaching, I have to start going up hills.  I’ve not had a lot of choice but to stick to the flat of late, what with the “big freeze”, or whatever the popular press are calling it this time.  Today I was planning on bucking the trend.  However the weather forecast was not in my favour, and I wasn’t sure whether or not to go out to be honest, as it was only -3C out there.  I hit the usual social media channels and thanks to the feedback from some lovely people out there, I decided it was probably going to be ok, as long as I was careful.  I planned two routes – an hour-ish one and a two hour-ish one, both starting with Cheddar Gorge – on the basis that I could decide which to do by the time I got to the top.

I’ll be the first to admit I kinda wimped out.  Well the Gorge was ok, but just ok.  It’s hard enough on a good day when you haven’t warmed up, and warming up today was clearly going to take a lot longer than usual.  I plodded my way up in fairly joyless fashion, keeping an eye out for ice and sheep.  To be fair I don’t think it actually went any worse than usual, I just wasn’t feeling the love.  But it was properly cold, even when climbing, and up on the top of the Mendips it was even colder.  Well there’s always wind up there, and this time it was a cold Northerly wind to boot.  Nice :(.

bleak midwinter?

the road to Charterhouse

So at the route split, given the choice between another very chilly half an hour or so or another very chilly hour and half or so, it was a bit a of a no-brainer.  Left turn it was, to loop around to Charterhouse.  The road from there to the top of Shipham Hill was…interesting.  It was hard to tell whether the roads were white because of ice, slush, or salt, and there was plenty of mud around too.  Let’s call it riding with due care and attention.  But Shipham Hill itself was clear, dry, and nearly as much fun as usual :).  But man descending was cold!  By the time I got home I couldn’t feel my feet or my hands, and my lips were going numb.  In this case wimping out was definitely the right call!  I can make it up at the gym later, or go for a walk, or whatever…but if I’d stayed out any longer I think hypothermia was a distinct possibility. 😉

Cycling time: 1:14:04 hrs
Distance: 17.23 miles.
AVS: 13.9 mph.
ODO: 11920 miles

Slow wasn’t it?  *sigh*.  I really need to get better at this lark…guess I’d best go cycle up some more hills again soon then :).

Birdhouse in your soul

Mondays are, in so far as I have one, usually my “rest” day.  However I spent yesterday having a hen spa session with the bride to be and a couple of other birds.  I tried, I did.  I tried really hard.  But I think it’s safe to say that spas are not my thing.  Pools are for swimming up and down in.  Jacuzzis bemuse me completely – if I wanted a bath I’d have one.  The pedicure did at least mean I had no choice but to sit in one place for an hour.  Enforced rest, with some form of constructive outcome – glittery matching toenails all ready for the big day on Friday.  Matching with the bride that is, because I’m her Matron of Honour.  Apart from the fact that that makes me sound as old as Methuselah, this is a very awesome thing and I’m very excited!  Imagine, a whole day that doesn’t involve wearing lycra! 😉

So Sunday was, as it used to be, a day of rest.  Which means there was no way today was going to be!  Especially since the temperature was above zero, the wind speed was in single figures, and days like that are few and far between at the moment.  Sadly it was just me though.  I could have used some company from a motivational point of view, but since no-one was around my options were limited.  Make that non-existant.  I didn’t plan anything other than the usual kind of loop, and I didn’t have any great expectations of that since these days I’m never quite sure how I’m going to feel on the bike.  This is not ideal, but actually riding the bike sometimes helps.  It distracts, and then there’s the endorphins…gotta love natural drugs :).

This is going to be a swan themed paragraph.  I think cyclists are quite like swans.  All serene and essentially motionless above the waterline/crossbar, but with legs frantically paddling/pedalling below.  So I swanned around the Levels for a couple of hours, pleasing no-one but myself :).

Three swans a-swimming

we are family

As you can see, I wasn’t the only one.  They were everywhere.  In fact I think maybe someone is farming them – there were fields of them! 😉

Swans. Not sheep. Swans.

OK, so you can’t farm swans.  Can you?  Is that like juggling jelly?  Maybe only the Queen can farm swans?  While I’m here – who did it best, Tchaikovsky or Saint Saens?  I appear to have gone off track but then it was one of those rides – your legs already know where they’re going, so your mind can swan around aimlessly *grin*.

Cycling time: 2:09:27 hrs
Distance: 33.67 miles.
AVS: 15.5 mph.
ODO: 11902 miles

My legs were actually feeling pretty good and they did fine with the odd (little) hill I threw at them – Mudgeley for example – but I think maybe I was taking it a little too easy.  I wasn’t pushing it for sure, and I was being careful as there were still patches of slush and the odd icy puddle around.  Either that or there just wasn’t as much in the tank as sometimes, because that’s really not the greatest speed for a flattish ride by myself.  But it was a ride.  A ride that was far more pleasant than I expected, as the fog cleared, the clouds thinned a little, and there was even a hint of blue up there.  Apart from a tendency for my left foot to go walkabout, the rest of me remained warm enough but not too warm, and all in all it went pretty well :).  And hey, it was a Monday.  Mondays are never great ;).  Must stop all this cycling around on the flat though – it’s time to start getting in some hills *gulp*.  Well the Dolomites aren’t flat you know!

What’s wrong with being a nobody?

Another day, same old dilemma.  To ride or not ride?  Are those roads as dry and ice-free as they look?  Is it really -4C?!  While up above the skies are blue and the sun is shining.  I consulted weather websites, Facebook friends, Mim (who I was due to ride with), the Oracle at Delphi…well, ok, not the last one but you get the picture.  Basically I was trying to get someone else to make the decision for me!  The general consensus of opinion was that it was ok out there, and that the answer is always to ride :).  I occurred to me that I did have a couple of errands to run and I decided that I could get those done at the very least.  I virtually never use my bike for anything practical – it’s always just about riding the bike! :).

On went the layers.  All of them.  Thermal leggings, long windstopper tights, wooly socks, and overshoes.  Thermal base layer, long sleeve jersey, winter jacket, gilet.  Buff, winter hat, winter gloves.  I don’t think I could wear more layers and still have my joints move!  Maybe it’s some form of bizarre resistance training?  Maybe I should hit the pub, pickle my internal organs in a grain based beverage, place them in storage jars, and consider myself a mummy? ;).  Considering the snotty cold I have at the moment, it wouldn’t surprise me if my brain had already come out through my nose!  Too much information? *grin*.

I headed off for my first errand on the way to Mim’s place in Cheddar.  No sooner had I posted that which needed posting, literally just down the road from where I needed to be, than I got a text from Mim saying “not going out”.  No beating around the bush there then.  Co-incidentally whilst reading that, I missed a call from George.  After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, playing voicemail tennis and finally going all old school and actually talking to each other, my ride with Mim turned into a ride with George, meeting in Wedmore since my second errand involved the chemists there.

Oddly enough we ended up doing pretty much exactly what I did on Tuesday.  Wedmore for me, Burnham on Sea for George, A38 to home.  Looks like I could be getting very familiar with that route if the ice continues, as is forecast.  Until the snow arrives on Saturday and plays havoc with everything of course *sigh*.  The roads were pretty much dry and therefore ice-free but in those places where there were puddles, or wet patches, there was most definitely ice, even on the salting network, so it was a day for riding carefully and paying attention.  That and there was a nasty cold NNE wind which made the ride back up the A38 a distinctly unpleasant slog.

low sun, blue skies

It was mighty cold out there, and hanging around in Burnham whilst the wheels of banking bureaucracy turned as slowly as ever, certainly didn’t warm me up any.  A nice older gent doing his shopping on a Claude Butler Levante (my old bike is one of those!) came over and engaged me in handily distracting conversation – apparently we get much kudos for riding today.  Fascinating the characters you meet out there – he turns out to have a stable full of various steeds and rides every day, couldn’t live without it…just another obsessive on the road then :).

what a pretty power station 😉

I think the tide was out at Burnham...

We looped around by the beach, to add some form to the function of the ride, and as I previously said, came back as the crow flies.  The A38 remains a deep joy to ride.  George is one who prefers to ride two abreast and make the traffic actively go around you, rather than squeezing past you.  This is great for conversation, not so good for the nerves…but hey, here we both are, home in one piece, so I guess it worked…  I don’t think it made any difference to the motorists – we’re cycling marmite, we should either not be there at all and they hate us, or we’re fine and they go around us safely.  Don’t let them tell you they’d have been happier with us there riding in a row – then they’d just be complaining that it took longer to get past the pair of us!

Cycling time: 1:47:28 hrs
Distance: 26.93 miles.
AVS: 15.0 mph.
ODO: 11868 miles

It may have been Tuesday’s ride – but it was considerably slower, which was probably due partially to the wind and definitely to the chatting!  As a result it was also much more enjoyable :).  First February ride done.