Last week I arranged to cycle with GB yesterday and when, in the planning stage, he suggested we do some hills, I agreed. Well, they may not be my favourite things, but I need the practice and can’t avoid them forever. Plus forewarned is forearmed. Or forelegged?
DM and JA from the ACG joined us, and we all set off on a distinctly chilly Sunday morning. No wind, but plenty of cold. First off – Cheddar Gorge. Nicely quiet out of season, not a goat to be seen, just lots of slow plodding to the top. We lost JA somewhere here, leaving three of us to carry on. (Which isn’t as bad as it sounds – she had warned us – I think she was just using us as motivation to be out).
From there it was round Charterhouse way – where there was a nice chilly wind – and then down Blagdon Hill. I hate that down. It’s too big, too steep, too straight… I freak myself out completely and have to stop and have a break half way down – I can usually find some pretext or other for stopping…!
Once safely down, it was past the very still reservoir, followed by much wiggling around Butcombe way, on narrow snow damaged roads. There’s a lot of climbing goes on here – there has to be to get up to Redhill – but it’s sort of deceptive, you’re too busy dealing with each of the little ups to put them all together and realise how up you’ve come.
We were overtaken a couple of times by cyclists who went past us like we were stuck in mud. (Don’t you just hate it when that happens?) Now, I was glad to have put on all my layers. I had even dug out my legwarmers which predictably Nora Batty-ed the entire way ’round, but did serve their purpose. But at least two of them were wearing shorts. Shorts! Mad…. (mutters something under her breath about men and machismo and so on…).
Once at the top, there was a lovely whizz down to the Walled Garden café for coffee and warm scones. Or chocolate cake if you happen to be GB. Yum 🙂
We completed the down to Wrington – from where DM headed for home. And then there were two… There are a great many road closures around Portishead at the moment – the residents of Clevedon are clearly trying to dissuade mixing – so, although we could have risked it as cyclists can usually get through, we decided to take a more interesting route to Portishead and headed towards Nailsea.
You see – I was feeling positive. Cycling with GB and co make me feel like “I can”. Or least like I’m willing to try 😉 So we opted to go up Tickenham Hill. And then once near Portishead – up Valley Road. Both hills I would normal avoid. Both of which, having driven up them, had assumed massive proportions in my head. And although I wouldn’t got calling them pleasant, they were ok. I did them. GB peeled off to head home, and I arrived at my folks’ just as the family were getting out of the car. Immaculate timing 🙂
Cycling time: 2:36:56
Distance: 33.71 miles
Avs: 12.8 mph
ODO: 3130 miles
I’ve mentioned here before how “mental” cycling can be. Yesterday’s ride perfectly demonstrated two of the main elements of this.
- How who you’re cycling with can affect how you feel about a ride and how you perform.
- How the “dread” factor affects things. Makes them seem larger than they are… None of the hills were as bad in reality as I had thought there were going to be. Hey – I didn’t end up walking!
I arrived in Portishead feeling all happy with my achievements. We did a lot of hills, and I feel like I did them ok. It was a really good ride and I can honestly say I enjoyed it 🙂 And I don’t often say that about a ride with hills *grin*.