There are some days when it would just be criminal not to be on the bike, and Sunday was one of them. It had everything going for it. It was sunny. There was virtually no wind. And, since I was cycling with Dad on his turf, the roads were, if not new to me, at least not totally familiar. Tick, tick, tick. That was me ticking check boxes, in case you were wondering. Not a time bomb. Or an approaching crocodile.
Having been away over night, a bright sunny, but clearly chilly Sunday morning dawned at our Premier Inn. I put on every item of clothing I’d taken with me, and hoped that would be enough, as I already have a stinking cold. As the temperature drops, the layers mount. Longs, long socks, l/s thermal base layer, l/s top, arms, buff, and overshoes. The overshoes proved annoyingly difficult to zip up but I’m hoping that’s just because they’re brand new, and that they’ll stretch, as the old pair weren’t quite so difficult and my calves aren’t that big! My new Aldi l/s thermal base layer proved surprisingly lovely and snuggly which was a result. Yes – I got the clothing right. *phew*. And, since the rest of me was warm enough, I got away with wearing mitts instead of gloves as well – ‘rah!
We arrived at my folk’s place, and I relieved them of coffee and toast, aka fuel. Then Dad took me on a nice fairly flat route round the back roads of the Gordano valley – a guided tour around his patch. Of course there are downsides to such routes. Firstly what little traffic there is drives like there’s no traffic… and secondly there’s entirely too much agriculture going on, making for some very muddy/gritty sections for which you have to slow down and thus trash your average speed. It’s either that or slip and skid around precariously… However, other than that, it was totally glorious out there. Clear skies, crystal clear views, sun that still had some warmth in it, lots of other road users to exchange “morning” with – roadies, horses, odd people on mtbs… One of those mornings when all is well with the world. Unless you’re jogging, by the look of it. Or is there a by-law banning simultaneous smiling and jogging? Considering that the majority of those engaging in such a foolhardy activity were men, maybe it’s a failure to multi-task thing… 😉
Dad kept it the route pretty much flat for me, in deference to the knee, which was great. It started twingeing about 45 minutes in, which worried me a bit. So I kept an eye on it, so to speak, and made a point of twisting my left foot outwards a bit and backwards a bit, as recommended by my sports phsyio. It definitely helped. So much so that the knee pretty much ceased to be a problem and when it came to deciding the route back from the prettiness of Kingston Seymour, we took in the seafront at Clevedon and the hill out the other side. This went well. Even the downhill the other side went well. Maybe I’m getting better at this hill thing? Ok, it’s unlikely… 😛
We got to the beginning of the coast road back to Dad’s house, and started the long climb up. A little way ahead of us was a deceptively slow moving rabbit. With mudguards. And it would be wrong not to reel that in, right? So we did, and finally overtook him by the golf course. Feeling good about my knee, I decided to push it from there and see how fast I could get up the hill and back “home”, safe in the knowledge that even if the knee went, I wouldn’t be far from solace. So I dropped Dad (sorry Dad!), and headed off… Back, past the gorgeous shallow palette views across the Severn, up the ups and down the downs, to arrive in one pretty much pain-free piece. Fan-tastic!
Cycling time: 2:14:06
Distance: 33.03 miles
Avs: 14.7 mph
ODO: 6261 miles
Now that was a good ride. Which definitely makes up for Wednesday’s crap ride. I’ve got a *grin* just writing about it. And I’d almost forgotten I had a cold by the end of it too. I can’t wait to see how the ride feels with new wheel bearings, new headset, and new brake callipers. It’s gonna be great. Man, I love my bike :D.