Finally December is here and so, it would appear, is winter. To be honest, having seen this year’s first frost out of the window this morning, swiftly followed by fog as the sun rose, I came very close to bailing. I even went so far as to ring Mim, but as she assured me there was no fog near her, and that her road wasn’t icy, I decided to apply Rule 5 – again – and get on with it. It was the first outing of the year for the base layer and the Buff over head/ears – a sign of things to come no doubt.
I had a very small window of opportunity indeed this morning, and was therefore layered up and champing at the bit by the time Mim arrived, only a little late. I’d left the route to her, and we ended up doing a fairly similar route to mine on Wednesday. I didn’t bore you with it then, and I shan’t bore you with it now either. Instead you can have a photo showing the view from up by the Webbington as we set out.
Brent Knoll rises through the mist
Sadly that was the best of the weather. After enjoying the sunshine up there, it wasn’t long before the sun decided to hide behind a veil of grey cloud, and the temperature dropped yet further. Even wrapped up warm, the cold crept inexorably inwards, leading to another first after our ride – that moment when your toes hit hot water in the shower and it hurts. However as training rides go, I imagine it was fairly good. Mim was away and there was clearly no way I was going to be allowed to get ahead today, so I had to put some work into keeping up. Well, it’s one way to keep warm, right? We even went over Brent Knoll and up Mudgeley Hill just to add a little spice to life, so it wasn’t all flat either :).
Cycling time: 1:45:28 hrs
Distance: 28.76 miles.
Avs: 16.3 mph
ODO: 11244 miles
Yet again I have broken my two hour rule, but hey, you can’t always get what you want. I got a ride, and that’s the important thing. That and getting back in time to get on with getting on with the things I needed to be doing. The ACG are out tomorrow morning anyway, so I can make up for it then :).