Author Archives: Jay Trotman

Me and my shadow

Yesterday, for the first time in what seems like ages, it was just me, my bike and, due to the fact that the sun was shining, my shadow. I wasn’t in the best of moods when I set off, and unusually I didn’t feel completely better by the time I got back. A bit better is better than not better at all though.

Considering that, as I said, the sun was shining, and the wind, though not absent, was better than on Wednesday, it would have been foolish not to go riding, as days like that are going to be few and far between from here on in. Which would be why I popped by Aldi on Thursday morning and picked up thermal base layers and winter socks. All I need now are some new long tights and I’m set…well, as ready to freeze my a*re off as I’ll ever be anyway!

I did my usual kind of loop, stretched to include the nice little back road to Loxton, and the wiggle back via Nyland Hill and the back of Cheddar. It was uneventful. Which in many ways is the best kind of riding.

I’m still trying to work on my cornering and my downhill (lack of) ability. If I lean further forward and into corners I seem to feel a bit better about them. It’s so frustrating. I’d be so much happier if I knew nothing was coming the other way, as so many times yesterday I was just getting the hang of things only to be interrupted by someone inconsiderately coming towards me. It’s no wonder I’m (over) cautious! The light at this time of year makes it harder too – all that low shadow dappling everywhere potentially hides a multitude of sins – potholes, debris, and so on. I should, as my mob tell me, “chillax”… but that’s easier said that done.

I’m surprised my average speed wasn’t faster as I was going pretty fast most of the time and it wasn’t all that hilly. Certainly, across the Levels from Mark, I was flying along at well over 20mph, with the sun on my face, the wind at my back…ah, if only it was always like that 🙂 Sadly my knee was NOT having a happy day, but hey, at least my shoulder pain didn’t come along for the ride 😉

Cycling time: 2:09:50
Distance: 33.59 miles
Avs: 15.5 mph
ODO: 5904

Tomorrow is the Cheddar Cyclosportive which I was looking forward to but, since I’ve spent the rest of the weekend feeling like a piece of limp spaghetti, I’m not so sure now. I’ve got no energy at all, and even hubby commented that I was looking rather pale which, considering his observational skills, is telling… Ah well, I’ve taken my echinacea, plan on an early night, and hopefully by tomorrow morning I’ll be raring to go. *fingers crossed* 🙂

Tour Of Britain 2010

On Wednesday the Tour of Britain graced our end of Somerset with its presence. The Stage 5 finish was in Glastonbury, which is so near here as to make it rude not to attend. We did consider trying to find other places to watch it from but since there’s nothing on the route near here that any of the pro riders would even consider a hill, and thus be going slower up, there didn’t seem much point standing on the flat somewhere just to watch them swoosh past..

So, a contingent of the ACG set out from the Square around midday and went the nice flat easy way. Well, not that easy because the wind was horrendous and, although it wasn’t in our faces, and was even occasionally behind us, mostly it was just attacking us with great gust-o from the side. Not very nice. I hate that lurch sideways across the road moment when it catches you through a gap in the hedge…

We obviously weren’t the only cyclists converging on Glastonbury. We passed a couple of them, and the rest of them were hanging out on the High Street, trying to find places to park bikes, negotiating throngs of pedestrians, and by their sheer numbers making multi-coloured lyrca look normal. We managed to lose one of our number in the throng, which wasn’t so good. We had coffee and cake at Heaphy’s since there was space to sit outside and we thought he was inside with the three newbies, and he wasn’t. Oops – sorry! Since there was no view from there, what with it being the wrong side of the finish line and all, we decided to relocate to the top of the east end of town where the riders would just have come uphill, and any last minute action would be happening before the descent into town. We managed to lose another three just doing that!

Those of us that were left found a nice corner to be on, parked our bikes on the grass between ourselves and a field of screaming school children, and waited… Bearing in mind that most of those small children know nothing about cycling and care even less, their ability to be extremely over-excited about the whole thing and their stamina in maintaining that hysterial for a good hour or so is a thing to marvel at. We on the other hand stood around making small talk, getting cold, occasionally getting rained on, and if you’re me, jumping up and down to try and keep warm. I’m darn glad I chose to take my arms with me, otherwise I’d have been done for…

Eventually, much later than planned, and after a host of police motorcycle outriders passed by, clearly enjoying their jobs immensely, we actually got to see cyclists. The leader, a lone figure (Marco Frapporti apparently), nearly got lost just past us, which was amusing, but would probably have been less so if it had cost him the lead. As it was, Mr Wiggins was close behind, but not close enough. A couple of others followed, then one in-betweener, before the peloton went past… And that was that.

We headed for home at a pace., or at least we set off that way, because I was freezing and needed to warm up. GB and I both had school run commitments to get back for – his more urgent than mine – and time was running out. He headed off into the distance, and the group spread out. The wind was really nasty, and slowed us a down a lot, but at least having to push against it meant I stopped being cold fairly quickly. On our way we passed a lot of cyclists clearly doing just the same as us – I pictured an aerial photo of the area showing a starburst of cyclists heading outwards from Glastonbury. We ended up getting home in dribs and drabs, but at least we all got home in one piece, able to say that we had been there 🙂

Cycling time: 2:06:50
Distance: 31.54 miles
Avs: 14.8 mph
ODO: 5876

My life would suck without you

Once again I’m two rides behind. Shoddy I know.

In my defence the first of the two rides, on Friday with GW, was uninspiring, unexciting and oddly unsatisfactory, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to say about it anyway. The only noteworthy thing about our ride to the seaside and back was that GW was on her shirehorse which meant she actually had to ask me to slow down. This happens but rarely and should be savoured at all costs…*grin*.

Cycling time: 1:54:34
Distance: 28.6 miles
Avs: 14.9 mph
ODO: 5803

Sunday’s ride with the ACG was far more pleasurable. For starters the sun was shining, which always helps. And there wasn’t any wind. But then there never is in Axbridge, and I’m not daft enough to fall for that anymore. Which is just as well as when we got out of the shelter of the Mendips, there certainly was wind! Anyway, there were 8 of us to start with, including three newbies. One of which is also a GB which could get very confusing so I’m going to have to think of a way ’round that… One of the other two had tried to join us before and on this, his third attempt, had turned up on what he termed the wrong bike, and sadly didn’t make it even as far as Shute Shelve with us, for which I feel quite guilty. Since I’m unable to get in touch with him – I shall apologise here in the hopes that the ether will carry my apologies in the right direction…

So, we were seven, and three of us were wearing shiny new ACG kit, which gave me a chance to see what it looks like out on the road rather than just on me. Not only is it comfortable, it looks pretty good too, and when we’re all wearing it, we’re going to look awesome! *grin*.

We let DM set the route today which is always well, if not a mistake, a challenge. Today he took us to the cafe on the seafront on Burnham which, going direct as normal folk would do, is relatively flat and easy. Which would presumably be why we went via Winscombe, down past Banwell Caves, just so as to go up Canada Coombe and over Brent Knoll. Canada Coombe is really quite an up – I think I had been up it before, and the views along the top to Bleadon are awesome – but it’s very easy to avoid, and there are views in other places so, on balance, I may not add it to my repertoire *grin*.

Our coffee stop on the seafront was very good. Well, the stop was, the coffee isn’t. The sea wall nicely sheltered us from the strong winds, and stopped us having to watch the posers on jet skis messing around on the uncommonly high water. In fact all the water made the coastal path to Highbridge, where the boats are usually sitting on vast expanses of unattractive brown mud, seem positively pretty. I reckon some of them must only get to float about twice a year, which is presumably, as someone commented, when you discover that they leak *grin*. Mind you, I couldn’t hear anyone swearing so…

Due to the hills and the roads and terrain, it had been a fairly slow ride, so once we got out of Highbridge and on the road to Mark, I have to confess to having had to put my foot down and stretch my legs out. We fair hurtled out way along until the left turn after Mark, which was a lot of fun. After that things went a little haywire as the group spread out, split up, splintered apart… There was a degree of reuniting at junctions and the like, but we were down to six for the last bit up the A38 and back to the Square. Having said that, we’ve done worse in the past, so from a start of 8, ending up with 6 wasn’t bad! And the last rider in arrived shortly afterwards, thus restoring the status quo.

Cycling time: 2:23:03
Distance: 35.33 miles
Avs: 14.8 mph
ODO: 5839

Hopefully we’ll be out again on Wednesday to see the Tour of Britain come into Glastonbury. Any excuse for a ride 🙂

All good cyclists go to Devon

I have to confess to being a couple of rides behind on the blogging front. Too busy actually riding to write about it I guess! *grin*. Hubby and the mob were also away this weekend, so I was having some me-time, which seemed to involve a lot of pottering around, and a whole heap girly stuff – epilating, face packs, painting of fingernails and so on. All very lovely 🙂

So, with no further ado, I shall get to it.

On Saturday GB and I did our usual run to Glastonbury and back. He’s hopefully doing some scarily hilly ride this week, though his life is not going entirely according to plan. Lots of positive vibes and *fingers crossed* in his direction. Anyway, the idea was to do a ride that was as flat and as easy as possible, which I was more than willing to do. I’m made for that kind of riding *grin*. That means no racing, no sprinting up hills, and no yelling at eejot motorists which, for GB, was probably the most challenging part 😉

Glastonbury was even kookier than ever, probably because we were there in the afternoon by which time even the most lazy denizens have found the energy to drag themselves out of bed to come and sit by the market cross with their guitars and sing to each other. The cafe was full of people celebrating. It was some waist-coated man’s birthday, and day two of someone else’s extended wedding celebrations, if my eavesdropping skills serve me well. Elsewhere the promenading freak quota was way up there. It must take quite some effort to be quite so deliberately dressed and coiffed and madeup all the time. Which begs the question, is it possible to be alternative in Glastonbury? We did attempt to have a conversation but it was hard to keep a straight face and not collapse into giggles…*grin*. Truly entertaining.

Still, the carrot cake and coffee were good. I don’t usually do cake when we’re out, but as part of my me-time I was treating myself. The same goes for the fabulous (and fabulously cheap) flowers I bought myself at the farmers’ market that morning. A riot of mixed dahlias that I’ve been smiling every time I see them ever since 🙂

We cycled home and GB attempted to help me figure out what I’m looking for, if I’m looking for it, in a job. This mostly consisted of asking me lots of questions and trying to get me to work it out for myself. Darn, and there was I hoping for a quick solution. Apparently I probably need to start with me. Which is probably true, but I’m a tad busy right now…*grin*. Besides which, nobody is supposed to know that much about me so I’m going to go back to being shallow and vacuous now if that’s ok 😉

We were also very good little bunnies and did NOT race home. Practically unheard of, and very restrained of us. I expect it’s just because we didn’t have an audience *grin*.

Cycling time: 2:01:38
Distance: 34.03 miles
Avs: 16.8 mph
ODO: 5713

So, that was one ride down and one to go. As I mentioned earlier, hubby and the mob were away for the weekend. They were camping down at Wiscombe (nr. Seaton in Devon) whilst most of the Trotman clan tried to drive various cars uphill as fast as possible. Now camping isn’t my thing. Something to do mainly with having to leave the tent to find the loo in the middle of the night. And it always rains. So I was going to have the whole weekend at home to myself and leave them to it. However when it was suggested that I could ride down and join them…well, call me a bull and wave a red rag at me! It’s “only” 55 miles or so, and doing a nice long one-way ride practically counts as me-time, right?

However when I woke up at 8.00am on Sunday morning it was flinging it down, and a text from hubby informed me it was doing the same there… When I checked all the weather forecasts, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope though, so I decided to give myself until 10.00am, proceed as if I was going to be going, and hope it cleared up. I don’t mind getting wet on a ride, I just don’t like setting off in it, which I realise makes little sense but that’s just the way it is.

It took a while to get my computer to pull itself together and let me print out enough maps for me to feel I might make it to my destination and, as I cussed away in my little cubby hole, outside the weather slowly improved. OK, so it wasn’t precisely summery, but when I set off around 10.00ish, the roads were wet, but the skies were dry, and it certainly wasn’t cold. There was, as forecast, a nasty headwind all day which I feel, after last weekend, is only karmically just, so I’m not complaining.

It’s a fairly direct route south, and not a flat one. First off was out to Wedmore and up and over Mudgeley Hill. This would have been easier if the car in front of me just at the start hadn’t panicked about the traffic coming down the hills and stopped. Getting started again just there is NOT easy, and I had to go up the steep bit not clipped in because I couldn’t take time to fiddle and clip in as the rest of the cars that had had to stop then tried to get past me. Nice. Ah well, one obstacle negotiated. I stuffed my arms in my pack and carried on. Next was across the levels and up to Shapwick, and then across to High Ham. I could have avoided High Ham…but that felt like cheating, and someone keeps telling me that the way to get better at going up hills is to go up hills. Mind you, as the rain started, I did wish I’d cheated… I steam-trained my way up the hill – you know, when your breathing is so loud that it’s just as well that your mp3 player has just run out of batteries because you wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway *grin*.

I paused at the top to refresh the batteries and me, and reflect on the fact that I will be there again in two weeks, before heading down into a soggy Langford. The rain was heavier and colder, and somehow sharp…but there wasn’t much to be done about it so I did my best to ignore it, and pushed on to Ilminster. There was an interesting, and busy, dog leg sort of a wiggle to avoid the A303 (which seemed a good idea) and get pointing towards Chard. I’d forgotten I’d been to Chard before, but as the unfamiliar became familar, I recognised the Church from one of my very last civic engagements. So that was nice.

Life had become a little drier by now though, as I passed the “you are now in Devon” sign, it started up again for a bit, which amused me. The A358 proved to be rather busier than I’d have liked though which made for some interesting riding, and lots of paying care and attention. On my part clearly, not that of the other motorists.

I’ve been wondering about other motorist’s behaviour around cyclists – as you do when left to your own devices for hours – and have observed the following:

those owning little red cars, possibly sensing a kindred spirit, are the most likely to go round me with plenty of room to spare.
sports cars also tend to leave lots of space, but this is because they get to be on the wrong side of the road and pretend they’re taking the racing line.
tractors are generally very well behaved and liable, when approaching you on narrow lanes, to pull over and let you past.
people driving 4*4s and mpvs have no clue how wide their vehicles are and have usually forgotten about anything they might be towing.
big “prestige” mark cars are nearly the worst, being intent at getting where they want to be on the roads that they quite clearly own and are the mostly likely to overtake at an inappropriate time and speed.
everything they say about white van drivers is true.

At some point some p*ll*ck passenger did the usual leaning out of the car window and yelling at me bit. I have no idea what he said as, even without the mp3, at that speed with all the road noise and so on, it would have been incomprehensible. Really, what is that supposed to achieve? I could have got cross, but instead I imagined GB’s reaction, smiled internally, stayed on the bike, and undertook him as he had to stop and wait to turn right and I didn’t…which wasn’t at all satisfying. No. Not much… 😉

I kept my head down and concentrated on getting where I was going in one piece. Through Axminster, which is where everyone mistakes Axbridge for, and out towards Musbury and the right turn onto the A3052 at Colyford. Oh man. There is a hill there. A very big hill. It’s much much worse than High Ham, though maybe marginally less steep. It just goes up and up and round and up some more… The worse bit is 300ft in half a mile, which might not sound like a lot to you, but it sure felt it to me! There was a bit 3/4 of the way up where stopping looked attractive…but the AA were dealing with someone who’d broken down there, so there was no way I was going to be seen to break down too – it’s all a matter of honour and principles!

Finally I reached the top, which flattened out and left me on the road I was hoping to turn right off at some point. Which is roundabout when I realised I should have zoomed in further on the last map I printed out. It took a while to find the right right turn – although when I finally got to it the event was signposted. However I then got lost as I wasn’t sure where they were signposting was where I wanted to be, so in looking for that, I added another 6 miles to the route. 3 heading off into the wilderness, 3 coming back, following the signs like I should have done to start with and arriving at my destination.

“Have you cycled far?” asked the car park marshal? I took a breath to reply, and then I remembered that he was a normal person, and that to him, yes I had *grin*. No harm in a bit of showing off, right? 😉

Cycling time: 4:00:43
Distance: 61.11 miles
Avs: 15.2 mph
ODO: 5774

I wasn’t dry, and I wasn’t clean, but considering the headwind and the hills, I wasn’t too slow either. I think you could say I was quite pleased with myself. And I’d definitely earnt a pint of lager and a share of a portion of chips. OK, so it was only Fosters (ick, bleurgh) but based on my degree of need, it tasted a lot better than usual! Well, I hadn’t had any lunch! *grin*. Odd though, thanks to the hills and the wind, I was tireder after this Sunday’s 60 miles than last Sunday’s 116. Mind you, I prepared properly for that ride, not this one.

All in all – a total result of a riding weekend. And I didn’t have to sleep in a tent once. ‘Rah! 🙂

Minus my detour – my route is here.

Spark in the Dark

When I collected my bike on Monday, I discovered my rear tyre had a large bulge and gash in it…which hadn’t broken the tyre wall. I did think it was riding a little funny but since it wasn’t deflating, I ceased worrying about it! I’ve no idea how it happened, but if it had actually punctured, with a hole that size, I’d have never finished the ride. Well, not without waiting ages for the mechanics to turn up and loan me a spare tyre, so I’m very relieved. And impressed. But slightly concerned as to how it happened – is it a repeat of the flaw problem? Did the damage cause the bulge or vice versa? Chicken? Egg?

Either way, I dug out my spare set of tyres – silver stripes this time, different model – and put them on. Only to discover the next day that the valve was faulty, and I had to (well to be honest I got hubby to) change the darn thing. That rear wheel has been off too many times of late! At least, with the shiny new and still relatively clean chain set, the whole process is less mucky that it sometimes is.

On to today. The mob went back to school and, no sooner had they left (well almost) GW were back on the road. We did my usual training loop, stretched a little, as I couldn’t, quite frankly, be arsed to think of anything different. As it was it demonstrated that my knee would have benefited from more rest, and that carrying painkillers around with me is a good thing. GW was off on one as ever, and I kept up for the first half before deciding that I didn’t need to be doing that and slacked off a bit. To give her her due, she did slow down and stick with me.

Cycling time: 2:02:03
Distance: 32.36 miles
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 5678

It was a very nice ride really. I don’t suppose the weather will hold for much longer but for the moment it was warm and lovely. Albeit a tad windier than I like, and sadly not behind us this time 😉

In other news, the ACG kit has left the building! How exciting is that?! I’m not sure how long it will take to get to me, but the chances of it being here before the Cheddar Cyclosportive on September 19th have to be fairly high 🙂

Action 100 – Bristol to London

5.15am is quite early in the morning. But then if you hope to start riding at 6.30am that’s the kind of time you have to get up. Which is why George and I, and L2P Kevin, had opted to stay at the Ibis Hotel opposite the ride start the night before. Well, we’d have had to get up even earlier if we hadn’t! Besides which it meant that we all had a very pleasant evening out on the Saturday, consuming pasta and bemoaning our complete sobriety when faced with a Bristol full of people obviously having a great time being anything but. I’d love to know why dressing as a superhero for a night out on the Town improves it…and no, it wasn’t a stag night *grin*.

Back to the early morning. It was hard to figure out what to wear, what with it being dark ‘n all so it was really a question of relying on the weather forecast and crossing your fingers. We joined the initially slightly daunting queue for registration but found that actually it was organised really well and moved pretty fast. I left the desk with a panoply of things to carry and sort out. A tag for my bag so as to collect it in London. A number for the bike plus one for the jersey. A ticket for the coach ride home and one to hand in to deregister on arrival. It took a while to get this all variously attached and sorted, but shortly we were near the start getting our rider briefing. Steve joined us there, making it a group of 4 who set off not long after 6:30, pretty much as planned.

Cycling through the streets of Bristol is not something I’ve really done before, so it was quite a novel feeling. Luckily at that time of morning there isn’t a lot of traffic around which is just as well as we nearly came a cropper when missing a sign early on, causing much hilarity and u-turning to get where we actually supposed to be going. That would be one of the times when I actually managed to un-clip on time… We headed out of Bristol on the A4, towards Bath, which involved quite a lot of dual carriageway and wide road. This is probably good for warming up, but did seem to mean we were going pretty fast. Steve and George sat at the back chatting away whilst Kevin and I tended to be ahead. We’d have been chatting but we were breathing… It seemed to take no time at all to get to Bath, and I’m sure it’s usually further away than that. Having been amongst the first away from Bristol and having also overtaken a fair few folk along the way, we then had company again when we started passing those who started from Bath.

Leaving Bath behind the road, though mostly nice, ceased to be reliably flat. OK, this isn’t the hilliest route in the world, but there are a few long hills. However there was also a great tail wind – which is practically unheard of – blowing strongly from the west. Nigh on perfect for cycling and just what I’d been hoping for. It was even forecast! 🙂

I know this stretch of the A4 really well. When I was at UWE (a long long long time ago) my Austin Allegro and I commuted (slowly) up and down it regularly. I’ve even done it on a motorbike, albeit east to west. I’ve done the odd bit as part of the White Horse Challenge. Hubby’s family leave around here too. It was kinda weird to be cycling the whole way though, with all the familiar scenery and places. I think it helped make it more enjoyable though. I played tour guide and told Kevin all about various bits of it, for which I’m sure he was very grateful.

I knew the first food stop was at Box. I know the hill at Box. I know there’s a layby at the top. Which is where the food stop was bound to be, and duly was. Complete with photographers of course. Slow slog up, grin for the camera, and stop… We stopped, grabbed coffee and supplies, used the portable loo, and I stuffed my arms into my bag. Although it was warm enough when riding, it was quite easy to get chilly when stationary, which proved to be good motivation to get going again, and proved to be true all day.

The stretch from there to when we next stopped at Marlborough, in the very pretty Town Hall no less, was very scenic, quite up and down, but mostly quite pleasant. By that time we had averaged over 17mph which was worrying me slightly. I mean, I know the wind was in our favour, but that fast surely wasn’t going to be sustainable, and I really didn’t want to wipe out later on… More coffee, and some jelly beans, and off we went again. Up a couple of what I will describe as big hills, though some would no doubt argue that they weren’t really. Like George, Steve and Kevin for example. However after the last of these it turned out that that was pretty much it for going up in the world. We cruised carefully past a disbanding party that had clearly taken place the night before and all of whom were slowly walking down the A4 back to their cars. Judging by the state of some of them, I think it’s a party I’m glad I wasn’t invited too…and I’m fairly sure some of them shouldn’t have been getting in a car to drive home either…

The A4 from thereonin was wide, fairly straight, and….fast! And, not to put too fine a point on it, a great deal of fun. We all took our turns at the front, I avoided being dropped, and we reached our lunch stop at Theale, about 75 miles in, early enough for lunch to be practically second breakfasts. It was a darn good lunch too, though I didn’t eat too much. As it turns out by now I was suffering from cystitis and the last thing I fancied was an added dose of indigestion.

We headed off again with about 40 miles to go in somewhat gloomier weather. A front must have come in because the wind moved, and got very gusty, the clouds gathered, and there was a bit of drizzle. The nearer we got to London the worse the traffic got and the less fun the roads were, but it didn’t actually seem to slow us down much. I was suffering with every bump, and trying to drink enough liquid to dilute the effects, which worked in the long run but not soon enough to please me. Our final stop was about 90 miles in and although not everyone wanted to stop, I wanted/needed to – more coffee and the loo please. While we were doing that, it flung it down, so my timing was pretty good.

The last 25 miles were notable mostly for the number of viscious speed bumps there seemed to be! And the amount of traffic. Although we stuck together, I was aware that being tired, I wasn’t possibly paying quite as much attention as I should be so I made a conscious effort to look out for myself – to look for the signs myself rather than following someone else’s wheel, to watch for traffic, and so on. Avoiding casualty is a priority of mine…

Near the very end George and Steve found a more attractive pair and headed into the distance. Not that they’re at all competitive at all. Given that both of them had done sod all training it seems a tad unfair that they did the whole thing so easily…but I should be used to it by now. That just left Kevin and I to negotiate the last bit, which always seems to take forever, especially when you arrive in sight of Kempton Park and then have to go ’round the houses to get in! *grin*.

We cycled in to applause, sunshine, and even posed for the obligatory photographer. George and Steve emerged and joined us in shot, not wanting to be left out, but I like this one of Kevin and I. Well, it was us that finished together. Then it was time to look at the stats:

Cycling time: 6:13
Distance: 116.5 miles
Avs: 18.6 mph

Man. I mean man! Have you seen how fast we went? Clearly that’s what a tail wind, a peloton, and a flattish route gets you. I am so impressed with us. Well, me at the very least. I’m fairly sure George and Steve could have gone a lot faster, but Kevin seemed to share my jubilation. 😀 We were very very fast!

Time to check in, put the bike into AMR’s tender care for the journey home, and to start the après-ride. Being amongst the first 30 or so in, our bikes practically started the back to Bristol pile, adding to our sense of superiority 😉 We headed for the showers, and George and I both had a free sports massage. I wasn’t really aware that my legs hurt until he started work on them…but I’m sure it was good for them. There were some very funny sensations involved in having some of the muscles manipulated and I yelped at least twice, which provided great entertainment value for everyone else. Do male masseurs enjoy making female clients squirm?…

After that it was up to the bar for some rehydration therapy – medicinal you understand. As I sat, drinking my lager, feeling fast, outside the heavens opened. Really and truly and properly. The fact that I wasn’t still out there cycling in that was just the icing on the cake…as the same can’t be said for nearly everyone else *grin*. I know, smug is very unattractive isn’t it? 😉

It was an AWESOME ride. I’m fairly sure I should never do it again as it would be nigh on impossible to duplicate since the wind is never going to be that kind to me every again. Again – awesome 😀

Where’d he go? Where’d who go?

I wouldn’t normally go for a ride the day before an event. However Andrew made some more changes to the bike yesterday and recommended that I get out and try them out beforehand. He sorted the seat post – something to do with degreasing, the addition of hair spray and much tightening of various collar bits. He also put a new chainset and chain on. Apparently I now have a slightly lower bottom gear than before – can’t be bad – which means that when I switch (if I switch) to compact, there will be no noticeable difference. We’ll see.. As MD had announced an impromptu ride for this morning – thus guaranteeing a better turn out than the usual ride – it seemed like the perfect way to see how it was all working out.

So, we gathered on the edge of the sand covered Square (it’s Pageant, remember?) in early morning Bank Holiday weekend sun. Yes. Bank Holiday and Sun in the same sentence, who’d a thought it? There was me (obviously), GB, MD, DMC, IH and KG – a fairly evenly matched six. We did a fairly short, keep it simple, loop which included a coffee stop at the barely open Sweets cafe. They kindly did us tea and cake and so forth, but weren’t yet up to KG’s bacon roll…heinous *grin*. I had the usual can of Rio (fizzy fruit water) possibly just to attract the wasps that wind him up so much… 😉 We keep telling him that if you kill them by swatting them, they give off a pheromone which calls in their mates…but then I keep telling my Mum that and I’m not sure she believes me either!

The weather was gorgeous, especially on the way out when the wind blew us across the Levels, averaging 17mph. Going home was somewhat slower, but not a lot. I did resist the temptation to race for home though, which I thought was very restrained of me…

Cycling time: 1:35:46
Distance: 26.80 miles
Avs: 16.8 mph
ODO: 5530

GB was flying today. So much for keeping me company in taking it easy. I’d have taken it a lot easier today if I wasn’t having to keep up with everyone trying to catch up with him! Hardly saw him for dust…. Clearly very expensive bikes do actually make you go faster…either that or he didn’t want to be associated with our comparative mediocrity 😉

The bike is now clean for a change, and I’ve even used some proper paint to touch up the odd chip and scratch. It felt pretty good to ride today. I definitely feel a bit higher up and that bit lower than before when I’m on the drops. I was just as high when I came back as I was when I set out – result! Changing gear also felt very smooth, although I didn’t put the gears under much strain – no big hills. All good stuff.

There is this theory (and there are many on the subject) that tapering should actually be doing the same as usual but less of it. By which I mean the same intensity training for less time. So I only did 90 minutes at the gym yesterday instead of the usual two hours, and today’s ride was only 90 mins not two hours. I’d like to pretend I was tapering deliberately and being all sensible, but that’s rubbish, it’s just the way it worked out, and it seemed like a good excuse to do a bit less! But hey, it was tapering by my standards..

I’m looking forward to tomorrow, and am nearly all packed up. I’m looking at it as getting to spend a nice day out on the bike, rather than as a sportive. Well, sportives don’t usually include a lunch stop! If anyone is listening I’d like a nice strong westerly wind and a reasonable amount of sunshine. I know, I’m very demanding 🙂

PS: The Cycling Mayor, being now an “ex”mayor, is looking for some form of part-time gainful employment so if you have any decent suggestions…let me know…

Happy Torq, keep talkin’ happy Torq…

6 days before an event is not a good time to discover that you’ve run out of fueling supplies. My tub of energy was nigh on empty, and there weren’t as many bars floating around as usual. It occurred to me that Torq have previously been pretty fast at delivery so on Monday evening I ordered a new 1.5kg tub (current fave flavour is Natural Pink Grapefruit) and a pack of 10 assorted bars. Well, doing an event on unfamiliar stuff is a bad idea. Best to stick to what I like and what I’m used to. Oh, and that which works too. Buying direct also gets you the best prices, and there’s no charge for p&p either. So – a big plug for Torq all round 🙂

This morning it arrived. One less thing to worry about. Torq delivers 🙂

Working 9 to 5

With the weather being as it is, and the mob being at home for the summer holidays, chances to get out and ride are few and far between. Even though I was out yesterday, this morning’s sunshine was pretty motivational so I texted GB and persuaded him to add a coffee stop in layline central to his hilly agenda.

As I cycled up to the Square to meet him I realised I’d forgotten to raise my seat post – I’d discovered I had gone down in the world towards the end of yesterday’s ride – so he arrived to find me with allen key in hand. I don’t know why I bothered since by the time I got home I was even further down than when I set out. Maybe a carbon seat post wasn’t such a good idea. Something to chat to Andrew about tomorrow methinks.

Anyway, that had yet to happen, so we set off and headed down the A38 to Weare and up the easier of the two hill options there. Well, there had to be some up. Apparently. As is ever the way, I was dropped instantly, but he was nice enough to wait for me at the top. Pretty much the same pattern as was to be seen on every other hill today. Consistency is important I feel *grin*.

From there we wiggled our way down to the Levels near Mark and proper pushed it all the way down the main road to Glastonbury. Definitely no hanging around – by the time we reached our destination, we’d done around an hour at 17.1mph. I could tell – I was dripping! Odd how you don’t notice that until you stop and then suddenly it just pours off you. Nice.

We sat outside Heaphy’s cafe as usual – they really do do exceptionally good espresso, and the freshly squeezed orange juice went down a treat too. Somewhat disappointingly all the clientele seemed boringly normal, and not one of them was talking to themselves. GB tried to suggest some form of hilly route home, fairly firmly tongue in cheek I feel, and received pretty much the response he must have expected – ie I laughed at him.

Instead we came back via Godney and Panborough, up Dave’s hill once again, and down into Wedmore. Up the hill past the golf course (my idea – I was trying to keep the mountain goat happy) and then down Rug Hill back to Cocklake. I didn’t push as hard for home as yesterday – he’d only have kicked my ar*e and besides which, I was little tireder today, with a little residual knee pain lurking. Nothing like as bad as usual and just, I think, a leftover. However we still managed a fair lick down there, and it was nearly as enjoyable.

We parted company in Cheddar, as he went to show off his new bike to all the grockles in the Gorge, while I headed for home in the same fashion as usual – a sprint finish down the bypass. Lovely though his bike is (and it is – Lance should know), I’d only really be jealous if it was purple. Which it’s not, so that’s ok then 😉

Cycling time: 1:59:05
Distance: 33.22 miles
Avs: 16.8 mph
ODO: 5503

I got home and, once I’d stopped being pleased about the speed and gotten around to checking, realised the saddle had sunk down again. Darn. Ah well. I really meant to clean the bike too but, best intentions and all that. Maybe tomorrow… Definitely this week sometime… Well, before Sunday… 😉

There – another good day at the office *grin*.

Simple pleasures

9.00am. The Square. And the usual suspects gathered. KG, M&S D, DM, and me. The only notable exception was GB who has bigger fish to fry soon, and is apparently off to do every hill in the Mendips tomorrow. Each to their own. Having said that, both MD and DM have been up the Tourmalet (and other Cols) this summer. I wonder if the hill bug is catching? I’m feeling quite jealous of everyone with all their great achievements this year and am definitely feeling the need to set myself some kind of goals for next year to avoid feeling left out!

Anyway. Our merry band spent the usual 10 minutes debating where to go, and we ended up doing my usual training loop, which is apparently much less familiar to everyone else. This is good as I don’t like to bore people. It’s also great for me as I don’t even have to think about where I’m going, and I know all the ups, downs, and bends. This doesn’t mean I’m good at them I hasten to add, but there is at least no fear of the unknown. Which leaves fear of the known, a wet and gritty Winscombe Hill in this case. SD had taken a detour and was due to meet us in Loxton, so I let the machismo head down the hill and preceded down at my usual panic stricken pace. It was the first chance to try out some new braking techniques as explained to me in terms that I could actually understand yesterday. Rear braking to slow down, front braking for stopping. Simple enough even for me. If I go through less brake pads as a result that’ll be no bad thing…it’ll be a cheaper thing…so it’s worth a go 🙂

On the road to Loxton we hit an enforced go slow. Otherwise known as a slowly moving single cow shepherding road block. We dawdled along, avoiding the fallout, bemoaning the effect on our average speed, for a good ten minutes. Once released it was hard to avoid the temptation to head off like a bull at a gate (to maintain the bovine theme)… Luckily SD was still waiting in Loxton so, no harm no foul, and we made it over to Mark fairly swiftly. She then peeled off – something to do with a Pageant – and the four musketeers took the Burtle route to Sweets cafe. There was plenty of wind about, doing a fine job of never being in the right place at the right time, until the final straight to the cafe. Enjoying the push/relief, I made a break for it, leaving KG to give chase and cruise past me before the inevitable bend. We are so juvenile *grin*.

Coffee was duly had, plans for seeing the Tour of Britain and doing the Cheddar Sportive were all discussed and advanced, and various people ate various fried things between slices of bread. I did the can of drink + espresso thing. Rehydration + boost, theoretically. Besides which, I am not a hobbit, and do not need second breakfasts. If I did, I would carry it with me in my little pocketses…

We came back via Westhay and Panborough as usual, before taking the next left to go up over Mudgeley Hill that way, henceforth to be known as Dave’s hill. Well, John has a hill, so why shouldn’t Dave? He’s the one who has been slowly introducing us all to it after all. It’s a nice long slow climb, and it’s really nice at the top – quiet road, nice views, ups and downs – a huge improvement on the main road to Wedmore. Once out of Wedmore we lined up to minimise traffic impact, and headed for home. Down the dip at Cocklake, seizing the momentum to get up the other side…up out of the saddle, push and…I got the jump on KG and kicked my ar*e down the hill *grin*. If you get going there you’re doing a good 33 mph by the time you run out of hill and are pretty much set all the way to Cheddar. DM managed to catch me and hook on at some point and we blasted it all the way back which was immense fun. GB would have approved *grin*. It’s a good ride when I’m doing 25mph down there. We would have waiting for the missing duo but we got stuck with a bus behind us as we turned right and there was no convenient way to let it pass even though we tried…so there was nothing for it other than to head for home and to not spare the horses, which meant more silly speeding stuff down the bypass. Did I mention we were juvenile? Or maybe it’s just me…*grin*

Cycling time: 2:01:56
Distance: 32.75 miles
Avs: 16.1 mph
ODO: 5470

That was a whole heap of fun. As you can tell by the number of times I seem to have used the word fun. Maybe I should go back and replace it with a better choice of adjectives? However that seems a tad OTT, and besides which, that’s what it was. Fun. I do like going fast 🙂

The ride definitely felt smoother, which can only be down to the new saddle post, so that was interesting. My knee didn’t hurt – which either means changing the cleats worked, or that it’s just one of those days when it didn’t hurt! Nothing conclusive there then, but I do like pain-free 🙂 Imagine how much fun it might be when I’ve upgraded/replaced/repaired everything? Oops, sorry, used the fun word again… 😉