Yesterday the weather was bloomin’ gorgeous. But I had other things to be doing, even if I was mentally thinking a whole heap of “if only“s while doing them. Foremost amongst those was “if only it would be this nice tomorrow when I’m actually going to be riding the bike“. Which seemed unlikely, given my weather track record. However, when I woke up this morning and cautiously drew back the curtains, it looked like just for once my luck was in. Result 🙂
Well, in some respects anyway. I appear to be in the middle of an IBS flare up and, just to add a little icing on the cake of discomfort, I was also in intermittent pain, which had come out of nowhere as it does. But hey, when did that ever stop me? Since Alan was suffering from toothache and he wasn’t bailing, neither would I be. Besides, to not ride on a day like today? Gift horses, mouth, etc. I got up, got kitted up, and as soon as circumstances allowed me to be free, I was off on my newly-serviced bike to meet Alan in the Square.
Yep, it’s hump day again. So, for the third such in a row, Alan and I went and rode up hills. It was all pretty gratuitous really. We rode up the Mendips, then rode down them, just to go back up again. Several times. Three challenging ups, but only one really good down though, which is always a bit of a shame. Boo hiss! And should you be interested, that’s Cheddar Gorge, East Harptree, Blagdon and then Shipham, in that order.
All good hills. If you like hills. Which Alan does. All enjoyed in not quite as chilly as expected sunshine, with a fairly brisk Southerly wind. Pretty pleasant 🙂 The only fly in the ointment was that we took a wrong turn towards the top of the Blagdon climb, which is a tad annoying merely because I would like to have seen how I would have coped with the full climb. The dog leg we accidentally ended up doing meant we did the same amount of climbing, but just more gradually and, as I’d been plodding up things fairly satisfactorily today, I think the steeper option would have gone ok. Ah well, maybe next time 😉
More hills. More miles. The steepest bits did set things off a bit, and I did have the odd grasp at left side moment, as well as those odd hard to describe moments where something twinges in there and the rest of your body suddenly sort of loses focus to think about that. But ignoring that, and ignoring Strava, which is usually wise, I’m pretty pleased with how it went overall. I still felt ok out there. Alan reckons that, having watched me ride my way back after Christmas, I’m riding much stronger now. And I don’t think he was just being nice 😉 It does seem to be getting better. Which is encouraging. It’s just over two weeks until my Wheels in Wheels training camp, and I reckon I’m nearly as ready as I’m ever going to be 🙂
Cycling time: 2:38
Distance: 36.3 miles
Avg: 13.7 mph
ODO: 7919.2 miles
BTW, should you want/need your bike(s) servicing, repairing, building, whatever – give Andy at Sprocket & Spanners a call. My two were collected for their special offer 2-for-one Premium Service on Monday morning and came back that evening serviced, repaired, and clean, complete with advisories for the future, just like an MOT. Awesome 🙂