Another sunny day…wow, the weather is practically predictable and consistent! Would it be too soon to call it summer? A step too far?
As you may have gathered by now, the easiest way for me to get out on the bike is to have company that I’ll be letting down if I don’t go. Partially because I’ve done too much riding on my own, and partially because if I do need some sort of help, there’s someone there to look out for me. Today’s escort of choice was Gary and, considering he was dragging his arse all the way over from Minehead to go riding, I’d have been motivated even if I hadn’t been feeling a little more human this morning. So all I had to do this morning was get up and faff, which this kind of weather makes so much easier. One layer. Two variables. Easy. Even for me ;).
The plan was to go Gromit hunting. Around here, there’s one outside the entrance to Cheddar Caves, one in the Airport, and one at Lye Cross Farm. Doable. I even got all organised and plotted a lumpy route to join them all up. Well, it was a good plan…
However my insides do not like hills when they’re like this. The pain lives inside my left hand side somewhere near my left hip. Ish. It’s mostly ok when riding is on the flat or not too strenous, but there’s something about going up hill or pushing too hard. I guess it engages core muscles around there, or maybe it’s that each pedal stroke hits that area harder. Every stroke kinda bangs against the ouch. Either way, it’s not a whole heap of fun, even with the analgesic levels at max. So fun as it was to find the aMazing Gromit!, and be taken up the Gorge tourist stylee (just for GB), by the time we got to the top, I’d decided that the rest of the hills I had planned could cheerfully wait until another day. Time for a plan B :).
After narrowing down the nearly infinite number of possible route permutations, mostly dependant on which coffee stop was nearest and preferable, I decided we’d go flat, and head for the Rock Cafe Café above Wells. Fairly flat it may have been, and sunny, and warm…but there was a b*gger of a headwind! It always amazes me when there’s wind like that on a day like this. Where does it come from? Where is it going? And what are the chances of it being a tailwind on the way back? That’s a rhetorical question by the way, I think we all know the answer to that…
I’m never entirely sure how to get there, once the long straight Roman road bit finally runs out, so I had to kinda guess towards the end. But since we didn’t get lost and we did end up sitting outside in the sun drinking coffee, I’m thinking I probably worked it out ok ;). I was glad of the break, and the coffee. Time to re-group and prepare for the next attack ;).
The best thing about the Rock Cafe Café? The descent down to Wells from there. One of my very favourites. Can you have a very favourite? Hm. Well, I like it a lot, as the very large grin on my face all the way down probably betrayed. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee…. :). Such fun. Gary had a similar smile as he pulled up behind me – so it’s not just me *grin*. Gary was still being a tourist – he’s not from round here – so we went and checked out the scaffolding-free Cathedral, as you do. So it’s entirely his own fault that I made him stand in front of it and have his photo taken. Well he could have argued, but let’s not pretend that that would have made any difference, so he quite wisely didn’t bother. Besides which, Wells is in Somerset, so it was all very fitting.
From there we headed home, zig zagging across the Levels, neatly managing to avoid anything with much of a gradient because I’m clever like that. Gary even very kindly let me wheelsuck from time to time, which is always nice, and occasionally essential. I’d like to say the wind now came in useful, but since it seemed to have moved more around to the North, surprise surprise, it really wasn’t. Apart from that minor annoyance, it was all very pleasant. I even got a little sprint back into town in, thanks to my lead out man, though a little too late to trouble the Strava segment ;). It all worked out ok though. We followed the two hour rule, we barely re-traced our tracks, we did some up, and some down. Lots of boxes ticked. And the hills will still be there next time, even if the Gromits have moved on. Good company, good times :).
Cycling time: 2:24 hrs.
Distance: 36.2 miles.
Avs: 15.1 mph.
ODO: 2798.0 miles.