Yesterday’s ride was a non event since, due to an Friday night where I didn’t eat enough and drank way more than enough, I totally slept through my alarm, and its many repeats.  Even hubby couldn’t wake me, so he gave up, turned the alarm off and left me to it.  I woke up 8 minutes after I was due to meet SH in the Cheddar…and was NOT happy.  Having said that, it would probably have been a very bad ride, so it was probably all for the best really.  I was cross though, since I was nervously looking forward to the challenge that the Burnham run is…and I also hate to let people down.  Ah well, spilt milk and all that.  Sorry SH (again!).

So even though I was out again last night (ooh, get me, a social life and everything!) I was pretty determined not to let the same happen again today.  I was up before the alarm, home by 8:00am, and in the Square at 9:00am to meet the ACG as planned.  DM has a very enviable shiny new bike which, conveniently, is going to match the ACG kit perfectly.  I’d give you facts about it but a) that would be geeky and b) I’m not that kind of geek.  It was black, white, shiny, sleek…will that do?  New bikes are very lovely 🙂

Initially it had seemed chilly, and it had clearly rained over night, but what must have been the tail end of that cleared, the sun came out, and the temperature rose.  My gilet didn’t even make it out of the Square, as I quickly stuffed it in my bag before we left.  Mind you, the wind, considerable, blustery and strong, wasn’t going anywhere, and proved to be a bit of a pain for a lot of the ride.

In the absence of any better plans, four of us did the first half of my usual training loop, round to Sweets Peat place for coffee.  I reckon if we’d sat there long enough, every cyclist in Somerset would have passed by…it was one of those days.  After a decent natter in the sun, KG headed straight for home, being due at Pageant rehearsals.  The remaining three of us wiggled home in Brownian fashion, affecting the route every time we came to a junction.  We met a couple of other ACG members heading the other way at one of them, which was random but nice.

When the wind was behind us, the sun shining, with clear views for miles, all that was separating us from Le Tour was a few tournesols.  Well, ok, not all.  In my dreams!  But since they were going up big hills today and we weren’t, I reckon we might have had the edge on the happy front 😉

However, and I still don’t know what happened, things fell apart in Wedmore.  We were heading towards the golf course, up the hill there.  I plodded up, and when I got to the top I was all alone.  No sign of them.  I went back down, but still, no sign…  So I went back up again, and decided I didn’t really have any other option that to head for home, so I did my kinda dancin‘ all the way home.  This mostly involved me pretending to be Thor Hushovd and sprinting as fast as I could for home, for no particular reason other than that I was quite enjoying it *grin*.  Hopefully nothing untoward happened to the other two and they had as much fun getting home as I did.

Cycling time: 2:01:28
Distance: 32.58 miles
Avs: 16.1 mph
ODO: 5009 miles

I’m surprised the average speed wasn’t faster and I guess the wind may have had something to do with that.  I’m sure I was going faster than that though.  It certainly felt fast.  However, considering my weekend, it’s a miracle I was going at all…let alone at speed.  There’s clearly no justice – I really should have been suffering more *grin*.

And finally: today saw another landmark – my bike has now done over 5000 miles.  I like that 🙂

Update: they were fine – it was just a question of missed turns and not catching up.  So that’s alright then 🙂

Which is what you get when a) your mp3 runs out of batteries on your ride and when b) you’re too busy pushing to keep up to talk…

Ten of the ACG gathered in the Square this morning, including he who shall henceforth affectionately be know as Tri-Boy (previously know as Boy Wonder) and his parents.  Apparently he was a bit under the weather today…which doesn’t bode well for future “on form” rides!  Anyway ten was a pretty good turnout while still remaining a manageable number – well, just about anyway.  It depends on the amount of traffic on the road, and today wasn’t too bad.

We set out towards Brean Down in the sun and hurtled our way there.  The group initially set off at speed…and didn’t slow down any as legs warmed up!  I didn’t bother trying to keep up too much, being a little concerned as to how on form I was.  I’ve been post-Dragon tired all week, on a detox, and with swollen glands…  If I wanted to race, I’d have joined a racing club 😉  Blessedly the grockles hadn’t woken up yet so we had the wiggly road there to ourselves, which was nice as it can be a bit unpleasant there sometimes when you get between desperate grockle and his candy floss destination…  We spread out a bit along the way but re-united at the café by the sea front at Brean Down which, unforgivably, did not have any of their fantastic scones.  I’d been looking forward to one of them and I may have sulked…*grin*.

After chatting over tea outside as it clouded over, and doing my ACG kit sales pitch to everyone, we headed out again into what was now distinctly chilly weather.  I was, as ever, very glad of my arms.  The ACG rapidly broke up into splinter groups as commitments and speed took their toll.  A faster than usual peloton was left going the long way home, and  this time I did a much better job of keeping up – mostly because the Tri-umvirate don’t know where they’re going yet and have to keep stopping at junctions to wait and see where we’re going!  Having the wind behind me may have helped too.  A lot!  The sun came out, and that combined with the speed we were going at meant it got quite warm.  I did my fair share of sitting on the front and pulling, I think, and was happy to see that my legs weren’t protesting.

Cycling time: 2:07:58
Distance: 38.23 miles
Avs: 17.9 mph
ODO: 4682 miles

Have you seen the AVS?  Have you?  Really?!  So much for a leisurely Sunday morning ride!  *grin*.  I won’t say it was unpleasant because oddly it was quite enjoyable, if hard work.  It was very weird to be coming back in the group on the Wedmore road doing 24mph and practically free wheeling.  I rarely get to experience the drafting effect to such an extent – it was pretty awesome.  So there are some upsides to being totally out-classed! 😛  Having kicked a*se all the way home I sat behind as Tri-Boy led the way back down the bypass and into town only to be overtaken by his mum and a very colour co-ordinated GB fighting for the stage finish.  Does that count as sling-shotting? 😛

Having had no scone I was at least entitled to have a slice of the very nice Rhubarb and Vanilla Yoghurt Cake that I made yesterday with my lunch.  I reckon that has to count as one of my 5 a day.  It’s got carbs in it and everything…*grin*.

Today the ACG sallied forth once more, with a couple of new folk – well, new to me – making up a peloton of 8 – a nice relatively manageable number.

We had great weather for it – hot and sunny.  No layers required – just the bare minimum – which is always nice.  You feel lighter, and therefore clearly faster.   GB kindly created us a route, which took us to the seaside at Burnham, via Brent Knoll as he’s unable to conceive of a route without at least one hill in it.  We passed the Burnham Run lot basking outside the cafe on the promenade, looked at the boats along the coast path to Highbridge, before making our own stop at Rich’s Cider Farm.   We sat outside in the sun, and clearly started a trend as the place rapidly filled up with people in many colours of more or less co-ordinated lycra.  We really must get team kit in order to compete.  I reckon every cyclist in Somerset was out on the roads today..and who’d blame ’em?

On the way back John’s hill had been patch resurfaced and I dropped off the back of the group, being cautious as ever (and you should see the hole in my rear tyre made by one of those chippings 🙁 I’m hoping it didn’t make it through the tyre wall…).  I didn’t catch up until Cheddar, and the effort of doing that nearly killed me!  Dropped by my own group…it’s just not cricket *grin*.  I’ve created a monster!

Cycling time: 1:57:37
Distance: 32.81 miles
Avs: 16.7 mph
ODO: 4316 miles

See that average speed?  There’s a very good reason for that.  Solar powered cyclists?  No.  New cyclist.  Note to self.  Do not cycle with those who are young enough to be your son.  You’re more than twice their age, and have spent a great many of those years doing things that he’s not legally allowed to do yet.  I think we’re all going to spend most of the day recovering from keeping up with him and his equally impressive Mum and trying to make it look like we always go that fast.  It would be wrong to do otherwise – cyclists have very fragile egos you know.  And obviously, if we’d started at his age we”d all have been just as good.  Honest.  Besides which some of us can’t resist a challenge.  So, we kept up.  OK, it was maybe a little too hot for such over exertion but I’m not complaining.  I expect it was good for us.  At least I can sit in that sun with a cold beer later…he can’t! *grin* 😉

I’d been off form all week post ear-infection so hadn’t been on the bike at all.  So, after a non-abstemious Saturday night having a Ball, if the weather had been anything less than lovely on Sunday morning, I’d have rolled over and gone back to sleep…  However the curtains went back to reveal bright spring sunshine, with apparently little wind, so I dragged myself out of bed.  Having warned the ACG that it would be a hilly ride, I wasn’t expecting a huge turnout, and I wasn’t wrong.  For a while it looked like it was just going to be DM and I, but we were joined at the last minute by MD, so then there were three.

Well – as it turns out, there were 4, but KG had failed to pay attention to my oh so informative emails and apparently turned up half an hour late and had to go do hills by himself…*grin*.  So 4 of the ACG were doing hills, 3 of them together.  DM, being a renowned mountain goat, had created the route, leaving MD and I to follow apprehensively in his wake.

We set off and headed for the first hill – out of Rodney Stoke.  No, not THAT hill, the other one.  Which is about 15 minutes of climbing.  At least we’d kinda warmed up by then.  In fact so much so we’d had to stop before the climb to remove various layers as the spring sun was proving warmed than expected.  I’d never been up that way before – let’s face it I don’t go out of my way looking for big hills – and it was quite a nice way up.

On the top, when we finally got there, we found some properly cold windy weather as it clouded over quite a while, and I hankered after the layers removed…  DM led us around the top of the Mendips and down to Blagdon, before doing some interesting routes around Butcombe that involved a lot of ups, and included a little stinker that I’d never been up before – which was a stand up and pray your legs are going to last to the top one.  Luckily they held out.  From there it was pretty much downhill to the cafe stop at Bishops Sutton.  I always forget how many hills there are in that Butcombe/Nempnet area.  DM clearly doesn’t…

We sat outside and enjoyed the welcome return of the sunshine, admired another cyclist’s rather nice matt black Specialized, and DM and MD consumed bacon butties in KG’s honour..  I’d have done cake, but I knew the mob were home secretly making carrot cake for Mothers’ Day, so restrained myself.  My cappuccino was very nice though 🙂

As we saddled up once more, DM decided a gel was a good idea.  Now if he thinks he needs a gel to get up the next hills, that’s worrying…*grin*.  We went up the Harptree hill, past a Bentley that probably cost more than my house is worth, slowly slogging our way back up the Mendips.  We were, as ever, passed by a couple of other cyclists but to be fair, they didn’t exactly hare away into the distance, so it was less irritating than usual 😉

Up to the top again, and slap bang into the nasty cold wind.  I got ahead a bit heading for the Gorge, as I knew the guys would overtake me going downhill as they have way more nerve than me!.  And I wasn’t wrong…  It was absolutely freezing going down there and still damp on the roads.  There’s definitely a micro-climate thing going on there.  I then got stuck behind various eejots in cars, and also got a stone or something in my front brake pads/rim, which didn’t help get me down any faster.  Remind me to avoid the Gorge – silly season has begun and the grockles are back.  Once at the bottom I headed for home, going as fast as I could all the way.  The guys had waited in the Square for me – very chivalrously – and we all agreed it had been a darned good ride 🙂

Cycling time: 3:03:40
Distance: 37.95 miles
Avs: 12.3 mph
ODO: 3529 miles

Oddly I kinda enjoyed the hills.  As long as the gradient isn’t too steep, I can get into a rhythm and plod along fairly happily in bottom gear.  The winter lull seems to be over and my legs were feeling pretty good – like I’ve managed to build up the stamina a bit.  Might as well get better at going up the hills since I’m still crap at going down ’em! *grin*

I think I’m developing a cycling stutter..

Take 1:  head up road in plenty of time to meet the ACG lot in the Square.  Discover that front tyre is well on the way to doing a pancake impresssion.  Turn round.  Go home.  Grab mechanic, inner tube and tyre levers.  Change tube.  Re-inflate tyre to more normal doughnut proportions and…

Take 2: head up the road and meet 5 of the ACG lot in the Square, being only marginally late, and not being the last to arrive either.

Hand reigns over to GB.  Follow blindly off on very convoluted route towards the Walled Garden.  Discover some of the muddiest pot-hole ridden roads possible.  Curse GB for need to wash bike later.  Admire GB for finding roads that we actually hadn’t ridden down before – not an easy task these days!  Enjoy the sun, admire the views…

Arrive at cafe.  Consume very expensive coffee and carrot cake.  Contemplate ominous view.  Will weather to pass by on either side.  Watch weather approaching dead centre.  Watch the rain getting closer and closer.  Feel the temperature dropping.  Leave just as the rain arrives and…every man (or woman) for themselves.  Somebody up there clearly thought I shouldn’t have moaned about cleaning my bike and decided to do it for me…  Rain like bullets, roads like rivers, head down, foot down and hammer it home.  As Fast As Possible.  Rarely seen rain like it.  Be happy never to see it again.  It was kinda funny though – practically laughable *grin*.

Cycling time: 2:04:30
Distance: 30.10 miles
Avs: 14.5 mph
ODO: 3358 miles

It’s amazing how fast you can get home when you have to…and I was soaked through by the time I got there.  But the bike was indeed a lot cleaner.  Though I still cleaned it.  In the rain.  Well, I couldn’t get any wetter…

Strange to say, the whole ride was oddly enjoyable *grin*.

The ACG turned out in force yesterday morning.  We had five who either rarely come out, or were “newbies”, swelling our numbers to a new record.  13!   We ended up with not two but three groups – a fast, a medium, and a slow group.

Since no-one else had come up with a route, I’m afraid the fast group got to do my usual training loop – since I don’t have to think about that.  Which is just as well since I had to concentrate on keeping up.  I think I’ve created a monster!  The fast group may be speeding away from me…  To be fair, there was a certain degree of testosterone induced competition going on – you know who you are – plus MN who was new to us turned out to be pretty fast so I think we were trying to prove we were too!

Each group made their own varying way to Sweets Peat museum café where, somewhat unusually, we all arrived at pretty much the same time, and took over the place, much to the annoyance of some more normally dressed people who ended up having to sit outside.  Our group had averaged 16.2mph to get there, which just goes to show how daft we were being.

After a nice sociable break we split up and headed for home again.  We slowed down a little, mostly a tractor induced restraint as we took the Nyland loop, which we did ostensibly to add miles but more likely to prevent the usual foolish racing down the Wedmore road.  Just as well – ain’t no way I’d have won that one!  GB was saving himself for additional hills though oddly failed to turn right up the Gorge as planned, and was last seen heading up Shipham Hill as we cruised down the main road and back into town.

Cycling time: 2:06:30
Distance: 33.34 miles
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 3198 miles

It was a good ride – and it’s amazing how much difference a couple of degrees increase in the temperature makes.  I didn’t regret any of my layers, but I did maintain contact with my feet for the entire ride!  It makes pedalling far more enjoyable, not to mention less painful.  By the time we left Wedmore we were even joined by an odd yellow disc in the sky.  I’m not sure what it was, but I quite liked it 😉

I’m really pleased so many people turn out and enjoy cycling with the group – because that’s how I wanted it to work out.  There are around 30 people on the mailing list now – and you can email me here if you want to join us – which means there’s now a great mix of people and abilities.  I love it when a plan comes together *grin*.

PS: there was once a nasty hole just as you indicate left to turn into Axbridge.  It was reported to Highways who considered it not of sufficient severity to fix – since they’d clearly never tried to cycle over it one handed (indictating remember?).  I used the CTC fillthathole website to report it and, lo and behold, it has now been fixed.  So if there’s a pothole bugging you – I recommend you do the same! 🙂

Another ACG ride – an official one this time.  Which presumably explains why only 4 people turned out… 😉  Quite an evenly matched four though, which worked well.  MD, KG, GB and me headed out to Brean Down.  To prevent the usual end of ride racing foolishness, and to add a little variety to life, we went out towards Wedmore first, up Rug Hill, over to Mark, out past Brent Knoll, and then along the coast to the Brean Down café.  They do exceedingly good scones, so I indulged, but I’m calling it lunch, so that’s ok 🙂

It’s much nicer going out there out of season – much less traffic, much less people, much less flesh, and much less…well…everything really!  It’s just a shame not to be able to sit outside the café and enjoy the fab views, but that’ll be possible soon.   There’s usually a narrow window of opportunity when the weather improves, but the tourists haven’t arrived yet 🙂

Getting back on the bike was bracing, as it seemed to have become chillier whilst we were inside, but then doesn’t it always?  We came back fast via Lympsham and Rookery Manor, thus avoiding Bleadon Hill, and just leaving the Webbington bump to get over before getting home.

Cycling time: 2:10:47
Distance: 34.9 miles
Avs: 16.0 mph
ODO: 3001 miles

I’m having one of my patches of spending a lot of time on the drops.  I don’t know if that’s related to the new saddle, or to trying to be as comfortable as possible and not have my shoulder nerve complaining at me, but I spent most of the ride pootling along happily that way.  We all took our turns at the front – all very civilised – and pretty much stuck together the whole time.  The roads were wet, but nothing like yesterday.  It wasn’t what you’d call balmy, but was nothing like Wednesday. And look at how fast we were going!  All in all, a much better ride 🙂

Last night I fitted my new brake block things – which was fiddly, and not good for fingernails…but I did it.  Which I normally don’t – I get Paul to do these things, because then I have confidence in the end result.  So I was kinda nervous about how they’d be today.  Apart from being a bit noisy to start with, they seem to have been fine.  Possibly slightly better than the old set…but it’s hard to tell because I was trying not to brake too  much, as part of my trying to get better at hills and corners!  Still, they seem to work, and that’s a good thing.  The ability to stop without having to use an inanimate object to do so is quite important 😉 *grin*.