I was supposed to ride yesterday, it being the only opportunity for me to do so this week what with the inconvenience of half term.  However it was grey, drizzly, and miserable.  And to be honest, I just wasn’t feeling it.  If I’m not feeling it, t’aint no point doing it.  Besides which I knew I was out today, I’m probably out Monday, and it’s not like I was doing nothing – I hit the gym and climbed hills there instead.  I’ve been doing a lot of gym hill-climbing lately, I wonder if it will make any difference in the long run?

Which brings us today, and another attempt by the ACG to make it to Brean Down, even if setting that as our destination did seem to be tempting fate a little.  Four of us met in the Square at 9.30am, IH, SD, and a friend of SDs who, in the absence of surname, shall henceforth be merely and enigmatically known as C.  Not as cool as M or Q but still with a certain je ne sais quoi about it, no?

We took the direct route to Brean Down.  Up past the Webbington, watching as the mountain goats took to the hills leaving me and IH pondering the fact that, as GB would have it, allegedly hills don’t get easier, they just get faster.  Comparatively speaking presumably.  To be fair, neither the Webbington nor Bleadon Hill felt as bad as they have been known to, even if describing them as “good” would be a step too far.

It was an uneventful if rather windy ride out to Brean Down.  Very noisy wind too.  Luckily it turned out that the café, now run by day-glo orange clad NT staff, was open.  They were very friendly but not totally on the ball as my black coffee was white, and my scone fruitless.  However they sorted that, and £2.35 seemed like a good deal to me.  Even the coffee was passable, and you know how particular I am about my coffee 🙂

We sat in the café and put the world to rights for a bit, as you do.  Apparently according to C people down this end of the world know how to pick their Mayors.  Although it would appear that boredom is not a sufficient reason for taking over the world.  Well, it can’t be a feeling of civic duty and giving back to the community, that sounds way too worthy… C suggested that, since the suggested route down the main Mark road can be tad boring, I should take over Mark…he’s a funny man 😉

We came back a new and interesting way through Burnham/Highbridge and out to Mark.  It still amazes me when I end up on a road I’m not familiar with as I’d swear I’ve pretty much covered them all locally.  Apparently not.  We rejoined familiar territory, and the “mother in law” road to Mark (it goes on and on and on) is much less boring with a tail wind for sure.  We wiggled back through the Allertons and back down the usual route to home.  No point racing for the finish as I managed to keep on C’s tail for a while but after that…well, I know when I’m beaten.

It was fairly flat and fairly fast.  Both SD and C are quite fast enough thank you, especially in SD’s case as he hadn’t been out in a while and was definitely in coiled spring mode…  IH had been complaining about being out of shape but showed no sign of it. so chapeau to him.  4 of us started out, and 4 of us finished, and nobody fell off – almost unprecedented! *grin*

Cycling time: 2:22:42
Distance: 37.25 miles
Avs: 15.6 mph
ODO: 7223 miles

Now as you know, I’m not a mountain goat.  However apparently some of you out there actively enjoy going up hill.  Well for those of you to whom that applies (no accounting for taste *grin*) you might like to check out this year’s Black Rat Challenge.  I can’t vouch for it personally as I’ve not done it, and I can’t do it this year as I’m doing the Wheel Heroes that day (May 22nd), but maybe next year?  Well, the 100km anyway…  The guys who run it are very friendly, as well as being cyclists themselves, and that counts for a lot in my book 🙂

Well, we’d hardly be cycling, now would we?  So my fellow fish out of water and I went for a long winter wonderland walk instead of the ACG ride that had been mooted.  Bearing in mind the effort required to advance through the snow whilst staying upright, this had the potential to be a fairly good substitute, albeit one sadly devoid of coffee stop potential.

I met GB at the Kings Wood car park – having walked there along the Strawberry Line from here.  And there’s no apostrophe on the sign so I don’t know if the Wood belonged to one King or many – just in case the grammar police are reading and tutting under their breath at the lack of correct punctuation.

Anyway, the Strawberry Line was fun, because watching rabbits trying to run away over thick snow is amusing.  They have this odd bounding motion more reminiscent of how a kangaroo moves than their usual skedaddle.  Quite a few of them couldn’t be bothered with that, and just crouched where they were in the hope that I would go away.  Which of course I did – I’m very obliging like that.

Crossing the A38 was unsurprisingly easy as, at that time, all but the odd ejjot in a 4×4 were staying home.  However the climb up to the car park proved challenging, as the ice underfoot was both crunchy and slippery at the same time, and the last stretch was definitely the road less travelled.

I was early.  He was late.  Or maybe he was on time, and it’s just that I was early?  Not that it matters.  Off we went in the direction of Crooks Peak.  Now usually on a Sunday, this route has something of a motorway feel to it – but not today.  Today it was all ours although, to be fair, we weren’t the first to have gone that way.  It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected, the early morning wind had gone, the views were great, and we had the place to ourselves.  Very cool.

It was uncannily like cycling.  The trodden path, such as it was, was one person wide…so GB sat on my wheel, leaving me to lead the way *grin*.  And again, to draw parallels, the flats were easy enough, the ups were hard work, and the downs were treacherous.  I only fell over properly once – but there were plenty of near misses to be had.  I may have an interesting bruise on my left hip in the fullness of time, and I appear to have pulled a muscle in my back.  Mind you, it was kinda fun – and landing on thick snow hurts a darn sight less than landing on frozen tarmac! 😉

We didn’t make it as far as Crooks Peak, coming down instead to Compton Bishop, where the roads were like the Cresta Run, making life all the more interesting.  Always good to have a challenge.  From there we followed the nicely slushy main road home.  We had a bet on as to the number of cars that would pass us but we both lost dismally as we had failed to take into consideration the foolhardiness of people absolutely having to be somewhere else.  Today’s Prize P*llock award goes to the 4×4 that went past us and turned right across in front of us, with the driver on his mobile phone.  Priceless.

By the time I got home, having detoured for the Farmer’s Market and a Sunday paper, I’d been out about 2 1/2 hours, which is fairly respectable I feel.  Hey, it’s not riding, but it’s a darn sight better than doing nothing at all! *grin*.  Now, where’s my coffee?