Category Archives: Training

On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?

…and repeat…

Another Easter Holiday day.  Another KOW Leisure Centre Activity Day.  Another day when not to ride would be wrong, since that’s having the time to ride was half the reason I booked them into the scheme in the first place.

But I have to say I wasn’t massively up for it.  The weather is just the same as it has been for a while.  However attractive it occasionally looks, it’s actually cold, variable, and distinctly windy.  Riding on your own can be very lovely, but I’m a bit bored of riding all the same roads all by myself, and due to a logistical hiccup it turns out that I’m also riding Saturday’s sportive on my own.  It’s just as well that, after my old mp3 player finally gave up the ghost, I have a shiny new replacement ipod shuffle to at least provide me with musical accompaniment.  It’s engraved and everything.  Feel free to try and guess what it says ;).

Anyway, Rule 5!  MTFU woman!  Or is that WTFU?  Time to play with my toys and plot myself another route.  In order to reduce the boredom level and make it a little interesting I threw some hills in again – something I don’t seem to be able to stop myself from doing at the moment.  Well I’m not going to get any better at them otherwise now am I?  Today’s hills were, in ascending order (yes, another pun)….Notting Hill, Winscombe Hill, Mudgley Hill, and the biggie for today – Westbury Hill.  I didn’t beat any records. I did nothing more than get up them, as there wasn’t a massive amount of oomph in the legs.  But I still got up ’em, and that’s all that counts.

main road descent after Winscombe Hill

brow of Notting Hill

It’s always, well nearly always, better out there than you think it’s going to be.  It’s a good time of year.  The new greens haven’t faded yet, the flowers are coming out, and it’s frequently very pretty.  Think of it this way – some people come to Somerset on holiday.  I get to live here.  Could be worse :).

pretty garden

The wind was annoying me today, but it was at least essentially behind me for my stretch across the Levels if nowhen else.  I really wish it was easier to capture that area photographically so that you could get that wide open space feeling, the dome of the sky, the greens and blues, the reflections in the water…it really is lovely.  Unless there’s a headwind in which case it s*cks big time! *grin*.

Having conquered Mudgley Hill again, I headed cross country to Rodney Stoke, where the church was sitting pretty by a field of yellow buttercups.  And/or dandelions.  I knew the big hill was coming so it was a good excuse to stop, drink, and get ready for it.

I always take more photos on the first half of a ride, and today was no exception.  Visually speaking…

Off I went, ready for the hill.  Well, as ready as I get.  The hill went on, and on, and on…but without quite reaching the horrific gradient levels of the Glider Hill.  Plus I’ve been up it before and, as I’ve said before, that always helps mentally.   By the time I got to the top my legs and I were on their way home.  No more stopping.  I had to put my head down and grit my teeth for a while as it was windy up there and it was all feeling a bit of a slog.  The last stretch from Charterhouse to Tynings Farm can feel surprisingly lumpy and it did today.  Especially as it got colder and colder and, just to prove that, were proof needed, it then hailed on me for a bit.  Not the first time that’s happened, so the novelty has worn off!  But hey, I was on my way home, and how else was I going to get to go home down Shipham Hill?  It was even better than usual today.  Not only was the road dry, but I had to go pick up the car from the garage in Cheddar where, £196 later, it had finally passed its MOT and was awaiting me.  Which is neither here nor there but which meant I got to go ALL the way down the hill, without having to slow to turn right to get to the bypass to go home.  Not something you do without paying attention though as that junction is nuts and a couple of motorists did make tentative attempts to get in my way. Luckily nothing came of them and I got to enjoy the whole thing properly :).

Cycling time: 2:36:34 hrs
Distance: 39.10 miles
AVS: 15.0 mph.
ODO: 13071 miles

Here’s what I actually did, and if you want to get all competitive about it, here’s what Strava says.  Told you I was playing with my toys :).  It’s a good thing Strava and Bella have come along because like I said, it’s easy to get bored doing the same old same old, and adding the odd little extra element helps keep it interesting.

A little bit of resolve is what I need now

After this weekend’s weather forecasts I didn’t really think I’d be riding today.  But the forecasts changed, and the mob were booked into one of the KOW Leisure Centre’s Kids Activity Days, and given the sparsity of opportunities to ride, what with it being the Easter holidays and all, I should ride right?  Ok, so that decided that, I was riding.  But what to do?

Well…  I’ve always wanted to go up the Glider Club hill.  I’ve never done it.  People talk about it, in awed tones.  I think I’ve been down it, but I wouldn’t even swear to that.  And why today should seem like the day to put myself through that is beyond me, but it’s good to have a goal right?  A goal, and a hook to hang a ride on :).  It also gave me an excuse to check out one of Bella’s capabilities.  Although Bella doesn’t do the complete GPS mapping stuff, you can plan a route, upload it to her, and then follow it – you just follow the arrow on the screen along a line.  I’d never done that, and would like to be able to do it for sportives, but I didn’t want a sportive to be the first time I tested it out so…yes, today was the day for that too.  So here’s what I drew and set out to follow this morning.

Weird weather today.  Very variable.  I was still in essentially winter kit, minus base layers, and it was still the right choice.  I got properly rained on before I even got as far as Cocklake which, considering how chilly and windy it was, was not making me think nice things about the rest of the ride.  But the squally showers disappeared behind me and over the Mendips leaving the sun uninterrupted, shining if not warming, and a little arrow to follow on a screen, daring me not to wimp out…

adios showers

Nasty wind though.  Far more wind than there was supposed to be.  Enough wind to be frequently annoying.  But today’s ride was an odd one.  On another day the wind would have been more of a problem, mentally if not physically.  But today it wasn’t about doing it fast.  It was about doing the hills.  About riding the bike.  And, with a sportive this weekend, about not over-doing it.  I was in Alp mode.  As long as the wheels were going round, it was ok by me.

I started the ride with the Nyland Loop so as to be warmed up a bit before the main challenge ahead.  But this also meant that ahead of me, I could see where I was going…

It’s there somewhere, lurking in those trees, going up the hills in the middle.  *gulp*.  But hey, it’s only a hill…right?  The profiles I’d seen of it show it as a fairly constant climb, with an average gradient of around 11%.  How bad could it be?…  Well it isn’t constant, and averages are misleading.  I went up, and up, and up.  Slowly but surely.  Halfway up a car gently eased past me, and as I waved my thanks, the lady passenger wound down her window and stuck her thumb up at me in encouraging fashion, and gave me a big smile which I returned.  Go me :).  Good thing she didn’t catch me later…

…where there’s an even steeper section, all wooded, and the road surface was wet and gravelly.  Bella reckons it was 20-25%…and I was getting there, pushing and pushing, up the relentless wall.   But it was going on and on, and it got just that little bit steeper and even though I could see the top I didn’t know it was the top, and I was starting to lose traction and my wheels were slipping…  My courage deserted me.  B*gger… Un-clip… Stop.  Just call me the cowardly lion.I took a little while to pull myself back together.  Even with it being generally cold, I was definitely hot by now!  I tried to get going again but just couldn’t get back on the bike because of the gradient, and had to walk a little way up and try again which, luckily, actually worked and I made it up the rest and over the top.  Well, sort of the top.  The top of the steep bit anyway.  So maybe with a drier road, and a little more heart, I could actually make it all the way up?  It flattened out a bit after that – and I pootled my way up the rest, eyes stinging as sweat dripped into my eyes, until I finally came across the mythical gliding club.

Awesome views from the top though.  There in the bottom is Nyland Hill, which I’d cycled around all of half an hour before, but boy did it ever seem a long way away now.  The odd thing about following the little arrow is that you’re on a different screen, and deprived of all that information that you usually have.  No speed, time, nothing…so I have no idea how I was doing.  Sometimes it felt like hard work, sometimes it didn’t.  It’s quite relaxing.  Maybe that’s where the phrase “too much information” comes from? 😉  I like the road going east across the top of the Mendips – it goes up and down, it’s scenic, and it’s wide enough for the traffic to go past without too much difficulty.  Not that this stops them going past with as small a gap as possible of course…and man there were a lot of that variety of idiot around today!

Traffic notwithstanding, I enjoyed the lovely main road descent to Chewton Mendip and then took the left turn on to quieter roads towards Litton.  Blue skies, green everywhere…doesn’t suck.

The wind was against me, but luckily the gradient towards the Harptrees is essentially downwards so it didn’t feel as much of a slog as it could have done.  I couldn’t remember which Harptree climb I’d plugged in, and as the arrow led me inexorably onwards it became clear that for some bizarre reason I’d gone with the Harptree Hill option.  Not my favourite, so I took a little break to take some photos in West Harptree and get ready for it.

West Harptree Church

 

Time to go uphill again.  It’s clearly been a long time since I’ve done this particular climb, and it wasn’t as bad as I’d remembered it.  Not good, that might be going a step too far..but doable.  Clearly, because I did it.  I took the back road across the top, heading west towards my reward, because the more main road slog can be truly unpleasant even when it’s not into the wind.  It was a good choice.  Very pretty.  Very quiet.  With cows, and calves, and flowers, and the joys of spring.

It was all yellow...

There are even a couple of stone circles up there on the left hand side.  I’ve no idea if they’re original, so may have to do some research.  And then go back to take photos of them.  I’d already stopped enough by now so I wasn’t stopping again!  Well, that’s not strictly true, but in my defence I had to stop because it’s a T-junction, I was turning right, and you needed to see this.  Up on the top of the Mendips, there is a castle on a cloud

It’s recently been repainted and was positively glowing in the sunshine!  Plus it has purple flowers and everyone knows how I feel about purple.  Very photogenic.

Enough stopping, enough photos, time for that which I had earnt – the descent of Burrington Combe :).  The wind wasn’t in my favour, but then that probably stopped me going too fast for myself, so it went pretty well.  I then went straight along the main road to the Churchill crossroads though, rather than taking the usual quieter back roads.  Oops.  Remind me not to do that again.  Not only is the road surface that porridgy coarse grain almost cobble stuff, but there are way too many lorries.  Lorries that go past you doing that converging lines thing…  They start by going past you as close as possible and then pull over AS they’re going past and your space gets narrower and narrower, like you’re hurtling along that passage on the surface of the Death Star getting closer and closer to taking your shot, and praying that the force is with you…  Not restful!

Having turned left at the crossroads, and been overtaken by the same lorry again, it was a relief to get off the climb up the main road and go through via Rowberrow to Shipham.  More slow steady plodding, up hills I know I can do.  Nice :).  And then I got to go home, down a not quite dry enough but still plenty fun enough Shipham Hill, and along a bypass pointing irritatingly in the wrong direction.  By the time I got home I definitely knew I’d been working quite hard!

Cycling time: 2:27:54 hrs
Distance: 35.83 miles
AVS: 14.5 mph.
ODO: 13032 miles

OK, so it was slow.  Well, not it, me.  I did say I wasn’t pushing it, right?  Bella reckons there was around 2,780ft/848m of climbing, as does Strava, which ain’t bad.  This Saturday’s Wiggle New Forest Spring Sportive route claims to only have 1316 feet of climbing, so it should be positively restful by comparison 😉  Well, apart from the whole 83 miles thing *grin*.

It was a good ride.  I enjoyed it.  It went pretty well.  But the Glider Hill remains unconquered.  Next time it shall be mine…! *mwhahaha*.

Tell the world that you’re winning

Yesterday @Skipinder wanted to know what everyone was doing for their Easter weekend.  I replied “Riding, what else are holidays for?”.  Well, ok, of the four days I’m only actually planning on riding for two of them, but still…

Today was a Somerset Cycling ride which fitted in perfectly with my plans.  It also had the advantage of not setting off until 11:00am so I didn’t have to get out of bed early, even taking into account the half hour it would take me to cycle to Mark to meet everyone.  Bonus!  Actually I allowed 45 minutes and it took me about 22 minutes, as I wasn’t hanging around.  Well who hangs around on the A38? ;).  I was early, but just in time to meet the BW being unloaded from his paternally chauffeured support vehicle, so at least I didn’t have to hang around on my own.

Somerset Cycling gather...

After a while there was eight of us, so more new faces for me.  Names aren’t my strong point so I hope I’ve gotten them right, and spelled them correctly.  I’m sure you’ll shout if I haven’t.  The first part of our route was on familiar territory, on some of my favourite bits of road.  Not a bad way to start a ride – sunshine, not much wind, and, in my not so humble opinion, some of the best parts of the Levels.  With added inconvenient cows for those who like that kind of thing and I know some of you do ;).

Michael and Mark level pegging it.

I mean look at it.  What’s not to love?  It was gorgeous out there, but not even half as warm as it looks.  I’d faffed and dithered and deliberated and changed a great deal this morning…and I am so glad I changed my s/s jersey for the l/s one – worn under winter  jersey with longs, overshoes, and mitts.  With over gloves and buffs and scarves to be taken on and off as necessary.  Which turned out to be at Mark once I’d warmed up, so I stuffed those bits in my saddle bag.  Other than that nothing changed I may have been a little over warm on a couple of the big hills, but that’s what zips are for.  If you wear layers you can take them off.  If you don’t, you can’t put on what you don’t have…and I think a couple of people were wishing they had an extra layer stashed away somewhere.  My overshoes don’t look like such a silly choice now, do they? ;).

Time for hills.  Namely Shapwick Hill and High Ham Hill.  Once I stopped trying to keep up with the boys I plodded my way up feeling pretty good about both.  Apparently it’s not a testicle race.  I pointed out that this was just as well as I wouldn’t qualify.  Having been told that my lack of ability was all in my mind I had to point out that it was my lack of testicles to which I was referring, which definitely is not all in my mind! *grin*.

I was really pleased with how I climbed High Ham, it definitely felt easier than the last time.  I bet not doing it in fog contributed to that.  Then I got to enjoy the descent too, which is the only reason going up is worth doing right?  I was starting to feel the need for coffee and a break, and wanted to get there, without really knowing where there was.  However we were delayed by the BW getting a puncture in Langport.  It would be him right?  Typically, being as organised as ever, he had neither a spare inner tube, nor patches, nor pump.  Very poor form I’m afraid.  This resulted in nearly everyone else trying to fix it for him and get us underway again, since even when he did have a go at re-inflating it himself it didn’t go well.  There was also a degree of (mostly) lighthearted ribbing going on…  I say mostly because he’s been riding long enough to know better and some of us know that!

BW trying...

The rest of us stood in the sun, as there were clearly enough chefs involved, and let them get on with it.  How many cyclists does it take to change an inner tube?…

Carlo flying the flag

Warren waiting.

Michael showing some leg.

Besides which it was quite a pretty place to stand and shoot the breeze actually, with pretty flowers ‘n all.

We did finally get underway, and there seemed to be a degree of sprinting for coffee.  I concentrated on trying to keep up with the three wheels in front for me, but after a while keeping up with half-wheeling triathletes got too much to me.  Given a wheel to hang on to and the tailwind, I think I did pretty well keeping up for as long as I did, but once the average got to 25mph+ it was time to admit defeat, and chill out until the following group had caught up.  Beats me why I didn’t stay with them in the first place, but I can honestly say it didn’t occur to me, and I didn’t realise that we weren’t all together until it was too late because I was too busy looking ahead rather than behind!  I’m sure it was good for me :).

All Saints Church, Martock

By the way Martock is very pretty.  I don’t get down that far very often as it’s too far away for the average training ride, and it makes a nice change to cycle around a new area. Very picturesque.  I may check it out in greater, and slower, detail sometime.

So.  Coffee.  Or not.  Oops.  It’s Good Friday and…well…not everywhere is open.  Apparently they do really good cake if you ever do get there and they’re open though.  Bit of a b*gger though…as by then I was counting on a coffee for a bit of a lift.  It kind knocked me off balance mentally a bit though – there was this idea of what the ride was in my head, and then it wasn’t, and I didn’t know if I was ready for more of the same without a break.  Seeing that others were eating however reminded me that I could do the same and I resorted to Lucozade jellybeans, washed them down with some Nuun (in fruit punch flavour for a change, because I’m trying variety) and hoped that that would do the job.

Turned away at the gate.

Hm.  What to do.  8 cyclists.  At least 8 opinions right?  Having already cycled past Sweets we knew it was open so it became the logical choice, as well as being on the way back.  How to get there?  Well before we really reached a consensus on that, we were heading off again, and very soon 8 became 2, 3, and 3.   Michael and Warren unintentionally went a different way, Wayne and Andy disappeared off into the sunset, which just left the BW, Coxy, and me making our way back.  I was flagging a bit what with the inevitable sapping headwind and the fact that I didn’t really know where I was.  Being in the middle of nowhere, not really knowing where you’re going, somehow makes it feel harder and take longer.  We stopped briefly in Somerton, which I do at least recognise, in case anyone needed the last opportunity to grab get anything from a shop before Sweets.

Carlo the gregarious was actually collared by family who saw him outside and had to go in for a chat, which is the real reason he was in the chippy…but I do think it makes for an amusing photo *grin*.

Apparently I should have recognised the next section of the route from the Cheddar Cyclosportive but clearly last time I did that I can’t have been paying attention.  It wasn’t until we came out on the road on the other side of High Ham Hill that I finally knew where I was and got my mojo back again.  Amazing how much better I felt knowing where I was going!  I even quite enjoyed the slow climb up Pedwell Hill, and Coxy dropped back to keep me company – he makes a great broom wagon *grin*.  I was just enjoying the fact that I could climb a hill in a whole variety of gears, as if this had been last Sunday I’d have been walking!  Always good to take a moment to be grateful for what you have.

BW and Coxy going up in the world.

Once over the main road, there’s this funny house perched on the crest of the hill.  I wonder about the oddly out of place glazing every time I drive past.  Weird isn’t it?  The views back towards home are pretty good though :).

the view from Shapwick Hill.

Now my legs really could sense coffee, and it was time to get there as quickly as possible, knowing that there was no more climbing between me and there.  I did my bit at the front as best I could, though apparently I make a lousy windbreak.  Hey, it may not be a traditional compliment but I’ll take it 😉 *grin*.

Finally Sweets.  Where the other groups awaited us, sat outside in the sunshine.  Not that we stayed outside for long – it still wasn’t quite warm enough – and we took refuge inside.

Warren

Andy

Wayne clearly thinks Michael is a very funny man... 😀

Having not been eating chips, even though appearances were to the contrary, you should see Carlo’s chocolate cake!

Carlo's chocolate cake

Coxy seemed to be taking cake quite seriously too…

Fruit cake this time I think...

BW managed chocolate cake and hot chocolate and yet again I have no idea how he does it!  I stuck to coffee (like I have a choice) because I needed the caffeine fix to get me back on the bike and home again, which involved going up and over Mudgeley Hill, on which I was delighted not to be caught, and then the usual Wedmore road.   Whatever was in the chocolate cake clearly works because, after we joined up again in Wedmore, Carlo was off!  Which made my favourite straight more interesting – wheel sucking whilst still pushing to keep up!  Hard work, but good in a masochistic way :).  Time to take myself off down the bypass and home.

Cycling time: 3:38:57 hrs
Distance: 62.33 miles
AVS: 17.1 mph.
ODO: 12955 miles

That was a mighty fine way to spend a Good Friday.  Bl**dy hard work, but then sometimes that’s not a bad thing.  Keeping up with these guys ain’t easy!  So if it was a good Good Friday does that make it a Great Friday? 😉  Certainly makes it a fast one! *grin*

Don’t Ever Let It End

A short blog, for a short ride.  I was ever so lucky (and am very grateful) that my mechanic Andrew was able to see me this afternoon.  He fitted the bike with a new gear cable, as well as checking over the other cables, the fraying tyres, and the like.  All this in time to get me back home in time for the ride that I’d half been hoping to do with MiniMe.  Result!  Now that the clocks have sprung forward it’s possible to get rides in after school etc., and today was the first.  We did the Nyland Loop in the chilly but beautiful evening sunshine.  I wore my Rapha winter jersey with nothing (ok not nothing, there was underwear involved, don’t go getting all excited) underneath, which was a really weird feeling, but which kept me at just about the right temperature when paired with shorts and decent socks – my longs haven’t been through the wash yet!

It was a very lovely nice easy recovery ride.  His riding has definitely improved, courtesy of his daily commute to school, and it was far more restful riding with him than it used to be.  He did try out-sprinting me on one straight, but thanks to the low sun and his shadow I saw him coming *grin*.  Though I did let him have his moment (quite literally) in the sun, before I reined him in.  Oh, and having gears was just awesome!  Almost like having a brand new bike *grin*.  My legs were feeling just about ok, but I’ve hurt the usual interesting muscle in my right shoulder/back somewhere – as a result of pulling myself up those hills yesterday I guess – so I can’t really look over my right shoulder.  Not ideal, but this too shall pass, and to be honest as after effects go, I was expecting a lot worse.

I don’t listen to music while riding with MiniMe, which means I didn’t have my usual blog title source material.  Being a child of the digital age, and well aware of my blog and such things, he asked to be allowed to choose this entry’s title.  No sooner said than done.  I thoroughly approve, and I also like the track.  Looks like he likes riding almost as much as me.  Not to mention also having good taste in music 😉 *grin*.

Cycling time: 00:50:53 hrs
Distance: 12.57 miles
AVS: 14.8 mph.
ODO: 12893 miles

My kind of love

Poor George.  The last few times we’ve ridden she has definitely not had the best of me.  Not so much on the riding front, but on the not feeling great and therefore quite grumpy front.  Sorry!  I’d like to think I got better as the painkillers cut in though…well, in so far as they’re working today, which is not an 100% successful thing.  Anyway…

The weather has been great for days, and if the forecasters are to believed (which is always possible) it’s due to break any day now.  Which is inevitable considering that I’m doing The Joker on Sunday.  They may have a point though, in that today kept the lovely sunshine but threw in a nasty and unexpectedly chilly wind, which meant that as I waited for George outside the New Inn at Cross, I had to dig out my gilet from my saddle bag and put it on.  I didn’t regret that either, as it didn’t get much warmer for the whole ride.

George suggested we did the seaside which I know I’ve done frequently of late, but this would be clockwise which of course is a completely different kettle of fish, whole new ballgame, or some other metaphor to imply that this makes repeating myself ok.  Besides which, as mentioned, I wasn’t really in the mood for decisions and just wanted to take it easy and ride in the sun for a couple of hours.

So we did.  I’ll give you the Strava version of our route, as Bella (GB‘s suggested name for the Garmin) had a floop around our coffee stop vis-a-vis satellites, and got herself into quite a tizzy what with beeping and buttons and the like.  Actually I’m not sure Bella is the right name for her, though it may stick anyway in the absence of anything else, as it just makes me think of a large blue Tweenie.

Bella

This is probably a fairly good way to figure out my age.  I am far too old to have been watching them legitimately – ie as part of their target audience – so I must therefore have been forced to watch them as their antics sedated my offspring.  Grateful for the effect but despairing at what my life had been reduced to *grin*.  I am therefore of a certain age ;).  I bet every parent out there knows that feeling though – even if the Tweenies was not your drug of choice.  Teletubbies?  Thomas the Tank Engine?  The Flumps?… I could go on, but last time I checked this was a cycling blog.  Besides which it has just occurred to me that Bella is blue, so maybe it’s not such a bad name for the new toy.  Just for comparison’s sake, here’s Bella’s route on Garmin too.

Following on from my grumpy email to the New Castle Inn following Tuesday’s ride – yes I did send one – I was informed by reply that at this time of the year they only open from Thursday to Sunday, so I knew it would be open today.  We had a brief chat as I ordered coffee and apparently they don’t put their opening hours on the website because then they would need keeping up to date, but if you call them before you leave and they don’t answer the phone then they’re not open.  Hm.  It’s not hard to keep a website up to date you know (or to spellcheck its content either!), lots of other cafés manage it, and that’s not the world’s most satisfactory response.  Still at least today they were open and serving, so we sipped and gossiped, as you do.  I wonder why gossiped only has one ‘p’ and sipped has two?  Should we ask Bob for a ‘p’ please?  Hm.  The vagaries of language.

Time to head off again, into the still really chilly air.  Bitter for a while in fact, especially along the seafront.  A little less wind than that on Sunday would be nice, just in case anyone influential is listening.  However it was still better to be out there, than in one of these though:

My winter tyres are a couple of years old and getting on for well past their best.  Not so much when it comes to tread, but I think they may actually be perishing.  Doing another sportive on them might well be pushing it so I persuaded t’other half to put my summer tyres back on this morning, on the basis that I should get a ride in on them just in case there was a problem, with enough time in hand to resolve such a problem if necessary.  Plus if I changed them I might brake a fingernail or chip my manicure right? *grin*.  As it turns out they were as lovely as ever, and very happy to be rolling along in the sun :).  Plus the blue stripes makes my bike look even more swish ;).

I took George back home over the new bridge which, since she hadn’t realised it had ever been closed, lessened its impact somewhat.  But hey, I still like it *grin*.  I love being told to go “slow” going up hill, I love the implication that there’s any other way!  ;).

We came home up Winscombe Hill where I equalled my Strava time and maintained my QOM status.  Not bad but…dagnamit, I wanted to beat it!  I guess I should have tried harder then, right?  Next time… *grrr*.

Cycling time: 1:53:03 hrs
Distance: 28.5 miles
AVS: 15.1 mph.
ODO: 12814 miles

Not the fastest ride ever, but George did ask me to go slower after we set off, which is good for the ego, and makes a perfect excuse.  Thanks George! *grin*

Walk in the sun

Each to their own right?  Today is my birthday.  I saw it coming, as you do, and I couldn’t think of any better way to enjoy my day than to go ride my bike.  I realise this wouldn’t float everyone’s boat, but it does mine.  Especially when the sun is shining and it turns out to be 20C out there.  What’s not to love?  So I took to the usual social media channels, told the world what I was planning to do, if not why, and garnered myself some company.  As if my birthday wasn’t good excuse enough, one of my birthday presents is, as I have a new toy, and you can’t get a new toy and not play with it, right? ;).

Such gorgeous weather :D.  Sun, blue skies…  My birthday is often blessed with beau temps, which is nice.  Layers, what layers?  Just the one all over, thank you.  A singularity of lycra?  I arrived in the Square at 10:00am and met up with the Tor 2000 race snake that is Mike, and some of the Mendip Cycling Club – namely Keith, Nick and Paul.  As you probably know by now, I get a bit nervous about riding with new people, but I needn’t have worried as they turned out to be a really nice bunch.  *phew*!

Where does one go when it’s sunny?  The seaside of course.  In fact exactly the same route I did two weeks ago because I enjoyed it then and I was too lazy to come up with anything new ;).  But there’s bound to be another reason right?  Oh yes, shallow, predictable, competitive me…there’s Strava.  Hills to beat myself up over, in both senses of the phrase *grin*.  I didn’t break any of my Shipham records, but it did feel easier, which was a tad irritating, so I shall put it down to not trying very hard and to being in new company, and…oh who cares, right? *grin*.

They’ve cut back all the trees at the top of Shipham.  Which may make it less dark and foreboding up there, but I’m not sure that’s sufficient justification.  There’s been a lot of arboreal destruction going on around here, which makes me sad.  I like trees.  Trees take a long time to get to being big enough to be “annoying”, and then just like that they’re gone.  Bet they don’t get replaced either.  If only there were Ents..they’d never let it happen!  Right.  Mini-rant over.

Time to go and be beside the seaside, via the continuing excitement that is the new bridge, and endless lovely flat country roads, enjoying riding my bike in the sunshine.  There are far worse ways to spend a Tuesday morning :).


After showing the new guys the wonders of North Somerset, including the rarity of the tide being in at Sand Bay, I was hoping for coffee at the New Castle Inn and was quite irritated to discover that it was closed.  The website, which I checked last night, implied that it would be open.  I foresee a grumpy email going their way…  The next café along, the name of which temporarily escapes me, is being totally redone, so that was out too.  I was starting to feel guilty for dragging all these people along from stop to stop with no refreshment – oops!  However one thing Weston has is cafés, although arguably this is a question of quantity over quality ;).  We ended up sitting outside the Victorian Café on the sea front, in the sun.  Which definitely wasn’t the end of the world, and had the advantage of meaning we didn’t have to be more than a few feet away from our precious steeds which, as we all know, is very important.

I think that even the bikes could have been accused of sunbathing…

I’m going to be uncharitable now…so please bear with me.  But I think the following picture kinda sums up Weston.  It has the traditional seaside (donkeys), the revamped and refurbished and regenerated (the pier), and then large chunks of ugliness still lurking around in between (the lorry).  There you are, a ride that comes with a photo that is a metaphor for the state of Weston.  Get me ;).

Mike, Keith, Nick and Paul

Mike, though off work, was still working.  I know how that goes.  But still, today has to qualify as a pretty good day at the office right? *grin*.

From Easter onwards Weston becomes a place to treat with even greater caution, to only ride through at quiet times, keeping an extra eye out for motorists not paying attention to anything other than where to park the car.  We’re not quite there yet, but with the sun out, we’re not far off, and the hordes were descending…!  SMIDSY could be designed for the stretch of sea front road along to Uphill…

So.  Time to put the grockles behind us and to go cycle up some more hills right?  Bleadon Hill first.  Remember this strange tree?  Well it looks a lot better in the sunshine let me tell you :).

I was having such fun.  The hills weren’t hurting, the downs were great, the sun was shining…just fabulous.  Very, very, happy birthday girl :).

me and my shadow 😉

The views from Loxton were lovely, and I bet I was happier out there on my bike than all those people in little tin boxes flying along the motorway too.  Happier, and by the sounds of it, a little smug too ;).

Just a couple more hills to go then, an announcement which elicited the odd groan out of my merry band.  Not from Mike though, who still eats such things for breakfast.  So it was up the hill to Banwell Castle, and down the fast main road, just so as to get me to the bottom of Winscombe Hill in the right place to try and get to the top in a better time than before.  And I did – I beat my previous QOM title.  ‘Rah!  I believe I’ve mentioned that small things please small minds right? 😉  Well I was pleased *grin*.  In fact Strava says I did pretty well all ’round today :).  I certainly enjoyed my final sprint down the bypass – made all that climbing well worth it – *flies in teeth*.

But that’s Strava.  Which is all very well.  But the Strava phone lives in the back pocket, or the saddle bag.  My fabulous new toy is there in front of me, telling me everything I want to know.  Ok, so I haven’t got the hang of it yet, and there’s some beeping going on to do with laps that I need to figure out, and so on…but it rocks 🙂  Can’t accuse me of over-recording now, not with all that lovely GPS data.  I wonder if I should give it a name?  See here for all my lovely shiny stats, downloaded like a dream, which I can no doubt over analyse until the cows come home :).

It was a truly great ride.  Thanks to everyone for coming out and keeping me company – it was good to finally meet you, and equally good to catch up with Mike who I’ve not ridden with in an age.  Mostly because he’s too fast!  After a couple of days that almost passed for rest days I guess my legs were raring to go.  Maybe they would have been anyway, as I’m so easily motivated by sunshine.  It really does make all the difference.  Besides it’s a lovely route, with flat and hills and scenery, and I got to ride it in company and drink coffee.  Miles and miles of smiles :D.  And probably burgeoning tan lines too – bonus!  It was almost a shame to come home, and it was certainly tempting not to…but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, right?  Does that count for gadgets too? 😉  It’s a wonder there’s room for anything else in my pockets/saddle bag!

Cycling time: 2:08:59 hrs
Distance: 33.94 miles
AVS: 15.8 mph.
ODO: 12786 miles

Back to my birthday.  Well, it is a day that’s all about me, right? :P.  I was right about riding, it was a mighty fine way to celebrate.  And you can’t half tell I’m a cyclist if you look at my lovely gifts:  I have a digital weather station – so that I know what temperature it is out there, what the forecast is, and how many layers to put on.  There’s the gorgeous Garmin of course, which even colour co-ordinates with my bike.  Cycling books: Put me back on my bike, and The Tour is Won on the Alpe (thanks GB!) to read and to motivate me.  Donations towards my awesome new cycling shoes – bought to go with the new bike that I don’t yet have.  And some new music to listen to whilst on the bike.  OK, so there are a couple of exceptions to the cycling rule but…well, you get the general idea.  Happy Birthday to me :).

(PS: If you fancy listening to this entry’s eponymous song, it’s here, and it’s lovely).

 

Cuts like a knife

It’s windy out there.  It may be kinda sunny, it may be fairly mild, but that easterly wind?  Nasty.  And such conditions do not make layer choice any easier.  I took myself down to George’s in my long sleeve winter jersey with a windproof jacket over the top.

I was already not totally feeling the love by the time I got there.  It just all felt a bit like hard work and that wind was proving troublesome.  Not a great start.  I got there before she did – it’s a school run thing – and was glad of the opportunity to take the arms off the jacket, as I hate being too warm on the bike.  I left the route down to George, with a request that it not be too challenging, and we took advantage of the Spring sunshine to visit the seaside at Burnham-on-Sea.

That’s some sticky looking mud out there.  I remember losing wellies in mud like that. Mud, mud, glorious mud :).  Considering how much the tidal range of the Severn limits sailing opportunities I bet some of these boats never actually go anywhere.  But they look pretty right? ;).

The long stretch along the coast road to Brean was pure slog, with far too much traffic.  The season starts down there on March 31st, and there was a lot of pre-season cleaning and preparation going on as all those businesses that have been closed for months prepare to try and earn as much money as possible in the short space of time they’re given.  Silly season is on the way.  I made a mental note to do my best to avoid the area until about October…

Home into the wind via Bleadon, Christon and Winscombe Hill, where there was nothing for it but to plod up.  Plus, having started from a different point on the hill to usual, I figured Strava wouldn’t be comparing my time so I had no challenge to beat *grin*.  Me, competitive? ;).

 

Sun, daffodils, clocks going forward this weekend…anyone would think Summer Time was coming ;).

Cycling time: 2:17:53 hrs
Distance: 34.2 miles
AVS: 14.9 mph.
ODO: 12715 miles

It would be easy to blame the wind for today’s average performance, but I think it was just one of the ingredients in the mix.  I was riding with George, which always feels like hard work but turns out to be slow, possibly due to the amount of nattering going on.  Mind you, she’s always been better than me ever since I started out, so I think I feel that keeping up with her should be a struggle…so I make it feel like one even if it isn’t!  Cycling is mental remember?

I may have managed to eat enough to get me through the Lionheart, but I don’t think I’ve done enough since on the recovery front.  My legs were feeling pretty heavy and there wasn’t a lot in the tank.  And even dosed up with painkillers the niggle was, and is, cutting through.  Too much going on all ’round if you ask me.  Must do better!

On the upside this year’s March mileage total is already greater than last year’s, and I got to ride for a couple of hours with a friend in what was practically sunshine.  Could most definitely be worse :).

Mothers' Day daffodils

You can’t always get what you want

After a few glasses of wine last night, what my body wanted to do today was to roll over and go back to sleep.  However considering what I do to my body on a regular basis, it often believes it has basis for complaint, and if I listened to it when it was complaining, then I’d never get on my bike.  I’m in charge right?  And I wanted to go ride the bike.  I wanted to find out how I was feeling post-Lionheart, I wanted to get out of the house and blow the cobwebs away, and I didn’t want to go to the gym.  Body over-ruled.

I figured I’d just do the usual kind of loop, take it easy, and please myself, which is pretty much what I did.  I didn’t push it and if I felt myself doing so I made myself ease off a bit.  I did the odd lump because all flat is boring, but nothing particularly notable, and I took those easy.  Even knowing that Strava was recording away in the background didn’t make me go up Mudgeley Hill faster.  How restrained of me ;).  I stopped when I wanted to, took which ever turnings appealed to me, and took photos as I went, so I guess this is more of a photo diary than a blog, but hey, pictures painting words and so on…

Let’s start with the lay-by on the bypass which, being resident here, I never stop at.  So I did.

MHAONB sign

view to Brent Knoll

Nice views from up there, and a shiny new Mendip Hills AONB gateway sign.  Who knew?

Time to go get some miles in and get those initial 20 minutes when you’re not warmed up other than in a feeling like death warmed up fashion and just feel rubbish.  Today was no exception, and possibly worse than sometimes.  Sweating those toxins out right?  It was mild and grey out there, but with rather too much wind for my liking, especially on the Levels.  Not so long ago I showed you fields of swans.  Today you get pigs.  Variety and so forth.  Cute pigs too, as these things go :).

free range pigs

It was the kind of wind that when you turned a corner and found yourself straight into it you had to instantly drop down a gear (or two).  Not ideal.  And possibly even more annoying when it was coming at me from the side.  As you can see, there’s nowhere to hide out there…

However much of a hindrance the wind was, and it really was, it was worth it for the help it became once it was behind me.  I got to fly around the long straights towards Mudgeley Hill at silly speeds without even trying.  Much fun.  I definitely did my loop the right way ’round today 🙂  Talking of Mudgeley Hill – here it is.  They’ve cut back some vegetation somewhere around there and you can now see all of it from a long way off.  Not that it’s a massive hill or anything.  It’s not an Alp right?  But is that better or worse do you think?  Do you prefer to see what you’re about to face, or do you prefer not to know?

I climbed the hill.  Slowly.  My legs wanted me to know that they would cheerfully have not gone up hill and weren’t best pleased at being made to do so, but I told them to shut up, and got on with it, which worked surprisingly well.   Then all I had to do was head home via Wedmore and the Nyland loop.  Easy.  One of the nice things about Strava is that it knows where I’ve been and draws the route map for me, so I don’t have to try and figure that out for you when I get in.  I’m lazy ;).

Cycling time: 2:03:32 hrs
Distance: 32.4 miles
AVS: 15.7 mph.
ODO: 12681 miles

One easy recovery ride done.  I’m not saying I would like to, or even could, have ridden a sportive today, but my body, for all it’s early morning complaints, was pretty much on form.  Good to know.  On the layers  front it was all change, and after I’d warmed up, I did the ride in my very lovely, christened by being worn for the first time, Rapha Galibier jersey, and my ever reliable bolero arms.  (Before you tell me off for buying more Rapha – I got the jersey in the winter sale.  Besides, my palmares to allow me to wear it – so there!).  I didn’t have to wear a winter jacket so I guess we’re talking layer in the singular, not layers really.  I can feel the time coming when I can expose my legs to the world once more, as the light at the end of the winter tunnel grows ever closer.  It’s also time I mentioned my Rapha gloves which I’d like you to know that I love more each time I wear them.  They’re so comfy and fit so well it’s almost like you’re not wearing gloves at all :).

So there you go.  It was a nice relaxed ride and I felt much better afterwards.  If you try sometimes, you get what you need, right?.

On the rear window of my car I have a #saveacyclist sticker that says “it’s not a race, give cyclists space”.  Today an elderly gentleman of my acquaintance, on seeing and reading this, informed me that it should be the other way round.  That cyclists should be giving motorists more space.  That in his day cycling used to be about transport, and not fitness, and that he thought the flash kit made cyclists over confident and badly behaved.  That cyclists don’t seem to think the rules of the road apply to them. That motorists give horses space because they don’t expect them to have a brain, and cyclists should have.  Etc.  Oh me, oh my…  I was actually wearing my cycling kit getting ready for today’s ride.  Cycling is what I do.  Clearly I am not about to agree with him…  I merely pointed out that there are few bad apples in any barrel, be they motorists or cyclists, who probably give the rest a bad name.  Other than that I bit my tongue – a lot! – and merely pointed out that this was not a subject we were about to agree on.  Sometimes there’s just no point…but really…*sigh*.

Red Rain

I think I may be living my very own version of Groundhog Day…  This was my view out of the window this morning.  Look familiar at all?

I mean…really?  Fog?  Again?  I was bored of it before…so for variety’s sake this time I opted for being grumpy and unamused instead.  This is not a good frame of mind to be in when you’re contemplating riding the bike, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was riding with someone else – namely George – I’d probably have opted for a session in the nice warm gym instead.  It being her ride, and her route, I didn’t even really know where we were going, other than that it was due to involve hills and Portishead, which again wasn’t all that motivating.  The hills that is, not the Portishead bit, before all you Posset residents take offence.  It’s just with hills I usually get to watch her disappear into the distance whilst I slog along behind her feeling sorry for myself.  Did I mention how crotchety I was feeling? *grin*.

If you want to see my route, you can hit the Strava link and there it will be, in all its glory, though considering that Strava are currently having capacity problems, I can’t guarantee that ;).  It was another chilly, grey, gloomy, foggy, featureless ride.  With my sunglasses relegated to the back pocket and my helmet dripping water onto my face.  Having said that…it wasn’t all that bad.  There were some hills that I haven’t been up in a long time, which is always nice:

  • The fairly gentle climb up past the Walled Garden from Wrington to Redhill, having convinced George that the road around the runway would be mucky and unpleasant.  Well it is at this time of year, right? 😉
  • Wraxall Hill, which is a slog, but which I remember as being worse last time I did it, an improvement aided and abetted no doubt by the nice road surface.
  • The long climb along Nore Road in Portishead, where we waved in Mum & Dad’s direction and wondered where Wales had gone.  Along with the Severn.  MIA.
  • The climb up the initially steep Holly Lane into Clevedon, made easier by the thought of imminent coffee.

At least with the ups you also get the downs, though this was sometimes hairier than usual.  Unfamiliar descents, with limited visibility, damp roads, and very cold hands…ick!  I put my over-gloves on at some point which made all the difference though.  Having shown you a misty pier the other day, I of course leapt at the chance to show you a slightly better version of the same sort of thing. Voila – Clevedon Pier.  Equally atmospheric, but rather more intact.

We had our coffee stop at Tiffin, on the seafront.  Talk about busy!  We were lucky enough to get the last table, and some people ended up outside which, on a day like this, takes some dedication.  The reviews at TripAdvisor may be behind this – it’s clearly very popular, and we may well have been a little under-dressed ;).

George doing what all do when we sit down - check the 'phone!

Mind you, all the coming and going meant people kept opening the (large) door that we were sat next to and letting the cold air in, which ain’t all the pleasant when you’re sitting in clammy lycra.  However that not withstanding, it was all very pleasant.  The staff were friendly, they didn’t flinch at our non-conformist apparel, and they had two types of gluten-free cake – gluten-free being amongst the things I can risk eating.  No guarantees, but it’s safer than most.  My safe sticky ginger cake was nice, if more ginger than sticky, George’s toasted teacake, served with a selection of jams, looked nice, and more importantly the coffee was good.  You know me and my coffee :).  Not the cheapest in the world though – that lot came to £9.90…

So that left me caffeine-fuelled, with my painkillers topped up (yet more caffeine in there) and raring to get home and warm up.  I think the fog had marginally lifted, and the temperature raised likewise, as it wasn’t quite as chilly setting off as it might have been, even when I stopped again for more photos.

George waiting patiently while I take more photos.

George is not going to thank me for all these photos but since she rarely comes out these days, I feel the need to over-compensate for her absence and immortalise her here while I can – so there :P.  We took the fairly direct route home – Yatton, Sandford, Winscombe.  I was going pretty well, and George was kind enough to suggest I’d been towing her around all morning, which is a nice thought, but since her back light is better than mine (the batteries on mine are running out) I think she was really only sitting there for safety reasons ;).

Having been up Winscombe Hill the other day to get my Strava QOM (as you do) I decided we were going back up that way again.  George did try and talk me out of starting at the bottom, but since she’s usually the one making me go up hills, I decided I wasn’t having any of it *grin*.  And I made it up faster today too, so clearly it was all well worthwhile.  Oh dear, oh dear, what is becoming of me…? 😉

George, having had gear problems all day, and not wanting to push her still recuperating knee too much, was a little behind me, so I had time to get the camera out again, and catch her one more time before we went down the bypass to home.  Tee hee hee…*grin*.

I can’t be bothered with multiple sets of stats anymore – so for the time being, these are those from Strava, even if they do make me slower:

Cycling time: 3:06:11 hrs
Distance: 45.1 miles
AVS: 14.5 mph.
ODO: 12544 miles

After all that pre-ride preamble, it went surprisingly well, and I’m very glad I went, as it was good to catch up with George, and riding on my own can get a bit boring.  My legs were feeling pretty good on the flat, but a little less so on a couple of the hills, so I’m thinking it might be wise to take it a little easy over the next couple of days before the Lionheart.  It’s the first 100 miler of the season and it’s inevitably going to be hard work.  It would probably help if I remembered to drink and eat properly too – not easy when the weather is like this, and when I’m not sure what I can eat…  Talking of weather, the forecast is not brilliant, but that’s alright, I don’t need a weather forecast, because I know what it’s going to be like.  Foggy! :D.

Smoke on the water

I am SO bored of fog.  Bring me sunshine, please?  It’s bad enough when you wake up to fog and it burns off just as you get in from a ride, as usually happens, but at the moment it just never seems to go away :(.

more fog...*sigh*

Since I have the Lionheart on Sunday, and a fairly long ride planned on Thursday with George, today I was planning on just doing the usual kind of loop.  You know, taking it easy, enjoying the ride, and coming home.  But the fog makes everything boring.  It is uninspiring.  Featureless, monotonous and drab.  Chilly and damp too.  Not the best for doing a not challenging, not exciting, very predictable, route.  So I decided to do something different.  Sadly I will also have to admit to being minorly motivated by Strava, and hill climbs, and to my competitive side peeping through just a little too…

So I decided to do one of my seaside loops, but one of the ones that includes hills, to spice things up a little.  Starting with my bete noire, which did not go particularly well.  I guess I didn’t push as hard as I could have done, and I definitely slackened off at the top when it became clear that today was not a record breaking day.  Maybe it’s hard to aim for a goal that you can’t see?  Maybe last night’s red wine wasn’t the best form of carb loading?  But 15:12 to the top is not the end of the world, it’s still towards the top of my table, and now it’s on Strava I can compete with me and everyone else, knowing that there’s room for improvement, right? 😉

nearing the top of Shipham Hill

My fog covered sunglasses went into the back pocket, and it was down t’other side to Churchill and round the back roads to Sandford, where I discovered that the road to Puxton was closed.  I was in the process of figuring out what to do about this when the nice (probably very bored at having to sit there all day and manage traffic) man got out of his van, moved the barrier, and gestured me through.  Apparently the way was passable for those on two wheels, as is often the case, if I wanted to use it.  Which clearly I did.  They’re re-laying patches of the road surface so there were a couple of bits where I had to walk and carry the bike, but other than that it was indeed rideable.  And blissful since you know there’s no traffic around to trouble you.  Gotta love closed road events ;).

On to what I was fully expecting to be my next cyclo-cross section – getting up and over the scaffolding bridge at Wick.  But no.  It was not to be!  The temporary bridge had completely gone, and once again I was ushered through.  I was allowed to cycle over the shiny new bridge, which is now open to pedestrians and cyclists if not yet to traffic.  How exciting is that?  Trailblazing!  Well I thought it was exciting.  There’s a lot to be said for novelty value, and precious little of it to be had when you’ve been cycling around here for a few years *grin*.

the new bridge over the railway

I nipped down and took a photo of it afterwards just for you, which was good of me no?  It’s a pretty substantial bit of kit, so I’m thinking that the “Weak Bridge” signs at either end of the road may now well be superfluous…

That's a lot of signs...

The fog continued unabated, along with the associated lack of wind, which did at least help with the flying along feeling.  Or more to the point not hinder it.  Me and my happy legs flew all the way around the wiggly bits, along the straight at Sand Bay, and up the beautifully re-surfaced hill from the Commodore Hotel.  A decent road surface does make it easier, if not easy, if you see what I mean :).  The views, usually so nice from the coast road, were non-existent.  It’s not easy taking photos when everything is being so uniformly boring, but I thought the old pier was looking nice and atmospheric.


It being a grey and miserable day, Weston was a relatively pleasant place to be, in a getting from A to B sense that is.  Not too many eejots in metal boxes, and not that many pedestrian grockles, but still too many traffic lights.  It does amaze me how slowly it is possible to cross the road…I mean really, do you not have places to be?  Candy floss to buy?  Fruit machines to feed?

I do like the long straight seafront section through Weston, mostly because I enjoy the fact that all the cars expect you to be doing no speed at all, whereas actually it’s possible to fair hurtle along there.  You do have to be a bit wary of SMIDSYs misjudging you though…but since it’s wide and fast and flat at least you can usually see them about to be prats even if they haven’t seen you!  Anyway, time to go up some more up, at the appropriately named Uphill, and then over Bleadon Hill proper.  I stopped 3/4 of the way up the latter because I love the way this tree has been allowed to grow around the cables, rather than being cut back completely.   There’s been a lot of tree-hacking going on around here lately, so it’s quite nice to see one left to do its own thing with minimal interference.  It was also time to take the next dose of pills, so two birds with one stone ‘n all that.

I wasn’t finished with hills yet. No siree jim bob.  After another nice descent, and some quiet country lane meandering, I had the option of going right at Loxton and home past the Webbington, but I had time in hand, a two hour rule to stick to, and besides which I was enjoying myself…so I took the left turn.  I don’t like wimping out 🙂  So it was along past Christon, and up the little kick of a hill to Banwell Castle, which can be a stinker but wasn’t too bad today.  Yes, we have a castle.  Kinda.  I gather it probably doesn’t count for castle purists but hey, it’s not like there are that many of them to go around out here, so beggars can’t be choosers ;).  It has peacocks too, but today they were only audible not visible.

Banwell Castle

See basically I’m doing all these ups to get me my downs.  You spotted that right?  OK, so I’m shallow *grin*.  And the down down the main road to Winscombe is a lot of fun :).  That just left me with one more hill to go up; the ever challenging Winscombe Hill.  Plod plod plod.  To be fair hills are much easier when you’ve done them before, because you know you can do them even if it’s going to take a while, and I’ve done this one a fair few times now :).

Once at the top there was a brief lull in proceedings for a quick drink and a foggy photo of the descent…before picking up speed proper and getting my favourite zoom home.  Irritatingly there was just enough wind around to make the bypass slightly underwhelming on the fun front, but such is life :).

As ever, we have the whole compare and contrast joy for my figures, since I haven’t yet completely gone over to the Strava dark side.  Time is coming…  So according to the usual cycling computer – even tweaked to check wheel size – I did this:

Cycling time: 2:13:01 hrs
Distance: 36.73 miles
AVS: 16.5 mph.

According to my route on Strava –  I did this:

Cycling time: 2:13:18 hrs
Distance: 34.0 miles
AVS: 15.3 mph.

ODO 12499

Being as I’m the only girl doing the Strava thing around here I’ve turned into the Queen of the Mountains in about 8 places around here now, which is laughable, but hey, if the crown fits ;).  I think I’d probably have been better off trying to beg, borrow, or steal a Garmin to use for the season, so as to get accurate figures, rather than adding this whole unnecessary competitive element to my riding – comparing myself to all the others out there is not good for my PMA!  It’s not a race, right? 😉