On a day like today, with the sun shining, the wind on my back, the road and the rhynes stretching away in front of me in converging parallels, blue bouncing between water and sky, and green all around, there is nowhere I would rather be than on my bike.  All was so well with the world :).

I had no plan, I just chose roads I like to ride on, and wiggled myself a loop.  I even rode up some hills because secretly (between you and me) I quite like them too.  The aim was to have a good ride, to enjoy it, and not to push it.  But if pushing it is fun then that’s ok, right? 😉  I like going fast when I can, possibly because it makes up for the times when I can’t.  Even fighting the chilly north westerly wind was fun.  Obviously having it behind me was more fun though *grin*.  It has to be the closest you can get to flying, right?

In deference to it being October, and October finally behaving as it should, my winter cycling kit has started emerging.  On with the winter long socks.  On with the winter long tights which are now rather too big, which is good because they don’t constrict my knee, but bad because they’re baggy elsewhere.  On with the layers, where baggy is less of a problem.  I pretty much got it right, in that I had to stop after a while to take off the jacket arms and a buff, but that was it.  I haven’t really got the hang of winter dressing yet, since I think I’m pretending that winter isn’t happening, but that was a fairly good start.  I really could use a whole new set of winter cycling layers and gear since mine are either old, too big, or both, but, in the absence of a lottery win, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Cycling time: 2:02:31 hrs
Distance: 33.26 miles.
Avs: 16.2 mph
ODO: 10616 miles

So there you go, that was my ride.  And it was a good one :).  I need to hold on to the memory of such rides in the dark depressing days ahead when riding is far from fun ;).  To help me focus beyond the winter, I’ve started planning next year’s events.  It’s hard because a lot of the dates aren’t out yet, and I have done an awful lot of the events around here, but so far I’m signed up for the Mad March Hare (4th time around), the Tour of Pembrokeshire (having met the lovely guys behind it on Saturday), and next year’s biggie – the Maratona dles Dolomites.  Today they released the 2012 Etape routes – two again – and if I wasn’t already committed I’d be doing Acte 2 and continuing my box ticking trend by adding the Tourmalet to my list.  OK, I could fit it in the schedule, but there’s no way I’d get away with that on top of the Maratona! *grin*.  Etape 2013 I reckon – Ventoux maybe?

Just for fun, I’m going to compare myself to a supermodel.  Well it’s not something I get to do very often *grin*.  Linda Evangelista was once misquoted as saying that she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 dollars.  In similar fashion, I find it hard to see the point of going for a ride that’s less than two hours long.  However, that said, considering that I was just out for a pre-event spin, there’s no need for those two hours to be hilly or challenging, so I dug out my flattest route possible and headed out a bit after 10:00am.

It was quite tempting not to go to be fair, what with it being grey, windy, and occasionally drizzly.  However I’ve been to the gym a lot of late, which does get a tad boring, and it’s not like the weather is going to get better from here on in, so I made myself.  I layered up, doing my best not to wear anything I might need on Sunday, which I just about managed, barring gloves and socks.  Which reminds me, I should be putting the washing machine on…

Anyway, I think the guys from BBC Weather should go back to Weather school.  Or Meteorological College.  Or wherever it is that such people go to learn how to make consistently unreliable guesses as to what the weather may or may not do.  Temperature, check.  Clouds, check.  Wind from the NW?  Yeah right.  And don’t give me any of that “two out of three ain’t bad” rubbish.  West I’ll give you, and more than there should have been, but definitely no N, and quite possible some S instead.  Considering that I’d planned my route partially around the forecast, I was less than amused.  It did not make cycling down the A38 any more pleasant, I can tell you that for free.  But it’s swings and roundabouts with wind, and when you find yourself doing 25mph down the main Wedmore – Glastonbury road, you know where the wind is! *grin*.

Probably thanks to the wind I was one of those auditory hallucination days – you know, the ones where you’re constantly convinced that there’s a car behind you but 99% of the time when you look behind you there isn’t? Still, better safe than sorry, right? :).  As it turns out, I did more over-taking other cyclists than being over taken by cars.  However, you know those moments when a car comes past you oddly slowly?  There were a couple of those today.  You know that 5 minutes ago they’d marked you down as a cyclist, an annoying slow obstacle to be overtaken, and were planning on hurtling past you.  However as it turns out that you’re doing 20+ miles an hour and actually they’re creeping past looking a tad sheepish *grin*.  Is it just me that finds that amusing?

I don’t know what happened, as I didn’t feel like I was going that fast, what with the wind to fight, and bearing in mind that I should just be spinning my legs.  I had to add the odd bit to the loop as it became clear that two hours was over-estimating it, but no matter what I did, without being daft and adding something gratuitous like cycling up the bypass, I had clearly dragged myself out of bed for less than $10,000 ;).

As I came back up Upper New Road from Cheddar, I came very very close to becoming an ex-cyclist.  An ex-everything actually.  Out of nowhere a small metallic blue car swerved round me so close and so fast…  I reckon he’d not seen me at all and had had to swerve at the last, but luckily not my last, minute.  At something like 50mph on a 30mph road.  30 seconds later there would also have been a car coming in the opposite direction.  A whole lot of luck going on there…  I may have called him a twit.  May have.  It’s odd though because I didn’t bother with being that cross or shaken up.  Well let’s face it, by the time I was aware of it, I was already still alive, and I tend to think that that’s a good thing :).  It does make you think though…

Cycling time: 1:52:11 hrs
Distance: 34.05 miles.
Avs: 18.1 mph
ODO: 10443 miles

Oh dear.  It doesn’t look like I was tapering very well does it?  *grin*.  I can’t explain it.  It was very flat, and the wind was behind me for while but then, as is ever the way with circular routes, it was also in my face for a while.  Maybe I’m just faster now.  As long as there are no hills involved that is, so I’m doomed come Sunday ;).

Back to the supermodel thing.  Since there is a little less of me than there was, I can now see that the end of my right collar bone is definitely knobblier than my left one.  That’ll be what happens when you land on it once (or twice!) too often ;).  Mind you, even if I was as skinny as one of them, I’d need stretching a good 8 inches top to toe! 🙂  There endeth my supermodel dreams *grin*.

Today was the first of two planned rides before this weekend’s Etape Cymru.  Since I should, apparently, be tapering and taking it easy, I just did variations on the usual training loop.  It was grey and windy with both drizzle and sunshine to add variety to life.  Fairly autumnal really, especially the state of the roads, but at least it wasn’t too cold.  I felt like I was flying along, and I probably was, but the wind was fairly strong on the way out – my average definitely went up on the way back, and that’s even with Mudgeley Hill thrown in for good measure.  OK, I’ll admit it, I wasn’t taking it all that easy *grin*, but it was feeling easy, if that makes sense.  It’s just that as the year gets older and the weather gets colder, every ride that turns out to be going well feels like one that I should make the most of and enjoy to the fullest, because I know that at some point cold, hard work, and miserable is going to cut in.  Carpe diem and all that latin jazz ;).

Cycling time: 2:04:13 hrs
Distance: 33.93 miles.
Avs: 16.3 mph
ODO: 10410 miles

I bumped into an acquaintance of mine the other day who commented that she hadn’t seen me in ages.  By way of explanation I mentioned that I’d pretty much given up drinking so wasn’t out much these days – reference only to the fact that the main, if not only, place we used to bump into each other was in one or other, if not both, of the local pubs.  I then got a whole stream of commentary on how she isn’t drinking so much these days, has cut back, blah blah blah, *yawn*.  I wish people would realise that my not drinking is not a comment on their drinking, it’s just a choice I’ve made for me.  It means I cycle better, and also that I weigh less, which helps me cycle even better.  Win win win!

I am British, so I shall talk about the weather.  It’s my patriotic duty.  Or something.  Anyway I think you will find it is most unseasonable, yet eminently suitable for riding a bike.  Blue skies, mid 20Cs, and uninterrupted sunshine.  OK, if I was being churlish a little less wind would have been nice, but in order for it to be a help at some point it has to be a hindrance at some point too, and they do say perfection is unattainable.  I don’t think anyone has told Gaia that it’s practically October.  (ssh, say it very quietly, as I’m hoping it lasts until Sunday at least).

With Sunday’s sportive in mind, today’s ride should have been a nice easy one.  GB and I did the usual trip to Glastonbury for very good coffee and predictable chaos.  Very appropriate considering the Gaia reference.  By the way, can you have predictable chaos?  If it’s predictable is it less chaotic?  Does the Observer effect come into play? Are the residents merely players with Glastonbury the stage?  I do know what I expect from a visit there and it never disappoints, although there was a distinct lack of fairy wings today ;).

As mentioned before, the wind was stronger than expected, and it was from the SE, which is where Fairyland is.  However that meant it was behind us for the majority of the way home, which is just the way I like it.  We wiggled a little more than usual on the way out to avoid the traffic, as thanks to the sun everyone is driving their little tin boxes around.  On the way back we wiggled just to avoid anything that might possibly have inclinations to be an incline.  See I’m tapering (allegedly) and he has a nasty lurgy (but still made it all look rather too easy).  Them’s our excuses and we’re sticking to them.  Mind you I wish I cycled half that well when I felt half that bad! *sigh*.  Yes yes, I know it’s not a race, but…  well…  it is, just a little bit… *grin*.  Only because I want to be better, and I keep thinking maybe I’m getting better, and then being firmly reminded that I should know my limits and play with kittens and things.

Cycling time: 2:14:41 hrs
Distance: 39.01 miles.
Avs: 17.4 mph
ODO: 10278 miles

It was a most enjoyable ride.  Partly because of the thought of all those people who were not doing what we were.  I suspect a large number of those clogging up our roads were “working from home”, or “ill”.  Clearly we can’t blame them, it’s just that we happened to be out there legitimately and didn’t feel like sharing our roads with them!  Ok, so I may have skipped the lesson on sharing at nursery… 😉  As you can see from the average speed we weren’t hanging around and savouring the weather though, in fact we were flying along.  So I may not be as good as GB, but I’m definitely considerably better than I was, and that’ll have to do me. We had fun, in the sun, rather faster than may have been wise, but fast enough to have been a lot of, well, fun! 🙂

I’ve had so much time away lately, and there’s been so much going on, that every time I get back on the bike it feels like it’s been forever since the last time.  Today’s ride was no exception, and as ever, it was just lovely to be back on the bike.  It’s not good for my head to be away from it too long, but I always forget that that’s what missing in the interim, so when I’m finally riding again there’s this massive sigh of relief and a feeling of coming home.  Did I mention lately that I love my bike?  Of course the fact that we’re in the middle of an unseasonable mini heat wave, where the temperatures are in the mid 20s and it feels like summer, certainly helped make the ride more enjoyable ;).

Today’s ride was by way of being a hospital visit, albeit one where the patient is actually back home, and the coffee is decent.  George has had knee surgery and is at home recovering.  Left to her own devices she’d probably be painting the house, so making her sit down and drink coffee is probably a good thing to do.  I made myself a loop that got me there about halfway through – at which point I’d covered 20 miles at 17mph, which just goes to show I was pushing it a bit, and really enjoying being out in the sun.  The return leg was a little slower, what with going around the back of Christon and back up Winscombe Hill.  Well there has to be at least one hill, right?  And going up Winscombe Hill is getting to be a bit of a habit.  I may even get good at it one day :).

Cycling time: 2:00:10 hrs
Distance: 33.87 miles.
Avs: 16.8 mph
ODO: 10239 miles

It was a lovely ride, even though I was pushing it harder than I ought to have been in the week before a sportive.  How can you not when the weather is like this?  Life is due to be a little quieter from here on in so I’m looking forward to getting my focus back on my cycling, and to enjoying those the next two sportives.  It feels like a very long time since the last event even if it isn’t really, which isn’t good for my confidence levels, so I really hope they go well.  If the weather could be like this for them it would be fantastic wouldn’t it?  However it seems unlikely – it will be October by then after all, and we all know that I can make it rain just by threatening to attend an event *grin*.

The greens are turning gold, the wind is blowing cold, the year is growing old…

…but there are still two sportives to go!  Having not been out on the bike as much as I would like in the last month or so, I’ve been feeling a little less confident in my ability to do the miles, especially as all my recent rides have been in that 2 – 2  1/2 hour/30+miles band.  In order to set myself up right mentally for those events, I needed to get a long ride in and today was the day.

As it turns out, rather longer than I had planned.  Due to various reasons, youngest was a piece of unprinted homework short this morning.  Pointing this out 30 seconds before she was due to walk out of the door was possibly not the time to do so, and there was nothing to be done about it.  However I had an unprecedented fit of parental generosity and decided to print it out and get it to her on my way to ride.  So I printed it.  Carefully rolled it up in a plastic envelope.  Put in safely my back pocket and rode to Mim’s…by which point it had vanished.  Being as I was early, I turned tail and retraced my route.  No joy.  I got all the way home and printed it out again, rolled it up in yet another plastic envelope, stuffed it down my jersey this time, arranged to meet Mim at the school, set off again, found the old one on the way back, slightly trashed (typical!), and finally got her homework to the school for her, hopefully in time.  Which meant that by the time I met Mim I’d already done half an hour’s riding, rather faster than usual!  But hey, youngest will thank me, right? ;).

Having finally met up, our departure was further delayed by an unpredicted heavy rain shower, so we stood under a tree and contemplated the wisdom of going for a ride at all since the gods did not seem entirely on my side.  However the rain passed, and we were all dressed up (in lycra obviously) with somewhere to go, so we did.  Go that is.

And this is where we went.  If joining the dots is more your kind of thing then it goes Cheddar, Wedmore, Shapwick, High Ham Hill, Pitney, Somerton, Butleigh, Glastonbury, Wells, Old Bristol Road to Priddy, Cheddar Gorge and home.  762 metres of climbing, so not flat.  I’m trying to make a point of going up hills I would normally avoid, hence the Old Bristol Road climb which is a properly long slog and made High Ham look piddly.  The sun came out eventually, and the initially merely irritating wind got much worse, turning Cheddar Gorge into a very unpleasant wind tunnel.  Pedalling down the Gorge, with wet tarmac and unpredictable gusty side winds?  Nice.  Not.  Thanks go to the (probably) LEJOG cyclists that held up the traffic behind me for a bit, and then to the car that did get behind me for keeping a properly respectful distance and not adding to my heebie jeebies!

It all went pretty much according to plan.  I made it up the hills, and enjoyed going down them – with the exception of the Gorge of course.  Mim did have a tendency to half wheel or hurtle off and leave me behind – and she’s clearly not keen for me to be in the front even when I can be.  Still I guess it’s good for her to be better than me, and good for me to try and keep up with her, so it all worked out 🙂

Cycling time: 3:53:11 hrs
Distance: 61.86 miles.
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 10205 miles

Not bad.  Same speed as the other day, even when faced with more wind and bigger hills.  I definitely feel more set now, which will help massively when it comes to those events.  As long as I remember to eat and drink properly I’ll be fine :).

After getting soaked to the skin last week, today’s weather forecast was not filling me with the joys of Spring.  Unsurprising when you consider that it’s actually Autumn…  As a result Mim and I agreed to check in by text this morning and decide what to do.  Although heavy rain was forecast the day dawned grey but dry so we decided to go out anyway, and just dress appropriately.  Yes, as ever, that means layers.  Which is tricky when you’re dressing for rain but it’s not actually cold.  I compromised and wore a long sleeve jersey with my gilet over the top, having stuffed its detachable sleeves in the saddle bag just in case.  As strategies go, it pretty much worked.  It was a little too hot going up hills, but stopped me from getting chilly going down them, and it was handy when the wind blew and the rain threatened which, luckily, was all it ever really did.

We did the usual kind of making it up as we go along and wiggling around to get us to the seafront at Weston, and came back over the big Bleadon Hill again, which is getting to be a bit of a habit.  Mim did the usual leaving me for dust going up hill thing, which nicely put me back in my place.  Can’t have me getting ideas above my station *grin*.  So, it was a non-eventful, hillier than it might have been, mostly dry ride.  We’re planning on doing a long one on Thursday morning as I need push that mental barrier a bit before doing the next two sportives.

Cycling time: 2:06:40 hrs
Distance: 33.40 miles.
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 10143 miles

I’m getting on very well with my bike at the moment.  I think it likes the fact that there is a little less of me.  (Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to have noticed *grin*).  It must be easier for me to get around weighing less, with presumably a better muscle/weight ratio and I think maybe it affects my centre of gravity?  I’m not sure how it works, and I’m sure there’s some very sensible explanation, but the bike definitely seems to be handling better, and we’re having a lot of fun together :).

OMG, I have just totally kicked arse!

Here’s my route. As you can see, if you bothered looking, it’s not flat.  Intentionally so because I need to be doing some hills to compensate for the lack of miles of late.  Besides which, I’ve decided I quite like hills.  Only quite you understand ;).  And with the weather being fairly still and sunny, with added autumnal chill in the air, it seemed like a good day for it.

So, let’s start with Shipham Hill.  Get the biggest hill out of the way first thing, right?  I pushed all the way to get there, and I pushed all the way to the top and….total result!  13:55!! That beats my previous PB by 35 seconds!!!!!  Can you tell by the number of exclamation marks how chuffed I am with that? 😀

From there I went down to Churchill, along to Sandford, and over to Kewstoke.  Hurtling along all the way, not letting myself let up.  One of those days when you look down and expect to be doing 18mph but you’re actually doing 20mph+!  Up the kicker by the Commodore Hotel.  Down into Weston.  Through Uphill, straight over and up Bleadon Hill, with the lovely descent slightly marred by an irritating elderly person in a silver Ford Focus who was clearly even more scared going downhill than I used to be!  Over the littler Bleadon Hill.  Up through Loxton and along the pretty way through Christon, before going along Barton road and up Winscombe Hill again.  See, look at all those hills?  Well, it’s quite a lot of hills for me anyway.  But that’s not the best bit.  Oh no.  Wait for it…

Cycling time: 2:04:56 hrs
Distance: 35.53 miles.
Avs: 17.0 mph
ODO: 10110 miles

OMG!  Have you seen my average speed?  And that’s on a hilly ride!  There’s nothing for it, I’m just going to have to say it, I rock! *grin*.  I’m also oddly pleased by how binary my odometer reading is.  But that would be my inner geek peeping out again so I’m just going to ignore that. 😉

(In case you were wondering the answer is 22, and if you actually were wondering that makes you almost as much of a geek as me *grin*).