Ok, so I’m a week behind schedule, but there’s little to be done about that, so let’s move on.  Today dawned sunny and bright, and a tad chilly.  There was ice on my car…which did worry me slightly, can’t imagine why.  However the forecast was for more of the same, and I figured if I left going out until 10.00am I’d probably be alright and, luckily, I was.

It was just me today.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been out on my own on the bike and I’d forgotten how nice it can be.  No-one to try and keep up with, no-one to get out of breath chatting to, no-one else to worry about.  Just me.  It’s also my favourite way to do hills which is what I had planned for today.  Yes – two hilly rides in a row – I know.  Aren’t I a good girl? 😉

First off – Shipham Hill.  Which is a good way to warm up.  From my door to the top of the hill (before the café) took 17:45 which I guess is a good place to benchmark to see if I get better as the season progresses.  I plodded my way up fairly comfortably, which was nice.  From there I went down into Shipham, down to Churchill, wiggled briefly and then went up Burrington Coombe.  Which took quite a long time, as it does.  It wasn’t as busy as sometimes, though the size of some of the lorries that go up there still defies belief.  Again, more plodding.  For the aforementioned quite a long time.  Which is what I need to be doing for training purposes, so that’s ok.  Once finally there, it was gorgeous on top of the Mendips – winter sunshine, roads that were verging on dry from time to time, stunning views, peace and quiet (ish).  I even had to shout at a pheasant to get it out of the road.  Well – I was going quite fast and didn’t want to brake *grin*.

From the top I went along the long straight but not flat road where some eejot in a black 4×4 coming the other way simply had to overtake something impeding his progress towards a no doubt vitally important engagement…and cut it extremely fine getting back into his own lane.  I’m afraid I made an impolite hand gesture in his direction…  If I was feeling charitable, I could suggest that I was probably going faster than he’s used to thinking that cyclists go, so he may have genuinely misjudged it.  On the other hand, maybe he’s just a prize prat…  And prat really isn’t the word I wanted to use there.

So on to join the Old Bristol Road at the Ploughboy Inn.  Which made me think of the Pillsbury Doughboy for some reason.  This is the kind of thing the brain does as it’s waiting for the traffic lights to change…  Then on to plod up the final stretch to the aerial before doing my best to enjoy the long downhill into Wells.  I tried.  And I held off the brakes more than sometimes, and more than I would have done on Sunday.  So it was a relatively good downhill.  Mind you it wasn’t half cold going downhill for so long…  So I still prefer uphills…kinda.  It’s all relative.  Talking of which, I called my other, and some would say better, half from outside his office in Wookey and summoned both him and coffee to join me in the sunshine for a bit, which was nice.  And which also warmed me up a bit 🙂

Thus caffeine-fuelled I went fairly directly home, albeit via Wedmore.  The road surface at the Wells end of that road is atrocious – I must remember to avoid it.  You end up feeling like you’ve been pneumatic drilling.  Still other than that the road was oddly nice and quiet, the traffic clearly having other places to be, and I pootled my way home in the sunshine.

It was a nice uneventful sunny ride.  I did hills.  I did miles.  My knee was pretty  much ok for a change.  Upon my return I drank Recovery (reserved for long or hilly rides).  I even washed my bike.  Look at me go! 🙂

Cycling time: 2:31:36
Distance: 35.6 miles
Avs: 13.8 mph
ODO: 6774 miles

…being down don’t bother me.

I should probably start this entry by apologising to GB for holding him back.  But I’ve decided constant apologising is no good for the Positive Mental Attitude that I am striving to achieve.  Besides which I figure that, by now, anyone who comes riding with me probably knows what they’re letting themselves in for, in which case they could have said no and they didn’t, so it’s their fault not mine.  Therefore I don’t need to apologise.  Which is why I’m not saying sorry to him.  Sorry! *grin*.

Although I may hold him back, I did at least consent to do some hills today.  To be fair I had to really as I’ve got a lot of sportives coming up, and they’re none of them flat.  Can’t avoid ’em forever!  He planned us a route and I was happy to go along with it.  It is nice to abdicate responsibility sometimes 🙂 Yes, the control freak can let go of the reins.  Who knew?  Occasionally anyway…

It was mild again, with wet roads and a nasty strong wind.  No ice though – bonus!  I was feeling pretty nervous and wobbly as we set off which is odd because I didn’t yesterday.  I almost bottled it, turned tail and went home before we’d left town, as the wind blew me sideways across the wet road and butterflies multiplied in my tummy, but I kept my thoughts to myself and kept pedalling.

We started off by going up the Gorge.  GB has now learnt that going up (and down!) hills is something I prefer not to have company for, which means he can disappear off at his own speed and await my arrival at the top (or bottom) which I think works for both of us.  All things considered I was pretty pleased with how I got up there actually, especially as I’ve not done any notable hill climbing in quite some time.  And that wasn’t the only hill.  There were ups to the Walled Garden and then up to Redhill to watch the spotters watching the aeroplanes.  One of them smiled at us as we left, which was probably as close as he’d been to social interaction all day…  An Easyjet landed as we went round.  If I was hating the downhill into strong crosswind as I cycled round (and I was) I bet he wasn’t enjoying landing into it much either!  It ain’t half exposed up there.

The downs were worse than the ups.  Strangely enough I’ve never been down Burrington Coombe before and I can see that in the dry it might be quite a lot of fun.  In fact I look forward to practising going down it – it’s just what I need for the kind of hills I’m going to be doing later in the year.  However with a gusty cross wind, wet and muddy road, and a motorhome on my ar*e it was a tad less amusing.  Still, I got down in one slow piece.  Same goes for Brockley Coombe which was nearly fun but I didn’t like the last corner and nearly managed to tense myself up into a straight line.  Not ideal.  However I talked myself off the ledge in time to sort it out and again met GB at the bottom.

After that it was back home through Claverham where the roads were ‘orrible, Congresbury where the car drivers were ‘orrible, across the corner to Churchill, the lovely stretch of road to Sandford which was not ‘orrible, then Winscombe and home as darkness descended.

Cycling time: 2:35:38
Distance: 35.08 miles
Avs: 13.5 mph
ODO: 6739 miles

It’s not as if I had a wealth of confidence to start with, and clearly it could have done without being knocked out of me again.  There was a lot of over-cautious riding going on on anything that resembled a bend or downhill, because I was worrying about the wet muddy roads, which at least partially explains the crappy average speed.  That and the hills of course.

Having said that oddly I really enjoyed the ride.  For starters it’s always nice to do different routes.  The company was good, even if it did talk b*llocks from time to time 😉  As a ride it may not have gone well, but I think there’s a lot of positive to be taken from it.  PMA remember?  I’ve found hills to practice descending on.  I’m heartened by how well my uphills went, and my legs felt really good.  (Apart from the knee which start twingeing after a couple of hours even though I’d strapped it up.  I think my strapping skills need practice.)  If I stick to judging myself by my standards and not comparing myself to everyone else I think I’ll do ok.  I was also a very good girl and made up some Recovery when I got in which may be why I don’t feel knackered now.  Well if I’m going to take this season seriously then eating and drinking the right things is going to be important.  I didn’t clean the bike though – that can wait until Monday 🙂

Having spent the week feeling like a slowly diminishing bruise I have, unsurprisingly, not managed to get this year’s training routine off to quite the start I’d planned.  Although I’ve been back at the gym since Tuesday, building things up carefully and generally trying not to make things any worse, today was the first day back on the bike.  Clearly I have a new helmet (more of which in a later post I hope) delivered at speed by Wiggle as usual, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone out at all – mama didn’t raise no fool!

I arranged to meet GW at a layby on the A38 near her new abode.  I was early so cycled around a bit before heading back there slightly late.  I should possibly have kept on going for a bit since, as ever, GW was a good quarter of an hour late herself.  Some things never change 😉

It being GW’s first ride this year (like you could tell) we stuck to the flat and even and pootled around the Levels.  It was warmer than it has been for ages and I was glad I’d opted for the lighter winter jacket and even so had to remove a Buff.  Very unseasonal.  Unlike the roads which were wet and muddy and twice I felt that little slip in the back wheel that makes your heart leap into your mouth and your stomach muscles contract in panic…  Luckily me and my bike remained upright, my internal organs returned to their correct positions, and I got home in one rather tired piece.

Cycling time: 1:54:01
Distance: 28.65 miles
Avs: 15.0 mph
ODO: 6704 mile

That was a bit slow I think.  Maybe just because I’m not better yet.  Odd though.  Because it looks like I cycle faster with GB but feel it less, and slower with GW whilst feeling like it’s hard work.  Cycling is mental – as I keep saying.

Anyway I would appear to be healing up ok from the latest accident, so much so that I can now feel the pain in my back again!  My knee was twingeing from the get go and I think after the third outing with the shoe inserts I can safely say they’re not helping.  I don’t think twingeing is a real word but twinging looks all wrong so spell checker be damned!  The main remaining issue is my neck which still hurts and which cycling appears to aggravate – something to do with the position you hold your head in when you’re on the drops.  I think it may be time for a pink pill…

Still, back on the road again.  Out again tomorrow.  Up some hills next week.  Least that’s the plan.  But look what’s happened recently when I’ve made plans!  So, let’s forget I said that.  There’s no plan.  What plan? 😉

Oh me oh my, but it’d been a long time since I’d been on the bike.  Many things have been sent to try me.  Snow, Christmas, a lousy cold, doing my back in, New Year…  I’ve not even been up to going to the gym much.  Combine all of that with the (very enjoyable) endless celebrations, and the inevitable intake of that which could not be considered to be conducive to cycling and…well…I was slightly dreading today’s ride.

We got home this morning in good time for me to put on every layer I possessed and get the bike fit to go out again.  Which actually translates into getting hubby to pump up the tyres, and dust off the saddle.  Somewhat amusingly in my absence my cycling computer had managed to rack up over 5 hours of riding and covered over 400 miles.  Be good if it worked like that wouldn’t it?  Man I’d be good by now! *grin*

Well aware of the fact that my body definitely hadn’t been doing the work and that it was distinctly chilly out, I put on every layer I possessed, as usual.  I’m thinking cycle rides should have a rating like duvets.  No togs though – I’d like to suggest a Buff scale.  Normal Buff 1 point, combi buff 2 points, polar buff 3 points.  Or something like that.  Actually the polar buff is probably a bit too bulky for cycling, so today was a 3 pt Buff ride – and I didn’t regret either of them – it wasn’t warm to start with and then it got colder!

Anyway I cycled up to the Square at the very civilised time of 11.00am, and met GB for the usual coffee run to Wonderland.  As predicted, it was bleedin’ hard work.  It took a long time to “warm” up and I was even worse up what passed for hills than usual.  As it turns out, even though I felt like it was killing me, and my legs were like lead, we actually averaged a reasonable speed which is some consolation.  I’m thinking sitting outside the coffee shop may have been a foolish decision, but hey, at least the coffee was still as good as ever, and where better to admire large men in leather on even larger metal machines?  I do love the sound of a Harley in the morning 😉

Actually in some ways it was good to feel bad, in that it demonstrates the effect of all the ill advised consumption, which does tend to work as a bit of a deterrent.  Having fallen of various wagons over the festive period, I shall be back on all of them come Wednesday when the mob go back to school.  I’ve just worked out that it’s only 9 weeks until the Mad March Hare…so training proper will have to begin again in earnest straight away.  No rest for the wicked.  And I have been wicked *grin*.

I did feel a bit guilty for the effect my sloth inevitably had on GB, but he put a brave face on it and pretended not to mind at all, which was good of him.  We could have done a longer route but…my back still hurts, I couldn’t feel my feet, but I could definitely feel my knee (the new shoes inserts seem to have made things worse not better), and on balance, going home seemed like a good call.  And regardless of all the above, it was a good ride.  Because any ride is better than no ride 🙂

Cycling time: 2:12:00
Distance: 35.09 miles
Avs: 16.0 mph
ODO: 6650 mile

In other news, and without wishing to blow my own trumpet, The Cycling Mayor has been chosen as the Cheddar Valley Gazette’s “Woman of the Year”, which came as a massive shock, but about which I’m really very proud.  I’d like to thank everyone who cycled with me over the year,  who sponsored me, supported me, and helped me achieve my goals.  It was a good year, and I think 2011 is going to be even better 🙂

And in an aside to my partner in crime – no, you don’t have an eponymous hill, you just really want one.  Maybe that could be your goal? 😉

The temperature has dropped.  Mornings are icy.  The weather forecasters are gleefully overusing phrases such as “cold snap”, “big chill”, and so on.  Apparently winter has arrived.  No doubt the country will now grind to a halt…

Which doesn’t mean I can’t go cycling, right?  It does mean I was a tad nervous at the prospect though.  However since the snow had managed not to reach here, and the sun was shining, Mim and I decided to give it a go.  Our one concession to the “deep freeze” was to go out a bit later than usual and give what ice there may be a chance to melt.  I say one concession, but then there was probably another one – that of wearing every layer I possess!  That included all the usual, with the first outing for the winter gloves, and the exchange of the normal neck buff for a combi buff – much snugglier.  And I didn’t regret my clothing call at all.  Not once.  In fact I don’t think I ever even rolled the buff off my chin…

We didn’t really plan a route, and ended up making it up as we went along.  Out past the Webbington first – Mim’s version of spinning up the hill leaving me behind as was to be the case for the rest of the inclines faced on the way.  Not that I minded, because I made a point of not minding, of listening to how I was doing, how my knee was feeling, and to doing it my way.  Positive mental attitude remember?

Enjoying the sunshine, and not feeling too cold, we headed out to Banwell along the hilly side of the valley.  The steep hill at the castle was  (*engage sarcasm mode*) as much fun as ever (*end*), with no peacocks present to show off too or be shown off to by.  Shame.  Down Dark Lane on the other side to head out towards Sandford.  We took the back way to Churchill and out the other side, and looped ’round behind Langford through the interestingly named “Iwood” to get to Wrington.  We opted not to continue up past the Walled Garden but rather to head back towards Churchill, which we duly did.  I should probably give a passing mention to Pudding Pie Lane which we took along the way – another fine road name.  If I had time I’m sure I’d like to know more about the history of such things but…nah…too busy riding *grin*.

I like the main road stretch from Churchill down towards Sandford and today was no exception – it’s essentially downhill, which would probably explain it 😉 From there it was up Sandford Hill towards Winscombe but taking the long way up Shipham Lane to Shipham Hill before we got there – destination no surprise there then.  The road wasn’t as mucky as it can be, probably as it’s been fairly dry of late, so as long as you stuck to one side or the other and didn’t have to dodge cars it was ok.  Mind you, I’d forgotten how long it goes on for before you reach the main road!  The last stretch from the main road up into Shipham was quite nice.  I just plodded along happily and oddly quite enjoyed it.  I also enjoyed knowing that there were only two more ups to go!  And then one looonnnnnnggggg down 🙂

Having Mim ahead proved quite useful for this as, if the distance between us shrank, then she was braking and if she’s braking, I definitely should be!  And if she’s not, then maybe I could be trying not to too…  I did a lot of the usual internal monologue, tried not to brake too much, to lean in the right places and….definitely did it better than usual.  And I had more fun too! *grin*.  The last blast home was fun too, as there was a bus behind me and I fancied beating it to the Square.  Not a problem 🙂

Cycling time: 1:51:26
Distance: 25.43 miles
Avs: 13.6 mph
ODO: 6544 miles

Look who put new batteries in her cycle computer?  Yes, I’m technically gifted 😉  Bearing in mind how cold it was, and how much up we did, I’m pretty happy with that.  I’m also happy with how those hills went and how my knee felt.  Plus my max speed was 37.5 which ain’t bad for a scaredy cat 🙂

Now to get my kit clean and dry in time to go out with the ACG on Saturday…

…superfresco makes it easy, it’s by Graham and Brown”.  Which is what you get in your head when you’ve spent a Saturday afternoon looking at wallpaper…  Which is to go on one “feature wall”  in the new bathroom, which, as it’s currently being installed, means no bath/shower facilities chez nous.  Since we were going over to my folk’s place anyway, and I was planning on availing myself of their facilities, it seemed to make sense to make sure that I both really needed them and would really appreciate them.  Yes – you guessed it – this would be an excuse to have to cycle there.  How transparent am I? 😉

So I did.  I’d give you the stats, but my cycling computer has flooped again – no doubt due to the cheap batteries I’ve been using.  Irritating nonetheless.   Especially as it felt like a good ride.  What I can tell you is that my route was very similar to this one, but with the addition of doing Bleadon Hill the proper way.  Which for some reason I felt like and which for some reason also went quite well by my standards.  I’m working a lot on positive mental attitude – in the hope that believing that I can get better, do better, will help me actually do so.  Visualising myself at the top of the hill happy to have made it, that kind of thing.  Well, it’s worth a go, right?  And with all the hilly events I’ve got next year I just can’t avoid doing them any more.

I’m happy with how it went.  Cruising speed seemed quite high.  The headwind was annoying but not insurmountable.  I got it right on more corners and downhills than sometimes.  Nobody tried to run me off the road – though I think they’d like to have done in Yatton.  Not my fault I can get through there faster than they can!  😉  Oh, and there was the one eejot on the coast road but hey, there’s always one…  And after 2 1/2 hrs ish out there, a long warm shower was a very lovely thing.  Job done 🙂

ODO c. 6519

OK, as it turns out, I actually did manage to get a ride in on Friday.  One of those rides of two halves really.  The first half was all sun, Levels, and loveliness.

Then I met one of those “I’m behind you, and desperately want to be in front of you, and the road is really narrow, and rather than me fall in a rhyne, why don’t you just go into the gravel?” drivers.  Shortly followed by the realisation that I was now riding on the rear rims.  *ggggrrrrr*.  Ok, that’s not what I said but… well… you can probably think of a suitable expletive for yourselves.

I did a stonking job of changing the rear tube, even given some difficulty getting the tube not to pinch ‘tween rim and tyre.  Got it all back on, (rather faster than 3 MAMILs I could mention), pumped it up, and headed off.   However I just couldn’t get it up to enough pressure.  I was half sure I had done the whole thing wrong and had a slow puncture, and did indeed stop a few times to try and get more air into it on the way back, as the bouncy ride wasn’t immensely comfortable.  It didn’t seem to be doing the trick, so, plans to attack Winscombe Hill on the way home went the way of the dodo…

I headed straight back up the A38 from Rooksbridge instead.  Which wasn’t an incredibly enjoyable experience.  Having said that I particularly enjoyed the quarry lorry that over took me and pulled in whilst doing do…with the gap between the kerb, me, and several tons of grubby heavy lorry narrowing inexorably….  I think I used an expletive again.  In fact I know I did *grin*.  Ah well.  Home in one piece.  And when hubby track pumped the tyre up to pressure it stayed that way, so I guess it was just me…

Cycling time: 1:46:58
Distance: 27.23 miles
Avs: 15.2 mph
ODO: 6487 miles

Even with all that – it was still better to have been out than in 🙂

I usually reckon on 2 colds a year, and I’ve had them.  However I seem to be working on my 3rd.  My friend reckons that maybe I actually have 2.2 colds a year and this is my leap year.  Which I think was supposed to be helpful.  I kept it at bay with echinacea for a couple of days but I now appear to be losing the battle, as the sore throat crept back last night and was there with a vengeance when I woke up this morning.

So, there I lay, drinking green tea, looking out of the window, at glorious sunshine and clear skies.  Pondering the wisdom of riding whilst not well.  Trying to figure out how not well I actually felt.  My hubby, half way to Basingstoke, texted me in helpful fashion to tell me that it was cold but lovely and that it would be a shame to waste it.  After all, it was hideous yesterday and is due to be hideous tomorrow.  On that basis, I decided that yes, the bike was a goer, but to leave it a little while to allow the temperature to warm up a little, and for any ice there might be to melt away.  I also played the “well, if I feel crap, I can always come home early” card.  Seriously though, when was the last time I actually did that?  Still, mentally, it helped to get me out of the building, so I’m not knocking it.

I headed out around 10:30am, wrapped in every layer I have.  First outing for the proper heavy jacket and the Woolie Boolie socks this winter.  Oh, and the over the head under the helmet Buff to go with the round the neck one too.  Toasty ears 🙂  I got away with wearing mitts still though, on the basis that if the rest of me is warm enough, it spreads out to my hands.  I reckon that may the last time that works though!  And I did have my winter gloves stuffed in the saddle bag just in case.

I did a wiggly route in the sunshine.  It wasn’t entirely flat either, as you can see.  I was trying to vary things a bit, but not push me or my knee too hard, and to enjoy the lovely weather and scenery.  The light at this time of year is just lovely – all the colours are so vibrant – and there’s lots of wildlife.  I admired the usual suspects including, near Rooksbridge, a pair of swans with brood of seven cygnets swimming.  Yes, the Christmas countdown has started…

At the moment when riding I often feel a bit like Frances Houseman just before the big show at the Sheldrake.  There’s a mental dialogue on every hill and every corner.  “Get your balance right.  Relax your arms.  Breathe.  Push down on the outer leg, and on the inside hand.  Don’t panic.  Don’t brake…not yet…not yet…” (and repeat).  And it all went pretty well – I was happier with my cornering, and such descents as there were.  I think I’m making progress. I even did a bit of “look ma, no hands” on the Mark to Burtle stretch, and found it lot easier than before. Ok, so I won’t be changing clothes or blowing my nose whilst riding along any time soon, but it’s nice to know I can kinda do it.

After 90 minutes or so the painkillers started to wear off.   My sore throat began to impinge upon my joie de vivre, and then the knee started twingeing too.  Riding was no longer entirely fun.  Time to go home, said Zebedee.

Cycling time: 2:10:48
Distance: 32.65 miles
Avs: 14.9 mph
ODO: 6431 miles

I’m a bit disappointed with the average speed, but I guess there are plenty of reasons for it.  Like the number of layers around my knees.   The cold.  My cold.   Not to mention the NNW wind that seems to have taken up residence here – that certainly wasn’t helping.   It was still a darn sight better to be on the bike than not though 🙂