I don’t know what possesses me sometimes.  I get an idea into my head and then I have to do it because otherwise I’ll be wimping out.  Today, with the sun shining and, allegedly, not a lot of wind, I decided I fancied seeing what Spring looks like from the top of the Mendips for a change.  I wanted views, and space, and a degree of novelty.  Now in order to do this, options are limited, and all of them go up.  However we’ve already established that, left to my own devices, up is not out of the question.

So, which way up?  The Gorge of course!  Which actually proved to be marginally less challenging than some times.  After the worst bit at the bottom, it’s was just me, pootling along in the sunshine, chatting to the goats blocking the road, and admiring the Gorge.  Not horrible by any means.  It took me a smidge under 30 minutes to get from my house to the fork in the road at the top, which I felt was fairly respectable even if it wouldn’t win me any Queen of the Mountain competitions *grin*.

I forked off left and had the roads to myself all over the top of the Mendips.  Not a soul.  Not even another cyclist.  Just me, the newly resurfaced road, and a burgeoning sun tan.  I came down gingerly down via Harptree Hill, not least because there was another white van behind me.  I’m starting to think I’m haunted.  Can you have a bête blanche?…

Over the main road to positively zoom past Chew Valley Lake.  There was a rabbit in front of me that I tried to chase down, and had nearly made it but I had to turn left up Pagans Hill.  Which is a great name for a hill, and makes you wonder what the Pagans did on it.  I spent a while musing on what the definition of Pagan is and whether or not it applies to me as I made my way via Winford and Felton to Lulsgate Bottom, when I decided to wonder where Lulsgate Top was…

As I turned into Brockley Coombe, with some silver Merc attempting to come past me, a fair sized male deer came hurtling out of the undergrowth on the right hand side, careered across the road all of two bike lengths in front of me and the Merc, jumped over the fence, went down along the inside of it right next to me and then crashed off into the undergrowth.  Which was  all quite eventful and more than a little bit exciting 🙂

I headed down the Coombe for a bit before taking the left turn to go ’round the airport.  I love it up there because the views are stunning, there are plenty of over-compensating anoraks to inwardly laugh at, and I even got to watch a couple of planes take off right next to me, which even my inner geek thinks is kinda cool.  Watching something that size, shape, and weight, lumber along and suddenly become airborne – well, it’s clearly not possible so it must be magic.  Like how TV works.  (Don’t ask, it’s a running joke).   Having said that it’s magical as long as you’re not photographing it or taking down its number.  That’s just weird 😉

Down from the heady heights and down what may become my favourite downhill – the Long Lane to Wrington.  Even the car behind me got bored of trying to overtake and just let me get on with enjoying it, whilst he dealt with the stream of traffic coming up the hill. And I did enjoy it.  It would have been rude for his sacrifice to have been in vain 😉

From there it was easy.  Langford, Churchill, Sandford, Winscombe and home.  Much head down, on the drops, yummy goodness.  Not that this recovered my average speed much – that was totalled by all the hills – but I surely did enjoy it.  Especially the bypass.  That’s always lovely 🙂

Cycling time: 2:14:00
Distance: 32.56 miles
Avs: 14.5 mph
ODO: 4283 miles

I think I may have used the word enjoyed too much and am tempted to go back and have an adjective replacement session, but then maybe you wouldn’t understand how much I enjoyed my ride *grin*.

“And now, the end is here…”

Yes, on Monday, at this year’s Mayor Making, I handed over the chain to my successor, meaning that I am no longer the Cycling Mayor.  I’m the past/ex/former/old/previous/prior/once upon a Mayor.  I’ve been trying to find a term that doesn’t suggest that I’m either dead, old, or was kicked out, and have failed dismally.

So, for those of you who have been reading this in the hope that a little of the Mayoral glamour would rub off on you, I’m afraid your time has come 😉  However for the rest of you, this domain remains mine to rule over, at least until October time, so I shall beg your indulgence and continue to document my cycling efforts.  The kit cost too much to replace just because it’s out of date, so I’ll be continuing to wear that too.  Besides which “the Cycling Councilor” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.  So it’s service as usual really  🙂 Plus ça change…

Right then.  Moving on.  Today was my first time on the bike since last Sunday’s event as due to my son’s injury I’ve been spending my time at Frenchay hospital.  My legs were fine for a couple of days, very painful on Wednesday, and then fine again, which was weird.  I’m guess that’s DOMS for you, so maybe a break wasn’t such a bad thing.  I did make it to the gym a few times in the evening in an attempt to not seize up completely.

It was a fab morning to go for a ride.  I did my bog standard training loop, in the sun, with music and me.  The world is in flower,  full of  colours yet to be washed out by summer, and wildlife is busy reproducing all over the place.  I do live in a very lovely part of the country 🙂  It was very good for the head, and very enjoyable.  Plus I was fair flying for parts of it – definitely in the zone.

Cycling time: 1:58:38
Distance: 31.76 miles
Avs: 16.0 mph
ODO: 4250 miles

I am presuming that the increased speed was due to the lifted weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders…*grin*.  Who knew the chain was that heavy? 😉

On a parting note, I’d like to thank all my sponsors and supporters – during my year the Cycling Mayor raised £1654.03 for AMR and cycled 4134 miles.  I had a great time doing it and it was a fabulous year.  Thank you everyone 🙂

“And more, much more than this, I did it my way”

Supposedly I’m tapering this week.  I’ve never been very good at that but I did resolve to take it easy today.  Which was helped by the fact that my knee, which has been very good recently, decided to play up today.  Irritatingly enough, the minute you get off the bike, it’s fine!  However it certainly wasn’t when I was out, so I couldn’t push too hard even if I wanted to.  Note to self – remember to pack pink pills in saddle bag.

I won’t bore you with the route, because it mostly consisted of random zigzagging around the levels in an approximation of my usual training route.  Not totally flat, but a long way from hilly.  I was, unsurprisingly, not in the zone today.  Apart from the knee issue, I hadn’t got my clothing quite right, and there were too many big bugs flying around.

Cycling time: 2:04:04
Distance: 32.12 miles
Avs: 15.5 mph
ODO: 4110 miles

So, all things considered, my stats are pretty good really.  I was a good girl and washed the bike when I got in, in the hope that it will be dry on Friday and thus not need doing again before Sunday.  Fat chance!  I also went ’round and tightened up a whole heap of bits so that maybe I can stop the creaking sound my bike makes.  Unless it really is just the saddle in which case I’m stuck with it.  Come to think of it, maybe it’s my left knee? 😉  *grin*.

Misery sho’ does love company!  Both GB and I agreed that if we hadn’t been meeting each other this morning, both of us would have wimped out in favour of activities that involved staying in the warm and dry.  In his case that would have meant staying bed.  Being at least partially insane, I’d have gone to the gym.  As it is, both of us could be found in the Square in the rain at 8:30am wondering who’s idea it had been.  Sadly the fault is all mine.  Mea culpa and all that.

GB was route master and led us out on a zig zag route designed to avoid as much of the strong gusty NE wind as possible, as well as wet gritty down hills.  Yes – if you hadn’t gathered already, it was wet, windy and, as my feet were soon to bear testament, cold!  Naturally in those conditions there was nothing for it other than to visit the seaside.  There was always the vain hope that normal sensible people would not be visiting Weston in such conditions and it would therefore be bearable to cycle through and, to be fair, it wasn’t bad.  The last field on the left in Uphill was covered with bluebells – I believe the cliched way of describing it would be to say carpeted with them – which was the visual highlight of the day.   Which reminds me, it must be time to do the annual Ebbor Gorge walk.

So, it was pretty much the normal seaside loop.  Having set off so early we were too early for coffee stops anywhere, opting instead just to get the ride over and done with really.  I was clearly a little under-dressed for the conditions since otherwise my feet might have stayed with me.  I sure am glad I opted for longs though, and the windproof top did the trick.  And, thanks to good company, I didn’t feel miserable which I’m fairly sure I would have done on my own.  The actual mechanics of the ride were pretty good – the bike was still feeling very smooth, me, my legs and my lungs were feeling pretty much in tune, and it was still nicer to be out on the bike than not to be, if that makes any sense 🙂

Cycling time: 1:58:17
Distance: 29.67 miles
Avs: 15.0 mph
ODO: 4078 miles

I’ve been back for 20 minutes or so, and I can just about wiggle my toes now.  Methinks it’s time for a nice warm bath to go with my nice warm cup of tea 🙂

Make that soaked to the skin…  GW and I went for a ride today, in the rain.  Well, it wasn’t raining when we set out, but it was by the time we got to Wedmore, and from thereon in it was pretty much set in.  We went straight over to Glastonbury, across the Levels, for a coffee and back.

Cycling time: 1:47:16
Distance: 28.39 miles
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 4048 miles

As you can see, we weren’t hanging around too much.  Well, you don’t when the weather’s like that!  It was a good ride though – nice and fast and smooth.  With good coffee and a good natter.  Can’t be bad 🙂

And, since I was soaked through by the time I got back, I washed the bike in the rain as I figured I couldn’t get any wetter!  Still, it may have been wet but it wasn’t really cold.  I’m glad I wasn’t wearing my shiny summer shoes though, and I still think my bolero arms are one of my best purchases ever as they kept me warm even with the rain and head wind chill factor.

I’m very good I am.  I know, you’re looking at my stats thinking there’s nothing that unusual about them, aren’t you?  Well, let me enlighten you as to my route, and then you’ll see why I’m feeling so proud of myself…

Cycling time: 2:33:20
Distance: 38.88 miles
Avs: 15.1 mph
ODO: 4020 miles

First off I went up Shipham Hill which, again, went really well.  Slightly faster than last time if anything.  I went at a fairly steady pace up to the top, engaging the quarry lorries in one-sided conversations that, on balance, it’s just as well they couldn’t hear…  I took the extra wiggle up and over Rowberrow, and then swooped down to the Churchill traffic lights.  I took the usual little detour before getting back to the main road and taking the right up Burrington Coombe.  Cue more pottering, with plenty of time to admire the wind tunnel effect in certain places, amongst other things.

Like  why badgers haven’t learnt to cross the road better – they need a Gumbie Cat – because they’re clearly very bad at it, as you can smell from a mile off now that the weather is warmer.  And for quite a long time when you’re going by slowly…  *ick*.

And like why Burrington Coombe is THE way to get to Wells – something which I always forget – and the traffic did its usual job of narrowly avoiding me with rather too little margin for my liking, due to the lack of visibility up there…

So, I turned off, headed down through Compton Martin to West Harptree, where something very inconsiderately stung me on the neck.  Not sure what, and it doesn’t seem to have left much of a mark, but it didn’t half hurt for a bit.  I headed down that way because I wanted to do the whole upwards A39 slog from Chewton Mendip to Wells, which I duly did.  Slowly again.  But not as slowly as it has been known to be done.

I crested the top, waved at Romulus and Remus, and enjoyed the long fabulous down to Wells.  I was trying to do it without braking, but my nerve was broken by the very large yellow artic that followed me for a while.  Some of you may know how I feel about going downhill with traffic behind me…  Still, once he was past, I enjoyed the rest of it to the best of my limited ability 😛

From there life got a lot flatter – I just came straight home at speed, from Wells to Wedmore, to Cheddar, and home.  There wasn’t a lot of wind, and that which there was was from the south, which made the last drag up Upper New Road much nicer than usual.

The whole route is here, if you be interested.  It was a very lovely ride.  I didn’t find any of it too hard, spent a lot of time hurtling along down on the drops generally enjoying myself, and, as an added bonus, sun-tanning as I went along.

Oh, and have you seen my average speed?  All things considered…I rock *grin*.

The sun is all very well – and it is lovely – but I do wish it would get a tad warmer to go with it.  Yet again today it was decidedly chilly on the bike – and it wasn’t until being well on the way home, with the sun much higher in the sky, that it hit a decent temperature.

Today’s ride was a pretty direct one.  Over to Portishead for coffee at my folks’ place and back.  GW’s idea – and a darned good one at that.  We got over to there at an average speed of 16.0mph, so we must have slowed down a tad on the way back as we wiggled around the back roads from Clapton, which probably just means we were chatting more 🙂

Cycling time: 2:35:17
Distance: 40.78 miles
Avs: 15.7 mph
ODO: 3981 miles

As ever, I had to work keep up with GW, but I don’t think I was finding it as hard as it sometimes is.  I blame the new tyres – they’re still indescribably better.  I’m really enjoying riding at the moment, it just feels good to be out there 🙂

The sun comes out, the cyclists come out, and so do the bugs.  Darn things have been hatching all over the place.  Every now and then a cloud of them sort of pebble dash you as you go through, hopefully with your mouth closed.  Extra protein not required thank you very much.

Mind you, as it wasn’t that warm, at least my tops were all zipped up, thus avoiding the usual bug relocation scheme that tends to operate otherwise.  You’d be amazed how many can hitch a ride inside a sports bra…  Anyway I digress…

It’s nigh on impossible to find daytime cycling company during the week these days, so I headed out on my own this morning, intending on doing a 50 miler.  I did have a route planned, which I stuck to as far as the other side of Winscombe Hill.  But then the right turn on Max Mill Lane looked attractive…and from thereon in I was pretty much winging it, or making it up on the fly at least.   (Note – another reference to insects…cor, ain’t it clever how it all ties together? 😉 ).

I headed across to nearly Banwell and along to Loxton from there, which is a nice up and downy kind of a road.  From Loxton I headed towards Mark, but decided that I’d take a detour on the way and go up and over Brent Knoll.  Well, if GB can do it, so can I.  OK, that doesn’t always hold true, but in this case… I hadn’t been that way for ages, and it wasn’t as bad as I remembered it either – result 🙂  I crossed over the A38 to head back past Mark, and then towards Burtle.  Again, I failed to stay en route as I then decided to take a wiggle to go along and up to Edington, and head to Shapwick from there.  Shapwick to Ashcott, and around the peat workings to Glastonbury, where the road is very wiggly, very newly smooth, and very nearly had me all over it when I misjudged a bend…*gulp*.  That’s one way to raise the heart rate…

I took  the main route option to get me from Glastonbury to Wells as the road surface on the back route always does my head in.  Once out the otherside I stopped off in Wookey where I prevailed upon hubby for a couple of mouthfuls of coffee before heading back via the hill out of Wookey Hole.  Again, and possibly aided by the caffeine, it wasn’t too bad.  OK, so I didn’t go up the hill proper past Ebbor Gorge, but hey, who needs that kind of pain?  And that was a rhetorical question, so no replies please! *grin*.

I rejoined the A371 at Easton for a bit and took the left just before Rodney Stoke to zip across the flats, and come back along the Wedmore straight.  I was then seized by an urge to see the reservoir, so MiG one bugged out and headed for home around it.

Cycling time: 3:16:52
Distance: 49.84 miles
Avs: 15.1 mph
ODO: 3940 miles

Darn close to 50 miles no?  I should have cycled around town for a couple of minutes – and probably would have done if I’d realised – very sad I know.  I’ve just plotted the route on bikely and it even looks relatively unflat.  Probably not a bad training ride then.  It was pretty windy – from the North West – so even with the sun, it wasn’t exactly toasty.  Put it this way – my arms stayed on, my zips stayed up, and I was always pleased to emerge from the shade.

The new tyres are still making it all feel that bit smoother, but the back wheel was feeling a tad odd coming back into town when hit by cross winds – skittish and a bit sideways as if it had locked up when it hadn’t, so I may have to have a look at that. I need to take a look at the tyre pressure too – they’re hard as rocks, which is a tad unforgiving when it comes to the current state of the roads!

I’m going away for the weekend, I haven’t packed, but the sun is shining…  Yep, time for a ride.  First time I’ve been able to get on the bike since the Ride It due to Easter holiday constraints (roll on Monday!).

To make it all even more exciting, I decided to wear my new summer shoes again.  They’re essentially white.  And my tyres are black.  But no, wait, I have shiny new white striped tyres!  Well…everyone knows how important it is to be co-ordinated on the road.  My pit crew leapt into action, and changed them over forthwith.  I’d have helped, but he’s way quicker and better at it than I am, and besides which, I painted my fingernails last night 😉

Cycling time: 2:05:04
Distance: 33.41 miles
Avs: 16.0 mph
ODO: 3890 miles

I did my usual kind of loop thus putting the wind pretty much equally ahead of and behind me – and as you can see, I go much faster when my kit matches *grin*.  The new tyres did actually feel much smoother.  And I was feeling pretty smooth too – shorts and mitts, short base layer under windproof layer – all just right.  I could easily stayed out longer but, as I said, places to go, people to see 🙂

I would have blogged this ride yesterday, but the site was down, so it was not to be.  But it be back up again now…

Not that it was a particularly noteworthy ride.  Well, I suppose the fact that my legs came out of hiding for the first time this season is worth a mention.  I still have cyclist’s stripe from last year and made a fair start at adding this year’s layer.

Cycling time: 1:40:20
Distance: 27.93 miles
Avs: 16.6 mph
ODO: 3761 miles

All I did was zig zag around the Levels in the sunshine, avoiding gradient, basically making sure the bike was feeling ok after its service, ready for tomorrow’s event.  I was also trying to work out what layers I am likely to need and so on.  I think I’ve got it sorted, but only time will tell.   It’s due to be a bit cooler and a bit windier, but I think I might still get away with shorts.  They’re way more comfortable than my (falling apart) longs so if I can, that would be good.

So, another ride done.  Best get on with packing then…  GB kindly reminded me that SPF cream might be a good idea so I’d best go dig it out.