Today was the last opportunity to go for a ride easily for a while – as my time is about to get taken up by various other things, not the least of which will be the two week half term, so I really had to get out on the bike.  I wasn’t feeling all that motivated, but I made myself.

I decided to make the most of the continuing sunshine and non-existent wind to go to the seaside.  I headed out of town via the post office for a couple of chores, and then out through Winscombe, Sandford and Puxton.  The skies clouded over as I wiggled through Kewstoke and Sand Bay, but as I came past the old pier and into Weston, they cleared and the sun came out for good.

Weston was even more chaotic than usual, with all the roadworks and seafront development going on.  There were also an awful lot of pedestrians either not looking for cyclists as they ambled across the road, or getting out of their cars by opening the door towards you… so I was pleased to head out of town, past a very lovely red Lamborghini Gallardo, to Uphill.  Rather than head home via Bleadon, I took a right at the curry house, and came back via Brent Knoll and Mark.

Cycling time: 2:36:03
Distance: 40.30 miles
Avs: 15.4 mph
ODO: 2408 miles

I felt like I was going much faster – certainly whenever I looked down I was doing over 17mph – so I’m not sure what happened to the average speed.  I’m pleased that I managed to get out for a little bit longer than usual, and I did enjoy it.  Who wouldn’t, with weather like that?  However my head was a bit preoccupied and I kept zoning out so maybe I wasn’t pushing as hard as I could have been.  It was good head thinking space though 🙂

My legs are suffering this week – from yoga, cycling, and some re-introduced hamstring exercises at the gym.  The backs of my thighs are killing me.  I’m sure it’ll be a good thing in the long run, but after all that, and the Gorge yesterday well, I wasn’t feeling up for much today.

I checked in with G last night to confirm today.  Nothing hilly, says I, as I did the Gorge today.  Fine, says she.  So I meet her this morning.  We’re meeting W she says.  Where does W live?  Shipham.  ‘Nuff said really!  Even once up there – which was never going to be fun with my legs feeling as they do – she tried to plan a hilly route and pass it off by saying we’d do it really slowly.  Like I ever do hills any other way!  I put my foot down – very bravely – and we ended up doing a much flatter route round Yatton and Claverham and Kingston Seymour.  Quite a convoluted route too, since we got lost at least once, and had to stop and look at the map several times.  Good thing I suggested we take it with us really 😉

Cycling time: 2:33:19
Distance: 35.43 miles
Avs: 13.8 mph
ODO: 2331 miles

I think the sell by date for wearing shorts was yesterday.  Shame I didn’t figure that out before we went out.  All the stopping and starting didn’t help either.  I got cold.  For the first time this winter, I lost my toes.  And bits of the rest of me weren’t feeling that great.  So, it was a slow run, for all of the above reasons.  Also I’ve been doing a lot lately and a tiny bit of me suspects I may be over-doing it…

I came home and had a long hot muscle-soaking bath.  Which is not only good for my knee, but also means I can feel my feet again 🙂  Now I’m going to go sit in a warm pub somewhere and have lunch – I do believe I’ve earnt it *grin*

Sunshine was forecast with very little wind.  It could be the last chance of the season to get out (I know, I keep saying that) and I’m trying to make the most of each such opportunity.  However, sometimes you can’t make it on your own, so I dragged Dad over here to ride with me.  For some reason, I decided it was time that he went up the Gorge.  Not something I would normally do out of choice as you know, but what can I say?  She moves in mysterious ways…

We headed off in glorious but chilly sunshine at around 9:30ish.  It being out of season the Gorge was blissfully free of tourists and, for the most part, traffic.  It was the usual slog, aided and abetted by goats (you don’t get to yell “goat” very often on a bike), but we made it to the top and back out into the sunshine.  I don’t think Dad enjoyed it precisely, but I don’t think he found it as had as he’d feared either.

It was glorious on top of the Mendips.  At an elevation of over 850 feet with stunning crystal clear views, it would be easy to get vertigo.  There’s some very nice cycling up there.  High up in the middle of nowhere, on top of the world, with no-one around, where the streets have no name…  Very lovely 🙂  it’s just a shame there’s no other way to get up there than to go UP there! *grin*.

After going on along the top it was time for the lovely long dowwwwwnnnn on the A39 into Wells.  I nearly managed not to touch the brakes at all…which was pretty good for me.  Then it was into Wells proper, where the Cathedral was glowing in the sunshine, the sound of someone playing the trombone in the Music School could be heard over the Green, and it all felt very idyllic.  We came back to Wedmore via the scenic and mostly flat back roads of Burcott and the Levels.  Not a cloud in the very blue sky, no wind, just blissful cycling weather.

Cycling time: 2:22:39
Distance: 33.9 miles
Avs: 14.2 mph
ODO: 2295 miles

Our exact route is here, should you care.  It was a beautiful day and a pretty good ride to match 🙂

I am forever cycling around in circles.  And with the weather worsening, presumably they will be ever decreasing circles.

So it came as a nice change when the opportunity to do something different arose this weekend.  Hubby and I had a weekend away planned  – delayed anniversary celebration – at a restaurant with rooms called Little Barwick House, in Barwick, which is the other side of Yeovil.  After a quick peek with google maps, I realised that that’s not actually all that far from here.  Rather than spend two hours in the gym waiting for youngest to finish bouncing, I decided I would cycle to our destination.

I spent ages on Bike Route Toaster sorting my route out.  There are more direct routes, but I wanted to stick to the quieter back roads so as to enjoy my ride more.  I printed out my route, the cue sheet, and the directions from the hotel.  BRT had it down as around 3 1/2 hours riding which, for 36 odd miles, seemed a bit much but I went with it and left at 11:00am with 2:30pm as my goal arrival time.

The first hour or so was pretty standard stuff – basically heading fairly straight south for High Ham Hill.  It’s still a very long hill!  Having done it a couple of weeks ago it did hold less fear for me than before tho’.  It’s just a shame there was no nice friendly feed stop at the top this time around!

From there it was a nice long down into Langport before turning left and into unknown territory, which is where it started to get more fun.  Even in the light drizzle, it was definitely more interesting than the familiar.  It felt a bit like being on holiday, and quite L2P – cycling through unknown but pretty villages and towns.  Muchelney Abbey was as pretty as ever, Kingsbury Episcopi, Coat, Ash, Martock and Montacute were all lovely with their yellow stone buildings and olde worlde charm.

The roads were pretty quiet, which presumably explains why there is no need for road signs..  I did get lost a couple of times, which is why I ended up in Ash.  A nice fellow cyclist helped me out in Martock as well, when the direction to Montacute was none too obvious.  Still, no serious diversions taken, and I knew roughly where I was, so there was no panicking going on and I muddled my way back to join up with where I was meant to be.

The country charm wore off a bit on the main relief road around Yeovil but by that time I knew I was nearly there.  After an unexpected up hill slog, it was basically all down hill to the little village of Barwick.

Cycling time: 2:39:33
Distance: 40.6 miles
Avs: 15.2 mph
ODO: 2226 miles

The weather was pretty windy and not all that warm.  One reason why an mp3 is handy is that it blocks out the wind noise so you notice it less.  It wasn’t a constant wind either, so was more annoying for the occasions where it caught me through a gap in the hedge and I’d suddenly find myself a foot further to left than I’d mean to be!  As I’ve already mentioned, there was some drizzle for a while in the middle there too, which was less than attractive but luckily it cleared up after a while.

I’ve tweaked my route to show the accidental detour I took – and apparently I did 1350ft of climbing.  Not a lot I guess but enough for me.  I still can’t figure out why it’s supposed to take 3 1/2 hours + though – as you can see, it took me nowhere near that!

I enjoyed my little adventure a lot – and felt very proud of myself for some reason 🙂

It’s definitely harder to train when there’s no goal in sight.  I’m only getting out twice a week at the moment, if that, and seem to end up at the gym more often as it fits around life slightly more easily.  As the weather worsens and the days shorten, I don’t expect things are going to improve any time soon.  So it was good to get out with G today, even if it wasn’t for very long.  She had errands to run in Burnham so we looped to there and back.

Cycling time: 1:51:57
Distance: 29.18 miles
Avs: 15.6 mph
ODO: 2153 miles

Weather was nice, though with the chill that’s now in the air, so definitely long sleeves today.  Not yet had to resort to long tights tho’…I’ll be putting that off as long as possible.

Like it or not, I feel slower with G – probably because she makes it all look so effortless that you become more aware of the effort you’re making by comparison.  Or something like that.  I wasn’t quite on form either, so on balance, I guess it went ok.

Having done a very strenuous yoga class on Tuesday, yesterday I was having problems walking let alone cycling, and it wasn’t just my legs killing me, it was my arms and shoulder too!  But I had the time, and the weather was with me, and G was free so I decided to go out anyway.  I duly warned G that I hurt and needed to stick to the flat…but I’m fairly sure she either wasn’t listening or didn’t believe me.

We started off by heading out through Winscombe to Sandford.  A tad hilly, but not too much.  Out across the levels (good) to Yatton and then on to the main road towards Bristol…from which we turned right to go up Goblin Coombe.  Yes – Coombe.  Remember how I feel about those?  Well yesterday was no exception.  I slogged my way up, in not-a-happy-bunny mode.  Apparently that wasn’t good enough however.  We joined the road that goes up past the Walled Garden and heads towards the A38…which is a long up.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we turned left before the A38 and headed up and up and up…to go ’round the Airport.  The down of  Brockley Coombe didn’t really make up for all that climbing…  From there it was flatish for a bit round Chelvey and back through Congresbury.  Up Sandford Hill, into Winscombe for a brief shop stop…and then UP Winscombe Hill!   I mean, really!  Is that any way to end a ride?!  Having said that, the zoom down the hill and then the bypass was kinda fun – I felt almost fast *grin*.

Cycling time: 2:21:02
Distance: 33.6 miles
Avs: 14.3 mph
ODO: 2092 miles

This was NOT a flat route.  See for yourselves!  It was a lovely day, the weather was great – though the chill is starting to creep in now – and it was good to be out.  My legs are not thanking me now though…

PS: my “new” bike has now done over 2000 miles.  How cool is that?  I started riding it in May, so that’s nearly 5 months.  Well – I’m impressed anyway 🙂

The “new” bike has done 1973 miles as of today.  Which, coincidentally, is the year I was born in  Anyway…

I probably shouldn’t have been riding today, with Sunday looming, but the weather forecast was good, and it seems a shame not to make the most of what may be the last few days of “summer”.  I convinced myself that it was a good idea by deciding to use it to do a couple of errands, thus combining trips and saving efforts.  I called Dad last night and he agreed to come over and join me.

Things never go quite according to plan, as it turns out G was joining us.  So we cycled into Cheddar, did my errands, came back, and picked her up in the Square.  We did the flattest route possible, for a couple of hours, in weather that was colder and greyer than it should have been, but not as windy as it had seemed.

Cycling time: 2:03:56
Distance: 31.32 miles
Avs: 15.1 mph
ODO: 1973 miles

More level Levels work, which is my kind of thing at the moment – I’m still feeling more tired than I would like.  I’m feeling better about corners and the like though, thanks to the advice from T at Cheddar Cycle Store which mostly involves having your weight distributed better – and it seems to be working.  *fingers crossed*.