Hurrah – I got another ride in today!  It may not have been as long as I’d have liked, but it was better than nowt, and better out than in.

I took my life into my own hands, braved the still busy A38, and hurtled down to Snacks ‘r Us to meet GW at 9:30am.  Quite predictably she was late, but only by 5 minutes or so, which practically counts as on time by her standards.

I was wearing every layer I possess, including combi buff, leaving the smallest possible window of flesh twixt chin and forehead exposed to the elements.  It was a long way from warm, and it was windy to boot.  And the wind was cold too.  But I got the clothing as right as is possible without some form of electric heating.  I may have lost touch with my toes for a little while there, but the rest of me felt fairly toasty.  I wonder how I ever survived without Buffs?  And thermal undies *grin*.

GW had errands to run so basically we went straight over to Burnham and back, with nary a gradient to trouble me.  She’d done a mad ride the day before so was actually tired.  Yes, really.  GW tired.  So tired as to ask me to slow down.  I know, I know, she must have been truly knackered *grin*.  I’m not complaining though, it makes a change from keeping up.  It was also nice to have a chance for a chat and a catch up as it had been quite a while.

On the way back we parted company as I didn’t fancy going all the way back up the A38 into the wind, and opted instead to come back via Loxton and over the Webbington Hill.  A little bit of me did think that there ought to be at least one hill…which I did somewhat better than usual, so there’s progress for you.  As I headed for home the sun broke cover and brightened up everything, including me.  A huge improvement on the conclusion to Tuesday’s ride.

Cycling time: 1:42:24
Distance: 25.61 miles
Avs: 15.0 mph
ODO: 6865 miles

I’ve come to the conclusion that some of my disastrous downhill behaviour may not actually be down to me.  It’s hard to explain but when bearing right it’s like there’s a flat spot in the steering and the bike doesn’t go as sharply right as I want soon enough.  I’m thinking this could be down to the worn headset that Andrew is still trying to get a replacement for.  It behaved oddly several times today in situations where I was not panicking (well, not until it did that!) and it definitely felt like the bike not me.  I find this oddly reassuring.  And it’s something we can look into anyway.  Also progress 🙂