Do you think the world is trying to tell me something?  I mean, the lengths people will go to to avoid riding with me! 😉  George went and acquired herself a destination limiting stomach bug from one of her mob, and GB has clearly decided I’m a pain in the neck, which has manifested itself as an actual pain in the neck that requires co-codamol and an osteopath! 🙁  That means that today’s ride turned into a solitary one, and that this Sunday’s ride is likely to do likewise.  B*gger.  I’m sorry, whatever it was, I won’t do it again, promise!  In the meantime I hope you both feel better, and are back on the road soon :).

The upside to being left to ride on my own was being able to leave when I wanted to, so the 9:00am start slipped by an hour.  Having ridden so much around here lately I was hard pushed to summon any enthusiasm for route planning, but I decided to go to the seaside, and to throw the odd hill in just for the hell of it.  Shipham Hill, that Bleadon Hill, and the Alpe de Winscombe as it turns out.  Or Winscombe d’Huez, which sounds better but makes less linguistic sense.

It wasn’t a very exciting ride.  It was just grey, in many senses of the word.  I got my layering strategy wrong.  Right number of layers I think, just the wrong layers.  Maybe even the wrong trousers.  I got cold, and lost my feet, and had to take less photos than usual.  Stopping was ok, standing still didn’t feel too cold, but getting going again with the NE air moving over your now slightly cooler self?  Not pleasant.  Still, this is a blog not a photo essay right?  And don’t worry, I still managed to take the odd picture, for those that prefer their books with lots of pictures in ;).

Just so as you know, this is the route that Bella says I did.  I hadn’t planned a route precisely, since I do kinda know my way around here by now…

…but just in case I didn’t, my route was full of signs…

Yes, that old (horse) chestnut 😉  Lack of originality never stopped me, right? *grin*.

Being as I was going that way, and as I’m still rather smitten with it, I’m going to take you over the new bridge with me again.

The seaside was much the same as ever, but more eau de bacon than eau de candyfloss today, which either means that candyfloss is only a sunny day thing, or that when the weather is like this, the grockles in Weston don’t get out of bed and down to breakfast until later than usual.  Come to think of it, as long as it’s decent quality, I’m probably allowed to eat bacon.  Now there’s a thought…

I did get a little bored pootling around from time to time, so I wrote you a haiku.  I’m sure it breaks many haiku rules, in various heinous ways, but if you feel the need to express your concerns on the matter, go tell someone who cares ;).

“People in your tin boxes,
where are the flies on your teeth?”

However it is interesting that you can ride around here a lot, and still not notice when things change.  I don’t know when it happened, but this cottage on the corner before the ascent of Winscombe Hill used to be clad in smooth white render.  I kinda liked the way the corner was rounded and shaped.  Stripping it back can’t have been an easy job, nor the work of but a few hours, so why haven’t I noticed it before?  Interestingly the curvy nature of the corner is much harder to make out now.

And just for your delectation, here’s another sign…

Time to go running up that hill, at what turns out to actually have been a fairly pitiful speed, but at least I got to fly down the bypass home.  I did better on the other climbs though, and I was feeling alright throughout.  I think I was slower than usual overall because I was cold, and it took me ages to warm up when I got home.  I was also, let’s be honest, not feeling all that motivated.

Cycling time: 2:03:53 hrs
Distance: 32.19 miles
Avs: 15.6 mph.
ODO: 13426 miles

I got home to more post, though not for me this time.  To use a few clichés, there was a distinct lack of blue sky (thinking) today, but you’ll be pleased to see that my cat can still think outside the box *grin*.

NB – she usually has a thing for hiding inside boxes, should you be after some context to put that comment in ;).