Today’s ride was less of a training one, and more of a functional one.  I had to go over to Portishead to feed the cats, and figured that I could combine a training ride with that, thus also saving myself petrol money.  Last night I planned myself a route there and back with the odd wiggle and hill to make it more enjoyable.

Well, when I got up this morning it was raining, had clearly been doing so for ages, and equally clearly wasn’t going to stop any time soon.  Hrmph.  That’s what happens when you combine Glastonbury Festival with Wimbledon…talk about tempting fate!

However, hungry cats were still waiting, and I still needed to get some exercise in so…out in the rain it was.  Due to the continued downpour I seriously tweaked the route.  Ain’t no point going up Shipham Hill in weather like that – it metamorphoses into a river bed.  There was also no point including the Clapton-in-Gordano loop, as that’s dirty and muddy at the best of times.  So it was fairly directly there, and even more directly back.

Cycling time: 2:33:10
Distance: 40.83 miles
Avs: 15.9 mph
ODO: 858 miles

On the way back I really put my head down and pushed it, and as it dried up and brightened up, I even got to stash the waterproof in the bag and stop boiling in it.  I was fair flying for a while there…which dragged the average speed up nicely.  I was however wetter than a very wet thing when I got home – the kind of wet that means all your clothes weigh twice as much, as you sling ’em straight in the washing machine.  And instead of tan lines you have dirt lines 🙂