Following hubby’s 40th birthday celebrations last night I was, not to put too fine a point on it, feeling pretty rancid this morning. A state that was aided and abetted by the developing cold that my eldest has chosen to share with me (he’s generous like that). So it would have come as no surprise if this morning’s ride had been fairly torturous.
However it’s amazing what a little sunshine can do for a girl. Sun and the bike, and the right number of layers, and not too much wind. From the moment GB, Dad, and I got into line on our way down the A38, legs pumping away, I started feeling better. Yes, I even managed to get Dad to join us. Well he was here anyway, and I wasn’t having any excuses about it being too cold, or him being too slow, or whatever. And I certainly didn’t notice him holding us back. In fact, as an excuse for a leisurely ride, he did a lousy job! 😉 There was I hoping for an easy ride, as it were, and it turns out we ended up going quite fast enough for me thank you very much. I’d definitely have been going no faster without him, not this morning anyway. 😉
GB dictated the route, which he very kindly kept nice and flat so we got to enjoy the winter sun on the gorgeous Levels, with birds a plenty. Ok, he didn’t dictate, not really. It was a democracy in which two out of three riders who expressed a preference didn’t have a preference at all 😉 Essentially we went around the flats for coffee at Sweets and then home again. Coffee was more than usually essential if not particularly good as coffee goes. Which is a shame. Bad coffee is not good. Obviously. Because then it would be called good coffee not bad coffee. Even though we were sensible enough to sit inside, having the waitress leave the front door open didn’t help with the whole warming up thing. Having said that, watching GB literally attack chocolate cake added a degree of levity to proceedings. Good cake apparently. He nearly had seconds before concluding that two slices of cake could well negate the positive impact of cycling and restraining himself.
4 of the Tor 2000 lot arrived as we were finishing up, including my pit crew, Andrew, which was novel, as I almost never cross paths with him on the road. We also met the leisure arm of the ACG outside who were arriving as we were leaving which meant we could have a bit of a catch up and chat – all very constructive and pleasant. Sunshine makes everyone happier 🙂
Anyway essentially it would appear that, due to the low temperatures and the risk of ice, most of Somerset’s cyclists had left going out until that bit later since, having seen very few on the outward leg of our route, they were all over the place on our way back. Couldn’t move for multi-coloured lycra! We came back fairly directly and in relatively restrained fashion, apart from the usual stupidity on the usual stretch of road. Which we cut short to allow Dad to catch up. Just between you and me, I’m not sure I could have kept it up anyway 😉
It wasn’t a particularly exciting ride. It wasn’t challenging. It wasn’t hilly. It was fairly fast. It was the third ride this week – ‘rah! And it was, due to the sunshine and the not feeling half as crap as I ought to have been and not feeling crap at all by the time I got home, a bl**dy lovely ride 🙂
Cycling time: 1:46:49
Distance: 28.29 miles
Avs: 15.9 mph
ODO: 6893 miles