I went riding last Friday, but unless you want me to moan about the wind (amongst other things) again, it was fairly unremarkable.  Apart from the size of the slice of treacle tart that Alan ate at Sweets – that warrants a mention.  And a doggy bag probably, since even he couldn’t eat it all!  So I didn’t blog the ride, but I might as well slip it in while I’m here, for consistency’s sake.

Cycling time: 1:27
Distance: 22.1 miles
Avg: 15.2 mph
ODO: 9596.7 miles

Which brings us to today.  Which is of course hump day.  Again.  For some reason I came up with this particular route whilst attempting to drift off to sleep on Sunday night, with a vague idea that I might do it on Monday.  However the weather wasn’t in my favour, and life got a bit busy, and besides, hilly routes are perfect for riding with Alan, because at least I can just about keep up on those 😉

Of course it had to be a four hill route, since Alan had mentioned that we could easily have sneaked another hill into last week’s three hill route.  Gauntlet thrown down…  Be careful what you wish for, isn’t that what they say? 😉  And do you want to know which hills?  Of course you do.  And it doesn’t really matter whether you do or not because I’m going to tell you anyway.  That’s kinda how this blogging thing works.  So, in order, Shipham Hill, Two Trees, the A39 from Chewton Mendip to the aerial (which fails to have a catchy name), and Deer Leap.  How do you like them lumpy apples? 🙂

I wasn’t expecting it to go well, being back on the shiny pills and all.  But it did.  I just got on with it in a quietly feeling competent kind of way.  The sun helped, the wind didn’t.  Yes, the hills were hard work but, on balance, if pushed (which I wasn’t! 😉 ), I’d say they felt easier than the last times I variously went up them.  Which, according to Strava, is because I went up them faster.  Not PRs necessarily (though some of ’em were), but my best time up all of them in a year, or in some cases, in years!  How cool is that? 🙂  Apparently our efforts were worth a cream tea, if you’re Alan that is.  I’ll be having my reward a little later when Tescos have delivered – something cold and white methinks 😀

Cycling time: 2:36
Distance: 36.8 miles
Avg: 14.1 mph
ODO: 9633.5 miles

PS: yes the blog title today is truly terrible *grin*