I had a ride scheduled for this afternoon.  Got the bike out of the garage this morning to clear some space…and discovered the back tyre was flat.  Not a great start.   On top of that the weather was not looking great, and the wind was looking worse.  Apparently warm weather means storms…  I changed the tube, and decided that, with wind like that, I might as well do some hills.  They’re usually pretty sheltered, and they’re also hard work whatever!  I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but was banking on the warmth, so opted not to wear the base layer, which as it turns out, worked perfectly.  Actually I’d be happy if it never got that much warmer than this – I’m noticing that I’m drinking more now – and that’s only going to get worse as it gets hotter.

First off – Shipham Hill.  It was just starting to rain as I got there…big fat drops…but as I went left, I seemed to leave it behind.  The hill road is newly resurfaced, and thus considerably nicer to cycle up.  I plodded my way up that as usual – step by step.  Once up top, I took the nip through Shipham to Rowberrow before going down to Churchill.  Along the road then a longer plod up Burrington Combe – again, step by step. That’s how I do hills.  Once up there it was all the way along the Mendips to the Bristol-Wells road where I went up, past Romulus and Remus, past the aerial and….wheeeeeeeeeeeee….all the way down into Wells, with the wind (mostly) behind me.  Back from Wells direct to Wedmore, out and around Nyland Hill to Cheddar where I popped into see Jem at Cheddar Ales to order a polypin of Potholer for Mayor Making – I have the best sponsors! *grin*.   Then it was just the usual 10 minute zoom home, with the wind pushing me all the way.

Cycling time: 2:33:10
Distance: 37.159 miles
Avs: 14.6 mph
ODO: 9426.3 miles

After Wells, everywhere I went it had clearly rained heavily fairly recently…but I got home untouched – ‘rah! 🙂  I got the wind right this time – avoided the worst of it and got to enjoy having it behind me.  My average speed was better than I had expected considering all of those hills.   And those hills?  Just not quite as hard as I remember them…although the backs of my thighs are feeling it now.   I never had to reach for bottom gear, or get out of the saddle.  I think some of the weights stuff I’m doing at the gym is definitely helping when it comes to going up 🙂