Tag Archives: somerset

I am a river

So. I have been outside again. But not quite as planned.

My last ride was on Friday, with George, a chilly, icy, cautious loop out to the seaside and back. I don’t normally go out when ice is a factor but I’d said I would and I was in a truly foul mood, and getting out seemed like an extremely good idea. Which it was, from a mental health perspective anyway. And neither of us fell off, so that went well too. But it did very clearly demonstrate that I was tired. Very tired. Tired legs, tired body, tired me.

Cycling time: 1:57
Distance: 26.8 miles
Avg: 13.7 mph
ODO: 7808.8 miles

So I didn’t go out with the ACG on Saturday. Even though they were doing a nice easy flat loop, I decided what I really needed was sleep. So instead of getting up at 8:30am to join them, that’s what I did. I slept. A lot. I like sleep 🙂 And I felt much better for it too. The chances are I wouldn’t have had a good ride anyway, which I would then not have enjoyed so, win win, as it were. Rest and recovery.

And yesterday I went walking again. Which was lovely. Yes, I could have gone riding. Lots of people had/were. But I’m quite enjoying doing things a little differently. Going with my flow. Hence the smiley face, presumably 🙂

Walking time: 1:56
Distance: 6.4 miles

Get up, get down, and get outside

Hello Sunday. Hello sunny day. Oh, and hello Steve 🙂

As ever, the best way of making sure I get out there is to arrange to do so in company. Especially when that company is also recovering from the dreaded lurgy and therefore less likely to leave me for dust than sometimes. In deference to our form, we decided it was more of a rehabilitation ride than a recovery ride 😉 And invalids are supposed to go to the seaside and take in the sea air, right? So we did. Which was a very good call. Like Friday, the weather was still amazing, and my riding was still fair to middling, which I can live with. It was cold, to be sure, but the air was crystal clear, with stunning views all the way over to Wales. And it’s a nice route, which was done in good company, what more does a girl want? It was a very good day to be out there. To be fair, I reckon after the Tour of Pembrokeshire Prologue ride I was probably owed a couple of beautiful bike days 🙂

“So why are you sat at home?
You’re not designed to be alone
You just got used to saying “no”
So get up and get down and get outside
Cos it’s a lovely sunny day“

I’m very glad I said yes 🙂

Cycling time: 1:54
Distance: 27.9 miles
Avg: 14.6 mph
ODO: 7530 miles

Oh, baby, baby, it’s a wild world

Oh baby it was cold outside. But not freezing cold. And the forecast was for sun and little in the way of wind. Which sounded good. But…well… I thought about it. About how I was feeling, and whether or not I wanted to be feeling that way and riding on my own. And I thought about staying in my warm and comfortable bed. And then I thought about yet another day going past without me riding. And…I vacillated. Which is, incidentally, a great word. And then I stopped being all pretentious about my vocabulary and took to Facebook to ping Alan and see if he was riding. Which, unsurprisingly as he always is, he was. Voilà – a ride partner, a reason not to bail, and a reason to get out of bed. Result.

We had a Plan A and a Plan B. And, once we’d reached Wedmore, and it turned out I was feeling better than I thought I would, we turned not right but left, and Sweets metarmophised into Heaphy’s. AKA Plan B. Where I discovered the chocolate espresso, which could possibly count as an energy drink right? Sugar, caffeine, what more do you want? 😉

chocolate espresso Heaphy's

Not wanting to push it, and being a little time poor, we went back pretty much the way we come, in even more pleasant sunshine. More pleasant because it was no longer in your face and everything was all sparkly and fresh and reflective and very lovely. The best weather there’s been around here for quite some time. And it’s just as well we didn’t do more as although I may be getting better, the tank runs dry pretty quickly, and I was fading fast as we got back to Cheddar, partially because I was on the front and not sucking Alan’s wheel for a change. Not that I was doing any great speed you understand, but it’s always harder out in front. I did my best though 🙂

There were signs of improvement however. My PMA may have stirred somewhere down in the depths. And being out there made me smile. OK, so my training needs the miles more than it does the smiles, but I think both are probably required 🙂

Cycling time: 1:48
Distance: 28.8 miles
Avg: 15.8 mph
ODO: 7502.1 miles

I wish today could be tomorrow

I should be riding. I’m not. Again. George came round this morning, and that was the plan…but I still feel rubbish and the forecast was lousy, and I just can’t risk getting cold, wet, and worse. And in addition to that, at the moment keeping up with anyone feels like hard work and it’s depressing. No good for my currently AWOL PMA. So we had coffee and a long chat instead. Yes, even I can be sensible sometimes. However bl**dy frustrating it is to be in here and not out there. Again.

To be honest what I probably need to do is ride on my own, at my own pace, and get some confidence back. I just feel a bit like I’ve forgotten how to ride a bike. But since I still can’t hear properly, or for that matter stand up without wanting to fall over, and my head is still spaced, I’m a tad concerned that riding on my own wouldn’t be wise either. Rock vs hard place.

I did ride on Sunday though. A recovery loop around Fairyland, complete with pinch puncture and patriarchal company to fix it pdq for me. And it went pretty well really. Better than might have been expected anyway. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining really, after all I have been back on the bike, and I have managed a couple of workouts this week, and that’s all training even if it isn’t riding, right? I’m just frustrated at still being ill, and not being able to get on with this year’s training. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly…please?

Cycling time: 1:42
Distance: 23.6 miles
Avg: 13.8 mph
ODO: 7473.3 miles

Like to get to know you well

Ok, I declare my 2015 cycling season (finally) open! Thanks to the worst cold I’ve ever had, which is on-going and has led to two ear-aches and two perforated ear drums, I was starting to wonder if I’d ever get back on the bike at all. It was with some trepidation that I set off this morning to meet Alan for a coffee run, even though he’d promised to take it easy for me. open

Which he did, which is just as well. Not just because I’m unsurprisingly off form, but because lack of hearing and weird head makes riding a little interesting… It’s harder to hear cars coming up behind you for starters. My balance is a little off. And with gaps in my ears where there shouldn’t be, it’s like you can feel all the road noise vibrating inside your hollow head somehow. It’s virtually impossible to describe, but it sure is weird. All that whilst feeling one step removed from reality, because since you can’t quite hear it properly and you’re still ill, you can’t quite connect with it either. Surreal.

It’s not always about the coffee….

However it went a lot better than I expected. Alan nurse-maided me all the way to Sweets setting an easy steady pace, while I coated the roads of Somerset with snot. Apart from an impressive coughing fit when we arrived, it went well enough that, following my restorative cup of hot chocolate and Alan consuming the largest slice of chocolate cake known to man, we came back by a longer route than planned. It was a slightly tough call. Do you do the longer ride because you feel up to it, or do you keep it shorter so as to not overdo it and thus lengthen the road to recovery? Longer of course! But judging by the involuntary and rather longer than usual nap I ended up taking this afternoon, I think it wore me out a bit. Still I’m relieved and glad to have finally gotten back out there – thanks for taking it easy for me Alan! Hello beautiful bike, I’ve missed you 🙂

Cycling time: 1:41
Distance: 25.3 miles
Avg: 14.9 mph
ODO: 7416.3miles

So it’s the New Year. A new year. I could bore you by comparing 2014’s stats to those of 2013. I’m not going to. I could bore you with my cycling goals, hopes and dreams for this year. But I’m not going to. Let’s face it, they’re none of your business and you’re probably not that interested anyway. I’ll tell you what I would like though. I’d like to do it better 🙂

There’s more than just existence

Since my legs are a little sore after yesterday’s jaunt on Shank’s pony, riding with Guy & Martyn today was always going to be an interesting exercise. But it would be exercise and that is always what is called for. Yes it is, don’t argue. Besides the sun was shining, the skies were blue, they’d done a fair few miles before picking me up at a most civilised 10:00am, and would therefore hopefully go easy on me. Which they did. Most appreciated chaps 🙂 It was a short loop that, due to the vagaries of the festive season, did not include its planned coffee stop since Banwell Garden Centre was closed. Which was in some ways just as well, as I’d got my layering just about right and didn’t really fancy getting cold and then having to warm up again just to get home. So it all worked. I worked. Probably harder than I would have done left to my own devices, but not too hard. And I got to ride my bike in the sun again. A few more miles in the legs, all ready to fight another day. Good times 🙂 Though my legs proper hurt now!

Cycling time: 1:19
Distance: 19.1 miles
Avg: 14.3 mph
ODO: 7391 miles

I wanna see the sunshine after the rain

If there’s one thing I hate more than wind, it’s ice. I have good reason to. Well, ok, there are probably lots of things I hate more than wind, but we’re talking cycling here, right? 😉 So when I woke up yesterday morning, to a world outside my window where earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone, I really wasn’t sure the 9:00am ACG ride was a good idea. But I was up, and I didn’t want to not ride, and left to my own devices, would I actually go out later? So, I um-ed, and ah-ed, and deliberated, and while I was vacillating, Alan posted on the group’s FB page that he was also going to leave it and ride later instead…and voilà, I had a solution, and my mind was made up for me 🙂

In a brief aside, and mentioned in dispatches, it would appear that two of those brave souls that did go out – Mike and Chris – both went out and went down. Nothing too serious I gather, and I hope, but I do feel better about my decision now! That could have been me, and having been told the night before not to fall off…well, I do what I’m told, right? 😉

So later on that day, in another part of the forest, Alan and I did a coffee loop to Sweets. On went multiple layers, out came the heavy duty overshoes and winter gloves, and yes, it was cold out there, but I wasn’t. I may be getting the hang of this layering lark 😉 It was just gorgeous. A beautiful day to be out and not in. Clear and crisp. Views galore. OK, the roads were a little busier than we’d have liked, but they were at least mostly dry and, more importantly, they were ice-free. Result 🙂

It being somewhat later in the day than usual, Sweets was fairly quiet, though we did briefly overlap with a Somerset Cycling/Tor 2000 contingent. Nice to see you guys 🙂 Quiet was good because that meant my vat of black coffee came faster than usual, and that the door to the outside world stayed closed and kept the heat in. Better still, by the time we left there was a little more wind but thanks to the still shining sun, a little more warmth around too. Pretty perfect riding weather 🙂

It was just a really nice ride. Although ‘just’ sounds like I’m demeaning it in some way, which I’m definitely not. I mean that it wasn’t a training ride, or a long ride, or a lumpy ride. It was one of those days when it was just good to be out there riding the bike 🙂 And it’s much easier to get out at this time of year in company, so we’ve got a couple of rides pencilled in for this week too. Left to my own devices I’m far more likely to bail…sad but true. I just want to keep getting the miles in over the winter and, in the New Year, start getting some hills in too. If you consider how things were this time last year and how they are now? Where 2015 is concerned, I’m already ahead of the game. *fingers crossed*. 🙂

Cycling time: 2:00 ish
Distance: c.30 miles
Avg: 15.5 mph
ODO: 7298.5 miles

It’s a cold wind blowing

Things kept happening today to gradually squeeze my available time…but just for once, there was enough time left in the space in-between to also squeeze in a ride. Which is good because however many valid reasons there have been for not riding, they still feel just a little bit like excuses, and my riding PMA is suffering enough without that lurking suspicion that I’m also sabotaging myself. However many workouts I do, and I do, and last night’s was awesome, it’s not the same as being out there. Both my head and body need that reality check.

fields of gold

See that sky? Those fields of gold? That was actually today. Appearances can be deceptive though, as it was about 20°C cooler than it looks! However I was fairly toasty and warm in my ensemble of many layers, and I wanted to see if it was as gorgeous on top of the Mendips as it was below. Not until I’d properly warmed up though, so I took a circuitous route around to Burrington Combe rather than heading up Shipham Hill. As I made my way through the narrow country lanes, thanks to the low sunshine, I was frequently blinded by the light, and was more than a little concerned that any traffic coming up behind me might be likewise. The shaded Combe was somewhat of a relief on that front, if not others. As I braved the cattle grid, and passed by the Rock of Ages, all around me the grass was still deep and crisp and even, the first frost of the winter still lingering in the shadows. I made my way up, somewhat slower than I thought as it turns out, but then I wasn’t pushing it (as if!), and I did get a bit mentally distracted along the way trying to figure out the rest of my route among other things, which was not conducive to focus and speed. And besides, it felt pretty good, and what’s the rush?

The point was to be riding, and to be enjoying it, and I was, and I did. Once I’d made it, up on top of the world it was as beautiful as I’d hoped it would be. The skies were clear and so was my head. I actually remembered to look around me, to enjoy the views, the flock of starlings being harassed by seagulls. It was really lovely 🙂 I still hadn’t quite figured out where to go next, but there was a rather chilly wind, and as my toes were considering severing communication with the rest of my body, I decided to zoom around the top for a bit and then head down Cheddar Gorge…so that’s just what I did. Fast. Not quite as fast as when I have others to chase, but very nearly. And it was just as much fun :D. My current goal is to beat my best time down there. It’s good to have goals, right? And better still to have achievable goals. Well I think I can do it anyway. Hopefully soon 🙂

Cycling time: 2:06
Distance: 30.5 miles
Avg: 14.4 mph
ODO: 7236.4 miles

Oh, and since one of today’s unexpected tasks was taking the newest addition to the vets, here’s one for Rob. He just loves kittens 😉

No hippy chick

If I do say so myself, I do a nice line in handicapping myself. You’d think standing up was simple right? Not always. Welcome to my postural/orthostatic hypotension. To be fair, I’m used to it, but for some reason it got the better of me last weekend. It’s not helped by my dietary habits, or white wine, but in my defence, I’d had a steak dinner and not that much wine…! But nonetheless, mid trip to the kitchen, I found myself waking up on the floor, and the glass that I’d been carrying was in even worse shape than me, and some of those shapes were in me 😉 Oops… Cue two days of feeling pretty wobbly, and throw in a sore shoulder, some bruises, and a large cut at the base of my right thumb…just where it ought to be on the handlebars! See, didn’t I do well?

So this Saturday’s jaunt was the first ride in a week for me. Even though it was supposed to be an easy coffee run, I was joined by Alan and Chris G and they stuck me on the front, pretty much all the way there and back! As ever, in theory, this should mean that I can go at my own easy pace, but actually usually means I feel like I have to go faster in case those behind me are rolling their eyes, and wondering if it would be quicker walking 😉 Rob joined us in Wedmore, but he’s no tortoise either, so it turned out to be rather faster than some of my coffee runs are! Good training, or something, right? 😉

Xmas in Glastonbury me in my blog

Still, the sun was shining, the skies were clear and blue, the wind was not blowing, and my winter jacket was a bit too warm! One of those days when it would be criminal not to be on the bike 🙂 To top it all off, Glastonbury was being all festive, with the high street closed, stalls everywhere, and a veritable cornucopia of fairy wings and the like. Gotta love Fairyland! We even sat outside for coffee and people watching. At the end of November! All very fabulous 🙂 And Rob got hold of my camera…apparently I’m never in my own blog. No fairy wings for me though…I left ’em at home *grin*

Cycling time: 1:44
Distance: 29.3 miles
Avg: 16.8 mph
ODO: 7205.9 miles

I’m still looking at my options for next year. The Etape sort of beckons but since doing it, totting it all up, looks like it would cost around a grand, I think I’ll have to find an alternative. That’s a hell of a lot of money for one day’s riding! And don’t suggest the Haute Route, I know my limits. Besides, as of yesterday, I could indeed stick to playing with kittens. Meet Cassie, the newest member of the family. Cute or what? 🙂