After a few glasses of wine last night, what my body wanted to do today was to roll over and go back to sleep. However considering what I do to my body on a regular basis, it often believes it has basis for complaint, and if I listened to it when it was complaining, then I’d never get on my bike. I’m in charge right? And I wanted to go ride the bike. I wanted to find out how I was feeling post-Lionheart, I wanted to get out of the house and blow the cobwebs away, and I didn’t want to go to the gym. Body over-ruled.
I figured I’d just do the usual kind of loop, take it easy, and please myself, which is pretty much what I did. I didn’t push it and if I felt myself doing so I made myself ease off a bit. I did the odd lump because all flat is boring, but nothing particularly notable, and I took those easy. Even knowing that Strava was recording away in the background didn’t make me go up Mudgeley Hill faster. How restrained of me ;). I stopped when I wanted to, took which ever turnings appealed to me, and took photos as I went, so I guess this is more of a photo diary than a blog, but hey, pictures painting words and so on…
Let’s start with the lay-by on the bypass which, being resident here, I never stop at. So I did.
MHAONB sign
view to Brent Knoll
Nice views from up there, and a shiny new Mendip Hills AONB gateway sign. Who knew?
Time to go get some miles in and get those initial 20 minutes when you’re not warmed up other than in a feeling like death warmed up fashion and just feel rubbish. Today was no exception, and possibly worse than sometimes. Sweating those toxins out right? It was mild and grey out there, but with rather too much wind for my liking, especially on the Levels. Not so long ago I showed you fields of swans. Today you get pigs. Variety and so forth. Cute pigs too, as these things go :).
free range pigs
It was the kind of wind that when you turned a corner and found yourself straight into it you had to instantly drop down a gear (or two). Not ideal. And possibly even more annoying when it was coming at me from the side. As you can see, there’s nowhere to hide out there…
However much of a hindrance the wind was, and it really was, it was worth it for the help it became once it was behind me. I got to fly around the long straights towards Mudgeley Hill at silly speeds without even trying. Much fun. I definitely did my loop the right way ’round today 🙂 Talking of Mudgeley Hill – here it is. They’ve cut back some vegetation somewhere around there and you can now see all of it from a long way off. Not that it’s a massive hill or anything. It’s not an Alp right? But is that better or worse do you think? Do you prefer to see what you’re about to face, or do you prefer not to know?
I climbed the hill. Slowly. My legs wanted me to know that they would cheerfully have not gone up hill and weren’t best pleased at being made to do so, but I told them to shut up, and got on with it, which worked surprisingly well. Then all I had to do was head home via Wedmore and the Nyland loop. Easy. One of the nice things about Strava is that it knows where I’ve been and draws the route map for me, so I don’t have to try and figure that out for you when I get in. I’m lazy ;).
Cycling time: 2:03:32 hrs
Distance: 32.4 miles
AVS: 15.7 mph.
ODO: 12681 miles
One easy recovery ride done. I’m not saying I would like to, or even could, have ridden a sportive today, but my body, for all it’s early morning complaints, was pretty much on form. Good to know. On the layers front it was all change, and after I’d warmed up, I did the ride in my very lovely, christened by being worn for the first time, Rapha Galibier jersey, and my ever reliable bolero arms. (Before you tell me off for buying more Rapha – I got the jersey in the winter sale. Besides, my palmares to allow me to wear it – so there!). I didn’t have to wear a winter jacket so I guess we’re talking layer in the singular, not layers really. I can feel the time coming when I can expose my legs to the world once more, as the light at the end of the winter tunnel grows ever closer. It’s also time I mentioned my Rapha gloves which I’d like you to know that I love more each time I wear them. They’re so comfy and fit so well it’s almost like you’re not wearing gloves at all :).
So there you go. It was a nice relaxed ride and I felt much better afterwards. If you try sometimes, you get what you need, right?.
On the rear window of my car I have a #saveacyclist sticker that says “it’s not a race, give cyclists space”. Today an elderly gentleman of my acquaintance, on seeing and reading this, informed me that it should be the other way round. That cyclists should be giving motorists more space. That in his day cycling used to be about transport, and not fitness, and that he thought the flash kit made cyclists over confident and badly behaved. That cyclists don’t seem to think the rules of the road apply to them. That motorists give horses space because they don’t expect them to have a brain, and cyclists should have. Etc. Oh me, oh my… I was actually wearing my cycling kit getting ready for today’s ride. Cycling is what I do. Clearly I am not about to agree with him… I merely pointed out that there are few bad apples in any barrel, be they motorists or cyclists, who probably give the rest a bad name. Other than that I bit my tongue – a lot! – and merely pointed out that this was not a subject we were about to agree on. Sometimes there’s just no point…but really…*sigh*.