Since I am working on my PMA, here are some positive things about a strong SSE wind. It’s not as cold as a Northerly wind. When descending the big hill into Wells it works as an efficient brake and stops you scaring yourself going downhill and round corners too fast. It doesn’t make climbing up hills any worse. And if it clouds over, which it did for a while, not to worry because some new weather will be along shortly… However when all is said and done, I’ve had my fill of wind just lately – enough already!
Today was a hilly ride, half of which I did with Mim as I fancied some company and she happened to be free. Having for various reasons been off her game for quite a while, she headed for home half way round rather than overdo it which meant I got to have the best of both worlds – a ride in company and a ride by myself. Couldn’t have worked out better if I’d planned it :).
We started with Shipham Hill. Since we set off from her place I’m afraid I’d lost my benchmark again, so all I can say is that I got up it ok. From there it was down to Churchill, and the usual wiggle across to get to the next climb – Burrington Coombe. As climbs go, it was relatively pleasant. Sunny, not too busy etc. Mim, showing no sign of ill effects, chatted away as we climbed, which was conveniently distracting. We even caught a rabbit near the top, which is apparently the thing to do…
(Although I think of them as hares not rabbits – tomayto, tomahto… Well greyhounds chase hares don’t they? Or is it a rabbit? Maybe I should stick to Leporidae…but I fear that might be getting a bit silly. Shall we call the whole thing off?)
We parted company as I took the low road down to Compton Martin and she took the high road back to descend the Gorge. I pootled my way through West Harptree, Litton, and Chewton Mendip before doing the long slow climb up the Bristol Road to the top of the world above Wells. Hence the aforementioned descent. Which was fairly enjoyable 🙂
Once out the other side of Wells, having courteously avoided running over the various pedestrians who seem to mill around the High Street in Brownian motion fashion, I was equally considerate in letting a car + caravan go past me on the Burcott Road. Which then meant playing tag with the darn thing for the next few miles, as he had to stop and let oncoming traffic past etc, until the driver realised he was possibly at his destination and waved me past. Remind me not to do that again. Having said that, he thought I was lovely for letting him past, and was apologetic when he waved me round, so if I’ve added to the “cyclists aren’t all bad” side of the scales, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing :).
After all the hills the return leg was pretty easy. A Discover Adventure van, complete with extra bikes and a “caution cyclists” sign went past me, triggering L2P memories, and a degree of curiosity as to what it was doing out here. However it pulled over in a lay-by, and I went past, none the wiser. As I hit the straight from Wedmore it went eerily quiet…as the wind was finally behind me, and I got to fly to Cheddar, 25mph without trying, as well as leaving a couple more Leporidae in my wake. I know I know, small things please small minds…*grin*.
Cycling time: 2:55:35 hrs
Distance: 41.70 miles
Avs: 14.1 mph
ODO: 8249 miles
According to the elevation profile, that included 2723ft of climbing. Not as much as the other day I’ll grant you, but more my kind of climbs, and definitely not flat! My knee was strapped up and behaved itself. Keen not to make the same mistakes as on that last ride, I ate some as I went round and made sure to drink a lot. As a result it went fine, and oddly enough it didn’t even feel like particularly hard work. And my tan lines are even more defined than before. So that went well then 🙂