The Cycling Mayor

‘Rah!  A blog post that actually involves me riding the bike…how exciting is that?  Well, ok, it’s not that exciting, but it feels a bit novel.  As I got ready to ride this morning it felt like it had been so long since I’d been on my bike… I’d gotten to that place where you almost think you’ve forgotten how.  And my layering yardstick was all off kilter too.  The faff factor increased exponentially…  Luckily GB turned up at my place early so was able to offer informed advice as to what to wear.  Off came the Gore winter jacket, on went the black Rapha winter jersey.  I figured that even if he wasn’t right I would at least feel and look good in it.  That’s important, right? .

I was a bit apprehensive about riding full stop.  I had to call yesterday’s gym session short when I wiped out completely which didn’t really bode well.  I figured it was better to cut my losses and come home and have half a chance of being able to ride today than to push it too far.  But still…  So I made a point of eating properly yesterday, even if it didn’t sit well with me, and got me an early night.

Which brings us to this morning, when 7 of the ACG massed outside King John’s Hunting Lodge.  A real mixed bunch – from the usual suspects to newbies and returnees.  It was grey, fairly mild, but bl**dy windy!  It was GB’s route, since he wanted to be taken up the Gorge for the first time this year.  Apparently double entendres are juvenile and not at all funny…so we spent some time coming up with some equally immature jests involving motions and movements.  The things you do to pass time going uphill… .

The climb spread the group out quite a bit, but I did way better than I expected to, and particularly enjoyed the moment when, after the last steep bit, the tailwind cut in and helped push me along for a while!  There’s a gathering place not far from the top where generally we wait until we’re all together again, to which 5 of us made it…  The last two were so far behind that GB and I went to look for them – since that kind of delay implies puncture, as was indeed the case.  One of them was on his way back to join us already, so we continued down to find the afflicted rider.  GB stayed to help fix it, I sallied back up to the others and we decided to split up as it was too nippy to be hanging around waiting any longer.  Our recent newbie IT came back down with me to pick up the other two (more miles never hurt right?) – so, in case you’re confused – that’s 3 gone ahead, and 4 to catch up. Keeping up?

Across the top, along a beautifully resurfaced bit of road, which caused GB at least to wax most lyrical even if it was into the wind, before descending down Burrington Combe.  Wind braking!  In fact there may well have been some pedalling required.  Outrageous but…at least that way I get to feel more in control of the bike.  The car behind me sat a very respectful and restrained distance back leaving me to get on with having fun all the way to the bottom .  I thanked him with a wave and a smile at the crossroads too – gotta love a cycling friendly motorist.  At this point one of our 4 musketeers decided to take a more direct route to coffee, having worn himself out doing something tri-related yesterday, while the remaining 3 cut across in a Blagdon type direction and caught the other 3 on the way.  So that’s 1 gone ahead, and 6 to join up.  With me?

We wiggled around the back roads there, which are always lumpier and muddier than you’d think.  There’s one which is actually more riverbed than anything else – complete with flowing water and everything.  There’s also quite a long climb out of Nempnett.  The sort of long slow climb where you can sort of forget what you’re doing, leaving your body to get on with it and your mind to wander…in other words my kind of climb.  And Brockley Combe is my kind of descent.  Nice and sheltered, nice and smooth, not too bendy.  Fun .

The wind across the flat bits after that wasn’t a lot of fun, and we spread out a bit again.  Mind you overall GB’s route did a pretty good job of keeping us out of it in so far as that’s possible.  By the time we got to the Strawberry Line Café, I definitely needed a coffee though.

old railway poster

Not only was our advance scout there waiting for us, but so was Dad, which was nice .  We colonised the café pretty conclusively, as you can see.

Dad, aka the Captain

four of the ACG

three of the ACG

Coffee and cake for £3 can’t be bad.  Well actually if you’re me, it can.  The banana loaf was very nice, it really was, but food really isn’t doing me much good at the moment so…

..time to go home.  Nice, direct, fast.  We totally split up and spread out, which ain’t great on the G is for Group front, but I really needed to be at home feeling sorry for myself, and besides which it was cold, so pushing a bit warms you up.  I know, enough with the excuses already .

No hanging around.  Yatton, Congresbury, Churchill, Sandford, and back up Winscombe Hill, just as a final kicker.  Someone is very concerned about the possibly plight of frogs there.  Or toads.  Last year’s signs were a little on the amateur side, but this year’s are in a whole different league.

amphibian alert!

another amphibian alert

I have to admit to having taken the last two photos a little later on, as had I done so then it would have meant stopping and losing what little momentum I had!  I’ve never seen a frog or toad there, squashed or otherwise, but clearly it’s a big issue .

Cycling time: 2:43:50 hrs
Distance: 42.36 miles.
AVS: 15.5 mph.
ODO: 11748 miles

I hit 31 mph down the bypass to home without really trying, thanks to the wind, which was the best kind of way to wrap up a ride.  Since we’d been scattered starburst stylee by the wind and the weather, each man for themselves, I just went straight home. A good ride, which went far better than expected, and also an about time too ride

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a New Year…  Outside the window the sun was shining, the sky was something vaguely resembling blue, and the wind had finally dropped from intolerable and dangerous to merely annoying and challenging.  Time to ride!  Good thing today was an ACG ride then, right?  Maybe because it was the first official ride of the year, there was a pretty impressive turnout too – 9 of us in total.  Myself, a recovering GB, the latest addition to the cycling blog world GF, MD and his two domestiques (aka his sons), and SD & Figgy, who brought a newbie by the name of Ian out to play.

GB had crafted us a route that he promised would be flat and not too troubling, and he was as good as his word.  Just as well since inevitably a chunk of it was going to be fighting into that westerly wind.  I’ll leave the precise route to the gadget equipped amongst us, but it was essentially of a ride of 4 quarters.  Out into the wind, along with the wind behind us, back into the wind to Sweets (having discovered that Fenny Castle café’s website was not up to date and they were in fact closed), and then back home into the wind.  I am so bored of wind!

Having said that, after four days straight confined to the gym, today I was like one of MiniMe’s toy cars – the sort you pull backwards to wind up and then just let go – me and my legs were definitely off on one.  It was just so nice to be on the bike again!  All wrapped up in my snuggly Rapha layers, with my knee strapped up properly, and a good few days between the excesses of the festive season and today; my cycling mojo was definitely back .  It was hard to do the “G is for Group” thing when my legs were yelling “G is for Go”!  Especially on long sunny wide flat roads with the wind behind us…ah, “such stuff as dreams are made on” *sigh*.  I settled for trying not to get too far ahead, and pushing a bigger gear than usual, which I’ve not had to do in a while.

We had a long stop at Sweets, where the service is friendly but definitely not fast, along with several other familiar cycling faces.  It’s clearly the place to be on a Saturday morning, which would presumably explain why we ended up sitting outside.  At least that way we never really got warm, right?

some of the ACG outside Sweets

GF's Sponge Cake

Figgy's Fruit Cake

Apparently if you cycle a lot you’re entitled to eat lots of cake.  And bacon butties.  And the like.  Can’t say as it works for me, and there are those that were with us today who were later to regret their dietary choices.  Not me – I had a filter coffee with an extra espresso in it, otherwise known as cycling rocket fuel *grin*.  Now if they’d had carrot cake, which, as everyone knows, counts as at least 1 of your 5-a-day, it might have been a different matter…

MD - man at work

6 of us did a very good job of standing in the sun and watching MD change a puncture, which he discovered as we were about the leave.  We make great spectators.  We even refrained from telling him how we’d be doing it if it was us.  Which was as close as any of us, barring his domestiques, came to being helpful.  Well, too many cooks would spoil the broth right?  And don’t try countering that with “many hands make light work”!

hello chicken

It’s a chicken ok?  A girl.  Not a boy.  Oddly it was almost as fascinated by bikes as we are.  Thanks to my back pocket, it even gets to be in soft focus…*grin*.  Well I had to do something while I was waiting, right? .

Puncture duly repaired, and it was time to head home the quickest way possible.  No point wiggling to add miles when they’re just going to be unpleasant miles.  I was properly cold by the time we set off again, and more than ready to go.  Wound up and properly caffeinated *grin*.  The wind, and Mudgley Hill, became my friends – something to fight against to warm up!  I think I unintentionally led pretty much the entire way back, but I just had to be going at my speed to keep warm, so this is probably by way of being an apology to those I may have left behind.  Besides which if I’m in front, I don’t have to worry about the wheel in front of me, and I can see all the obstacles ahead of me, so I feel safer .

Cycling time: 2:30:29 hrs
Distance: 41.58 miles.
AVS: 16.6 mph.
ODO: 11628 miles

It was a good ride, in very good company, with a lot of laughing.  Laughter is good for the soul .  I felt on form, and capable, and happy, back on track, and not at the gym.  That’s a lot of boxes ticked .

Cold – fine.  Wet – fine.  Windy?  Preferably not.  So when I woke up this morning and saw how windy it was outside my natural inclination, in the absence of other commitments, would be to bottle it and head for the gym instead.  However today was an ACG ride, and there were supposedly another four people expecting me to turn out, so bailing wasn’t an option.

As my preparations progressed, my fellow riders dropped like flies.  Well, like two flies anyway.  I faffed as one does, deliberated on my choice of layers, changed my mind as is my prerogative and ended up with my new favourite jersey under my windproof jacket.  Since the jacket converts into a gilet, I reckoned that gave me enough flexibility to cope with what I expected to find out there, and I wasn’t wrong.

I rode up to the Square in time for our 9:00am start, not loving the wind already.  For longer than I would have liked it was just me, sat on the bench, looking lonesome.  I was deliberating as to what to do if no-one turned up, and thinking longingly of the warm gym, whilst keeping rule 5 in mind, when the Boy Wonder rocked up, late as predicted.  Right then.  We waited a while longer to see if our third wheel would turn up but since he didn’t, and time waits for no man, it was time to be on our way.

I think the camera had fogged up a bit...so the signs weren't clear.

The wind was, according to the weather forecast if any credence should be given to such things, from the WNW.  Ish.  Which means that the sensible thing was to head out in that direction in the vain hope that we would then have a tail wind to blow us home.  Having been warned by GB (one of the deceased flies) that the Brean Down café might be closed for refurbishment, the most sensible option left open was to do my seaside loop.  The BW had never done it before – thus providing one of us with novelty value, and me with the luxury of not having to think to much about where we were going for the ride.

a much clearer sign...

So we did.  We slogged our way to the New Castle at Kewstoke against the relentless headwind, taking a little comfort from the blue skies and sunshine.  Riding with the BW is not good for me.  For starters, it’s a little bit me and my shadow.  Literally – I could see where he was from his shadow.  I could see where he was, how he was pedalling, when he was free-wheeling…  And let’s face it, since he’s built like a Shleck, even if he did go in front, there’d be precious little advantage to be gained from drafting him!  However having him behind me, being aware of how fast he can be, and how young he is, and how neither I am makes me push harder than I normally do.  I know, pride is a terrible thing.  So by the time we dismounted for much needed coffee I was already kind of geknackert.  However a vat of black coffee and the thought of a tail wind to blow us home did the trick.

Time to ride again.  I think that side of the world, along that road from Kewstoke to Weston, probably never sees the sun from November to February.  A kind of West Country polar night.  The sun was out, but it was still far from high enough to break over the hill and reach us, so it was proper cold when we set off.  This was not helped by the fact that the first section is downhill, which is fun, I’ll grant you, but not warmth generating.  The BW found cycling over the patches of speed bumps very amusing.  Bless.  Anyway, we weren’t stuck in the dark for long, and we emerged into the sunlight near the old pier.

Weston Super Mare was looking practically attractive in the sunshine, unburdened by seasonal grockles.   There wasn’t even much traffic to play with.   It did look oddly bare without the Wheel though, which presumably has been put away for the Winter.  Just for fun, you can play compare and contrast with the piers.

the old pier

the new new pier

See, pretty wasn’t it?  Quite like the second picture if I say so myself.  Anyway…  The wind was as in our favour as it was going to get here, since, as might have been predicted, it had dropped a bit and moved round.  *sigh*.  The BW saw fit to inform me that he doesn’t mind the wind as it’s good training…and I let him live, which I think was good of me .

We went over Bleadon Hill the proper way as it was looking as if our ride might be shorter than I like and I figured it might as well have some gradient in it to make it worthwhile.  Inevitably Mr Shleck was out of the saddle and off…but when it comes to hills I know that the tortoise will get there in the end, so I did it my way.  Plus I can beat him downhill – who knew?  Proof that my descending skills are infinitely better than they used to be.  We arrived in Loxton with plenty of time to spare, and given the choice between the Webbington and home early, and Christon and Winscombe Hill, I bet you think I took the easy way right? Well I didn’t, so there .  I fancied some more hills, I love that road along the top of the valley, and I really like the idea of flying home down the bypass, so we went left.  Plus as I’ve said before, all rides must be 2 hours or longer *grin*.

Cycling time: 1:58:28 hrs
Distance: 31.43 miles.
Avs: 15.8 mph
ODO: 11182 miles

OK, so you’ll have to round it up to get to two hours, but it’s close enough y’hear?  And since BW had ridden to the start and then home again, he managed 67 miles, paling our ride into insignificance.  The hills went fine, both up and down, even Winscombe Hill, but it was the flat that did me in today.  That and my ego *grin*.

Actually on a more scientific front, I may have figured out one of the reasons I’ve been under-performing or over-suffering afterwards of late.  I’ve switched from my usual Torq Energy drink – which is an all-rounder – to trying pure electrolyte replacement drinks (Hi-5, Nuun).  Now the latter seem to work well for easier or shorter rides, but when it comes to hilly or hard, I think I’ve been suffering from lack of fuel.  Carbs to be more precise.  I think it may be time to stop messing with the tried and tested.  It wasn’t broken so it didn’t need fixing!  That’ll larn me .

Finally an ACG ride that I could actually make.  Thanks to my sportive habit (yes it is an addiction *grin*) I’ve missed the last couple of rides, which is daft considering that I organise them but hey ho.

Having spent another afternoon this week with my pit crew, aka Andrew, getting my bike tweaked and putting the winter wheels and tyres on, I went out a bit early just to do a quick loop around town to make sure everything was working before meeting everyone in the Square.  I met GB coming into town as I left, which was quite amusing, or possibly bemusing for him.  As it turns out all was well with the bike, which was good.  OK, so I miss my summer wheels and my slick tyres and my bike feels a little more carthorse and a little less thoroughbred, but actually it didn’t feel as bad as I’d feared it was going to, and it has to be good training right?

I wasn’t sure how many we’d be, what with the letters RSVP apparently not meaning a great deal, but I knew we’d be at least three and as it turns out, we were five.  Myself, GB, DM, MD and Figgy.  I probably should call him CT, but it’s too late, Figgy has stuck…  GB had created us a route which started with Shipham Hill.  Luckily, having done that loop, I wasn’t comparing like with like, so I didn’t need to see how fast I could go up it.  No personal records set today then.  It was the usual kind of slog, but not unbearable and the little kick up to Charterhouse wasn’t a whole heap of fun, but then it never is.  After that it was pretty much plain, if muddy, sailing over the top of the Mendips.  Actually not so much sailing as if there had been any wind then it would have blown the clouds away.  Instead we were up amongst them with that damp kind of almost drizzle and very limited visibility.  Not to mention seriously mucky roads.  One of those days when being a mouth breather is not a good thing – let’s face it, not all of that is mud, and only one of us has mudguards… Nice .  We were running a bit early, since allegedly the café didn’t open until 10:30am, so we tweaked the route a bit to add a few miles, which had the added advantage of taking in one of the best descents locally, through West Horrington and into Wells, where I managed a max of 41.3mph chasing GB downhill.  Much much much fun .

From there it was just a hop skip and a jump to our coffee stop at Fenny Castle tea rooms, which was a first for the ACG, if not for GB and I.  The coffee and carrot cake proved to be just as good as last time too.  I recommend ordering cake – it arrives instantly.  There was a distinct delay for those insisting on bacon related fodder.  Although how you can eat pancakes and bacon and maple syrup at any time, let alone mid ride, is beyond me.  That’s Figgy for you.  Proof that there is no justice in the world.  If I ate like that I’d be the size of a house.  He’s a whippet – in size and speed!  Still, the delay gave me time to have more coffee, so I wasn’t complaining.  I should also mention that it’s only £1 for a coffee top-up – that’s the kind of deal I like .  Just FYI – it actually opens at 10:00am…

DM, MD and GB

Figgy post pancakes

Fenny Castle - one for the good coffee stop list

the ACG steeds - all a bit muddy!

Back on the road again, and we were caffeine-fuelled and on the flat – so not hanging around.  There was definitely some half-wheeling going on – tut tut.  *grin*.  As a result we did drop MD and then DM along the way, but with no hard feelings I hope.  By now the sun was coming out, the clouds had cleared, and there were even patches of dry road – ooh, the luxury.   Not on Notting Hill though, which meant descending that with a little more restraint than sometimes.  GB still managed over 43mph though!  Back up the A38, through Cross, and there you go, full circle done, and back to Axbridge again.  I walked through the door at home and got laughed at for the state I was in.  Justifiably – I was proper head to foot mud splattered.  Still that’s what the washing machine is for.  And the shower.  Even my bike is clean again – since I resorted to the slave labour option and employed MiniMe again.  His rates are still unbeatable *grin* – and he did a better job this time too .

Cycling time: 2:36:54 hrs
Distance: 45.20 miles.
Avs: 17.2 mph
ODO: 10995 miles

Today was one of those days when I was feeling capable.  Which is an interesting choice of word, but does sum it up.  It might be to do with wearing my arms and having to roll them up – rolling up your sleeves feels very get down to business like.  Maybe it was just because my legs were feeling good.  I’m trying to get better at being out of the saddle and when I did get the chance, they were feeling pretty powerful, which was nice.  In other news, my new overshoes, which finally arrived this morning in the nick of time, totally rock, and my new longs (in a size smaller and still a little large – get in!) were definitely an improvement as since they fit better than my current pair, there are less baggy/chafing issues.

Somewhere out there is a cyclist who has quite perfectly described how I’m feeling about my cycling at the moment, and it does seem rude to try and better that, especially since I doubt I can.  But it is a beautiful feeling.  (wo)Man and machine working together, in partnership, doing what we were designed to do.  Well, ok, I probably wasn’t designed to be a cyclist, but there’s an odd satisfaction to making your body work properly…heart rate up, sweating, blood pumping through veins, muscles extending and contracting.  To being fit and healthy, to being so much better than I was, to being out there in the bigger, perspective inducing, world.  It’s that zone, and it’s an awesome place to be, and it’s a drug that keeps you coming back to see if it’s still there, still working…

Which today it was.  Today was an ACG ride, with 6 of us in total gathered at 9:00am- a quite respectable turnout even without the two that didn’t quite make it.  Maybe next time?  I had meant to put together a route last night but for various reasons hadn’t managed to, so there were the usual route deliberations with no-one wanting to make a decision, but something having to be decided.  Eventually we decided to do the usual kind of seaside loop, albeit in reverse.  With gorgeous autumnal leaves, sunshine, blue skies and yes, ok, a little more wind that is ideal but hey, you can’t have everything, right?  As it turns out, it’s a good thing we had dilly dallied before setting off, as with the speed we were doing initially, it only took about 45 minutes to get to the New Castle Inn, which opens at 10:00am.  Luckily they were just opening up, and we were able to drink vats of coffee and discuss plans for next year’s events.  I’m not the only one thinking Etape Acte 2 looks awesome – and I could feel a hint of jealousy creeping in….but no, I have plans of my own, and the Maratona will be awesome

Time to head for home, with an additional wiggle to add miles and take in a hill as at the speed we were doing, we ran the risk of having only been out for 1 and 1/2 hours, and we all know that’s not acceptable!  *grin*.  In this case that meant adding Rowberrow and Shipham to the route which meant a nice long climb up, and what is one of my favourite descents to get down again.  Cue one massive grin .

Cycling time: 1:53:27 hrs
Distance: 31.20 miles.
Avs: 16.5 mph
ODO: 10648 miles

It was a Good ride with a Great Group, and we even managed to mostly stay a Group too, which is, if not unprecedented, still fairly impressive.  I got to go fast every now and then, and to not get dropped on hills, and to feel like, for the moment, I’ve still got it .

After last Saturday’s ride, having apparently acquitted myself respectably, Matt Stephens from Sigma – asked me who I raced for.  Which is, when you think about it, a fairly massive compliment.  Of course I don’t race for anyone.  But it is an interesting thought…  Having said that, I’m perfectly capable of having accidents on the bike all by myself, let alone amidst the in-fighting of a cycle race, and it has been suggested that the chances are that I would get hurt, which is not ideal and would not go down well.  But I can’t help it if there’s a little bit of me wondering if I’d be any good at it, and half thinking I might be…  It’d be nice to be good at something .

This morning it was sunny and lovely.  It was.  Honest.  Oh how deceptive appearances can be.  It was even still fairly pleasant and warm when Mim and I left my house at around 9:30 am this morning, albeit with a really strong westerly wind which we could have lived without.  However from there on in, from a weather point of view, it was all downhill…  Mim had an errand to run in Weston-super-Mare so we headed off that way.  Towards some quite obvious weather.  With that strong wind blowing in our faces and blowing that weather towards us.  There was only one way this was going…

As we turned right past the Queens Arms in Bleadon to go up Bleadon Hill proper the drips started.  The hill itself was fine, but as I plodded my way up the rain got increasingly heavy and by the time we reached a very conveniently placed and totally sheltered bus shelter at the top it was starting to fling it down properly.  We took refuge and watched the waves of rain coming over and past us for a while until finally it brightened a little leaving the skies dry but the roads far from it.  All so good so far really though, and we made our way through the traffic to PC World, where the errand was duly run.

However as we left the rain was starting up again and this time there was no avoiding it, and equally no avoiding the fact that the only way home was on two wheels and through it.  The heavens opened, the rain came down so hard that on bare skin it actually hurt, visibility dropped to nothing, there was as much water coming back up from the road as down on to it, and within minutes we were soaked to the skin, with puddles for shoes.  It was so torrential it was nearly funny.  Nearly.

So we came back through Hutton.  Into Banwell and up the hill past the Caves.  Across and up Winscombe Hill to get home.  Well if it was going to be a short ride, I wanted to at least get some training benefit out of it, and that mean hills.  Besides which, going up hill in weather like that is the only way to get warm!  The roads were like rivers, demonstrating just how much water had come down in a short space of time.  However hard I pushed it, I wasn’t really getting any warmer, thanks to the now distinctly chilly wind.  I really should know better.  My problem is that I don’t realise how cold I am until I get home, and it then takes me hours to warm up again.  Which is why I’m now sitting here in a fleece with a blanket ’round my legs!

Cycling time: 1:22:13 hrs
Distance: 20.45 miles.
Avs: 14.8 mph
ODO: 10074 miles

So not the world’s greatest ride, and I may have to go and do an hour at the gym later to make up for it.  However it was better than no ride, and proves that we’re really not fair weather cyclists!  I wonder how long it’s going to take for my shoes to dry out?

Here’s a photo of Mini Me, Me, and Dad on Sunday – to remind myself what a sunny ride is like

Mini Me, Me, and Dad

The Cycling Mayor has no broadband and is NOT amused.  Especially after two days of dealing with the non-uk based, hidebound, routine fixated, Orange customer service centre.  I wrote this on the laptop to add later, and since I’ve just managed to turn my HTC Android into a wifi hotspot, it looks like I get to add it now.  Which if I was more of a geek would probably be very exciting.  Oh who’m I kidding?  I’m a geek and I’m thrilled to be back online! *grin*

So with no broadband, the sun shining, and the wind being no worse than expected, it was time for a stress busting ACG ride this morning.  It was not the usual ACG ride.  It was one of those rare occasions when we try get as many ACG people together as possible – from the usual ACG group, to the Leisure Group, with three generations of my family in to boot.  Yes – me, miniMe and Dad.  With as many official ACG tops as possible too.

The ride out was a two group affair – the 5 faster folk were off, and after the odd attempt to let us three catch up, wended their own way whence we were going.  Leaving the the aforementioned generational grupetto to find our own way to Sweets Peat Museum café where, as it turns out since the fast group had taken the long way round, we were the first to arrive.  Well that’s not strictly true, the Boy Wonder, having gotten his timings in a twist as usual, had missed meeting up with us in the Square and had sprinted to and fro to find us before going straight there, so he was waiting inside reading the paper.

The four of us moved to sit outside and were basking in the sunshine when first the five fast folk, and then the Leisure Group, pulled in to join us, making a total of 17 cyclists sat in a row.  Or a circle around two tables more to the point.  Which is a pretty good turn out.   There was a fair degree of hilarity as various exploits and tales of derring do were recounted, and plans for the Tour of Britain spectator ride were discussed.  Good company and good conversation in the sun.  Very nice.  In fact one of the main reasons we’re a Group in the first place .

However this is the Axbridge Cycling Group, not the Axbridge Coffee Group, so it was time to go and do what we’re supposed to do.  Well let’s face it, how else were we going to get home?  Although various variations on the return route were taken on the way home, we all ended up in the right places eventually.  I have to admit to having resorted to some very juvenile behaviour from time to time, but I can’t help it, I do like sprinting .  I like that putting your foot down and hurtling away bit, and then the totally knackered feeling afterwards when you just can’t do anymore.  I made it on to the front and up to 29.6 mph on the straight back from Wedmore – which was mighty close to my 30mph goal for that stretch, but there was no cigar.  OK, so the others weren’t really racing, but it was a whole heap of fun for me.

We were blessed with the weather, if you ignore the wind, which let’s face it was also a blessing across the Levels so it would be churlish to complain about the times when it was less than helpful.  It was way better than forecast, and at this rate, it may be the last time we see the sun before next Spring!  MiniMe did his best, and I can’t wait for the day when his best is a little faster.  He coped really well though, and it was good to have Dad along to keep him company when I couldn’t keep my coiled spring legs coiled any longer.   I tried, I did, honest!  But the fact that I dragged my first half average of 14.something up to 16.0mph on the way home shows that I wasn’t doing a very good job of it by then.

Cycling time: 1:51:18 hrs
Distance: 29.58 miles.
Avs: 16.0 mph
ODO: 10054 miles

Courtesy of the Eurobike Demo Day I have some fancy new Pearl Izumi tailorable shoe inserts that I tried out for the first time today and that did actually make my cycling shoes more comfortable.  They may actually have helped my knee which did little more than twinge a couple of times today.  Having support under the arch of the foot was a weird but not unpleasant feeling but I guess time will tell whether they’re really helping.

PS:  did you like the atypical alliteration?

Time to re-engage with normal life.  Which in this case, it being a Sunday morning, meant that it was time for an ACG ride.  The expected 3 riders turned into 4.  Myself, GB, GH (no longer the newbie as he’s now a fully paid up member), and the not been with us for quite a while KG.

Obviously we hadn’t planned a route beforehand because that would have involved a degree of forward planning, so we spent the usual 5 minutes arguing (sorry debating) about where we should go.  Having not wanted to go to Glastonbury across the Levels and exposed to the wind, GB was persuaded to go there on the basis that we would go by a different and not totally flat route to get there.  I just wanted good coffee, and that’s where good coffee is.  I also wasn’t sure how I’d be feeling after two weeks holiday and didn’t fancy big hills.

We kinda made the route up as we went along, which looked a little like this, and it went pretty well.  We were all fairly well matched, up until near the end where the fact that KG hasn’t been able to get out much finally got the better of him.  Not that it stopped him racing up the hill past Panborough and dropping us all just like he always does!  Having said that, it’s not just him, we’re all pretty competitive which is neither big nor clever but is occasionally fun *grin*.

For the first time in for what seems like forever but is only actually since March, I had a puncture, just before we got into Fairyland.  A large thorn/nail end was quite clearly the culprit.  Luckily it was the front tyre which is always easier to deal with, and if I say so myself, I did a pretty good job of changing the tube and getting it all sorted.  All by myself too, since as we have seen previously, changing a tube on an ACG ride is a bit of a spectator sport…  I was a bit worried I wouldn’t have got enough pressure back into it and would either puncture again or just be slowed down by it, but neither of those things happened.  Result!

We had coffee at Heaphy’s in the sun, with the addition of Orangina for me which always makes me smile, and breakfast related sandwiches for KG and GB which seems to make them smile too.  KG has never forgiven me for taking the ACG to a vegetarian cafe there… *grin*.  We came back the direct route, interacting with at least 3 other cycling events – the Wiggle Mendip Sportive, something Strawberry Line related, and something that involved tri bars, sleeveless jerseys and silly looking helmets…  Admittedly three different target audiences, but you’d think some degree of co-operation with regards to dates/routes might have been a good idea…  I bet the motorists around here have well and truly had enough of cyclists today!

Cycling time: 2:14:35 hrs
Distance: 40.01 miles.
Avs: 17.8 mph
ODO: 9866 miles

See how fast we were?  Awesome!  Especially as it was windy, and we weren’t trying massively, being as how G stands for Group and we were trying to keep it that way.  Only I do feel like my legs are that much better these days, and it’s just so nice to go fast when fast is an option, and to push up what hills there were.  Even if GB can always out climb/sprint me.  Shall I add that to my goal list – beating GB?  Clearly Cornish training rides haven’t done me any harm, and I didn’t lose too much fitness being away.  I should probably wash the bike now – the poor thing is covered in two weeks worth of grime – but I think that’s a job for later this week…

I’ve not been on the bike since Tuesday, and if how I felt today is anything to go by, then the gym counts as resting.  So you can all stop telling me to rest! *grin*.

Today was an ACG ride.  A sunny, warm, relatively wind free, Saturday morning saw 4 of us gather in the Square at 9:30am.  IH, the MD (finally back with us) and our newest fully paid up member, GH.  4 is a good number.  I can easily count to four, which makes keeping track of everyone easier.  Aren’t I clever? .

Considering the weather, and the summer holidays and the fact that no-one else had come up with a route, it was time to do my seaside loop, and hope that Weston hadn’t woken up too much by the time we went through it.  Well, it’s not an early rising town, so it was a calculated risk that paid off.  Judging by the aroma, the residents, temporary or otherwise, were too busy eating doughnuts to be bothered by us.  Makes a change from the usual smell of breakfast bacon .  Anyway, It’s a really nice route.  The odd hill, lots of nice country flat, and pretty quiet roads.  Oh, and of course the seaside!  I’m used to it, the ACG aren’t and seemed to like it, which is good.

I had legs like coiled springs today.  Totally irrepressible.  I’m sure if the usual crowd had been there I’d have been put firmly back in my place, but today the one first up the hills was me.  Every hill.  We had coffee at the New Castle Inn in Kewstoke, after the kicker of a hill up past the Commodore, and I even pushed it all the way up there, though it did take me a minute or so to get my breath back when we stopped.  I think I’ve been watching too much Tour de France!  Nothing a large Americano couldn’t fix though *grin*.

I did do my best to hang back, I did, really honestly, as I do know what G stands for, but it just wasn’t happening.  Not when I was doing that well going uphill.  Me, dropping people?  Go figure!  It’s just so much fun pushing it when you can .  And on the flat I was flying…  Me and my bike were definitely in the zone and I think it’s safe to say the cycling addict got her fix *grin*.

It was just one of those days that a bicycle is made for.  And it would be rude not to make the most of it.  Sorry guys!

Cycling time:1:59:59 hrs
Distance: 33.61 miles
Avs: 17.0 mph
ODO: 9606 miles

After spending yesterday afternoon worshipping at the shrine of bicycle maintenance (aka Scorpion CS) I knew I was going to need a ride today to check that everything was shipshape and ready to go again.  So I issued a call to arms, and arranged an impromptu ACG ride, mainly because I selfishly fancied a ride in company rather than on my tod.

It  being “my” ride, I decided it should include very good coffee, and that of course, as my regular readers will know, means going to Heaphy’s Café in Glastonbury.  I’d bore you with the details but, ”it’s astounding, time is fleeting…” and I have other places to be, so to cut a long story short, I present you with my stats:

Cycling time: 2:08:49 hrs
Distance: 34.30 miles
Avs: 15.7 mph

There were three of us, fairly well matched:  IH, a recent newbie GH, and obviously, me.  Coffee included carrot cake, and the welcome return of Orangina, as well as all the usual joys of a Fairyland Saturday morning.  It was a fairly flat, scenic, sociable, sun-blessed, relatively wind free ride.  The sort of which dreams are made *grin*.  Do you know how lucky we are to live somewhere where other people come on holiday?  Lucky indeed .

As for the bike, well the saddle seemed a little low on the way out.  I was getting that “knees around ears” feeling so we tweaked it all of 4mm after coffee and it seemed much better on the way back.  The new chain went ’round – always good – and the brake pads seemed to stop me.  In fact the front break is proper vicious now which is nice as long as you remember that!  My lovely new Kalas shorts were very comfy and, by virtue of being a bit shorter than my other pair, helped with my “fade to tan” goal – none of those razor sharp lines for me (see rule 7) *grin*.