The temperature has dropped. Mornings are icy. The weather forecasters are gleefully overusing phrases such as “cold snap”, “big chill”, and so on. Apparently winter has arrived. No doubt the country will now grind to a halt…
Which doesn’t mean I can’t go cycling, right? It does mean I was a tad nervous at the prospect though. However since the snow had managed not to reach here, and the sun was shining, Mim and I decided to give it a go. Our one concession to the “deep freeze” was to go out a bit later than usual and give what ice there may be a chance to melt. I say one concession, but then there was probably another one – that of wearing every layer I possess! That included all the usual, with the first outing for the winter gloves, and the exchange of the normal neck buff for a combi buff – much snugglier. And I didn’t regret my clothing call at all. Not once. In fact I don’t think I ever even rolled the buff off my chin…
We didn’t really plan a route, and ended up making it up as we went along. Out past the Webbington first – Mim’s version of spinning up the hill leaving me behind as was to be the case for the rest of the inclines faced on the way. Not that I minded, because I made a point of not minding, of listening to how I was doing, how my knee was feeling, and to doing it my way. Positive mental attitude remember?
Enjoying the sunshine, and not feeling too cold, we headed out to Banwell along the hilly side of the valley. The steep hill at the castle was (*engage sarcasm mode*) as much fun as ever (*end*), with no peacocks present to show off too or be shown off to by. Shame. Down Dark Lane on the other side to head out towards Sandford. We took the back way to Churchill and out the other side, and looped ’round behind Langford through the interestingly named “Iwood” to get to Wrington. We opted not to continue up past the Walled Garden but rather to head back towards Churchill, which we duly did. I should probably give a passing mention to Pudding Pie Lane which we took along the way – another fine road name. If I had time I’m sure I’d like to know more about the history of such things but…nah…too busy riding *grin*.
I like the main road stretch from Churchill down towards Sandford and today was no exception – it’s essentially downhill, which would probably explain it 😉 From there it was up Sandford Hill towards Winscombe but taking the long way up Shipham Lane to Shipham Hill before we got there – destination no surprise there then. The road wasn’t as mucky as it can be, probably as it’s been fairly dry of late, so as long as you stuck to one side or the other and didn’t have to dodge cars it was ok. Mind you, I’d forgotten how long it goes on for before you reach the main road! The last stretch from the main road up into Shipham was quite nice. I just plodded along happily and oddly quite enjoyed it. I also enjoyed knowing that there were only two more ups to go! And then one looonnnnnnggggg down 🙂
Having Mim ahead proved quite useful for this as, if the distance between us shrank, then she was braking and if she’s braking, I definitely should be! And if she’s not, then maybe I could be trying not to too… I did a lot of the usual internal monologue, tried not to brake too much, to lean in the right places and….definitely did it better than usual. And I had more fun too! *grin*. The last blast home was fun too, as there was a bus behind me and I fancied beating it to the Square. Not a problem 🙂
Cycling time: 1:51:26
Distance: 25.43 miles
Avs: 13.6 mph
ODO: 6544 miles
Look who put new batteries in her cycle computer? Yes, I’m technically gifted 😉 Bearing in mind how cold it was, and how much up we did, I’m pretty happy with that. I’m also happy with how those hills went and how my knee felt. Plus my max speed was 37.5 which ain’t bad for a scaredy cat 🙂
Now to get my kit clean and dry in time to go out with the ACG on Saturday…