9.00am. The Square. And the usual suspects gathered. KG, M&S D, DM, and me. The only notable exception was GB who has bigger fish to fry soon, and is apparently off to do every hill in the Mendips tomorrow. Each to their own. Having said that, both MD and DM have been up the Tourmalet (and other Cols) this summer. I wonder if the hill bug is catching? I’m feeling quite jealous of everyone with all their great achievements this year and am definitely feeling the need to set myself some kind of goals for next year to avoid feeling left out!
Anyway. Our merry band spent the usual 10 minutes debating where to go, and we ended up doing my usual training loop, which is apparently much less familiar to everyone else. This is good as I don’t like to bore people. It’s also great for me as I don’t even have to think about where I’m going, and I know all the ups, downs, and bends. This doesn’t mean I’m good at them I hasten to add, but there is at least no fear of the unknown. Which leaves fear of the known, a wet and gritty Winscombe Hill in this case. SD had taken a detour and was due to meet us in Loxton, so I let the machismo head down the hill and preceded down at my usual panic stricken pace. It was the first chance to try out some new braking techniques as explained to me in terms that I could actually understand yesterday. Rear braking to slow down, front braking for stopping. Simple enough even for me. If I go through less brake pads as a result that’ll be no bad thing…it’ll be a cheaper thing…so it’s worth a go 🙂
On the road to Loxton we hit an enforced go slow. Otherwise known as a slowly moving single cow shepherding road block. We dawdled along, avoiding the fallout, bemoaning the effect on our average speed, for a good ten minutes. Once released it was hard to avoid the temptation to head off like a bull at a gate (to maintain the bovine theme)… Luckily SD was still waiting in Loxton so, no harm no foul, and we made it over to Mark fairly swiftly. She then peeled off – something to do with a Pageant – and the four musketeers took the Burtle route to Sweets cafe. There was plenty of wind about, doing a fine job of never being in the right place at the right time, until the final straight to the cafe. Enjoying the push/relief, I made a break for it, leaving KG to give chase and cruise past me before the inevitable bend. We are so juvenile *grin*.
Coffee was duly had, plans for seeing the Tour of Britain and doing the Cheddar Sportive were all discussed and advanced, and various people ate various fried things between slices of bread. I did the can of drink + espresso thing. Rehydration + boost, theoretically. Besides which, I am not a hobbit, and do not need second breakfasts. If I did, I would carry it with me in my little pocketses…
We came back via Westhay and Panborough as usual, before taking the next left to go up over Mudgeley Hill that way, henceforth to be known as Dave’s hill. Well, John has a hill, so why shouldn’t Dave? He’s the one who has been slowly introducing us all to it after all. It’s a nice long slow climb, and it’s really nice at the top – quiet road, nice views, ups and downs – a huge improvement on the main road to Wedmore. Once out of Wedmore we lined up to minimise traffic impact, and headed for home. Down the dip at Cocklake, seizing the momentum to get up the other side…up out of the saddle, push and…I got the jump on KG and kicked my ar*e down the hill *grin*. If you get going there you’re doing a good 33 mph by the time you run out of hill and are pretty much set all the way to Cheddar. DM managed to catch me and hook on at some point and we blasted it all the way back which was immense fun. GB would have approved *grin*. It’s a good ride when I’m doing 25mph down there. We would have waiting for the missing duo but we got stuck with a bus behind us as we turned right and there was no convenient way to let it pass even though we tried…so there was nothing for it other than to head for home and to not spare the horses, which meant more silly speeding stuff down the bypass. Did I mention we were juvenile? Or maybe it’s just me…*grin*
Cycling time: 2:01:56
Distance: 32.75 miles
Avs: 16.1 mph
ODO: 5470
That was a whole heap of fun. As you can tell by the number of times I seem to have used the word fun. Maybe I should go back and replace it with a better choice of adjectives? However that seems a tad OTT, and besides which, that’s what it was. Fun. I do like going fast 🙂
The ride definitely felt smoother, which can only be down to the new saddle post, so that was interesting. My knee didn’t hurt – which either means changing the cleats worked, or that it’s just one of those days when it didn’t hurt! Nothing conclusive there then, but I do like pain-free 🙂 Imagine how much fun it might be when I’ve upgraded/replaced/repaired everything? Oops, sorry, used the fun word again… 😉