Very busy last week on the road, so got the runs in every day, literally as well with one semi-aborted run on Wednesday evening with a Paula Radcliffe dash to some pub toilets
Was still recovering on Friday but Saturday, I was crawling off the walls for a ride. I needed the miles so got a solid 240 minutes with barely a stop, so took just one picture, joining up with Gear Hill from the slog up Trewey Hill.
Sunday was a different state of affairs with rain forecast from 09:00. Easy time for an early morning dry one...but of course, the clouds, mist and rain descended from 07:30, so a soggy 90 minute affair, hence one, reluctant picture to prove I got out
Forecast rain for today so got out early to try to miss it. Looks like some last night but today was another very warm and humid day and managed to miss any storms.
Decided on a ride around woods today, getting a bit of fitness back so can enjoy some singletrack and physically handle all the roots again, sort of
The ground is still hard, dry and running fast, the foliage is still wet and with the humidity gives the woods a vague tropical feel, certainly better to keep moving than stop as the air is so warm. Kept a nice pace but had to stop a few times to catch my breath, always seemed to be when walkers were approaching which was handy.
A great ride, hopefully start to travel a bit further and onto some better tracks.
Two evening rides: a longer one yesterday and a shorter one today.
Yesterday was noticeably colder than recently, with moderately strong winds and grey skies for most of the ride. It was my first ride in long sleeves for a long while. I headed towards Dover on route 16, only to find the route was completely closed off about two miles from Dover Castle. An average of over 13 feet of climbing per minute, for nearly three hours, on Kent's short, steep hills just to see a road block! Fortunately, the sun showed itself towards the end of the ride to brighten things up.
A couple of the less steep hills:
This evening's ride was short, sweet, and relatively flat. The Palisades Trail has been languishing in the garage for months but now the weather's turning, its winter duties are calling it once again. So, after a little bit of checking over, it was a shakedown ride for the Palisades. And all was good. More than good. A rediscovery of why I liked it in the first place: unassuming but very willing.
Saturday's ride was spot on, a solid 3 hours in the saddle flew by, complete with a token '77 meets '90 meets '22 shot. Bee is one hell of a beast!
Finally got my new extra bike rack up, so now I can get the posters and pictures out of the loft and back onto the walls.
Yesterday's morning ride, also on Bee, was equally if not more fun. A glorious sun-rise, cool 10 degrees, rising to about 13/14, very still. Damp with dew but the trails are spot on, slighty tacky in sheltered spots, dry but not dusty in exposed sections.
It teed up a cracking day of tinkering and getting pictures up, followed by a lovely walk around Lands End and Sennen with the PIC and Coop in the afternoon.
Yesterday the recovery continued. Getting out had been bugging me all weekend. On setting out I had no particular goal other than to make it back...did 13.5 miles in just over an hour. Got home, showered, ate, and then conked out for two hours.
My expectations were set quite low, they have to be. I'm chuffed with the distance, although I was hit with the dreaded 'I need to stop soon' feeling after about 10 miles. I didn't feel strong at all during the ride, I just kept going. Then there was this sudden 'uh-oh' moment and all my energy drained away.
I'm getting better. It's slow but I am.
I could go into where I went but it doesn't seem to matter right now.
Time to get the lights charged up, it's a touch dark early doors now, summer has sadly passed for another year. We really didn't get much of it this year, so making the most of the still stretch is in order, because the forecast looks damp the next few days.
SSW light breeze, 13 degrees, slightly cooler in the valleys, light dew, nice tacky trails. Found a new selfie spot in an old chimney. Need to work on the positioning. Didn't see a soul so 10/10 ride
Wasn't actually planning on going out today, but a mix up with an order gave me a chance to sort it out in person, not too far away and i knew a route which was 95% off-road.
Looked a bit cooler out today, quite windy and slightly more overcast too, so i put on a light jacket. About 20mins in i had to stop and take it off, way too warm, even without it on, and when the sun came out it was very warm. A lot of the trails were in tree cover though so a steady pace resulted in a very nice comfortable ride. Quite a bit further than i measured on my map in my head, which was noticeable a bit on the way home, which strangely seemed to get further away the closer i got.
A nice ride, scenery I have not seen for a long time, some beautiful trees, especially down by the lake, and nice weather.