Riding
I'm feeling quite pleased with myself at the moment, in spite of the pain in my side.
This is the fourth weekend in a row in which I have been out for a proper cycle ride, as opposed to just a spin around the city. They've been very varied rides, as well.
Three weeks ago, 6th March I guess, I went with Dan, Jeremy and some of their mates over to Wales to ride the Skyline trail near Afan. The day had started out fine, but turned to drizzle and then steady rain one we had gotten going. To be honest, I didn't enjoy that day too much, as I was by far the slowest of the group, and it was all a little too much for me. The others riding were all long-legged skinny whippets with thighs of steel. I'm not like that.
Two weeks ago I had the offer of a road-ride with Dan & Dunc, but instead went down to the Quantocks with Simes & Graze. We had much better weather, the drive down was shorter, and the riding both easier and more open. Although weather had a massive effect on my enjoyment, I'm convinced that the Q's are just a better place to ride. The climbs aren't so onerous, for a start, and the singletrack seems to be drier and (perhaps) easier, too.
Last weekend I'd made arrangements on the Saturday to meet up with Dan, Duncs & Matt in the Mendips for some more open ridge riding. We met up as arranged in the Farm car park near Shipham but the others thought they had arranged for a road ride, and had accordingly brought road bikes whereas I had my rather heavy & slow MTB. They were all three wrong, of course. Whoops. Bugger.
So they went off on their lightweight carbon 23mm-tyred pieces of expensive nothing, and I drove almost to the top of the plateau and went off-road. It was lovely - sun shining, a cool wind, few people around. It's just a shame that I managed to fall off the bike onto my ribs. I'm not sure whether one is broken, but I do know that it still hurts like hell a whole week later. The fall was my usual story of going too slowly up a hill and losing my balance when going over an obstruction. So I fell off sideways, still clipped into the pedals. This is why I had given up SPDs until the previous week, when I replaced my normal flatties in an attempt to improve my speed following my ignominous performance the week before that in Wales. It hurt, and I was too winded to get up again immediately, and felt a right fool lying there on the grass and gravel, gasping. Eventually I did rise, get back on the bike and continue, but I think that my heart was no longer in it.
And today, I spent two hours on the road cycling to Shire and Hallen, Blaize and back. Again, great weather, light winds, and enjoyment.
:o)
This is the fourth weekend in a row in which I have been out for a proper cycle ride, as opposed to just a spin around the city. They've been very varied rides, as well.
Three weeks ago, 6th March I guess, I went with Dan, Jeremy and some of their mates over to Wales to ride the Skyline trail near Afan. The day had started out fine, but turned to drizzle and then steady rain one we had gotten going. To be honest, I didn't enjoy that day too much, as I was by far the slowest of the group, and it was all a little too much for me. The others riding were all long-legged skinny whippets with thighs of steel. I'm not like that.
Two weeks ago I had the offer of a road-ride with Dan & Dunc, but instead went down to the Quantocks with Simes & Graze. We had much better weather, the drive down was shorter, and the riding both easier and more open. Although weather had a massive effect on my enjoyment, I'm convinced that the Q's are just a better place to ride. The climbs aren't so onerous, for a start, and the singletrack seems to be drier and (perhaps) easier, too.
Last weekend I'd made arrangements on the Saturday to meet up with Dan, Duncs & Matt in the Mendips for some more open ridge riding. We met up as arranged in the Farm car park near Shipham but the others thought they had arranged for a road ride, and had accordingly brought road bikes whereas I had my rather heavy & slow MTB. They were all three wrong, of course. Whoops. Bugger.
So they went off on their lightweight carbon 23mm-tyred pieces of expensive nothing, and I drove almost to the top of the plateau and went off-road. It was lovely - sun shining, a cool wind, few people around. It's just a shame that I managed to fall off the bike onto my ribs. I'm not sure whether one is broken, but I do know that it still hurts like hell a whole week later. The fall was my usual story of going too slowly up a hill and losing my balance when going over an obstruction. So I fell off sideways, still clipped into the pedals. This is why I had given up SPDs until the previous week, when I replaced my normal flatties in an attempt to improve my speed following my ignominous performance the week before that in Wales. It hurt, and I was too winded to get up again immediately, and felt a right fool lying there on the grass and gravel, gasping. Eventually I did rise, get back on the bike and continue, but I think that my heart was no longer in it.
And today, I spent two hours on the road cycling to Shire and Hallen, Blaize and back. Again, great weather, light winds, and enjoyment.
:o)
Labels: Cycling
posted by Moses at
8:21 pm
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