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it takes half an hour or so for uploaded rides to come through on the festive 500 profile.
98km to go, shall i spread this across three days gently or go on the Wintage Ride to Brighton tomorrow?
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No sign of my Sidi's today, so I only added on an extra 26km met mum and sister and walked the dog.
I don't have a Strava/any way of proving this. But given that so far my efforts have been so puny, they are surely believable. Off for a run. Then turkey curry. Then pub.I mainly want to know if NurseHoliday is going to have trumped me!
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- Spinning in the wind
Cliveo was mentioned on the Xmas day write up, I am sure he must be a roaming Roman, and putting up with me is his cycling penance. He arrived at my house 20 minutes early, which caused a mild fluster. I was part dressed, and still eating porridge, gruel from the microwave comes out hotter than the sun and appears to take eternity to cool down.
I was complaining, the other half had finished the baby wipes without warning me. FFS, I like to use them to clean the drive train, this time of year I am not too worried about a little mud on the non moving parts but want to ensure that the road paste is not wearing out the groupset. Alex never bothers to clean the chain on her fixie skidder, but had used up the last of the wipes wiping muck from her frame – any rag could have done that, plus there had been the cardinal sin of leaving the empty packet in its usual place so I had just assumed there were some inside.
Enough of the whingeing, the whole point of riding partners is to vent spleen with (ok not the whole point). Clive is a brilliant, intelligent calming chap, the kind of person who could be dropped into a conflict zone and peace would prevail, and a couple of hours in the saddle with him tends to shift my perspective on the world and my trivial problems.
The plan for today was a loop out towards Ascot and Windsor, we charged up on Colombian coffee, I had a pre-emptive hit on the asthma inhaler, a quick check of the weather forecast to ensure I was appropriately attired and we set off. There is a neat route out from Kew to Kingston, through Petersham and Ham, and then via some backstreets and a footbridge over the Thames and coming out near Sigma sport. This short cut is great, unless your navigation monkey is yours truly, and a wrong turn is taken and a quick retracing is required.
Clive is a few years senior to myself, so I set myself the goal of turning pedals at a higher than usual rate in a lower gear and to sit in front and cut through the wind for most of the ride. There is a chance that I am riding to Brighton tomorrow so did not want to overly tire out my legs on today’s jaunt. I always imagine that higher cadence means that the work is taken from the legs to the heart, and I did want to keep the circulation going today, and it seemed to help. Just a baselayer, winter training jersey and 3/4 length bibs were adequate for today’s temperature.
For most of the morning we were battling against the wind, so conversation was lost in the wind. As such, I was left with the paucity of my own company, sometimes my mind can be a happy content place, other days the time on the road can find me drifting to the darker recesses. However, today I looked backwards at my cycling. Having ridden a bit as a kid I came back to bikes in June 2008 and started commuting on a fixed wheel bike around town. I really got the bug. In spring 2009 a 2ndhand road bike was acquired and started doing longer rides with my then girlfriend, I was besotted with her, she less so with me. She is a very strong (semi pro) rider and would just leave me for dust, our days riding were like an allegory for our relationship, her just out of reach and me chasing after her.
Those early rides were hard work, I had a whole new world to learn, feeding, fluids, energy management, not burning up too early, cadence, heart rate. There was so much to take in. On ascents I would spot an object in the verge – a flower, a crisp packet and focus on just getting the bike up to that point and then find a new target to head towards. I would suffer from early in the day, and this rarely seemed to improve. It was a baptism of pain, frustration but strangely exhilarating. The miles for the day were grimly counted down, a favourite distraction tactic was to play mental arithmetic with how far had been completed, the percentage left to do, how long it would take at the current rate… If someone said it was a 60 mile ride and we hit 55 and were nowhere near home I would just want to bail out and take a train, but somehow perverse stubbornness would kick in.
Little by little cycling became more and more of a pleasure, I remember the first time I got to the top of Box Hill and actually looked around rather than grimly gurning along still focusing on the next point on the verge that I had to conquer. There came a point where I no longer had to break a hill down into 20 yard segments, the bike would make it, and the scenery taken in. I started to really appreciate the fun of long days in the saddle, and the satisfaction of getting my bulk up hills.
Not all days are easy, some can be very taxing. Today we were taking a hammering from the wind, it just did not want us to have a chance to roll at all on the outward journey. Despite this it was not a struggle. The last time we did this route I was pranging for food, the feeling I was running on vapours. There is a descent towards Windsor and then a brief stretch to get to the Magna Carta Tearooms. On that day it felt like it went on for twenty miles, though of course it was a fraction of that. These days I find the minds ability to warp the reality of time on a bike fascinating and amusing, how the same route can be an utter slog one day, a breeze a few weeks later but if the data from the 2 days is compared there may not be much difference between the two. Clearly what is happening in the rest of my life – work, food, sleep etc all have an effect on how I perceive and feel the ride is going.
Back to the important stuff – Tearooms. One of my favourite things about being active is that I can eat more. Gluttony comes naturally to me, so the ability to eat 2 puddings and turn a 3 course meal into a 4 course one is an utter joy. I love riding out with Hounslow and District Wheelers, their club rides are wonderful, a good pace, lots of very experienced and knowledgeable club members – and they know all the good cake shops. Often these are little places selling WI style baked goods, proper tea and generally not so good coffee. Little old dears frequently run these little snapshots of post war Britain and I revel in them. Years ago I would have been like Withnail, making a loud ass of myself in them. These days I have changed a little and appreciate the hushed tones people use to communicate with their fellow diners. The Magna Carta Tearooms are typical of this, simple food, no fusion, no fuss, no frills. After a few miles against the wind, that is all I need. Never too sure if I would be so content with the grub if I was not so hungry, but its like burned sausage on a camp fire, satisfying because of the effort required to get it.
Today’s ride was no epic tale of glory, just two men (one gentle, one a little rough around the edges) enjoying the countryside and the lack of rain. The intention to ride with a higher than usual cadence was met, and by the home straight Clive had worked his magic, and I felt a lot more calm.
- Spinning in the wind
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Anyone want to do this on Friday?
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I'm doubting the accuracy of this strava whatsit.. check the speeds.. yeah baby..
http://app.strava.com/rides/2935192#51054175 -
I'm doubting the accuracy of this strava whatsit.. check the speeds.. yeah baby..
http://app.strava.com/rides/2935192#51054175It does that every now and again, I've seen my own rides have an average of ~70 mph, which struck me as unlikely.
It'll sort itself out at some point.
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Done and dusted
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Nice one!
Dammit
hippy
dancing james
deleted
laner
Tenderloin
dan
johnnyhotdog-
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The Rapha Festive 500
Posted by
@almac68
nice work