the Cobley Hill ride

the Cobley Hill ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

confidence is a funny thing, if you have it you think everything is achievable, find yourself without it and you doubt your own abilities. this ride was all about confidence, i thought about the ascent of Cobley hill from the start of the ride, it's a climb i always avoid as it's long, steep and unrelenting and kicks up steeper just before the summit. so i chose a route with some nursery climbs just so i could see how i was going and well frankly i wasn't, it was all a bit of a struggle, confidence was not high but i kept to the route and came to the turn for the climb. if it doesn't go well it'll knock my confidence even more, dare i risk it? what the heck i'm there might as well give it a shot if i have to stop, so what? the road to the climb isn't exactly flat either and those seemed a lot bigger than i remember. eventually i reach the bottom of the climb and start up, i chose a low gear and try to spin up the road, so far so good, then it gets a bit steeper, i get out of the saddle, not really making it easier but it seems the change of position helps my legs, i sit down and spin on, I've got one gear left and I'm determined not to resort to using it as I'd see it as a failure, i check over my shoulder for traffic aand notice how far up i've got, not bad! so i press on and turn the corner, i can see the summit but now comes the steepest part, no chance i was giving up now, i crest the steep part and even go up a gear before reaching the very top. confidence is a funny thing and i can cross Cobley Hill off my low confidence list, time now to tackle some of the others on that list too
ride 110
14 miles
total 2000
commute 530
#turbolejog131-14=117 remaining