Thursday 6 December 2012

the christmas lights ride

the christmas lights ride by rOcKeTdOgUk
the christmas lights ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

Ian was still hurting from the weekend and I knew Ben and Matt wouldn’t be able to do an early evening ride but I wanted to get out before the proper cold weather set in for the night. I was in two minds whether or not I should wear full length tights or just the ¾ ones, I chose the latter as I’m not keen on how all those layers feel, being bulky and restrictive. Wow, instantly I regretted that decision, it was already freezing. I changed my planned route to compensate by making it as hilly as possible in an effort to keep warm. The ¾ bibs on their own just weren’t cutting it and my thighs were quickly cold which didn’t help the effort to retain heat in my toes.
Up towards the top of the Lickeys I passed the trees The Puppy had been climbing the other day to fit the xmas lights, now they were in full effect and this gave me an idea, how about this ride being all about those over the top lights that people go for at this time of the year? So that was it, the search was on, I knew of a likely candidate so I headed in that direction, anything else I spot along the way would be a bonus. I dread to think what the energy bills are like for these “enthusiasts” when they pop through the door in the next quarter. I managed to find a few and didn’t get any strange looks when standing in the middle of the road taking photos, the bike is in all the pictures although it’s hard to see in some of them.
I knew it was time to head for home when I started to climb one hill, sat down in the saddle and the rear wheel spun out a number of times due to the ice. I still managed to get in an ascent of Dale hill though risking the conditions on this back lane that hadn’t seen any sun all day and was properly slippery.
And I need to add a special *wave* to Paul Geddy if he’s watching via RSS ;-)
ride 174
11 miles
total 3176
commute 860

1 comment:

Paul said...

Thanks for the mention RD - Go careful on those North Worcestershire Alps - I'll stick to commuting :-)