the lack of power ride

the lack of power ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

nutrition is king when riding a bike, if you don't have the correct energy stores performance suffers, speed decreases and concentration is lost usually ending in the dreaded "bonk" when all reserves are depleted and you body shuts down and the craving for calories becomes intense
Today after challenging riding through the thick mud of the Lickeys, the more cloying clay of lower Waseley and the long slog to the Windmill Cafe the energy issues reared their ugly head, however non of us were collapsing from missing carbs or protein. What was missing though was electricity from the the Cafe, they couldn't even boil a kettle! the staff sat glumly behind the sign that read "no power, no cake" or that's how i interpreted it. This is how civilisation will end, denied cake the masses will rise up and armageddon will ensue.
Happily though today the apocalypse was averted as Ant, Dan and I just pulled our selves together, gritted our teeth and headed back the hard way to Lickey Cafe instead. In a way this was beneficial as we rode a few trails the opposite way to normal and this certainly tested our skills on the wet, greasy leaf littered and rooty steep downhills. Precise use of brakes was needed, enough to regulate speed but avoid a lock up at all costs and that would end with you sitting on your backside in the mud.
As Ant pointed out, there was an added bonus that the cake at Lickey comes in bigger portions and the bread pudding he had was almost as big as his head!
to finish the ride we scared ourselves silly on the "new trail" as yet unnamed properly which in the conditions was the most challenging of the day with no margin for error on the slimey log drops.
Yes it was muddy, yes we took a lot of that mud home with us but we were full of energy (cake) that set us up for the rest of the day
ride 129
14 miles
total 2705
commute 1132