Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Am i back? The let's see ride

After giving myself a hard time for riding too soon after a cold i've delayed and delayed the next ride. After almost two weeks of resorting to walking as exercise (OMG it got THAT bad!) the promise of a dry sunny day lured me out on the bike. it took me a while to find suitable clothing as they'd all been put away it's been that long since i needed them.
Blimey it felt good to be back out pedalling, even if every twinge and cough brought on thoughts of a relapse but with the goal of a new cafe to check out thoughts turned to food and took my mind off the anxiety.
The Boat shack at Upton Warren lived up to what lots of fellow cyclists had told me, good wholesome food at not extortional prices and it came with a fab view of the boating lake from the balcony.
Buoyed up by my success so far and a cheese sandwich of good proportions i took a longer than originally planned route home. I'll go via the canal climb i thought and ground my way up Grimley lane, an aptly named road that gradually gets steeper and steeper over a half mile stretch until it meets the towpath. and the reward for my efforts was...a closed towpath under repair!
Luckily or unluckily as you will read there is an alternative route along side the reservoir and through a couple of fields. these fields involve more steep climbing but this time on very slick and sticky mud and my rear tyre soon ran out of grip. this was good in a way as the build up of mud had begun to clog gears and could have resulted in a bent rear mech. i'm not ashamed to admit i walked the worst bits, i have been ill after all! when the field leveled out o resumed and speed and gravel patched cleared the worst of the mud. i was then back on my intended route and headed home.
I'm happy to report there were no ill effects the next day apart from the delicious feeling of tyred legs due to riding rather than infection!
Ride 4
25 miles
Total 82

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