The 5th Rule of Saturday Cycling is simply to Rejoice! As I had my Saturday Cycle ride today there was so much around me to be rejoicing over, even the rain!
Today, I decided to have a cycle ride around one of my favourite routes that I’ve not done for a while and I was really looking forward to it, even though it was raining when I set off.
By the way, the first person to contact me and identify my destination, gets some free Trek and Nakd bars sent in the post. Just use the contact tab above. There’s no small print, no catch, no getting signed up to a mailing list or anything like that!
Here’s the destination:
Do you recognise it at all? Just use the Contact page, tell me what this is and where it is and I’ll send you some goodies.
Anyway, back to the ride. It was:
- Rainy but I couldn’t care less. It was mostly light rain, refreshing. I liked it. While I was warm and dry, my feet were wet and flippin’ cold. Most unpleasant after a while and I must do something about water-proofing my Specialized Sonoma shoes
- Deliberately hilly. Somehow I have to get some serious training in for next year and the Coast to Coast challenge. On the way back I decided to have a slight diversion and go down a steep hill which I knew was a nice straight run (therefore fairly safe) just for the purpose of enjoying the sensation of hitting 35-40mph and then turning around and huffing & puffing my way back to the top. This is brilliant exercise for me and I’m starting to really enjoy it. Reminds me of when I was getting into running – as a beginner I used to avoid hills but gradually I changed my mind and eventually appreciated them as brilliant training opportunities. Same with cycling.
- Completely puncture free – yay! This is quite a relief, I can tell you. Doesn’t stop me carrying the necessary kit though. Inspite of my new soooper-doooper new tyres, I still feel a little concerned, especially when it’s wet as that always seems to cause more punctures.
- Beautiful. I love the autumn colours, especially in woodland areas. Those colours conjure up a nice cosy, snug feeling.
- It was pretty quiet. Normally on a Saturday the roads I used would normally be pretty busy with people enjoying their trips into the countryside – either by car or by bicycle – but it was strangely quiet. Probably because of the wet weather or, as my youngest daughter informed me “it’s only 45 days until Christmas”. There were two pairs of other cyclists looking equally bedraggled and friendly smiles, nods and “hiya’s” were exchanged.
- While I really like cycling with friends, I did enjoy this ride on my own. It was an opportunity to reflect on things, to mull things over. Besides, I could go at MY pace (which I know is too slow).
No Saturday Cycle ride would be complete these days without a Trek or Nakd energy bar. What with one thing and another I didn’t scoff one at all – can you believe that? Nevermind, it was nice to know they were there as a source of good energy should I have needed it. Oh well, another time. It’s worth mentioning that a number of these bars contain dates: this is an excellent food for cyclists, runners or anyone involved in sport where endurance is a feature. I’ll be doing a special blog post on dates soon.
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The goodie prize goes to Barry, congratulations!