Without wishing to spend to much of my holiday on the blog, a briefest of catchups after the solstice so that when I look back a year from now to figure out what I was doing right or wrong I will know what the bugger I was playing at!
On Monday I had a day off work and dutifully caught up with my Solstice blog. It was necessary to record the overwhelming satisfaction for that particular day.
On Tuesday I was already feeling guilty for spending time off the bike but I got a lot done around the house and couldn't face going out in the dark - even though it was fairly mild so I took to the rollers and enjoyed every second. I did a lot of faffing with my shoes but did solid 20 miles of riding in the end.
Mr Rodgers was still working lates so it did't matter to me that I was eating dinners at 9pm - his was still warm when he got in. What I didn't notice is I was inadvertently waiting up for him, sitting around for a chat, not really sleeping if I did go to bed and then still getting up at a normal-ish time in the morning.
On Wednesday I set out to do the santa run on the bike. I had garden centre vouchers to get so headed to Dore so that I could also pop in at Totley to see my Uncle Tom and Aunty Ann. I then ended up riding over to my cousin's new flat to see them there and then home. I clocked 25 miles and 485m of elevation, another late night followed by an incredibly early morning to be in for an 8am teleconference.
I bloody sprinted to work to make it, pushed my bike into the office and leant it against the cupboards, turned the lights on and dialed in. I left the office at 6:30pm. On the Friday, what was supposed to be an easy day, yes, I rocked in at 10:30 but then duly left at 4:30 - two hours later than everyone else.
So there was Saturday and I didn't feel like riding anymore so I tidied and then decked the halls and then chilled out.
Sunday we did ride again. We headed out to Tideswell for lunch and I threw a strop because Tideswell did not come quickly enough. We were terribly buffeted about by the wind and I felt really rubbish on all of the hill climbs, truly truly rubbish - so much so that I started to worry about my bloods. I drank a hot chocolate with my lunch as well as a coffee and downed a veggie breakfast. It all went much better in the afternoon - partly tail wind assisted, partly sugar assisted.
So week 13 didn't go so well (24 to go) but I guess that was only to be expected for my first 200 in a while.
On Christmas day we set out for another ride. TSK was worried that I'd over stretch myself with a hilly ride North but after my Christmas eve ride, I wanted to get my teeth into some climbing again. It's also a while since the last North ride and I so wanted to ride somewhere different for once.
The North ride arcs around Emley Moor like a big question-mark then does a U-turn and arcs back around it the other way. It turned out to be perfect for the Easterly wind because most of the day was accompanied by a side wind. The occasional turns into the headwind were brief and often accompanied by an off-setting down hill. The tail winds were amazing and focused on the longer stretches of the arch of the Question-mark.
We arrived in Honley at Christmas lunchtime. The pub wasn't a coffee kind of place, filled with middle-aged men wearing tracksuit bottoms and clutching pints. We ate our cheese sandwiches sitting on a shop windowsills, backs to the wind, faces to the sunshine and drank coffee from flask cups.
At the North part of the loop, TSK grew concerned about where we were heading as I consistently turned away from Sheffield. Sated by my directions of "that way!" we continued until the point of cross-coupling our inflection with the return journey and we debated the feasibility of getting home from an 80 mile ride to make Christmas dinner. We decided that if we wanted Christmas dinner we should head for home but then floated the question of whether we cared about Christmas dinner and concluded that we really weren't that bothered so carried on our ride. As the sun set, we really were both as happy as larry.
There was a minor debate about the location of Wooley Edge services at around 4pm. Our cheese sandwiches really weren't going to last us the whole day. The route, as it happens went straight past the motorway services and we chose the south-bound venue as it was slightly more modern. We wheeled our bikes straight in the doors, propped them up against the railings around the costa seating area and selected food and coffee to see us through the rest of our journey. We thanked the staff for working Christmas day and settled down to enjoy our feast of toasties, tiffin and cake and coffee.
We took one wibble out of the route, cutting straight home on the A61 which normally I wouldn't touch with a barge pole but on Christmas day there were a vastly reduced number of cars and no trucks at all. We blatted along, practically traffic free, dodging pot holes and supported by a fairly crafty tail wind. One last climb up to our house from Hillsborough and we fell through the door at 7:45pm. An effective meal prepared of pasta sauce from the freezer, all washed down with some Christmas ice cream and a very healthy 9:45 bed time.
Scene set for the rest of the Holiday season and all of next years good intentions.
No comments:
Post a Comment