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Published On: May 15, 2007 04:23 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: May 15, 2007 04:23 PM
It's bloody raining again!
what can I say... I needed to wash my
tyres perhaps?
Distance:
62km
Time: 02:00
Ave Spd: 31 km/hr
Cols: none, just lots of sort of draggy uppy and downy bits
10am: Rain. Again. No matter, it's the risk one takes of coming to the mountains this early in the season, and it keeps the countryside very green.
I loosely planned an easy recovery spin for a couple of hours over the Col d'Ares to the pretty village of Aspet for lunch... I have to pack my bike and kit for the trip home later though which will be a mucky job if everything is wet so the recovery spin may turn into a recovery tea and biscuits with a good book session. It really doesn't matter, my legs are tired, I don't want to run myself down before the Dartmoor Classic next weekend, and if i don't ride today then apparently the forecast for the bank holiday at home is ace so I'll do more riding back in Cornwall. I'm quite enjoying doing bugger all - no DIY, no chores, nothing that I feel I should be doing, just enjoying the experience of being a lazy git. It'll make it easier to pack too if my bike and gear are not dripping wet.
More later.......
6:45pm: what can I say... I needed to wash my tyres perhaps? Maybe I should just own up to being a bit stupid? Nearly 40miles in torrential rain, it was a lot of fun. Once I'm so wet that it's not possible to get any wetter it brings out the kid in me, I couldn't stop laughing as I hammered the last 40km on a caffeine and endorphin-fuelled high, watching 50km/hr horizontal streamers of water flying off my fork and handlebars, hands numb with the windchill. It was quite beautiful in the mountains with the low wreaths of cloud caressing the wooded hillsides, the greens of which were intensely saturated in the heavy wetness (how poetic can I make a filthy wet ride sound!). It was good fun, but not the bit afterwards where I've had to pack a grimy wet bike, or rinse half a bucket full of road grit out of my gear (turned the sink into a regular gravel pit) and scrub the dirty grey residue from my lower legs. At my halfway coffee stop - a very handy little patisserie with a vast range of dangerously tempting things - as it's my last day I succumbed to a couple of almond-filled pastry things, and the girl behind the counter gave me a freebie Pain au Chocolat for the road despite the fact I'd left a large puddle of water on her floor, chair, table.... I stuffed it in my jersey back pocket and forgot about it until I found the soggy congealed mass back 'home'.
I timed my return perfectly, walking into the kitchen just as David, Jim, Freddy (John's better half) and John were tucking into fish soup, fresh bread, ham, cheese and apple pie... It would have been rude of me to refuse. They even did my washing up while I was in the shower... how nice!
Of course the sun came out this afternoon......
We're off out to dinner in a mo, but before I forget - Freddy and John are the ace husband and wife team behind Red Planet Bikes in the UK, they're even nuttier about cycling than I am....
Sod it, I'm going for a beer before dinner. I'll finish this at the airport tomorrow. See ya
pic of the day is the front of the farmhouse here in Bertren, lovely building, even nicer inside and with a large garden, bike wash and hot-tub out the back.
Time: 02:00
Ave Spd: 31 km/hr
Cols: none, just lots of sort of draggy uppy and downy bits
10am: Rain. Again. No matter, it's the risk one takes of coming to the mountains this early in the season, and it keeps the countryside very green.
I loosely planned an easy recovery spin for a couple of hours over the Col d'Ares to the pretty village of Aspet for lunch... I have to pack my bike and kit for the trip home later though which will be a mucky job if everything is wet so the recovery spin may turn into a recovery tea and biscuits with a good book session. It really doesn't matter, my legs are tired, I don't want to run myself down before the Dartmoor Classic next weekend, and if i don't ride today then apparently the forecast for the bank holiday at home is ace so I'll do more riding back in Cornwall. I'm quite enjoying doing bugger all - no DIY, no chores, nothing that I feel I should be doing, just enjoying the experience of being a lazy git. It'll make it easier to pack too if my bike and gear are not dripping wet.
More later.......
6:45pm: what can I say... I needed to wash my tyres perhaps? Maybe I should just own up to being a bit stupid? Nearly 40miles in torrential rain, it was a lot of fun. Once I'm so wet that it's not possible to get any wetter it brings out the kid in me, I couldn't stop laughing as I hammered the last 40km on a caffeine and endorphin-fuelled high, watching 50km/hr horizontal streamers of water flying off my fork and handlebars, hands numb with the windchill. It was quite beautiful in the mountains with the low wreaths of cloud caressing the wooded hillsides, the greens of which were intensely saturated in the heavy wetness (how poetic can I make a filthy wet ride sound!). It was good fun, but not the bit afterwards where I've had to pack a grimy wet bike, or rinse half a bucket full of road grit out of my gear (turned the sink into a regular gravel pit) and scrub the dirty grey residue from my lower legs. At my halfway coffee stop - a very handy little patisserie with a vast range of dangerously tempting things - as it's my last day I succumbed to a couple of almond-filled pastry things, and the girl behind the counter gave me a freebie Pain au Chocolat for the road despite the fact I'd left a large puddle of water on her floor, chair, table.... I stuffed it in my jersey back pocket and forgot about it until I found the soggy congealed mass back 'home'.
I timed my return perfectly, walking into the kitchen just as David, Jim, Freddy (John's better half) and John were tucking into fish soup, fresh bread, ham, cheese and apple pie... It would have been rude of me to refuse. They even did my washing up while I was in the shower... how nice!
Of course the sun came out this afternoon......
We're off out to dinner in a mo, but before I forget - Freddy and John are the ace husband and wife team behind Red Planet Bikes in the UK, they're even nuttier about cycling than I am....
Sod it, I'm going for a beer before dinner. I'll finish this at the airport tomorrow. See ya
pic of the day is the front of the farmhouse here in Bertren, lovely building, even nicer inside and with a large garden, bike wash and hot-tub out the back.
Posted: Fri - May 4, 2007 at 05:43 PM