Day 136 - Much Needed Ride

You know those days when work seems to be all consuming and you forget there is another life to live, well today was one of those days. So with 5 minutes to spare, I was pleased to have made the decision that I would drop everything and head out with the AVP for a much needed ride, to clear the head and sweat out the frustrations of a day of business madness, and sweat I did!

The nights may be already drawing in but the temperatures are still the highest we've seen for some years. There were a baker's dozen of us riders who headed out towards Axminster with the first objective of dropping off the baker before continuing on to Hawkchurch. We took the cycle path through Kilminton in the opposite direction to that of last week where milking cows now replaced the young horned bullocks, a much more relaxed ride!

Taking the minor roads from Hawkchurch back to Axmouth the sun became a blood red orange orb low on the horizon and I can see that next week the sun glasses will have to stay at home, as there were times, under the trees, that visibility became close to that of riding out at the dead of night with no lights. That said, is was still a very quick ride with another 3 time and a longest circuit PB recorded.

The only downer on the ride was the attitude of one motorist who displayed a little anger to have to slow to make way for the peloton as we made our way through the lanes. The consensus, however, was that it was being taken by surprise and fear rather than any malice that led to the outburst. The attitude of some to cycling in country is - now that I'm in the other camp - disappointing. I heard on the SE local news this morning, that Surrey is up in arms over the number of road closures for cycling events and in a recent edition of a cycling magazine there was a letter which spoke of a news reporter asking what can cyclists do to prevent being hit by cars, from behind though wearing high-viz clothing and have lights on, not what car drivers do to avoid hitting bikes. I hear that on the continent, learner drivers are taught to open their doors with the opposite hand, i.e. open the right door with left hand. This makes the driver look behind to ensure there is no traffic - e.g. bikes - coming alongside before opening. The success of our cyclists at the London Olympics and in the Tour de France is doing great things for cycling in Britain but we've a long way to go to be as bike friendly as our neighbours across the channel.

Stats: 25.56 mi, 2h:01m:27s , Avg 12.6 mph, Max 27.0, 1346 kcal

PBs:

  Circuit:  25.56 mi
  One hour: 13.51 mi 

  10 mi 37m:47s (5m:14s quicker than my previous PB) 

  20 km 52m:23