Day 234 - Ships in the Night

Thoughts of 'ships in the night' crossed my mind as Andy and I passed the Pedallers out on the Thursday evening ride tonight; they climbing up past Beer quarry as we descended. There seemed to be as many as last week, less 2 of course! Their lights illuminating the wooded lane giving us, at first, the impression of a convoy of cars ascending the hill towards us.

Why, you may ask, were we heading in the other direction? Well, a quicker ride, ahead of the forecasted rain, and a desire to get a good ride out on the Roubaix was my excuse. Having missed Clive's Sunday ride last week and the same prospect being on the cards for this weekend, due to the wet season we've sadly entered, has meant that the Roubaix has just not had a look in recently. 

Anyway, we headed over to Colyton and up Old Sidmouth Road towards Beer. Having made such easy work of this long climb, we felt Peco hill in Beer should be included in our route. Big mistake! Taking off at speed in too high a gear and nearing the brow, high out of the saddle, I hit the power wall and forward motion as good as stopped. Being secured to my pedals the only option to avoid falling was a hasty unclip and dismount. Having made this assent in one before, it was a great disappointment to be so unceremoniously dumped so close to my goal. After a short rest and rehydrate, I resumed and completed the climb. I feel a revisit will be on the cards again soon!

Back in Seaton, having a little more gas in the tank, well Andy anyway, we completed a loop out to Colyford and back before then calling it a night. In all, a 15-20 mile ride (I neglected to power up the Garmin until well into the ride) in 90 minutes was good enough but no apres beer and chips tonight. Will be back out with the Pedallers on the Crosstrail next week, weather permitting .. and looking forward to hearing how the ride went this evening, did they all manage to avoid the monsoon?

Stats: 12.9 mi, 1hr 01m, Avg 12.5 mph, Max 28.8 mph, 768 kcal