Freewheeling

On the day the Froomie has to settle for 6th on the Volta a Catalunya, the BikeShed return my freewheel duly repaired and I have one of my best rides of the season.

Freewheel looking good

The BikeShed should have really fixed my wheel last month when they had it in for a service .. a stitch in time and all that, but they recovered well with a rapid fix enabling me to get in a weekend ride on my Roubaix.

What views!

With the majority of the Pedallers, including my buddy, Andy, having had a ride out yesterday, I was left to do a solo cycle this afternoon. I had a plan to do a re-run of Thursday's quick loop out to Farway Common and this I did with a slight detour into Farway having turned off a little early. This resulted in one of the steepest climbs of my 'cycling career' up Ball Lane .. one to miss in future. I even passed an old guy getting out of his car and was showered with admiration from him, little then did I know what was in store.

Old petrol pumps in Farway on the turn to Seaton

In spite of the detour, the climbs and solo ride (I normally do better with company), it was a quick ride. I got a new PB of 16.13 miles for 1 hr and a 43.54s for 20 km last set back in September 2013! I also achieved 5 Strava segment PBs, even beating Andy on the Golf Club to A35 segment :)

Feeling a lot better this week!

Day 333 - Bit of a Drag

Thursday and another ride out with the AVP. I can't believe how much I am enjoying this night riding but can't deny that I am really looking forward to the return of summer, this period of dark and dampness is getting to be a bit of a drag.

Meeting up at the usual time, usual place - 6:30 at the Kings Arms - it was great to see the usual suspects gathering for tonights ride. After last week, getting dropped on my Crosstrail during the final run in from Musbury, I was pleased to see the return of Barry, fellow night time hybrid rider, who would be able to join me at the back of the peloton. We have a challenging time out there mixing it with the road bikes but it's all good training! Tonight was also going to be Kilian's last AVP ride as he returns home to Germany at the weekend. Kilian's first ride with us was back in September when he joined us at the last minute as a guest on our 100 miler, riding of all things a mountain bike! He'd have no trouble on a hybrid, but that's what 30+ years does for you .. my excuse anyway!

 

Jolly struck the route which would take the 12 of us out via Farway to Offwell and back through Colyton. It was a a good circuit, relatively free of traffic, bar the meeting of a tanker down one narrow lane requiring all to take to a water filled tractor furrow. The 1,500 feet of climb was challenging but not excessive and the down hill runs were, in reward, fast and thrilling. We are noticing the temperature falling a little more now, as I heard mention of 'ice cream sandwich headaches' on more than one occasion. So extra warm headgear and gloves are now definitely de rigueur for the winter night rider.

The run out tonight was my quickest yet on the hybrid, with a new one hour and 20km record achieved and a PR on the 1 mile 'Bit of a Drag' Strava segment, albeit almost a minute off the pace of the road bikes, so a revisit on the Roubaix will be required.

Again, a dry and incident free ride brought us home to the Kings Arms ahead of the Mountain bikers and in good time for some quality après-cycing chat, beer and chips. Another perfect 20 mile night ride out with the AVP!