Hikers, horseboxes and hills

Just a short ride, my only one for the weekend too. I decided that I needed to rein back in a bit, and take some rest while I could. I have a busy few weeks ahead of me, both at work and on the riding front, and a few other weekend engagements too.

I decided to do something systematic. I picked a route in advance to incorporate as many short busts of hill as I could find, with one steep moderately long hill (Canada Coombe) in the middle. I then tried to go up those hills as fast as I could for as long as I could, rather than just amble up them. It was also pretty blustery, which mitigated against riding on the flat, and as I headed along Sandford Road, into the wind, I managed to get a tow from a nice big horsebox with a backend the size of a bus. Lovely.

I also remembered that it was the day of Weston Hospicecare's Mendip Challenge Walk. I did it four times in a row 2003-2006, when I was really into hill-walking. The bike has since become my main form of exercise, but I take my hat off to those that did it today, 30 miles on foot, up the Mendips six times (that would be about 5000 feet of ascent), and into the wind to boot. My route today crossed their several times, and I had to shout a restrained warning a couple of times as they couldn't hear me coming.

Chapeau too to Skip, a fantastic ride in the Dragon Sportive by all accounts, which you can read soon on her blog.

Here's my route today:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35921692