Yesterday's through. Now do anything you please

Sometimes the weather forecast is spot on. Even more rarely I follow the forecast and plan my ride around the pleasant weather window, and then sit back in the comfort of my own house and watch the rain. Wonderfully, today is one of those days, and as i type this, in the early Autumn gloom of an evening, I can bask in the sunny knowledge of a great three hours in the late Summer sunshine.

Mind you, I'll need to fit the light brackets to the handlebars soon, and the arm warmers will give way to long sleeves and winter jackets in the morning commuting runs, for the nights are expanding and soon the dark will outnumber the light. Not today though, I went out this afternoon, after last night's rain, and this morning's murk, into a sunny, white cloud, albeit a bit breezy afternoon.

I had an errand to pick up some rail tickets down in Weston, so I headed off on a fairly direct route, and decided to ride up Canada Coombe on the way. There was a lot of grit and mud on the road, which made me glad I wasn't riding down it from the Weston direction. On Friday night we had some fun and games outside our house, which is on a hilly road, when a young lad skidded on some gravel and fell off his motor scooter. He was quite shocked, and his knees and ankles were very swollen, so we took him into our kitchen and applied ice-packs until his Dad arrived to take him home. Or to casualty hopefully.

So kids, never underestimate the dangers lurking beneath the surface of a patch of innocuous gravel!

Once the tickets were safely stowed I meandered over to the sea front to sit on the new stone benches and eat my banana in the fresh westerly breeze. And no, that is not a euphemism, I eschewed cake in favour of a piece of fruit.

Mindful of the Cheddar sportive in a fortnight's time, I looped around to the climb up and out of Draycott, via Brent Knoll and Mark. It was a bit of a mindless drag on the levels to be frank, very dull after the Pyrenees and made harder by the absence of company, and the presence of Sunday drivers. The climb from Draycott to the top of the Mendips is 2.5 miles long and is the weirdest one on that stretch of hill. Although the average is only 6%, it has lots of little flatter bits, and even a couple of downhill stretches, meaning the rest is quite steep, with lots above 10% and a couple of stretches over 15%. I couldn't get into a rhythm today, and still felt a bit physically tired.

But I really enjoyed the trip, I seemed to have turned a corner after Friday when I felt quite jaded. Mind you I may have to curb my enthusiasm coming down hills, which is somewhat ironic given my natural hesitancy. A Belgian  (in a car) was driving very slowly down the upper reaches of Cheddar gorge, requiring the car behind him to constantly brake, and me to do likewise. Not great at 30 mph, so i overtook them both, much to the English car's chagrin, and i thought for one second I may have a road rage incident on my hands.

All was well, however as they both stopped to admire the goats, leaving me free to take a good line at a reasonable speed into the tourist honeypot at the bottom, where I was held up by more grockles, on foot and in cars. It was good practice for the sportive though, and for my Tour of Britain outing on 16th September. It will be a veritable Cheddar Festival of cycling!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/380608