Despite the stupid weather I still managed to get out and about this weekend. Saturday was the Chiltern Grit 200Km Audax. A nice little winter ride from Ayelsbury, down to the edge of Reading and back, before finishing off with a few loops of the Ayelsbury area. I took the van up after tea on Friday night to save the early start in the morning, and, despite being in a sheltered spot, still awoke a couple of times to the sound of the wind and rain rocking the van. Not the ideal sound when your about to set off on a 130 mile ride. Not to be deterred, I set off with the 50 or so other hardy souls into a screaming head wind, which, just in case things weren't hard enough already, was soon joined by rain. 30 miles down to the first control with the rain being thrown into your face by a 30mph head wind is certainly character building! It's pretty soon forgotten though, when you turn around and the winds on your back. Back to the outskirts of Ayelsbury, having finally dried out, and the half way control point. A quick brew and a Chelsea bun the size of my head at Hartwell Nurseries Cafe more than made up for getting rained on (highly recommended if your ever up that way). There has to be some perks to all this stupidity, and little places like this, with cake to die for are certainly one of them. Somehow, the wind managed to get even stronger as the day progressed and the next leg was seemingly spent alternating between slogging into it and flying along wind assisted. The rain stayed off though and despite the wind it was a pleasantly warm day for the time of year. A final quick stop at Stoney Stratford and onto the last leg, and boy what a leg it was. The final ten or so miles seemed to be all straight into the wind. Not what you need when you've already done 120 miles! I'm quite happy to admit that I had a few "what the hell am I doing here" moments in those last few miles. Slog on I did though, cursing every wind God I could imagine and wishing a painful death on each and every bump and pot hole, until, eventually that most blessed of sights, the final control hove into view. A couple of brew's, some beans on toast, a chat with the fellow lunatics, and the wind, rain and toil is soon forgotten, to be replaced with the deep seated satisfaction of a job well done. In hindsight it was a brilliant day out in testing conditions, and those little moments when your sense of humour desert you, they just make it all the better! After Saturdays fun an easy day was called for on Sunday. So, taking advantage of being up that way, I moved the van down to Watlington Saturday night and after an early night managed 10 easy miles along the Ridgeway Path Sunday morning.
The wind hadn't got any better overnight, but the rain stayed away and it was still surprisingly warm. It wasn't the most exciting of runs, it was hard going into wind and my legs certainly weren't thanking me after Saturdays efforts. But, as always, it was nice to be out, and it's always nice to run somewhere different. An afternoon pottering around at home; Van washed, a few more seeds planted on the allotment, a coat of paint on the Rocket Stove I was tinkering with last weekend, all wrapped up with a pie, accompanied by lashings of allotment veg with the lovely Emma for tea, saw another winter weekend wrapped up. Oh, and I think you'll find, weather Gods, that that's two - nil to me this weekend, or 5-1 on aggregate. I'm definitely winning now!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
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