Weather!!

People may have noticed a small amount of breeziness about the place over the last few days.  That, combined with a fairly busy weekend which involved loads of indoor climbing and being sociable, meant that the bike stayed firmly on the Turbo Trainer, and got some serious servicing!  And I'm actually pretty sure that the overall strength conditioning that climbing gives me is beneficial to all the other activities that I like to do!!


Anyway - this morning saw a return to some lovely bright and clear weather and hardly any wind.  Some, but nothing like that which has been whipping around the place for the last week or so!  I planned to do a route that is a little longer than my 'standard' 42 mile circuit, but that was scuppered when one of the kids missed the bus to school.
Ah well!  Still had time to get the 42 done!  So I decided to up the effort level a little.


I knew that the direction that I was doing it in would see me heading in to the wind on the flatter and slightly downhill section - but that pretty much fitted the "Work A Bit Harder" plan.  And it was a really nice day to be out riding.  Even the traffic was behaving itself!  I'm happy doing this particular ride (clockwise) in 2:30 or less.  When it takes longer it's normally because the wind is whistling across the flat bits, and not in a helpful way!!  There are a few places where it funnels straight at you, and with more than the prevailing force.  Still, I guess it's hill-work by stealth ;o)


I had a chat with the lovely people at Macmillan Cancer Support too.  They have kindly put a bit of information about the challenge on their website, and I needed to chat to them about another matter as well.  They are a fabulous group at the local fundraising office - really friendly and helpful :o)


A friend of mine from the 'running' side of my life had heard about the challenge and has pledged to sponsor me €10 (she's from mainland Europe!) for each time that I manage to cycle up the section of Hardknott Pass that has a gradient of 33%  (1:3 in old money) - now THERE is a motivating challenge!  
I wonder if she also means when I'm doing a training rides on it.....  ;o)


Hoping to get up there soon to recce the sections of the route that I haven't ridden before, and I will do the whole route as a training ride before May as well!