"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own" Sri Chinmoy
Saul 100k DIY - October 2022 - South Gloucestershire
2022 was a year when I really neglected my cycling - the summer of training for a 10k swim and the opportunity to run again (after an injury, plus a bout of covid, had kept me off running for a few months) meant that when the Autumn came around I had hardly ridden at all. When a free weekend came up after my return from Macedonia, I worked out a route that mixed the flatlands of the Severn Valley with the hills of the Cotswold Edge and sent it in as an Audax DIY ride. The forecast was for miserable weather, but I figured I could get through a 100k easily enough even in wind and constant rain.
I did keep reminding myself that the BBC weather forecasts are invariably worse than the reality these days (perhaps they always have been since those infamous storms of '87 that they forecast as no-big-deal) and so it proved - there was only the lighest of swirling mist when I set out at around sunrise towards the Vale Of Berkeley on my Cannondale, with lots of layers of thermals and goretex to keep out the storms I expected to hit me at some stage in the ride.
I was able to keep up pretty good pace to start with - right up through the maze of flat lanes around Oldbury and into Berkeley - in fact for the first 30k or so I didn't so much as pause for a snack, and I was able to get into a flow with the pedaling and at the same time imbibe the South Gloucestershire scenery, old churches tucked away on the edges of tiny villages, silent farms, quirky cottages and barely a single car to share the road with. I was grateful to have this excellent bike-scape so close to home.
After Berkeley I ate some flapjacks to keep me going to Saul, the 42k mark where I hoped to make a cafe stop if the cafe was open, then my route took me out on to the A38 for 10k of speedy A road that was less tedious than I had expected. After riding lanes and B roads the appearance of a major road on my route often repels me a bit, but that's all just down to a mental image of a hostile environment with fast and intimidating traffic and - much like the weather forecast - the reality is rarely as bad as the preconception. The scenery was still lovely, the weather was OK, I was making good progress.
The winding roads through Frampton and Saul seemed more awake than the lanes I'd arrived by, but the cafe hadn't opened yet so I opted to ride straight through to the Starbucks near Stonehouse that I knew was pretty much bang on half way. That's where I took the selfie lower down this page, but more importantly I had a panini and a veritable bucket of hot chocolate in the hope that the sugar/carbs rush would keep me going at a decent pace in the hilly second half. I didn't hang around long and soon I was riding through Stanley Downton to the first proper hill of the day on the road towards Frocester. After another flat section the genuine climb of Frocester Hill began, a long and steep grind up the escarpment of the Cotswolds to Coaley Peak. I got into my low gear and tapped it out - slow going even though it was only 10% according to the sign. The race I have targeted for next year, the Helvellyn Tri, has a 24% climb so I had better get more hill work in my legs before I tackle that!
Up top, on what I always think of as the roof of the Cotswolds, I enjoyed the elevation and the epic views over the vale, over the river, into misty Wales and the Forest of Dean. I felt drained now, despite the carb-loading less than an hour before, and got my head down with my sights on a cafe called T and Cakes at North Nibley. I knew their cakes from a previous visit and I'd pretty much planned this route with a visit there - at the 75k mark - in mind. The rain came down but wasn't too heavy, the wind was blustery but never quite directly in my face and the road became a succession of rolling hills. Tired legs got me to the cafe, really a kind of community hub with a small shop and a bunch of locals who clearly all knew each other enjoying the indulgent cakes and coffees. I gratefully grabbed a seat and ordered a flat white and the chocolate brownie - but didn't stay long as I wanted to wrap the ride up in a reasonable time without using up the whole day. Heading out of Nibley the expected caffeine/sugar boost didn't seem to be there and the hills still felt hard. My mind must have been fatigued too as I slightly overshot a turn and had to backtrack, but the turn in question led to a lovely downhill towards Kingswood and I made decent time from there towards Wickwar. The rolling undulations continued as I came towards Yate and turned off on to the loveliest road of the day, I think it was called Brinsham Lane, leading through a ford and then a tiny hamlet. I could hear shooting in the distance and the road was a classic Audax-style lane, with grass down the middle - too narrow even to pass a car, so I had to lean into the hedge at one point to let a rangerover come through from the other direction. This was proper Audax Rural Immersion and was a great payoff for the tiredness I was feeling.
Although I slowed, I didn't have an energy crash as such and despite being out of condition I kept up an acceptable (to me) pace all the way back through Winterbourne and along Gypsy Patch Lane to home. So it was great to have another ride under my belt, another Audax chalked up. It was a reality check too though - although my running is going well and my endurance swimming shaped up OK through the summer, my bike-fitness is way down and is going to take some effort to restore. The balance between that and keeping an improvement going in my running was going to be an interesting juggling act. Later in the day after I was home and hosed, I booked a flight to Bali for January 2023 - unlikely to be much riding over there, just hiking and running, so it will be winter riding close to home for now.
|