Today was supposed to be an easy ride. However, I left it a bit late and didn’t fancy a turbo session. Outdoor ‘recovery’ rides never work. When will I ever learn?
So I set off with no real idea of where to go, but quickly decided I’d go around a bit of the Guild Wheel. The reason being that I didn’t really want to have to think too hard about where I was going, and that’s a set route.
Heading the way I was, I knew if I carried on I’d come across “the hill”.
Well, this time around I was going to be going down the hill, rather than up. Like last time.
There’s a sign at the top of this hill… “cyclists dismount”.
I didn’t bother. Because I’m a bloody bloke.
But no, last time I was forced to dismount as I crashed. And back then the route up was basically a bog. It was winter, wet, muddy as hell, and just generally awful.
Today it was dry, and when I saw the state of the path I was amazed I’d managed to get up that in those conditions. It was / is basically a gravel path, some bricks here and there just jutting out at random, with stupid barriers up there to, what, slow you down? God knows.
Terrible. In fact I’d quite happily say it’s the worst part of the whole Guild Wheel, and I wouldn’t even bother heading up there on any form of road bike. Going down is ridiculous, and fortunately as it was late in the day, I was the only one around so could go slow as I liked. And I liked going slow.
Aside from the hill, this one was a bit of a silly ride. It wasn’t recovery. Not by a long shot. I set a PR on a hill later in the ride, to give some indication of how little this one turned into recovery.
But it was a decent calorie burner, and right now I need that. I’ve put on a bit of weight, it seems, so I need to be sensible. Less beer, that’d be a good idea.
Anyway, tomorrow morning will very likely be the Zwift Academy recovery ride, and then I’m done for the week. Start again Tuesday.
