Wasn’t planning on heading up Beacon Fell (well, Carwags Lane) climb today, but I found myself in the vicinity and figured it would be rude not too. As it was I managed to PB the climb, even in long sleeve jersey and long sleeve base layer – bit of a sweaty affair, truth be told. But I was glad to be in the long stuff pretty much throughout the rest of the ride. Not quite like last Tuesday… a whole 15c cooler in fact.
And what is it now, maybe three weeks ago today I was climbing up two hills in the second picture above. I’d quite like to do that again, and continue on to take in the third fell also. The downside is, my boots have fallen apart on me, so it’s kinda out of the question at the moment.
The aim really for today was to do a more uphill effort than my recent flat loops. I’m intentionally trying to up the intensity in prep for the forthcoming FTP test. Probably could have done more climbing today – but I messed up on the way back and only realised I had skipped a trip up Four Acre Lane quite some time later. I promise, genuine mistake.
While I know I could improve on this time, I’m not convinced I could improve on it by that much. It’s all quite incremental, and I’ll take even a couple of seconds improvement the next time I take it on. Truthfully that climb is a fifty fifty on whether you get blocked by a car or not, so it was some kind of miracle to get up there on the school holidays without a car in sight.
I’d like to get in another similar ride tomorrow – not quite sure where too at the moment, but if I could hit the 50km mark that would feel pretty good. The challenge with the longer rides is to find routes that aren’t filled with busy A-roads.
Let’s see where we get.
