I’m not rightly sure what my objective was for today.
Get outdoors, maybe? If so, goal achieved.
Climb a hill? I climbed two, go me.
Pass 1,000 calories? Yep, nailed that one, too.
But this ride never felt strong at any point. A lot of this, I think, was to do with the weather. It wasn’t raining – absolute bonus – but there were small flurries of snow both before and during the ride. None after, mind, which figures.
Highs of 2c today. That meant I was layered up. My thermal bib tights haven’t arrived, so I was basically bare bones below the waist. Felt like overshoes would have been nice today.
But wearing all those layers – base, jersey, over jersey, jacket + hood – I’m wondering if feeling too hot contributed from a really struggled effort up Jeffrey Hill. I just couldn’t seem to find any pace, whatsoever. I was in the granny gears very early on, and by half way up I was simply happy with making it to the top.
I should say there was also a bitterly cold and strong headwind. That wasn’t fun. And that was all the way up, going worse the higher I went. Typical. Then it sodded off on the way home, so all the way back (which is about 90% down hill) I was cold, yet calm.
After Jeffrey Hill I wanted to head down a road I’ve not been before, with the intention of having my banana and a bit of a rest stop on the banks of the River Ribble. Alas, the road turned out to be “private”, even though on Google it said it was all good. Bit annoying.
Anyway, after that I decided to call it a day and go home. A cup of tea was calling me, as was a much needed toilet break.
So that was that.
As cold as it was, it was an enjoyable ride. It’s the first time up Jeffrey Hill in a long while, and I guess future times can only be improvements on that performance. Having just washed the bike, I’m still freezing cold. The week ahead doesn’t look like it’s going to get warmer (snow predicted), so I’m going to convince myself to look forward to the eighth and final stage of Tour de Zwift 2021 whilst I enjoy my third cup of tea for the day.
Adios amigos.
