I went out on a ride today which included the Cragg Vale climb, but I did a good hilly hour of riding before I got to the start of the HC course. I hadn't intended to time myself but it was the first time that I had done a proper warm-up before getting to the start line, and the weather conditions seemed ok, so I thought I would give it a go.
I got stuck in and realised straight away that I was feeling pretty good. I was watching the GPS and it looked like a sub-26 minute ride was on, but then disaster struck - my GPS lost satellite lock under tree cover going up through Cragg Vale and its timer stopped!
There didn't seem much point in busting a gut when I couldn't time my ride, so I sat up and meandered along for a while, then I looked down and realised that the bloody GPS had come back to life and the timer had 'freewheeled' while the GPS was reacquiring the satellites! I hesitated for a couple of seconds, and then thought I would accelerate and see if I could still do a reasonable time.
Then my phone started ringing. That's about the first time I have ever got a signal up there! It rang, and rang, and rang ... Bloody annoying it was, but I was not going to stop and answer the damn thing.
This was the first time since I got ill that a serious physical effort has not made me feel sick immediately. (I did feel a bit rough for 30 seconds or so when I got to the finish, but that is a big improvement over how I was a few months ago!)
So, my ride had suffered a tech problem on the way. I was also riding my Basso, so that was about a 4 pound weight penalty over my Cannondale. What time did I do ...?
Disclosure: When I stopped at the top, I realised that I had picked up a cross/tailwind on the exposed part of the climb, so I think this ride got about as much wind assistance as my previous post-illness PB ...
I took
1 minute and 22 seconds off that time!
- 19/05/13: 39:15 [Finished first Warfarin treatment regime but already reclotting!]
- 25/10/13: 35:15 [8-10 kph cross/headwind]
- 04/11/13: 34:26 [ ditto ]
- 10/11/13: 32:19 [ ditto ]
- 25/11/13: 31:19 [5-7 kph cross/headwind]
- 11/12/13: 31:11 [8-15 kph cross/headwind; chilly]
- 28/02/14: 29:49 [5-8 kph cross/headwind; chilly]
- 09/03/14: 29:11 [5-8 kph cross/headwind; warm]
- 19/04/14: 26:59 [10 kph mainly cross/slight tailwind; chilly]
- 17/06/14: 25:37 [10 kph mainly cross/slight tailwind; warm] YAY!!!
I reckon that riding the heavier bike and sitting up for a minute or so probably cost me about as much time as the breeze benefited me, so that time is about what I would have done on a still day on the Cannondale without slowing down mid-climb.
I am very pleased with my progress. I am still taking big chunks off my time, so that tells me that I am nowhere near my best yet. (I did do a much quicker time than that a few years ago, but that was then, and this is now -
you know what I am talking about! 
)
Next target - a sub-25 minute climb, without any wind-assistance.
. I'll just have to do it again now!
.
