Staying at the Sis/Bro in-laws in Bromley this weekend, so I'd worked out a nice route down to Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Not knowing the area and coming from (flat) Norfolk, I didn't realise how flickin' hillly it was when I checked the route profile and there was 1000m of climbing
Set off at 06:15 as the sis/bro in-law were doing the Brighton half marathon and were up and ready, it was a bit chilly with ice on cars.
That meant what with the roads looking a bit slippy, and me not knowing the terrain, most descents were taken brakes on and 5mph!! I even had to walk
DOWN Hogtrough Hill as it was so steep I couldn't slow enough without locking up!
And any descents where I picked up a bit of speed I just got so freezing cold
Going down Toy's Hill (slowly) I thought FFS, I got to go back up this! In Norfolk, any
hill blip usually has a nice flat approach, but by the time I'd actually got to the bottom of Toy's Hill, the approach had already got me puffing and I had to bail and resort to 24" gear for the last 100m. I also walked up Hogtrough Hill too, which was just as hard as cycling!!
I did an extra 5km to nullify any walking I did, most of this extra km was due to me reading my route sheet in reverse for the return journey, which didn't go according to plan, so I got to see Hever Castle
But at least on the return I could make use of the sun warmed descents to make up a bit of time, I was desperate to at least do it at Audax speed and had 3/4 of an hour spare at the end
