My latest club run was an epic ascent of the hill up to Brightling.
Mountain rescue would prefer not to be called in to refill your bidon
OK, not so epic; there’s
much worse out there.
The Lecht, in the Grampians - turned around for the pic
But it’s mine (I’m happy to share), and insofar as you can love a geographic feature, I'm more than a little fond of this one. It’s a pile of earth I’ve been scaling three or four or five times a week since settling here a few years after the last virus to
stop the UK in its tracks.
The ‘classic’ route is King’s Hill Road. It’s of the stairstep design, unlike nearby Willingford Lane, my personal nickname for which is The Alpine Hill. I barely see the pyramid at the top anymore; on my last group outing I almost even forgot to mention it.
It was a normalish ride, except for the scattering of pedestrians using the south of Burwash as an exercise yard for the lockdown.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6l6-_elF0
If there’s an upside to all this, it’s seeing people out enjoying the sun who would usually be stuck at work. No shortage of smiles and greetings, keeping well away from each other of course, this event’s unique twist on conviviality.
Why climb hills? In part, to go back down them. To celebrate the beauty of the day and the pleasure of being healthily alive I made my descent no-handed for a spell, giving nodded greetings as and when. Then it suddenly struck me what this must look like to any critics observing my
ode to joy: how irresponsible, do you want to end up in hospital?!?
This voice inside my head had a point. It did little good to argue that I’m probably safer riding this way than you are with all hands on deck, Mr Probably-Doesn't–Like-Cyclists-Anyway-Voice: God knows I don’t want to come off, so I chose my moments carefully, gauging road condition, windspeed, and likelihood of being
attacked by magpies (a tough call, as I've never tried to punch a bird in the mouth). Still, it slightly dampened my spirits, and did serve as a reminder that yes, I’d damned well better be careful.
Also, does
freewheeling count as exercise, or is a citizen’s arrest in the offing?
In Burwash I stopped for a selfie,
a reminder that a) I'd decided to cancel my appointment last week, and b) collectively we’re going to be growing a lot of hair depending how long this goes on.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLiwzSFeDCw
Down the street
Mr Kipling kept a bushy eyebrow cocked over the proceedings.
Exceedingly nice bike
. . .
Ride reports from other Velosolo Club members welcome.
