Physio this morning, 3 weeks to the day post op and she thinks I'm amazing [are you reading this dr_pink!], so after that I cycle home to rest for a bit. After 5 minutes of map gazing [it covers our dining room wall] it begins to dawn on me that I am leading a 100 mile fixed gear ride in 12 days [I'm a bit hazy as to how that came to be] and that I am most certainly not ready.
The retarded part of my brain now worms it's way to the surface and suggests to me in a seductive voice that wouldn't it be wise to go out and check some of the route? Yes, I replied it would. The logical bit of my brain [there isn't a lot] said why not take the geared bike and take a sandwich and a piece of flapjack because it is midday and you have only had one slice of toast so far, good idea I replied. So it began.
For the fixed
nutters riders here is your second hill, the first being a tiddler, this is a bigger tiddler, you have to squint, it's in the distance.
This is Ketton, leaving
Rutland behind now
If you have a penchant for stone built houses and thatched cottages, this is the ride. Next is the hill up to Collyweston, I only wish my legs would flatten out the hills the way the camera does
Just when you think you are at the top you turn a corner and there is another couple of hundred metres.
I took this because everyone else does and I didn't want to be left out, and yes I'm still on pink tyres, blame you know who......
Left turn, just leaving clues for the fixed gang
I think I would happily live in any of the houses in any of these villages I passed through. Another clue
A stop in Great Gidding to munch a hot squashed crunchy peanut butter sarny and half a flapjack washed down by a bottle of lucosade and it was off again to the next village where I turned for home. What was that village? What is the ultimate destination in 12 days? Right turn here [don't Parish councils employ a lot of creative thinking when they name streets]
On the way back, passing through a village beginning with L, I saw this tree that at first I thought was filled with pigeons, in fact they were Red Kites, the phone camera as usual does not do it justice, but here are a couple
A few miles later after passing through a beautiful town with a large private school I had to water the hedgerow, and looking through the other side was the view of Rutland which was to approach fast after descending into the viaduct village at 40 mph, won't be doing that on fixed. Which got me to thinking that maybe, just maybe geared bikes might [with lots of carbon bling] catch on.
4 miles after running along the county border I reach
and just over 16 miles later I'm home. 77 miles including a 1 mile warm down in 4 hrs 40 mins. Ok it's not going to set the world alight but given my current condition I have to be reasonably pleased. Having just eaten a slab of cherry pie with custard I am very pleased plus my shoulder is holding up
.
I promise not to bore anyone now until post 100 mile fixed
.