After pretty comprehensively breaking myself on Saturday I had a proper day off yesterday, with lots of snack foods and Netflix in bed...
This morning I felt a reasonable amount better and with the weather being at least not-wet decided on a little pootle; partially because I wanted to explore the effect of a bit more air in my new fat slick tyres.
I headed west, but instead of the usual roads cut straight through fields on a couple of tracks out the back of suburbia; as is now a viable proposition on the new bike! I tackled a small but terrifying-by-my-road-standards steepish, rocky descent on one part of the path which was a lot less unpleasant than last time. Unsure why this was; perhaps I was more relaxed, maybe it was the tyres.. the bike feeling perfectly capable on the roughish surfaces that would have been no fun on a road bike and reinforcing my conviction in the purchase.
Once I'd hit road again at Wootton I carried on towards Abingdon before hanging a left and crawling up my benchmark Foxcombe hill; the wind in my face so PRs off the menu and I just spun my way to the top in one of the CdF's delightfully low gears; managing IIRC around 7mph at less than 80% of max HR up the 7-9% slope. Probably not great for some but a novelty for me
Heading back down towards the city I passed an inviting entrance to Bagley wood so doubled back and went for a nosey. The track started off as manageable hard-packed mud but got a bit mucky at times; traction often aided by the large amount of fallen plant matter no doubt brought down from the trees by the recent winds.
The last time I visited this wood it was a bit of a disaster as I had little idea of the capabilities of myself or the bike. This time I was a bit more educated and confident, while the fine file-treaded Contis really impressed me with their grip (which I think was aided by the higher tyre pressure). Granted I wasn't slinging the bike around (more gingerly picking my way around obstacles like an unconfident child on their first bike) but the rubber was predictable and gripped a lot better under acceleration, climbing and braking than I'd expected, with very few instances of lost traction.
The now nicely bedded 105 hydro disc brakes provided sublime control and feedback which doubtless helped, dragging the rear brake on decents over a wide range of surfaces again confirming the presence of a lot more grip than I'd expected and plenty of control to subtly back off slightly if the tyre started to lock while skipping over bumps. Other than a bit of light juddering at the front when coming to a complete stop I'm really impressed with the brakes; their strength as others have said being not their outright stopping ability but the amount of fine control they afford.
I continued to razz around for a bit on the wider gritted roads and hard-packed paths, resisting the urge to get out of my depth on the overgrown and somewhat technical single tracks as I did last time.
A pic from when I'd stopped to put some more air in the rear tyre as I really think I'd been running it too low previously. Note my no-expense-spared custom chainstay protector (innertube and masking tape), after I found some chips from chainslap on its underside..
I eventually found myself at the bridge over the A34 that leads to the Kennington-side of the wood. The bike was hoiked over the now depressingly almost-normally-busy road and I continued to follow the woodland path, occasionally having to dismount for particularly muddy or steep bits.
I found myself in a newly-discovered park before emerging on the Radley road, continuing through Radley and on to Abingdon past Radly lakes / along the cycle path, through the park and out onto the road towards Clifton Hampden.
I quickly found another footpath; initially appealing in its generous width and decent surface. This inevitably petered out to some rough-ish and fairly unpleasant hard-pack through grassed fields by the river (nice scenery, crap surface), before I was forced to cut away from the river and ascend a sizeable hill on a gravel path (again tyres doing very well) past what appeared to be a motocross track.
I emerged next the the Culham research centre before doubling back down a farm track that cut through fantastic scenery to bring me out in Clifton Hampden; the experience being marred somewhat by my complaining quads in the face of the merciless headwind.
I popped out on the road again and followed the tarmac to Chiselhampton; the headwind still nasty but the uncomplex and smooth tarmac a welcome change. I hung a left at Stadhampton before continuing on through Blackbird Leys and down the Iffley Rd, where I stopped for chips (needing to break a tenner for tomorrow's egg purchase). Even got the eye from a passing hottie while I was waiting outside for my dinner to be cooked, which was a novelty
reinvigorated for a bit of a rest, the thought of hot, crispy carbs and some cracking drum and bass in my ears I made quick progress through town, although declined to try and beat my recent favourite Strava PR through the centre; which was fortuitous as it would only have been ruined by new temp. traffic lights in any case.
Eventually I ended up heading west again which put the wind at my back, so I got down on the hoods like Superman and gave it some stick.. not an all-out effort as my legs still wern't up to that, but a good zone 4 cruise for a 2nd-place PR down the Botley Rd. During this time I slowly reeled in and passed a female cyclist on a hybrid who must have been putting out a fair bit of power considering how upright she was!
While I evidently overcooked it again a bit today it was a great ride; I felt a lot more comfortable in the woods / off the road, more confident in my own abilities and those of the bike while being very impressed by the performance of the tyres in this environment, as well as their decent rolling resistance and improved cornering on the tarmac thanks to their now higher pressure.
I saw a decent amount of wildlife and really enjoyed the peace of the woods (road noise notwithstanding) - reminding myself that rural scenes I was envying a month ago in other CC members' contributions to this thread, I was now enjoying myself thanks to the new bike
While I don't forsee a week of epic miles today kicked this week off in decent style with a little under 35 miles at 12.7mph, 1300ft of elevation and 130bpm mean HR. The heart rate is getting close to what I might achieve on a higher-intensity run on the road bike, and while the speed is a fair bit slower I don't think it's terrible considering the amount of time spent gingerly picking my way through woodland paths
), so skipped breakfast and braved the disconcerting wind outside to make my way to my preferred purveyor of poultry products; complete with five empty egg boxes stacked in my rucksack.
Gaffa taped while glue at the top of the split dries and then hopefully can be glued down the split
