Today's job was to nip back to the homestead and get a few small things done.
Unlike my last ride back I did at least have the option of the car this time - although the bike was chosen for all the usual reasons, plus the fact that I don't really trust the brakes on the car yet.
Tbh I'd probably not have gone out on the bike otherwise today and wasn't particularly looking forward to the ride thanks to aches, tiredness and saddle sores. Despite the overcast skies and thick air I still felt a bit shivery and my legs like lead.. I told myself I'd just gently mosey back and zone out to some nice tunes.
That was pretty much how it went down. Despite feeling chilly to start with by a quarter of the way in I was sweating profusely thanks to the humidty. There were lots of people about and most were pleasant, quite a bit of traffic but few tossers for once - got a bit too close to a car in Yarnton thanks to the crap visibility where it makes the cycle path cross an adjoining road but that wasn't his fault.. The cycle track from Woodstock was quieter than usual and those who were on there were on the ball (and some with excellent dog control too!). A bit futher on I tried to rescue a bee in the road but by the time I'd got back to it it'd been run over
Made it home OK but felt a bit rinsed. I ate my 20p day-out-of-date Boots ploughmans and some other morsals, attacked the tasks in hand and got back on the bike again. The WSW wind made itself especially known to my aching legs heading West out of the village; this return journey having more of a headwind component overall but at least I had elevation on my side this time.
The sun came out and on quiet stretch I found another bee; picked it up to move it to a safer location but it seemed to prefer being on me to anything I offered it; perhaps because of the warmth. I let it wonder around on me for maybe 5 minutes (tbh I was glad of the rest) then it fell off onto some grass so I left it to it.
Potatophone he don't do close-focus:
I got to the Woodstock cycle path feeling a bit more enthusiastic and as is often the case got gradually faster along the track until I was going pretty hard.. unfortunately it looks like this segment has been removed from Strava since I last attacked it; perhaps over safety concerns due to increased traffic..?
From this point on I was largely on it; my legs finally having woken up after 30-odd miles (and maybe due to my carb-heavy lunch). I caned it through Yarnton; this time using the dual carriageway in parts due to the crappyness of the cycle paths and my lack of desire to slow right down to use pedestrian-centric crossings or wait for people to get out of the way. I smashed it across the Peartree roundabout and super-manned into town down the Woodstock road and then home.
53 miles and 1650ft at 13.9mph and 127bpm for 2100kcal burned. This puts me on 122 miles for the week so far (possibly I might do a recovery ride tomorrow); a bit slack but far preferable to last week's pitiful 33 miles.
Tiring but a decent outing and the last quarter was the most fun I've had on the bike for a while, so it at least feels like I've got my mojo back a bit
