3 Friday's ago I was driving down to Plymouth feeling like I had a bit of a cold. On the following Monday I went to Bridgwater to test and be measured for a Thorn Raven
. On the 5 mile test ride I was sweating like a sweaty thing and burning up, thinking "hello, here we go..." From the Tuesday until the Tuesday just gone I was a horrible, croaky, snotty virus ridden mess!
The reason for this laboured preamble to my ride is that before being ill I would have said I was "fairly fit". I wouldn't say I was back to square one, but I've certainly lost it
Before getting to Toft which is all of 2 miles (down hill) I was feeling awful, no rhythm, no nothing. I'd decided to go over Barrington hill to see what my legs were doing and the climbing bit was fine. There were plenty of other riders out.
The shire horses were looking impressive out in the sunshine at Wimpole, and I managed the Old Wimpole hill ok, but I was still feeling a bit crap. From the A1198 at Longstowe I headed left toward the fragrance free maggot farm, and the. At around 18 miles something fell into place, I was able to pick the pace up and feel like something was happening. After catching someone who I'd spied in the distance I decided to calm it down for the final 3 miles to home, no point blowing up is there!
So a lovely 31 miles at an average of 15.8mph was just the tonic.
I'm never being ill again, ever!