Off to a good start

It's only Monday and I've already done one commute this week (21 miles coz I'm catching the train half way at the moment). I think I will be able to do it 3 times this week hopefully. Another 21 off the clock then yippeeyay.

One commute this week.

So another 21 off the clock. It was a half commute, to the train station, and cold. But I thought that because I've done the cold ride on Sunday I haven't really got an excuse now not to go out if it looks frosty. Had to hot foot it to the station though, left the house a bit late so it was like completing a time trial! Nice to arrive at work chilled and relaxed, after a 25 min train ride reading the paper, for a change. The hill on Coleshill High Street on the way back does not get any easier though!
Now I have to decide whether to go to bed now, so that I can get up for an early ride.... Or... continue watching The Matrix with that fit bloke in it that goes by the name of Keanu Reeves... Mmmm hard choice... but Keanu wins.

Just as I predicted...

... my ass hurts!
OMG that was sooo hard. So hard in fact that I jacked it in at 45 miles. It was way too cold, hilly and long for this early in the year. My face has cold burn (I'll be permanently red!), my "flower" hurts, my legs kill, my eyes are burned out too from the cold. I've never seen hills like that! Who's idea was it??? O yes, it was Taff's idea. He's going to die.
I only made it up one of the "signficant climbs". The first one I walked about 10 yards and got back on, the 2nd one I stopped, but didn't walk, just started again (I don't think the chocolate cake I had eaten in the cafe at the bottom of the hill helped to be honest... I felt a tad sick) and the 3rd one... well, no one made it up that one! And I thought I was only 200 yards from the top when I started to walk (it went up round a bend and I couldn't see the end) but it turned out to be about another mile! There is no way in the world I would have made it up that far, at about 17% gradient too! Forget that... not even on my fit days! And to be honest, walking up took some effort I can tell you! Made me feel better that the guys didn't make it either.
The downhills weren't much better. Still icy where the sun hadn't yet hit, potholes and gravel. Not my kind of downhill, scared the wits out of me because the bike bounced around so much and I was on my brakes all the way. I think they've worn out! O how I long for the smooth grippy tarmac of France.
Undulating all the way. There were no flat bits, unless you count the last two miles I did. Then I was back in territory I'd ridden before and although I knew the last 30 miles were doable, because I've ridden that bit before, I had lost the will to live by then and jumped on the broom wagon with one of the guys. Quite honestly, if you're not getting sponsored then it's not worth going through all that unnecessary pain! They don't call it the "Mad March Hare" ride for nothing then!
So got back to my mum's had a bath, she cooked me a pie and then I drove home because I just want to get in my bed. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Can't decide.

Got a 75 miler tomorrow with some mates.
It's gonna be -5 over night.
I'm unfit.

So do I take the carbon or the alu bike??? Will they grit tonight? I don't want grit in my carbon bike... BUT... I need the lighter faster bike because there are some "significant climbs" and probably some "insignificant" climbs that they forgot to mention.

God my ass is gonna hurt tomorrow

Damn...

... missed some great weather today but unfortunately had to have the day off work to do "other stuff" which is too boring to post but necessary. Was hoping to get back in time for a ride but it didn't work out. It's now 4.45 and will be be dark in less than an hour. By the time I get my kit on and sort the bike i'll only have half hour and i can't be arsed... and the sun's gone in now (".)

And another 20 in the bank...

So another 20 miles in the bank. I've added a ticker because I'm going to try and complete 5000 miles this year. Don't know where I've got that number from, but its 500 miles a month between now and November, when it starts to get too cold to cycle.
Must remember to bank the miles when the weather is rideable, instead of having them on credit LOL. I'm really good at putting off my ride until tomorrow... and then the weather turns bad.
Bad credit!

25 miles today...

... 7 degrees centigrade and I had the day off, so I was able to get out on the bike. Not sure how far, and I stopped off for coffee at Clive's, but from the actual time I was on the bike, I think about 25 miles.
Haven't seen Clive for ages, drank his coffee, ate his biscuits and then left LOL. His house is like cyclist's cafe. So much so, one of his mates made a sign "to Clive's cafe" with a picture of a coffee cup and an arrow and put it on the nearby traffic island without telling him. It stayed there for ages before he noticed, he just kept wondering why his mates were ordering him round like a waiter... then some spoilsport at the council removed it.
Anyway, had a MacDonald's later to replace the calories... oops!