A new county

Well it's taken me a while to update the blog from my ride at the weekend but I managed just under 112 on Saturday starting just after dawn and heading South on a new route which took me through Darvel, Sorn, Auchinleck, Cumnock and New Cumnock. This was all into a headwind (for a change) but I prefer to go out in to the wind to get the easy ride back.

I'd planned the route in advance on the old computer so I knew I had 2,700m of climbing to look forward to so tried to keep the old heartrate down as much as possible but with a couple of short sharp climbs in there it wasn't possible! I'm beginning to feel a bit better on the hills now and have found some longer hills as well.

Having passed through New Cumnock I then headed down into the valley of the River ???? and passed into Dumfries and Galloway (a county I had yet to cycle through in the course of training) which made me realise how far I'd gone!

It also represented the point at which I would shortly turn back to head with the wind. Travelling along the rolling A76 I wasn't feeling all too great and turning North with what should have been a healthy tailwind and struggling up the lower valley slopes of what I knew was a 13 mile climb was not inspiring. However, I soon picked up the wind and was whistling along at 20mph up the valley and the average was shifting up from a miserly 13mph to crest 14mph by the top of the valley and some more sharp climbing. I was now on known roads around Muirkirk and North to Starthaven and began to enjoy myself - except for feeling a little bit of the bonk at around 95 miles.

I stopped for some jelly beans purchased the previous evening from my freindly corner shop and I canhonestly tell you that I've never felt food work so fast. The sugar took about 30 seconds to kick in and I suddenly felt gloriously awake and ready to tackle the remaining 15-16 miles.

By the end of it all I had reached 15mph and had been going for nearly 7.5hours and felt really good (stupid endorphins confusing my body again!)

I managed to drag myself to an excellent Richard Hawley gig that evening though with Mark (and his parents) and partied into the wee small hours - I thought I'd earned it after all!

So a good ride all-in-all.

Two shorter rides this weekend as I'm having a "tapering" week (i.e. recovering by riding less - I've only done 2.5 hours on the turbo so far this week - it's been a joy!)

Till next time folks!