Afternoon Ride

Another good couple of hours out on the bike today. It was lovely and sunny and bright, which lulled me into a false sense of warmth and I forgot my Endura overshoes - my feet were freezing for most of the ride. A harsh mistake to make.

I intended to be out for 3 hours, seeing as it was such a lovely day, but I'd misjudged the route and only lasted 2h30m. It is quite gratifying just to be able to jump on the bike with nothing more than a few spares and a water bottle and be able to ride round and round for miles on end. It's taken quite a few years to get to this stage, but I know the area well enough now.

There was a vicious head wind the whole ride. It was an effort to stay upright. The problem with Buckinghamshire is that once you get over Ivinghoe Beacon and the Chilterns it just goes flat. Really flat! Which means the wind whistles across the plains for miles - hitting me straight in the face and making it rather hard going. Then it did that really clever thing of changing direction the minute I turned homeward. Don't you just hate it when that happens.

Back home in the warm and a nice cup of tea and slice of Lyles Golden Syrup cake end the ride perfectly.