I'm going to cancel my gym membership as I'm just not interested going. Everytime when the weather looks good, my first thought is to take my bike and go. For me, the perfect cycling weather is NO wind (or very little) and that's about it. I don't mind a bit of a drizzle - it is wind that I hate. It feels like it is pushing you a different way that you are trying to go. Oh, it is definitely good when you've managed to tweak your ride to get the wind from behind but (is it Murphy's Law?) somewhere you will need to cycle against the wind to get back where you started from.
My season started really well. On 27 March I did the Wiggle Cheshire Cat (45mi) in just under 4 hrs. It is the first time that I've done one of the Wiggle events but I have to say: the organisation at THIS event was rubbish! We queued for 50 minutes before we could get to the start. This was such an anti-climax as all of the pre-race marketing suggested a really fast start as they've eliminated the need to sign on. Well, we got there and the starting queue was out of the car park! We wanted to start early so we got up at 6.30am. Now you have to remember that the clocks changed that night so my body clock time was 5.30am! We left the house at 7.15am to be at the start at 8.15am. There was a HUGE!!! queue. There were more than 3,000 people at the event but with the disastrous start we didn't actually leave until 9.10am. The weather was gloomy and cold, so standing in this queue for such a long while (in the cold) was NOT nice.
The ride was fine and I finished in 3hr 54min. The end bit was also a bit silly as there were roadworks in Crewe and cyclists and cars were all fighting for road space when we were getting into Crewe. I think Wiggle got the messages as there were lots of apologies afterwards on Facebook and their website, after a huge amount of people complained about the bad organisation at the Alexandra stadium.
Cycle rides in-between included a few with my daughter and also with a friend nearby, or just by myself. They are usually about 8 - 16mi long and very sociable and relaxing rides.
My longest ride for the current season was today. We (me and hubby) did the CTC Spring Tourist Trial which was 50mi. The event organisation was superb and the ride was fabulous. I managed to finish in 4hrs for the 50mi which is a great improvement on the Wiggle event. Here is the Garmin detail:
I'm really proud as I've increased my average speed from the regular 12mph to 13.3mph. Now to the uninitiated that might not sound like much but trust me; if you're a cyclist, that is great news!
I'm planning to join the Southport Belles on one of their rides in May and we've got another good ride lined up - the Liverpool-Chester-Liverpool ride. They actually close one of the Mersey tunnels for this ride so it will be great experience as I've not done this one before.
I also plan to join my local women's group on their weekend away (but only for one night as it is Father's Day on the Sunday). That will involve a 65mi ride from home to Clun as well as some rides the next day.
The weather is great!!! Get on yer bike :)
