Did It

I am aware – my timeline is full of them – that there are cyclists out there for whom a 44 mile ride is a mere jaunt, an easy commute perhaps, or a rest day. But for me it was two miles further than I’d ever actually cycled in a day before (and that was on some rather flatter roads). I had a vague plan that I would get out in the weeks running up to it and do some longer rides, but one trip to deliver POP leaflets aside, life rather got in the way. I was fairly certain that I would be able to do the distance, just not sure whether I was going to have any fun doing it, or whether I would be able to sit down again for a week afterwards.* So, apart from a last-minute recce on the Thursday before, when I managed a 28 mile loop of some of the roads we would cover, Saturday’s Anniversaire was a bit of a trip into the unknown.

Fortunately my companions were all up for a ride ‘at the speed of chat’ and, apart from a bit of a headwind, the weather proved kind with even a bit of sunshine to cheer us on our way. I was quite pleased with the way the route worked out on the day. We paused to ‘admire the view’ at the top of every significant climb and the only real hazard was negotiating round some straying sheep and their lambs on the way to the lunch stop. After lunch and a slightly grim bit of A road and a final climb we were rewarded with an incredible downhill run with the wind at our backs along a tiny road that we had completely to ourselves. The other half came and met us a few miles out from home and with the siren call of cake to lure us on, we lit off along the last rolling stretch like cyclists possessed. We got home with 43.6 miles recorded on my GPS so after refuelling I escorted my companions 0.2 miles back towards Bigtown, waving them off just before the first hill and then pedalled slowly back to collapse on the sofa for the rest of the evening.

Amazingly, the next day, I didn’t even ache too much and although I’d planned nothing more than some light gardening and a walk down to the ford, when a friend suggested a quick loop around the reservoir it didn’t take all that much arm twisting before I agreed. After a winter of mostly plodding down to the Papershop interspersed with plodding into Bigtown, it was good to be reminded that I do actually live in the middle of some of the best cycling conditions in the UK, if you don’t mind dodging the odd pothole and putting a few sheep back into their fields occasionally. Unfortunately, as my camera refused to co-operate and take any actual pictures, you’ll just have to believe me.

here’s one I prepared earlier on the same route

So now all I have to do is work out a 45 mile route for next year…

* It must surely not be beyond the wit of man – or woman – to design a pair of trousers that don’t make you look like A Cyclist, but which don’t have a mahoosive seam right down the most sensitive part of one’s undercarriage, no? I refuse to go down the lycra route if I can possibly help it. A bit of room in the thighs wouldn’t go amiss either…