For some reason I am feeling a little on edge! No idea why, the weather is gorgeous, the kids were not too bad today, my son.....well, he is what he is! But I was itching to get going. The Old Boy feels its because I got my new 'profesional look', my new jersey and new cycling shorts! It could be, but I was still itching to get out.
The OB said he wasn't feeling in the best of moods himself and we will just got for a plod around, somewhere local. By the time we were changed the 'somewhere local' was up at Downe Village! I can do that, these days, a piece of..... what am I talking about! It's gonna hurt! But hills are good for you, so the Old Boy keeps telling me "we don't live in a flat country" he keeps telling me "no matter where you go there will be some hills!"
I will just have to do what the OB has done, embrace the hills, love the hills, challenge the hills, hurt myself on the hills!....Yeah right! I will moan like anything on each and every one, but just try my best to deal with each and every one!
I started up the hill to Downe village "Now the hard work starts" I said to the OB. It seems the small, less steep hills of the A21 are just a minor nuisance to me now, for me to be able to say that! I thought I was doing really well, non stop peddling, fairly steady pace going, not stopping. Downe village was soon in sight! People standing outside the local pub enjoying their pint, but we rode straight on through. I did notice that we got there in under 40 mins, I am not sure if that is a PB on, I shall have to check!
After this we headed for Biggin Hill, with a view to heading towards Hayes! It's a route we have only done in the car, which in turn we only did to check it out for a cycle ride! The only thing I can say about that is that I wasn't paying attention when I was in the car!
We rode on down into the Vally, very nice you say, as we normally ride down after we have emerged from Grays lane at the Spinning wheel. But....... we don't ride down and down and down. We normally stop just by the airport to admire the valley below us before we continue our way home!
There we were, at the bottom of the valley, we now have to go up again. There was one hill stretching upwards just like Ditchling Beacon, it had a sign on it saying 15%!!! The other way didn't look as steep, but it still going up and up!! But we didn't know if this is the way we needed. A kind lady, who had stopped at the junction next to us, said that we could always hang on to the tail of her car as she drove up the less steeper of the hills. But she also told us this is the way that we needed to go to get to Hayes! I was so relieved, not that we actually took up her offer of holding on to her car, but that we needed the less 'steeper looking' of the hills.
But after we climbed just about ten yards of it I just failed! Miserably! The OB managed to cycle the whole of the hugely steep hill while I walked up it! I was not a happy bunny!
Hill training! Yuck! Is it really necessary, just to get to Brighton! Is it necessary to get fit! Is it necessary to beat Nagging Sister up Fooking Hill! Well, so far I seem to be doing ok! I hate Hills!!!
Geeky stats, oh, we managed to get to Hayes, and the the George, where I again failed miserably (at my diet) and had a pint, shared some crisps and a bowl of olives!
By the way, the hill we took was a 15% as well! It wasn't any less steep! it was just hidden by the trees. The picture above is of the actually junction that we stopped at and looked at the right and then the left. We chose the left, and that is the hill you can see stretching up!
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