Out with the Kingsway crowd again this morning. Fog, fog and more fog was the theme of the day. I had been feeling listless for a couple of days, and was way off the pace, being nearly last up the climb of Horsepools Hill, and puffing like a steam engine by the time I emerged from the fog to rejoin the others who were waiting at the top. I had given blood again on Wednesday night, just 12 weeks after my last donation. They wanted to book me in again in 12 weeks time, but I have put my foot down this time and held out until April. I was wondering why they kept prodding me into action to donate so often (59 times so far) .... then the other day I received a letter telling me that I had a really rare ("Ro") sub-group that only 1% of people have, and which is useful for people with sickle cell anaemia. That explained the urgency, but I think it's time to listen to my body and give myself a bit longer to restore my red blood cells next time. Anyone else suffer a bit with low energy levels after blood donations?
Anyway, once up Horsepools Hill, we carried on along the escarpment to Painswick Beacon, where you normally get great views across the Severn valley ... not today you didn't. Fog, fog, fog. After a long debate, we headed off down into the picture postcard village of Painswick. It has some lovely yew tree topiary in the churchyard and some nice Cotswold stone buildings around it, but we passed it in a 25mph blur and carried on into Stroud along the main road. There
@gordyfinbar led an intrepid group up over the long, gruelling climb of Selsley Hill and back down Frocester Hill, while I led the other group (including
@Dark46) the flatter way back towards Frampton on Severn, and a nice little cafe at the marina at Saul Junction. There we swilled tea and ate cakes, and chatted, then waited ...and waited .... and waited some more, for the smaller group of hill climbers. They turned up eventually, having had to stop for a mechanical.. Huge respect to Berney, our young lady rider who joined the club recently, and took on the mighty Selsley Hill on top of Horsepools Hill in her first ever climbing ride . That takes some doing when you are still slightly tipsy and hung over from an all nighter. I put it down to Dutch courage. She found a new use for my bar-end mirrors today, using them to check on her mascara, which was running a bit due to all the road spray!
Oddly, having felt like crap for the first 20 minutes of the ride, I seem to have ridden myself well again, and felt great by the end - apart from having a soaking wet and cold beard - which seems to have filtered the moisture out of all that fog I rode through. I don't normally follow the sudden, unexpected Strava sprints, but I did this time on the way home, and must have averaged over 18mph for the last 8 miles or so. As we sprinted along the waterfront at Epney, I couldn't help noticing that you couldn't even see the Severn, which was about 6 feet away on the other side of a low wall, lost in the mist. That was a first.
My computer appeared to be in synch with me today, refusing to work throughout the 0.7 miles from my home to the start of the ride, and then springing into action the moment we started off round the first corner, and now, like me, as right as rain again. Just 29.3 miles for me today, but I'm so glad I went out in the end.
Cheers,
Donger.
but it may hurt too much.
