It was overcast, very grey but mild here today. Perfect weather for a ride out. O/H suggested pubbage, and that was all I had to hear. Off we went to the not-so-local-but-oh-so-good pub, some eight miles from home. He vanished without a trace (the benefits of a 125cc engine, I suppose) before we were even a mile in, but called me when he got there, by which time I was about half-way there myself. Everything was going swimmingly until I hit the final drag up to the pub, and up is the key word. 3/4 of a mile of uphill. Starting out at a fairly manageable 3-5% grade for the first quarter mile, before hitting a consistent 7-8% for the next quarter mile, then dropping to 6ish% for the last.
I abandoned hope about a third of a mile in, and got off to walk the bike not too far later. As a not at all skinny bloke I'm not exactly the natural build for hill climbing, so have been working on it a bit as of late, but this one just wanted to murder me. I did make sure I stayed on the bike all the way home though (OK, the hill isn't as bad from the other side, it's half a long and only about 5-6%, but it's a victory for me, and the downhill part was fun, although following the off last week I was rather more cautious and didn't go quite as fast as I could have).
Pub lunch was a good as ever, and the ride back helped make me feel less guilty about having the burger topped with so many things I couldn't list them all

. Ride back was also rather fun, with an enjoyable mix of back up slow moving traffic to practice my filtering, quiet roads to just pootle along with only my thoughts (and the Google sat-nav mispronouncing street names) to keep me company, and the school run just to keep me on my toes. Also encountered some excellent drivers along the way who were more than happy to hang back, give me bags of space and pass me so wide you might have been able to get another car between us, as well as a trio of bus drivers who gave so much time and space I was starting to feel a little guilty about the whole thing

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Did get beeped by a van on a fairly complicated roundabout though, because I had the audacity to use the actual lanes to get around it rather than stick in the worn-away cycle lane that circles the left hand edge, is about two feet wide and would put me in the way of anyone wanting to join or leave from the three exits I passed before reaching the one I wanted. Ah well, one beep doesn't change the fact it was a fantastic ride, and a lovely meal.