Your ride today....

[figbat]

First big off-road ride of the year. Up until now it’s been ~20-ish miles, 1,000-1,200 ft of climbing. In preparation for a long, multi-day ride in May I went out to ‘train’.

Out-and-back along the Ridgeway to Barbury Castle; 57 miles, 4,000 ft. Glorious day for it, not as warm as it looks and a stiff easterly wind, meaning a tailwind out and headwind back, which is 180° out from normal and made coming home quite hard. Good to have ground it out though, it shows I have a base level to work on.

Coincidentally I did this exact ride again a couple of days ago, except it was into a gale on the way out with a welcome tailwind coming home. The forecast was for a dry day, so it drizzled all the way there and most of the way back. I’ve been off the bike a bit recently with a bout of covid followed by a long-lasting cold, so it was tough.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The first "sort of Audax" with Beautiful Daughter.

Checking the route...

I'd prepared questions to be answered every few Kilometres to keep her interest, and to find out about local history...

Learning about the Jewish Cemetery in Mühlen.

I'd planned a ride of 50k, with the second half downhill and with a tailwind in case she got tired. Thankfully the Neckar valley cycleway barely touches a road...

Turning point at Glatt Castle, which normally looks like this.

I don't know why I was worried about her being tired: on the way back to my village she thundered past me shouting: "Quick, there's an Ebike coming: I don't want it to overtake us..."