Wimps Wednesday - 6th Feb 2013

As usual for me, when I plan to ride the bike the wind whips up and this Wednesday would be no different. About 1/2 hour before I was due to leave a text conversation from Paul made it clear he wouldn't be joining us.

With doubts in my mind I left bang on time for a head/side wind challenge to the meeting point.  Instead of just wind this week, the hail added an extra unwanted dimension.

Despite riding as hard as I could I was still late to the meeting point to find Pete was also a DNS.  Rob had been waiting a few minutes in the cold so we didn't hang about, heading off straight away, we failed to make a decision about route choices and ended up following the big route Pete had suggested.

We were riding roughly with the wind but it didn't seem to be assisting us, in fact even with the ground much firmer than last week it felt pretty tough and my legs were on one of those days when they just felt empty.

We rode the same steep descent into Alfriston, but a lot quicker this week, great fun.

Rob lit the afterburners up the horrible long man climb, it was impressive to see his lights heading into the distance.  Down in the valley I could see the gritter was out on the roads.

We continued along the South Downs Way past Jevington before heading down to East Dean then into the back of Friston Forest.

Up to this point we had a great ride, we chatted and rode with a minimum amount of faffing, the lack of mud meant the bikes worked well.  We got through Friston fine and even the big hill up to Tom's house was bearable  it was the exposed section from Seaford to the downs that would be my undoing.  It started off fine, but as we progressed the wind got stronger and we slowly turned until we were heading straight into the wind.

Rob kindly opened the gates for me so progress was good, but I was getting slower and slower.  I didn't realise but I was getting cold, I started to think that lying down and going to sleep on the side of the trail would be a good option.  I realised this was a warning sign that all was not well, at the next gate I struggled to put on the extra jacket I always pack as an emergency, grabbed a drink and got some emergency haribo down me.  At this point Rob gave me something to take home with me, I was so tired I promptly dropped it, luckily the wind stopped and didn't take it too far away.

The haribo made me feel sick but gave me the kick I needed to continue on.  We could make out the silhouette of the South Downs Way up ahead, after what felt like an age we rejoined the South Downs and a bit more headwind before turning back to Firle where we headed our separate ways.

Riding home was a bit of a blur, not through speed sadly simply from the effort needed to propel myself home.  I got in just before 11, grabbed a shower and I was asleep even before my head hit the pillow.

Despite having a tough ride, it was great to be out for a big mid-week ride.  Thanks to Rob for dragging me round.  When will we learn and chose a slightly shorter route??