A Good Brisk Ride

Not having ridden with John for a while I expected yesterday's ride to be more testing than my recent solo efforts and I wasn't disappointed.

That said, it was a very enjoyable ride around some Norfolk lanes that were undiscovered country to me. Norfolk is one of England's flatter counties, but we still found a few gentle inclines, and a longish stretch into the breeze gave us a decent workout.

With John on his mountain bike as well, our speed wasn't quite as high as it might have been and I didn't spend too much of the 28 miles hanging on to his back wheel - for much of the time we were side by side down empty lanes and it was only when we hit more of a main road that I decided to stay behind for safety's sake for a spell.

It was on that stretch that another cyclist on a road bike had the temerity to overtake us. We weren't racing - until that point, anyway - but we had to try to chase him down... We let a gap open before we decided to give chase, so it was a fiull-on effort to get back in touch. John led the chase and I hung on as best I could.

In the end, I was dropped just before John closed the gap, which was just as we reached a right turn. Our opponent probably never knew he was in a race...

It was an excellent two hour ride, though, and dry until the last couple of miles when a heavy shower caught up with us. Overall, we averaged over 15 mph and according to my Garmin I consumed about 1300 Kilo Calories in the process. Here's how the route looks from the Garmin's log:

John will be riding London to Paris in two weeks' time, so for him Sunday's ride was part of his three-day training weekend. For me, it was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours and keep my body in half-decent shape, ready for bigger tests to come - I hope!

Roy