Sunday Struggle and a loaded ride

Following a busy week with no mid-week training and a late night on Saturday after the quiz, we determinedly fought off our longing to stay in bed and dragged ourselves up to join the Sunday ride from Clyst St Mary to Killerton. We'd not done this route before but thought it would be a nice morning ride to keep us ticking over...

...unfortunately the lack of mid-week training and our overall tiredness really showed. Even on the flat along the river heading into the wind we were feeling tired and struggling to get going. I would probably have decided to go on our own ride at our own pace had Bob not cycled past us (twice!) on the way to the start route and alerted everyone to the fact that we were (very slowly...) on our way. The ride began with some steep ascents along a route we'd often cycled in the opposite direction, but never tried doing backwards. It's definitely harder this way round! As well as struggling up the hills, I also felt really wobbly going downhill and on the first big descent had to stop and steady myself briefly before continuing on. Robin did a great job of keeping an eye out for us and encouraging us along, but I was all too aware that the rest of the group were steaming ahead and constantly having to stop and wait for us. The climb from Clyst Honiton up to the Broadclyst turning wasn't as bad as I expected and I was glad that the route seemed to be flattening out a bit. Having only ever driven to Killerton on the main road before, I had no idea where we were cycling and I was delighted to find that we were soon on the familiar road up to the National Trust property.

It was a truly gorgeous day but we decided to sit inside in the shade to enjoy our tea and flapjacks. It was great to see Stephanie again and discuss our upcoming trip to Brittany and what we're planning to pack. Stephanie is amazingly organised and had already packed over a week ago and tried riding her bike with her panniers. I duly noted that we should try and do that before we set off on the trip.

Everyone was heading off in different directions afterwards, so we decided to head back home and spend the afternoon packing. We attempted to follow the route back home and almost got it right, but I think we took a more direct route and found ourselves in the centre of Broadclyst rather. No matter though as we knew the way back to join the road back through Clyst Honiton. As we got back to Clyst St Mary we decided we'd extend our ride a bit further and go out to Topsham to have lunch on the quayside. It was a perfect day for it and we got in the mood for France by enjoying some nice fresh bread with some brie. After the morning, this was just what I needed to convince myself that cycling's not so bad after all! We didn't get round to packing in the afternoon, as the weather was just too nice so we headed out for a stroll in the sunshine and an ice-cream. Time to chill out in the sunshine is just too precious to miss...

So having finally packed some stuff in our panniers on Monday we set out last night for a test ride with fully loaded panniers. I found this absolutely fine on the flat sections, but it wasn't quite such an easy ride once we hit the hills. It could just have been that we've not been training as much recently, but we really struggled with the climbs. There were a couple of occasions when I came very close to getting off my bike and pushing it up the hills, but somehow found the strength to keep pedalling until I reached the top huffing and puffing and with my legs complaining loudly. Unfortunately I didn't have the nerves of steel needed for the descents the other side and twice I had to stop and get off my bike as I felt so unsteady and convinced I was going to end up in a heap in the hedge! I can only hope that there aren't too many steep hills in Brittany! I had another issue trying to get going on a hill and also had a near miss when I got off my bike to take a photo of a lamb and misjudged the weight of my bike, almost ending up on the floor with my bike on top of me. I think the weight could take a bit of getting used to...I just hope I can get used to it before I start getting tired and losing my ability to react quickly!

On the way back we bumped into my stepmum, sister and their dog Shadow. My sister has just learnt to ride a bike and seems to be doing really well, so I warned her that it could become a bit of an obsession and lead to ridiculous challenges like the one I'm facing now! We gratefully accepted some encouragement and wishes of luck for the trip and headed back home for a well earned dinner.

Anyway, there's not much more we can do now - except that I need to stop writing this blog and get some sleep! (Who booked us on a ferry that requires us to leave at 5am?!?) I don't feel I'm entirely ready for a grand tour, but I'm as ready as I'm going to be and I'm hoping it will be a great experience and a fun adventure, even though I know it's going to be hard work and pretty painful at times (or possibly constantly after day 2!) The highs and lows will all be posted here...watch this space!