And to think I nearly didn't ride this morning. Not because it was below freezing, with the forecast for it to rise no more than a single degree above. Not because I had a slightly thick head from last evening's merriment. Not because I'd only had that 6 hours sleep. Not even because I've managed to exercise on 10 of the first 12 days of January. Nope, it was because I nearly went running instead - I'm a bit cautious about going out on potentially slippery roads - and the hills looked really enticing. However, it's been reasonably dry round here recently, so the roads seemed ok. I also ate the best part of an entire box of Thornton's chocolates last night and some long slow miles seemed just the ticket to work them off. Finally, I wanted to try out my cold weather kit, just in case it's as cold as today in a fortnight when I'm doing the audax.
On that note, it was a small thrill to find out that my insulated drinks mug fits rather snugly in my bottle cages thus:
Despite this morning's cold, it kept my raspberry infusion pretty warm for the first hour, which was a nice little treat.
Raspberry tea and orange squash apart, today's circuit of mid-Cheshire (another 50 miles) was done non-stop and with no sustenance, reasonably deliberately. I'm not sure that was completely wise, but sometimes it's worth reminding your body what it's like to deplete your glycogen stores. Horrible, in a word. The last half hour was pretty slow, and every little rise felt like the Eiger. Had I taken bonk rations I'd have delved into them, but I didn't, so I couldn't.
There's not a lot else to say. Cheshire was looking gorgeous in the watery, wintery sunshine, with swirls of mist over the fields. The cattle have finally retreated indoors, leaving just the sheep in the fields and the crows in the leaf-less treetops. I didn't regret riding than running. It's all going quite well really.
Bah, all I managed was 50 mins on the trainer
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