Why must there be hills?

This is the question I am now asking after my 17 mile ride yesterday! Ok, so I got away lightly as Sam (my housemate who is also doing this bike ride) had planned out a route he thought was about 30 miles. Sadly (or joyfully depending how you look at it) he was being inept and using the km scale not the mile one on our map so we ended up only doing 17 miles in the end! I am now slightly worried that I was so tired after 17 miles but need to be doing over 70 a day on the actual ride. Must not panic – still have time!!

It was a glorious day yesterday though and cycling through the Devon countryside was great. Though I do whine about the hills I did really enjoy the ride. We went north out of Exeter and along the Exe valley for a bit and then did a big loop around some of the small villages. I definitely need to work on my ability to go uphill on a bike (and do it without whining!) I was pretty proud of myself though as there were some moderately impressive hills and though I did have to keep stopping I managed them all apart from one short stretch that was just too steep! On the plus side the new bike is great on the downhills and along the flat so there were some parts where I was whizzing around feeling like I was on the Tour de France. It’s just sad that when we come to hills I look like a tomato struggling up the incline at about 1 mph being overtaken by pedestrians! Still, if I keep at it I’ll improve.

Sam and I have now scouted out a 30 mile route using yesterday’s as a starting point so I will be struggling round that next weekend! In the meantime, I should try to put some lights on my bike so I have no more excuses for not going out after work in the week – I’ll let you know whether that actually happens!

The ‘killer’ hill that looks pretty tame actually! Click here to see the killer hill that I found pretty difficult but actually looks tame in the photo. My excuse is that it gets steeper round the corner!!

~ by charlottepage on February 18, 2008.