Zoooooom (ish)

Monday and The Herb had suggested cycling in.  I normally can't be arsed on Monday as I like to have a slow/easy start to the week, but the temptation of having someone to ride in with, coupled to a decent forecast, persuaded me.  It also gets the horrid early get up out of the way.

So at 7:15, in far worse weather (breezy, dark, overcast) than the met office had promised we set off.  Herb said that yesterday's run had left his hamstrings feeling tight and crampy, and as we left he said he wasn't sure he was going to be able to ride in.  Sympathetic and caring chum that I may be, I was buggered if I was going to turn back and drive in, only to have to do it all again tomorrow - so we carried on.

I did leave him on the Halton East road but he shook it off and was soon leading the way every time the road headed upwards.  The ride in was tiring but we still got under the hour despite a bit of a headwind in places.

On the way home we set off later than we'd have liked as it's very definitely gloomy any time after about 6:30 now, so without saying anything we went up the East Morton hill about a minute and a half quicker than I've been doing it.  Holden Lane was wet, slippy and scary, but we got down there unscathed and set off up past Swartha towards Cringles. 

I noticed last week when I did my "season's best" of 56mins that I was at the end of Swartha Lane bang on 30 minutes - tonight it was about 28:30, so we were definitely going quicker.  My other checkpoint is the top of the lane above Draughton in 40 minutes (which I was getting to last year when I was flying) and we were there in 40:30.

I found the A59 tough as my legs were feeling the pace, but then we absolutely flew down Low Lane at about 28mph on the flat and got home in 54:38, a new season's best and perhaps a sign that things are on the up.

Herb (who described tonights mixture of effort and chatting as "like a spin class"!) couldn't believe that I'd almost broken 50 minutes for this ride last summer, so I made us of Rubitrack's clever "compare activity" feature and had a look - the lighter columns are the fast ride last year, the darker ones are today's).  The key difference seems to be the downhills and the ride up through Swartha - I wasn't a lot quicker going up East Morton or on the flat (indeed Herb and I were quicker on the last bit) but the downhills, particularly Holden Lane, were a lot quicker - I suspect an effect of the wet roads (and me being a bit of a girl these days).