Hills!

For the first ride of the year I decided on a little test to see how my fitness is coming along. Once again Vic came along for most of the trip. I think he enjoyed himself although it was a very different route from last week's outing.

I'm not going to say that hills were fun but they weren't so awful that I'll never take my bike out again. Of course, what goes up has to come down and the descents were lovely. The roads are a lot cleaner than they were six weeks ago and we've been blessed with some pretty dry weather of late so I had no trouble letting the bike give me all the speed I could handle.

I do have to admit to not quite completing my plan for the day. The original idea had been to finish with the steep climb from Dairsie bridge to Strathkinness but when it came to it I was running out of liquid on the bike and energy in myself. A quick change of plan and a visit to the cafe in Pitscottie sorted out the liquid issue and I did the last few miles well restored.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with the performance. It's a good base to continue training from and gives me some confidence that I'll be able to complete the challenge.

The Ride

I think the height climbed given here is a little generous. More like 4,700 feet, but even that is pretty good.