The last hill

Have you had one of those?  ...an ice cream headache?  

I'm glad I didn't set out with my fingerless gloves like Rich suggested.  It was wintry without a doubt.  I was pioneering a new route over the C&C to Silsden, through Draughton and home via Bolton Abbey. It was going to be cool but there was no rain forecast.

So, the Slush Puppie that was hitting my jacket as I headed towards Draughton was a bit of a surprise.  I'd just put my jacket on after taking my only photo of the ride and then I seemed to turn into a blank white wall of cloud.  I was fully expecting to call Rich for a lift home but luckily the snow that looked imminent didn't materialise.  Nor did the headache as before long, I was heading east into the dry.

Instead, I enjoyed a cool but superb ride on some different roads with plenty more exploration potential.  I'd planned it on Mapometer and, like a fool, added the Langbar hill on at the end.  For me, it's either Langbar first or no Langbar.  If I'd had a vague plan, it wouldn't have mattered.  But it was documented.  It was in my head.  And it therefore had to be done. 

So done it was and for the first time, I didn't have to zigzag on the steep bit.  I think I'm working out what my butt muscles can do if I think about it hard enough - we've spent a long time not connecting very well but I'm very possibly getting there.

I'm also enjoying my new 'open the Nakd bars before you go out' trick.  I had a mishap last year with the only bar left on a long ride.  I was opening it on the go.  It wasn't making it easy for me and then... POP!  It flew out of the packet like a rocket on a mission, did a backward somersault and landed just forwards of the front wheel of my bike.  I avoided it, only to trample over it with my back wheel.  Of course, being hungry, and it being my last bar, I stopped, picked it out of the tarmac, pulled out the stones and ate it.

No more!

Anyway, after completing Langbar on my second and last bar (without pebbles), I was on a roll, looked over to the Cow & Calf and thought, go on then.  

How people go up there at such speeds, I still do not know.  I was overtaken plenty but I did not drool. 

Things are looking up.