Went out this evening on this ride:
It was a beautiful sunny evening. I really went for it, hoping to beat my last average of 17.2 mph. My legs were still aching from yesterday’s 53 mile/4000 ft ride and I’d only had 4.5 hours sleep last night. Right, that’s the excuses out of the way! I really gave it everything I had (left).
By the time I had covered the 11.6 miles to the foot of Yalding Hill I had averaged 19.1 mph and was over a minute up on my previous best. But I had nothing left for Yalding Hill. I went up it as fast as I could. I kept getting out of the saddle but the pain in my legs was too much so I’d sit down again. Then I got up again, and down again. “Work, you bastards” I said under my breath (but actually out loud) to my legs, but they had had enough. I pushed as hard as I could to the top. It was such an effort that I thought I might have beaten my previous time up the hill, but later analysis showed otherwise. At the top of the hill I saw 17.6 avg on the Garmin so I knew I was still up on my previous best for the journey as a whole. I pushed as hard as I could for the last mile, most of which was still slightly uphill, and managed to end up with 17.4 mph. I had beaten my previous time by 51 seconds, even with the slower climb of YH.
Now my legs are aching even more.