Nice sunny day today, cold but sunny which is good. The winds have dropped, no slush, no snow, no rain, no dodgy elbow. Time to get some training miles in!

Before the ride, and before lunch my BG wasn’t doing too bad, a nice 5.4 which I was happy with. Halved my Novorapid which I had with my lunch as I knew I was going to put a few miles in, and skipped my Lantus (I have it twice daily) as I didn’t want it to play silly things while out on the ride, and usually it causes no end of hassles on rides. Worst off I can correct for it later on! Loaded up a nice supply of Lucozade Sport in my bottle, and some emergency rations and the usual blood kit and off I go.

It was one of those rides where I had utterly no idea where it was I was going. Just find a road and off I go. It soon seemed that today was going to be a pick on the hills day. Had a nice gentle, and very slow grind up to the Stone Circle, and a fantastic blast down the hill from it getting up to just shy of 40mph which was probably over doing it really, but love the brakes on LM. Was feeling really sluggish though, and generally thirsty so knew I was high. Guess it was lunch kicking in early and the halved dose of quick acting wasn’t helping with this. Got about 10 miles in and stopped for a quick blood test…eep yep, it’s 17.4…not good! But nothing I can do about it now, I’m in the middle of nowhere and need to press on!

Pressing on wasn’t exactly that fast, a few more climbs and also got stuck in the middle of a couple flocks of sheep. What is it with sheep just liking to sit there bleating at you in a “I’m not moving” kind of way? Eventually got through them and 30mins later tested again and things were improving with a nice drop to 11.4. Went through some lovely twisty double S bends which were almost perfectly banked for nailing it through, and I really enjoyed it. Onto the next climb though heading back towards the main road caught a group of bikes on the climb but decided I wasn’t going to blast through and stopped for another quick test. A very nice 8.4 now…which seemed to fit as my legs were getting into that good band of blood sugar in a reasonable level so things begin to perform as intended. A quick swig of my Lucozade and I carried on and soon caught the group again who this time pulled over and we all exchanged the usual pleasantries as you do. Seems as though they were deciding to turn back at this point and head back to town.

Once over the main road really nailed it down the hill again…right up to the wonderfully lovely 30% climb at the end of it…It’s not a long climb, but sheesh is it nasty, and after one bit, it surprises you with another turn and the same again. It’s sneaksie it is! Over the main road again and a nice blast down the hill, passing a load of poor MTBer’s on their heavy iron plodding along on the way up…poor sods! Another quick test and 7.7, and another swig and off I go…well almost as I managed to stop my data logger at this by mistake…thus why it’s split in two today. DOH!

Am soon back up to the Stone Circle now, and the climb up was really pulling on my legs. Seems they are out of shape these days…need to get that fixed! But the descent into town was beautiful, nice and relaxing and just what my legs needed. The road works and traffic lights weren’t but guess those were as much a problem for me as the wheeled metal boxes. Stopped in town, almost considering dropping into work to see what the mess had occurred over the weekend, but then thought best not. Another test, and 7.4, so another swig and off I go with renewed confidence to push my legs again with a lap around the lake.

It quickly dawned to me that this probably wasn’t the best idea. My legs were aching on the climbs, and the big ones were still to come. Slugging it out managed to get up them but my legs were really putting up a fight now. Got to the top and looking down from Catbells across the lake is always good. A bit choppy, but the sun hitting town looked fantastic. Was very gingerly coming down the S-bend going into the cattle grid, as heard someone got caught on some ice there a couple of weeks back and broke her jaw and other things. It’s never a nice corner, lots of running water down the road, and very steep, and with it being -2C when I set off, was a good chance of ice around still even with the temp warming up nicely now. Seems me being very ginger coming down there wasn’t the same as many as the guys from the main bike shop in town flew past with a wave and a hello. I really do loathe being overtaken by anyone, guess it’s my crazy competitive spirit which it just grates with. But I hadn’t anything left in my legs to try and keep up with them on the next time.

Made it to the next pub and stopped for another blood test, a nice 7.4 now. Seems everything was being kept nicely in the 7′s with the Lucozade now which is good. Watched the bike shop guys fly off down the big hill thinking I could nail it down here and out brake them…one thing I love doing due to the insane brakes on LM, but ended up chatting to their competitors. Seems the other bike shop in town were out for a ride after ending work early and were sitting with a couple of pints watching me test myself. We got a good chat going about where I’d bin and how I was handling my sugars. A nice 10mins break.

Down the hill though and over the lovely humped back bridge. One of these days I’ll get a picture of this as it’s like a scene from Hobbiton. And then back onto the climbs, and my legs really making it known they weren’t in the mood for it. But they did well, and even surprised me on the last decent with a good blast back. But my training is massively off where it should be now, I really have to get my distances and performance upped. My speed, and climbing ability, and endurance all need work. But all fun and can’t wait to get more miles in!