Another bunch of miles

Saturday was, at last, Mrs H's first Audax of the year. This was the third attempt with the previous two having been snowed off.

The weather forecast, at first bad for the weekend, gradually improved as the week went on, eventually promising no more than light showers, provided we finished before 4 p.m. For once, the forecast was accurate, although this was partially unfortunate as the forecast wind was much in evidence.

So, how was the 108km of the Lincoln Imp Audax? Actually, very enjoyable overall. I'm still not fond of the flatter parts of Englands Fens, and my wife now also understands about how the wind is always in your face, no matter which way you are pointing. Nonetheless, the route out from the start was very pleasant, heading down a no-through-road onto NCN1 alongside the river Witham. As is usual along such paths, skinny road tyres succumbed to flints and punctures, though thankfully we were not affected. The route was largely flat out to the first feed stop, but did climb gradually, rewarding us with the first serious downhill of the day whilst bacon butties were being digested. Then the fun started.

Lincolnshire is not all flat, it seems. Not only does it have Fens, it also has Wolds. Wolds, according to wikipedia, are chalk based hills. I care not about what they are made of, but can confirm that they are definitely hills. The steepest and hardest of the day was at Tetford. With a climb of 85metres in a kilometre, it's not Alpe d'Huez, neither is it Mow Cop, but it is enough to raise the heart rate, and enough to convince Mrs H to 'nearly get off' for the first time this year. Had the climb been a little longer, it might have forced a dismount, as it did to the guy ahead of us. He was riding fixed, he had an excuse.

The descent from the escarpment was fun, if a little winding and resulted in the day's top speeds (39mph for me, 32 for my wife....she doesn't have the force of lard on her side), the 'undulations' continuing to the next feed. On leaving the feed we were treated to a 30 second hailstorm, just enough to encourage us to put coats on before it stopped. This was beneficial later when the shower really did arrive, but not enough to make things miserable. Somewhere at this point the wind shifted so that it was in our faces, again.

GPS delivered us to the unmarked road back to the river footbridge, and we got back to the start with 6:28 elapsed, well inside the usual Audax minimum speed of 15kph. We noted on finishing that the minimum speed for this one was 10kph, so we had 5 1/2 hours to spare, not that we would have wanted to be out until 9:30p.m.

All in all it was a good day to ignore the forecasters dire predictions, and a good 65 mile ride. But today we are both feeling like it was much, much further and hillier. Such, I suspect, is the effect of seemingly constant headwinds.