Hilly 100

We rode the best part of the 'old' Harp Hilly 100 today, with a few extra nasty climbs chucked in for good measure.
The idea was to help my mate back to fitness, and help me towards my 3 Peaks training. Though at some point in the ride just after climbing over the Crong* I sat up and said - "what's the ****ing point of this, I'm not worried about the riding it's the walking I'm terrified of". He just looked at me and we rode on in silence, like you do when one of you has the hump.
We clocked up 93 miles of the best hilly stuff around in a very good time even though we weren't pushing it. Actually I've recently discovered that if I ease off a tad I get around my known routes in the same time as I do when I go for it. I can only assume that the steadier pace means less recovery sections. I know I feel much better at the end of the rides now, and as I'm not racing road anymore I don't need to push it any further.

* The Crong, a section of tight country lane near Dancers End that crosses the Ridgeway just off the old A41. It used to be a well known club hill climb in the seventies.