Left work early, lovely day so I decided to break out the Spesh and do a Twycross of approximately 28 miles’ distance, after an early exit from work. Almost summery out there. Lovely.
As I approached Twycross I wondered if I could get away with going all the way down to Fenn Lanes and keep the distance within 28 or 29 if I took the direct route down the A444, so that’s what I did. For sure 5.5 miles of A444 is not a lot of fun, especially at that time of day – but it was well worth it to do Fenn Lanes again, normally a feature of longer-length Twycross outings. I hadn’t been down that way for months.
Started to bonk a bit after 15 miles or so – hadn’t eaten that much today, so I assume I was just low on fuel. I did 28 without a problem on Saturday, but that route has a fair bit less elevation than this one. I also suspect the clock change for BST hasn’t helped.
But I had a breather at my favourite bench at Sutton Cheney – what a joy to reacquaint myself with it – and I was fine after that. I’d done 29.6 by the time I got back, a bit more than I intended, especially on a hilly course but I was on a lightweight bike. So there’s that.
I’m in two minds whether to flip the stem on the Spesh. It certainly felt a bit uncomfortably low when I set off – but not physically uncomfortable exactly, more unfamiliar. I seemed to get used to it, so may just leave it. I wouldn’t use it for a very long ride anyway. One thing that does exacerbate it a bit is that the drops are very downward-pointy, so when I’ve got hold of the bars by their extremities, it’s a very downward reach.