We had another lovely day in Kent today – so I couldn't help but get out for a couple of hours this afternoon (I lost interest in listening to the Budget). It was about 24 degrees when I left the house and only a very light breeze – so as far as I'm concerned – perfect riding weather. After my Saturday group ride I decided it was time to try riding a hill I've been avoiding for the last 2 years. It's the B2188 and runs south from the edge of Groombridge up into the Ashdown Forest. It's 9km long and climbs 240m – so by local standards it's a long climb. Most of the climbing is done in a 3km stretch from about the 5km mark and hits over 10% in gradient, which isn't severe by any means.
After our climbing on Saturday I was keen to have a crack at it and although it hurt and in the steepest parts I was down to my granny gear, I kept a good cadence and generally an ok speed. Alberto Contador won't be losing any sleep though as it wasn't particularly pretty. All of the rest of the ride was a decent pace and I felt good. So good in fact that I found myself inexplicably whistling as I rode down Colemans Hatch Road from Wych Cross …. not something that has happened before but then it was a lovely day and the ride was going well.
On the way back home, there's an 11% hill just south of Tunbridge Wells on the way up into Frant and I got most of the way up that in the big ring and then managed to get up the last hill up into the back of Hawkenbury completely in the big ring, which is a first for 2010.
The end result was a very good ride and a record time for the distance. Final stats for the day: Distance 66.42km, Time: 2h 25m 42s. Average speed: 27.35kmh. Total ascent: 814m. Total riding for June: 489km. Total for 2010: 1746km. Nice.
