According to gps: odo 13.59 moving time 1h34m max speed 32.7 moving avg 8.6 total time 3h21m
I went over to Abersoch for a few days with a few friends and, to be honest, it was possibly the best and most relaxing (if slightly knackering sometimes!) time away I've had for a long time. A combination of sun (good weather in April? Who'd have thought it!), sea, sand, scenery, walks, bike rides, RIB shenanigans, food, drink, and friends made for a really great extended weekend. I took my bike over - as did a couple of friends - so I went out twice on my bike.
The first ride was on Saturday morning, and there were four of us who'd brought our bikes; me, obviously, but Alex, Laurence and Robie all brought theirs too. Bearing in mind that Wales isn't renowned for its flatness - although the Llyn peninsula has its flat areas - we climbed out of Abersoch and were knackered within ten minutes! We ascended constantly and by about the fourth or fifth mile we were beginning to think twice as to whether the bike ride was a good idea in the first place! Fortunately, we'd given Alex the map and we followed the contours rather than crossing them; after a break we got going and it was great from then on, as we'd risen up sufficiently and it was then flat(tish) and even downhill. Passing Welsh chapels and equalling my record top speed at one point, we rode more gently back to Abersoch again.
I think we were all pleased that we'd done 13+ miles, although at one point we did cop out slightly and opted to go round a hill rather than over it - and I'm not going to pretend that we didn't walk up some of the hills occasionally. However, for me it was great to go out on a ride with other people - and as a group of four, it was good. Interestingly we were fairly evenly matched in ability, but in different respects - I can do downhill quite well and transfer that into uphill movement whereas my housemate is light and has lower gears so can ride better uphill but his top gear is limited, for example.
It was a really hot day - silly for April, really - so by the time we got back I was dehydrating a little. However, I really enjoyed it.
On Monday I went out with Andrew for another ride.