Friday 6 April 2012: Wharfedale

Awoke to an absolutely fab day, sunny, warm, no wind. Not bad considering a tropical cyclone was forecast earlier in the week.

After a little procrastination, including Mrs PS going to work briefly, I decided I had to ride, sore back or not.

So, the track du jour was identified as the Wharfedale Track. 70km of road and single track goodness, located in beautiful Oxford.

We'll, the first 35km was a breeze. 25km of shingle road up the Ashley Gorge, just gorgeous ;-)

Then 10km up Towwnshend Track. And a quick rest after 2hrs cycling. And then the fun started ... The real Wharfedale Track.

Now, clearly there are some lunatics who enjoy this sort of thing, I'm obviously not one of them. Don't get me wrong; beautiful bush, mountains and setting, but the next 15km took me 2 agonising hours. Pushing up steep slopes, traversing steep dips and streams, roots and mud, lots of it.

And then I popped out at View Hill car park, and it was over. Just 20km of shingle and road to get back to Oxford.

What a relief to be back in Oxford, and what a sore bum. The seat I am demo'ing is certain, hard ... But to be honest, that's just one of many sore bones or muscles!

Overall? Well pleased with the 70km, 4.47 ride time, but 5.36 with breaks. I needed them! Gives me some confidence for the 95k in 2 weeks time, which technically will be WAY easier. Just longer and bigger hills with WAY more climbing. Gulp!

Would I do this ride again? Not sure, I loved 55 of the 70km, but the single muddy, rocky, rooty track wasn't that appealing to me.

Time will tell. Time now for a bath and glass of red wine. Stuffed.

Again if you're interested, the GPS track.

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