https://www.strava.com/activities/651733815
Went out yesterday morning/lunchtime to hit the climb I'd targetted and set a goal on (
Stonewall) and did a little loop around some of the roads I grew up around (with another goal on a smaller climb). I also including the long drag up from Knighton which I've wanted to try for a while.
Some light almost-drizzle in the air so went out with warmers and light jacket on. Rolled out from where I'm staying (parents) and immediately got
stuck behind a car when descending to kill off what is normally a nice boost to my average (boo!). Had a bit of a warm up and used a climb up a back road to a local farm
as a warm up for my climbing legs. Created a segment for it this morning for a nice KOM! (first pic)
After the warm up and heading past where I grew up (Yardro) my main target was the
'Hillside' climb up to Old Radnor, beasted it and I'm sure the few people hanging around the church (for a Christening) wondered why I steamed past puffing like a steam train! Another nice KOM & view from the top (second pic). I could've done it harder but knew I had a lot more climbing to do! Nearly down to 3 minutes with my goal being 5...
Fun descent and an easier roll out along the main roads to Presteigne before preparing to climb
Stonewall hill. Of all the roads I was riding this was the only unknown for me as I'd not even driven/heard of it until spotting it on Strava. Couple of holdups for jacket removal & food, oncoming cars & tractors but once the climb started it really was just a test of
my stood low cadence endurance @ 34*32 (which I'm trying to train). Couple of early digs and corners killed any momentum before the steepest part, it really stretched up in front, like a stone wall.
Once over the worst I was able to
sit and spin to recover some but still the road climbed up, with even a few more minor ramps. By the time the summit leveled off a heavy rain shower was passing over so I donned my jacket for the descent to Knighton. I stopped at the bottom, ate and took my jacket off ready for the climb out.
The climb from
Knighton to Rhos y meirch is a long long drag up quite a 'busy' (for the area) road. A number of cars passed quite close so I was conscious of not pushing that hard and weaving around, choosing to sit and spin. I'd climbed back towards the rain shower so had to stop & don my jacket again.
My legs were pretty empty at this point but I think the brief stop did help to revitalise them slightly as I was feeling stronger at the top, than the bottom!
I wasn't going to get any more KOM's as
this stretch of road followed the ToB route from 2014 all the way back to my destination, which
featured another KOM to my parents place. I'm going to do a totally fresh 'beast' effort on it at some point this week to try and get up the leaderboard some (currently in 85th)!
Weird one, the 2 climbs I got KOM's for (one I created) don't list on the Strava 'overview' as KOM's? Couple of the segments are even hidden after multiple 'hides', 2 of them are not even descents so nothing to do with hazardous!?
TLDR; 27 miles, 2800ft climbing sub 2 hours. 2 KOM's.
Need to gather some more data and then figure out how to start embiggening the numbers.
Made me snigger! Might have to use 'embiggening' for some of my power related rides!
I just did 30miles in 2 and a half hours. my first proper long distance cycling!
it was awsome. loved it.
I need to get a new saddle thought as towards the end i got uncomfortable
Well done & a good time for your first 30! Congrats!
It could be saddle but most people will get better comfort from shorts with a better quality pad in them, even pad shape can be very personal preference. You're new to spending multiple hours in the saddle you'll probably find most of it is from getting used to it so don't go changing everything immediately
EDIT: Deposit placed & Diverge Comp Carbon ordered. Test 'ride' (around 200 yards) on Roubaix Disc after fitting to me to check sizing. Bike felt lighter than my Defy 1 but think that's just the feel of a carbon frame to alu!? (quoted weights puts them very similar, although most of my Defy weight saving is from wheels, not from frame).
instead of just getting sucked along in the bunch on a Saturday morning 
