Its bloody cold oot there!
Went riding in the Clent Hills near Birmingham yesterday evening. A fair chunk if ride and some bridle paths. No singletrack to speak of, but some big old hills to make up for it. To be fair there were a couple I had to walk, being limited to my one gear and incredibly unfit 
Right at the top of the Clent Hills there was a fantastic view. Just after dark with the faint glow of sunset still on the horizon, the lights of the towns glowing below us, the frost glittering on the ground and breath steaming in the air. Absolutely gorgeous, and closely followed by a wickedly fast descent, which would have been faster if I’d have known the terrain.
Ears popping from the altitude loss, forehead and face getting colder and colder in spite of wearing a buff under my helmet. Condensation pooling in my beard and, close top the bottom, a BITINGLY painful brain freeze as if I’d been scooping Ben & Jerry’s down my throat for 10 minutes!
Absolute, blinding pain and with almost no way to clear it. With Ice cream I normally weld my tongue to the roof of my mouth and warm it up again (albeit never as quickly as I’d like). With this it was just the air temperature and wind chill that had caused it so it was all external and I just had to put up with it.
It passed quickly enough though, and it just remained to head home down the roads at full pelt (I’m sure Nige is a closet Roadie!), by which time I’d lost all feeling in my toes, my bike was cleaner than it was when we left (hard and frosty instead of soft and muddy), and I was very happy to be inside again and warming up.
Only 14 miles, and more road than I like, but I felt MUCH better than on Sunday which has to be a good thing.
My ass hurts tho – consequence of having too much time out of the saddle and then not enough recovery time between rides.
I’m looking to get riding more regularly again in 2009, hopefully my ass will toughen up again and my legs, lungs, body will get stronger again.
To quote the old TV programme – ‘We can rebuild him!’
NB – I’m now REALLY looking to sell the Whyte PRST4 – If anyones interested please let me know. It’ll end up on ebay shortly if not.
