More High Gear Work

Today I had planned to ride a reasonable distance - the first 50+ mile ride of the year. However, 2 things conspired to prevent this. Firstly Noel cried off at the last minute due to an over indulgence of alcohol the night before and secondly the weather forecast that the night before indicated rain at about 1pm now suggested rain at 10am. I had planned to ride down to Alcester and Ragley Hall and then loop back but I didn't want to be 1½ hrs from home in rain. Instead I chose to ride to Alvecurch and do the 3 "climbs" out of Alvechurch. I'd then decide whether to return back via Beoley or try something on the Lickeys like Rose Hill or the Fiery Hill ascent. 

The route is here:

I climbed the Grange Lane route first as I find this the hardest, then descended Scarfield Hill, up Coopers Hill, back down Grange Lane, back up Scarfield Hill and then down Coopers Hill. Grange Lane needed 2nd gear but I climbed both Scarfield Hill and Coopers Hill in 3rd without too much pain. It was reasonably windy but the climbs shielded me from any direct headwind.

Feeling OK and with the weather still holding I rode to the Lickeys and took the Feiry Hill / Twatling Road route. Again 3rd gear was OK for Fiery Hill and I was in 4th/5th for Twatling Road. A fast descent of Rose Hill followed and then it was generally a tail wind home - in fact it was clearly a monster tail wind home from looking at the Strava results:

There was a 20 sec improvement on "Bunbury-Middleton Rd", 21 sec improvement on "Cartland Rd Hill" and a 9 sec improvement on "Yardley Wood Station Sprint". The wind was a factor, as was the increased mileage recently, but I was in probably a higher gear than I would have been a month or so ago - so I am still pleased with the performance