What day is it? Everything is blurring into one… the extremes stick most firmly in my memory, and so I’ve decided to write on the theme of opposites on the journey from Carlisle.
Where England felt warm and quaint, with golden hay, red brick buildings, and sunburnt legs, the Scotland that appeared after that belt of storms feels cool and stark, grey and proud. So far I’ve been pummelled with rain, soaked through with missle, blown dry by winds, and been treated to bright sunshine with distant views. I’ve glided along the smoothest roads and been shaken to bits on crumbling tarmac. I’ve cowered under the glowering glare of hills greater than any I’ve seen in Cornwall, but have cycled up them on roads lacking quite the same ferocious steepness of the Cornish dips and tucks. The hills are longer and the descents all the more satisfying. My bike gears are coping, but I’m ramping up the self-distraction to keep my legs patiently cranking along in full view of the summit that doesn’t seem to be getting any closer.
These two images are before and after the main climb of today. The photos alone don’t quite get across the opposites of cold & damp and warm & dry that bike and I rode through within a couple of hours.
All these experiences do leave the poor body and mind reeling. How many layers is a good idea? How much food should I eat now to stay warm and cycle up the next hill? The ride from Carlisle to Peebles was wet, but at least it was consistently wet. I wrapped up in my bright yellow waterproof jacket and a slightly-different-bright-yellow waterproof trousers, and stayed like that all day. I looked fabulous! Today the layers were on and off in a stream of colours depending on the wind, the shade, the sun, the rain, the gradient, and the altitude.
What I’ve found interesting to note is how the ups and downs of the weather and route don’t necessarily correspond with my mood. A full day of rain or a long climb in the cold are miserable and hard work, but at least they are recognisably miserable hard work and my mind can turn to a solid forbearance. Short climbs and shorter cycling days should be easier and restful compared to the tougher days, but they are hard work too.
Grim forbearance shouldn’t be the default mood when the sun is shining and the hills are ‘easy’, says Rational Mind. Emotional Mind sometimes couldn’t care less if the sun is shining.
Every day is hard work and every mile counts, even if some are ridiculously tougher than others for whatever rational or irrational reason.
ArchaeoCyclist 