Today was a good day. I felt good when I woke up and was up for a challenge. Ii didn't have a pre planned route so started racking my brains thinking where I could go and decided to head for the hills. I wanted to do around 40 miles but wanted to make it fairly tough on the legs.
I headed from home and took the river paths because they are more hilly than the roads and headed off along to Gateshead. Here I took the road to Dunston where the climb was constant, until I hit the decent into Swalwell. I then had the option of taking the scenic route through Derwent Walk or on the roads to Rowlands Gill which were more challenging so I took the roads. This road is a good climb for about 2 miles and I was at around 10 to 11mph all the way up then a steady drop into Rowlands Gill near Gibside. From here a steady ride some dips and climbs until the sharp slope upto Hamsterly Mill where the road vias left then left again towards Burnopfiled.
Here is where the ride got tough. there is about a half mile stretch, which climbs steadily before dropping abruptly. At this point my speed was at about 35mph downhill until the heavy long climb into Burnopfield. Now I have climbed this hill before and it took a lot out of me last time. This time however, I felt a lot better my speed dropped to a steady 6 to 7mph and the hill carried on for just over a mile. A reassuring feeling came over me when I reached the top knowing I was feeling so good. Then a slow climb a little further as I turned right towards Stanley.
The road to Stanley from Burnopfield goes through several villages but I can't say I noticed much about them as at one point my speed hit 39.9mph as the hills dropped then climbed slightly then dropped even more. Then yet again a long steep climb into Stanley. A nice mixture of hills and drops, which made the ride quite tough as the time between climbing the steep slopes short.
From Stanley a long long decent into Chester le Street and then a nice relatively flat couple of miles along towards Birtley. Then once more a good sharp climb through Eighton Banks in Gateshead to Wrekenton. From here down the long sloping Springwell Bank and onto Pelaw then home still with plenty in the tank.
38.17 miles 2 hours 37 minutes average speed 14.6mph.
Later out for a run for about 30 mins
I headed from home and took the river paths because they are more hilly than the roads and headed off along to Gateshead. Here I took the road to Dunston where the climb was constant, until I hit the decent into Swalwell. I then had the option of taking the scenic route through Derwent Walk or on the roads to Rowlands Gill which were more challenging so I took the roads. This road is a good climb for about 2 miles and I was at around 10 to 11mph all the way up then a steady drop into Rowlands Gill near Gibside. From here a steady ride some dips and climbs until the sharp slope upto Hamsterly Mill where the road vias left then left again towards Burnopfiled.
Here is where the ride got tough. there is about a half mile stretch, which climbs steadily before dropping abruptly. At this point my speed was at about 35mph downhill until the heavy long climb into Burnopfield. Now I have climbed this hill before and it took a lot out of me last time. This time however, I felt a lot better my speed dropped to a steady 6 to 7mph and the hill carried on for just over a mile. A reassuring feeling came over me when I reached the top knowing I was feeling so good. Then a slow climb a little further as I turned right towards Stanley.
The road to Stanley from Burnopfield goes through several villages but I can't say I noticed much about them as at one point my speed hit 39.9mph as the hills dropped then climbed slightly then dropped even more. Then yet again a long steep climb into Stanley. A nice mixture of hills and drops, which made the ride quite tough as the time between climbing the steep slopes short.
From Stanley a long long decent into Chester le Street and then a nice relatively flat couple of miles along towards Birtley. Then once more a good sharp climb through Eighton Banks in Gateshead to Wrekenton. From here down the long sloping Springwell Bank and onto Pelaw then home still with plenty in the tank.
38.17 miles 2 hours 37 minutes average speed 14.6mph.
Later out for a run for about 30 mins
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