you'd got the weather cracked it goes all August on us!
To be fair, in the UK, August often gets a lot of wet, this year it decided that it would all come this week! Whilst it didn't rain all day, Thursday was the day in question so having missed Tuesday's ride, it was Friday before i got out on two wheels again. After the previous day's dampness, the forecast was mid 20's and dry all day, i saddled up quite early and headed east.
It's inevitable that when you ride as often as i do, usually 3 times a week, there are some rides that you favour, either a favourite bit of road, a good cafe or just less traffic. The loop out to Chippenham in Wiltshire is one such, there's enough variation possible to prevent boredom and there are several stop options although through the summer, Lacock, just to the south, has found favour. Which is where me and my sandwiches found ourselves on this occasion.
Going clockwise i inevitably find myself in Bath which is where i met Aunty B for tea and bacon in bread. It's nice to have some company, even if its only for a few kilometres, and we were soon back at base, Aunty B with @ 36km, me with a solid 115km with just over 700m, not a hard day but enough tp know i'd been riding for five hours!
Saturday was a day of chores and maintenance. The biggest job was with the bike, a tyre swap (the rear looking decidedly balder than ideal) and fixing a squealing front brake. Of course nothing is ever that simple, the 'fixed' brake had to be refixed on today's ride!
And so to todays ride. The forecast suggested a light wind from the north east so i decided to head out in a loop towards Tetbury up on the Cotswolds, the main climb fairly early in the ride up the Cotswold Edge near Wotton. It wasn't supposed to get too warm but by my sarnie stop it was getting a bit minty.
Down to Malmesbury and then back across the Cotswold massif, i clocked off just shy of 105km but with a strong 937m of up. Out of 8 rides in August, 7 have been over 100km, the other was a mere 90 odd, my strongest month of 2026 so far.
The coming week looks a bit calmer, a bit cooler, maybe a few sprinkles of H2O and a return to the keyboard for some writing.
That's all for today, back on Wednesday,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid
