Graveloveit

After the Mad March Hare Sportive last weekend, I had sore legs for two days and a 15hr day trip for work to Battersea, London on Wednesday which was draining to say the least. I tried a turbo session on Thursday but the head, the legs and the mojo said no, so I just left it. I felt like I could or should have gone for a ride in the glorious sunshine yesterday but instead I opted for a day with Sally and friends and enjoy the sunshine from a beer garden instead.

This morning with the clocks going forward, it pushed my lie in to late AM but I did get up eventually and go out the door on the bike at about 11.30am. Last minute I decided to take my Dolan gravel bike which I’ve neglected for a few weeks and take a spin down the canal. No breakfast though so a kind of fasted ride. I expected to be back after 2hrs. It didn’t quite go to plan.

I rode through town and the park and took my usual route via a path that runs alongside the railway that spits you out about 200m from the canal at a posh pub. It has a teepee, you can hire, in the beer garden and they charge over £4 for a pint because it sits aside the canal. That’s posh for me.

Onto the towpath and it was pretty quiet. I expected to see plenty of Sunday walkers so I assumed they were all with their moms in the pub for Mothers Day. The towpath was also drier than I expected too. Just the odd bit of mud and a couple of slimy sections but nothing to cake me in. I passed a few families out and about though. All nice and pleasant and for once the fisherman, often grumpy because they have to move their poles out of your way, were in good spirits today too.

As I entered Worcester City the towpath got busier but nothing to stop my flow. I’ve never ridden into the City all the way on the canal. My destination was Diglis Basin where the canal meets the River Severn. After riding past a host of canalside apartments, Diglis just appears. The last time I was here I was filming a crit on my Dad’s old VHS video camera. Probably nearly 30 years ago so the all the new buildings were new to me. There is a nice coffee stop operated out of a narrowboat on the quay. I wanted to stop but I was over an hour in now and had to crack on.

I rode around the edge and found the river and the path that runs parallel to the River Severn on both sides. I crossed the bridge and rode along Chapter Meadows. Recently badly flooded but today was back to it’s beautiful self. My first time and definitely won’t be the last.

I rode back into the City and decided to take the NCN46 (National Cycle Network) route back towards Droitwich and what a load of shit. Surely we can do better than stickers on poles, the odd sign and meandering left and right through car parked back streets. Because of the lack of signage I nearly went the wrong way a couple of times. It’s just crap. Just build some decent, direct segregated lanes please.

The route does run past the end of my sister’s road so I popped in there but she was out so I carried on the NCN and jumped onto the Droitwich Canal towpath. This was another first for me and despite their being a string of (nice) fisherman and being a bit narrow in places it was great. I was able to ride all the way into Vines Park, cross the A38 and pick it up again past Droitwich Marina all the way and back onto the Worcester to Birmingham canal again.

It was still quiet. I decided to ride up to Tardebigge Reservoir and then ride through the Oakalls estate on it’s cycle path for even more new trails and paths.

I rode through town and back home with over 3hrs on the clock. Considering I’d had no breakfast, I felt great and I’d only done a gel and a bottle. My legs felt like steel today, shame I couldn’t have had them a week ago at the Sportive.

I really, really enjoyed my ride today. It cleared my head and made me realise I need to ride my gravel bike more. Mixed terrain riding is the best riding.

Adios