New Route on Saturday

Tried a new route on yesterday's ride and it was well worth it. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me - real pity becasue the countryside I saw was really pretty.

Basically this route is 66km long and heads out to Hertford on a road called Kentish Lane which turns off Great North Road on the way from Potter's Bar to Hatfield. It covers some lovely forested area and afterward a HUGE steep decent where I was clocking 60kph - would have gone faster but there were a couple of tricky sharp turns. After the decent I got onto a narrow flat-ish road for about 5km with fairly large rolling green hills on the sides. Tall hedges line this route which made a nice wind tunnel for the strong tailwind on the way out. There was also some marsh land about 2-3km before I got to Hertford with plenty of birds flying about - even saw a couple of cranes.

The ride back was tough as I was going against the wind. Before I got to the big hill I knew I would have to climb I decided to avoid it and take the long way round on the freeway (A414) - This was a stretch of about 6km - straight into the wind and a slight incline brought my speed down to about 23-24kph - it was hell! I turned off to Hatfield and rode back along Great North Road into what then became a more manageable crosswind.

I got home at midday absolutely knackered. My time for the 66km route was 2h16min, an average speed of 29kph. I was going to ride again today, but my body is still limp from yesterday's effort - guess I'll stay off the bike today and start again tomorrow with my weekday commuting.

I'll definitely do this route again next weekend and tackle that hill on the way back - and I'll try and remember to take my camera. I need one of those helmet-mounted cams!