We had fantastic weather in Caversham today, so I made an effort to get out for a ride this evening. Even though I had lights with me, I used the fast approaching sunset as a target, with the aim to get home before it got dark.
My route this evening was part old favourite, and part new, and for a change was about half off road. I have been doing a lot of road riding recently (on my MTB), so it was a nice change to ride some tracks.
I headed out from Caversham through the Warren and over to Mapledurham. From there I took the bridleway towards Whitchurch, with a small road section bringing me out near the bottom of Whitchurch Hill. I had already decided I was not going to tackle Whitchurch Hill today. Last time I ended up walking part of the way, and without any rides last week I thought better of it. It is a stinker of a hill.
Instead, I turned left. Crossing the Thames into Pangbourne I turned left again to head back towards Reading. The next few miles are all on road, and I surprised myself by keeping in the big ring all the way, even on the slow gradual grind up to Purley.
The sunset was fast approaching so I cut down towards the Marina just past Tilehurst Station to get into the Thames towpath. After lots of foot traffic from Reading Festival the towpath was pretty rutted, but I hammered back to Caversham Bridge. Then a short steep climb back home.
MotionX-GPS recorded the ride at 13.11 miles, and I did it in an hour which was not bad.
TrailrunnerX recorded the route as below.
; "rapha.jpg")
; "Taking a rest in the snow")
; "BBC weather forcast")
; "Campag chainset")
; "The Cinelli ready to be collected")
; "Hilly route shown in Run Keeper")
; "Pangbourne loop")
; "Co-pilot limo bike seat")
; "Dura Ace Di2")
; "Dura Ace Di2")