One banana, two banana, three banana, four.....

I'm blaming all this bad weather on the missus, I've told her already, she took it quite well ! When the weather warms up I dig out my favourite shorts. They are baggy, scruffy camo type things and very comfy but the wife hates them. During the recent summer(!) I was forced into buying some smarter ones , I haven't worn them yet, its been too busy raining.

Today I was invited to go for a ride with someone new. I got to know Robin via the Bike Radar forum after he gave me some sound advice on a sportive I was thinking about doing. He was visiting relatives who live in town and fancied a ride. He's one of the more sensible people on the forum and readily gives good advice. I did warn him about my distinct lack of speed as his advertised speed was double of mine. I was slightly nervous and apprehensive as I made my way to meet him. When I get nervous and apprehensive my stomach starts doing somersaults, it was doing somersaults. I met Robin and realised I had met him years ago in a pub in town when we used to have proper pubs. I also know his brother, small world.

We decided to go for a ride out to Porlock and up the toll road and down to Exford. Its a regular route for me and one I quite enjoy. We made our blustery way to Porlock and started the climb. The road was covered in the debris left over from the stormy weather. A first for me today, as Robin stopped at the toll booth I had a zero mile an hour fall and forgot to clip out and knocked him off and I landed in a heap. I did feel a complete and utter idiot and didn't stop apologising for the rest of the ride. I hope I didn't cause any damage to Robin's beautiful steel Mercian.

Wild windy moors........

I did feel a bit rough going up the toll road, a mixture of nerves, slight shock and feeling a bit of an idiot. It was nice chatting to Robin though who is an avid Audax rider and regularly takes part in events. I did the cyclo cross shortcut at the top of the toll road as I wasn't feeling that great and Robin took the road route. Its a steep rough road down to Exford, again the road was covered in debris. Someone on a quad bike or banana splits mobile as Robin described it, did his best to force me into the hedge as we made our way down.

                       

We did the lumpy bits out of Exford where Robin powered his way into the distance to stretch his legs and then the descent from Wheddon Cross. I did my best to lead the way to Dunster and do my best wind break bit once on the flat. I think it worked because I could hear Robin's Campag freehub ticking away behind me. Once at Dunster we said our goodbyes, Robin to go and do another thirty odd miles now he'd warmed up and me to trudge home.

I did feel slow today and was struggling and my stats back it up. I was over ten minutes slower up the toll road so perhaps it was just one of those days. 

Distance:	30.64 mi
Time:	2:47:53
Avg Speed:	11.0 mph
Elevation Gain:	3,055 ft

I did enjoy the company though. Once again cycling has put me in touch with an enthusiastic individual who also loves cycling and also happens to be a very patient and all round nice bloke.