SuperTrooper

There are times when your mind really lets you down.

On a three hour bike ride, you'd think my idiot brain would choose a song like American Pie, Like a Rolling Stone or The Long and Winding to stick in my head all the way round. Hell, even Bohemian Rhapsody would do at a pinch.

But no, instead I get Abba's Supertrooper looping through my bonce, hence the title of this blog post and the ride. I can tell you, the only thing worse than thinking of Bennie or Bjorn singing "oom pah pah, oom pah pah" was the growing feeling of pain and fatigue from my legs. Close run thing though.

I'd been wanting to do this ride for a while. It's in a different direction to our normal rides. Usually we end up cycling westwards towards the Vale of Aylesbury but this 44 mile jaunt aims north east to Welwyn Garden City before looping back under the M1 near Luton.

Out past Harpenden and Wheathampstead there's one of those classic, forgotten bits of English countryside: hemmed in by main roads but like another, older world. Here there are meandering lanes and signs to Ayots St Peter and Ayots St Lawrence and you can smell the old money behind the electronic gates as you cycle past. But its beautiful as only England can be in the low slanting Autumn sunlight.

I don't know why, but I really started to run out of power about three quarters of the way round. Near Luton Hoo, my legs stop responding and the remaining hills become a major trial. Maybe it's the fact I haven't been on my bike all week, or perhaps I'm just tired, or maybe I didn't fuel properly before I left. Whatever the case, by the time I got to Studham I'm calculating the easiest route back, because to be frank, I'm shagged and it's getting dark.

Back home, with a cup of tea in me, the memory fades. Until I try and walk up the stairs and I realise someone has stolen my legs.

Here's the stats:
43.31 miles
Avg Speed: 14.8mph
Calories burned: 2,800 (or thereabouts)

Here's the route:http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/57729668