Routes

Planner

Features

Updates

App

Login or Signup

Get the App

Login or Signup

Iam Miro

Follow

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
About Iam Miro
đŸšŽđŸœ ⛷ đŸƒđŸ»â€â™‚ïžđŸšŽđŸŒâ€â™‚ïž
Just doing my thing,
planning my next trip.

bit.ly/iammironow

Distance travelled

31,887 km

Time in motion

2060:15 h

Recent Activity

    went mountain biking.

    December 20, 2025

    No issues Ride

    Another weekend was here, and I had a nice off-road ride on my mind. I had to go—I wanted to. Last weekend, the previous ride ended with the derailleur not working. Since it started working again when I got home, it went from Defcon2 priority to fix it down to Defcon4, or even Defcon5, and I didn’t do anything about it. Typical. Now, the night before the ride, it suddenly became my problem again. I checked it and found it was working intermittently, so it instantly went back to Defcon 2—but it was too late to sort anything out properly, obviously. So I started preparing my other bike, but that turned out to be too much work. I hadn’t used it for a month; it was left untouched in the corner after the last race, so I had to come up with another plan. I played around with the derailleur and found a “solution”—temporary only, an on-trail fix as they call it. It was working in the living room, but would it work on the trail? After being used and shaken properly? I didn’t know. We’d see. I woke up early, checked the derailleur—still OK. Let’s go. Got to the train—still working. Got to the trail—still working. So, let’s have some fun and beat the shit out of it 😜 I took pictures, enjoyed the views, rode in the fog—basically in the clouds. Then I saw the sun, and the views opened up again. Beautiful views. What a beautiful morning it was. So good. Today I took it easy, kept a controlled pace. I already feel tired, like I’ve had enough of everything. I’m looking forward to a few days off—off the bike, I mean—so I can get hungry again and train more. I’m glad I went out. That ride felt exactly like what the doctor ordered.

    04:17

    62.6km

    14.6km/h

    1,120m

    1,100m

    , , and others like this.
    1. December 20, 2025

      Another weekend was here, and I had a nice off-road ride on my mind. I had to go—I wanted to.

      ï»ż

      Last weekend, the previous ride ended with the derailleur not working. Since it started working again when I got home, it went from Defcon2 priority to fix it down to Defcon4, or even Defcon5, and I didn’t do

    went mountain biking.

    December 14, 2025

    Been out late, had a few glasses of wine, chatting and eating, but felt good so decided to go for an early one again. Left home at 5:30, on the trail by 6:30. A nice 4-hour ride was planned. Took it easy, but my rear derailleur had a different idea. It stopped working at the beginning of the route. Pressed the button on its body—all good again. Five minutes later, it stopped once more. Pressed the button, the LED came on
 and then it completely died. Wouldn’t connect to the app, not even to the pod/controller. I ChatGPT-ed the issue, spent some time on it, and found no solution. So I turned around and decided to go home—riding the whole way single-speed. About 40 km. Yeah, why not? There are nutters who do 1,000-mile ultras on single-speed bikes, met few of them on races. I was brave
 until a muddy hill 😂. The image of a comfy sofa, warmth, and nice food won in my head, so I decided to take the train instead. I cycled to a station that turned out to be closest. Thought, I’ll have to wait for a train anyway, maybe I can catch a better connection from the next station, so I added more distance and kept going. In the end, I caught the same train I would’ve taken from the first station—but after cycling more and having to push hard just to make it. I mean, I still had some sort of fun. Not as planned, but it actually worked out better for my other life—the family one. I got home earlier, could go to my boy’s full game, and continue a lovely sunny Sunday with family. Sometimes bad things happen for a reason. The funny thing is, the derailleur started working again at home, usual stuff 😜 Still playing up, not fully dead, but it definitely needs a warranty call. Better to have this issue now rather than in the middle of absolute nowhere during a race in mountains. Let’s call this ride: “Call for Help?” 😄

    01:50

    32.8km

    17.9km/h

    210m

    190m

    , , and others like this.
    1. December 20, 2025

      Been out late, had a few glasses of wine, chatting and eating, but felt good so decided to go for an early one again.

      ï»ż

      Left home at 5:30, on the trail by 6:30.

      ï»ż

      A nice 4-hour ride was planned. Took it easy, but my rear derailleur had a different idea. It stopped working at the beginning of the route. Pressed

    went mountain biking.

    December 13, 2025

    Usual early ride to the train station, this time heading to Guildford. I started at 6:30 at the beginning of my route. The sky already looked amazing, and I kept stopping to take photos — it’s just part of my riding, I guess. This time the views were truly stunning; you can see for yourself if you like them too. Not far from town, in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, I saw lights and people standing around with head torches. I had no idea what was going on — thieves planning something? Walkers heading out early? As I got closer, I said good morning and chatted with one of them. It turned out to be an ultra trail running event: 100 miles, and even some 200 miles. He pointed to two guys standing on their own and said, “Those ones are not the 100-milers — they’re something else.” This was a feeding station stop, which explained the crowd. I left them behind and soon joined one runner going uphill, chatting as we went. He had started at 2 p.m. on Friday; it was just before 7 a.m., and he had only 12 miles to go. Not bad at all. I’d finally fitted new tyres, and the grip was absolutely brilliant đŸ€©. I had so much fun and felt so confident on the bike — no sliding side to side at all. Maybe a bit too much pressure, though, so I stopped to let some air out. I unscrewed the valve core fully for a second together with cap, screwed it back quickly
 and of course had to pump the wheel again anyway. Silly me. As soon as I reached the edge of the Surrey Hills, the views were insane: inversion, clouds, sun — straight out of a postcard. I sent a photo to the wider family whatsapp group and asked them to guess my height above sea level on picture for a prize. Guesses came in at 700, 900, even 1,400 metres. After I hinted that I was in the UK — where the highest point is only 1,345 m — and that the real height would be “surprisingly laughable,” the winning guess was 135 m. Actual height: around 120 m above sea level. It was a beautiful morning — sunny, incredible views, what’s not to like? Power numbers and everything else were high too, not intentionally, just a really good grip i say as i pushed on flat and hills. Cane out of bushes and onto Whitedown Lane, steep road climb i did not long ago. i was not ready fir this today but climb without any issues. Coming back into Guildford offered another above-the-clouds view, town was covered by a clouds. Once I dropped into town it turned low-visibility, cloudy, and cold, what a day.

    03:49

    51.7km

    13.6km/h

    1,070m

    1,090m

    , , and others like this.
    1. December 17, 2025

      Usual early ride to the train station, this time heading to Guildford.

      ï»ż

      I started at 6:30 at the beginning of my route. The sky already looked amazing, and I kept stopping to take photos — it’s just part of my riding, I guess. This time the views were truly stunning; you can see for yourself if you like

    went mountain biking.

    December 7, 2025

    Sunday ride. Looked like it would rain where I wanted to go, plus I had an extra thing to do in the morning, so I thought I might not ride at all. Maybe I could go on the road, but I didn’t really want to. I wondered where I could go that’s a bit off-road near me. Of course—along the Thames, then Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common
 oh yeah, I’ve done that many times. So I planned it, woke up early, and left at 5:20. I was in a good mood. This is basically a night ride. No one anywhere—literally empty roads. I love it. I reached the river and had fun. Not pushing it, just enjoying it. It started raining earlier than it was supposed to, but who cares—once you’re wet, you’re wet. Still warm enough, so all good. The Richmond Park deer were just chilling here and there, not bothered by me. Two-hour ride, not cold, just a bit wet, and home before sunrise. So yeah—night ride.

    02:10

    39.3km

    18.1km/h

    220m

    220m

    1. December 10, 2025

      Sunday ride. Looked like it would rain where I wanted to go, plus I had an extra thing to do in the morning, so I thought I might not ride at all. Maybe I could go on the road, but I didn’t really want to.

      ï»ż

      I wondered where I could go that’s a bit off-road near me. Of course—along the Thames, then Richmond

    went mountain biking.

    December 6, 2025

    Another early morning — woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Stayed in bed till 5, then got ready for a ride. Left home, train, and was on the trail by 6:50. Took about half an hour to get through the first 3 km with all the faffing, taking pictures, and sudden need of number two, luckily found public toilets in the middle of nowhere, lifesavers. The ride felt weird — felt slow and barely any effort going in, just a chill spin. Checked the normalised power and thought, 
 not bad.” Still rolling on worn hard-pack fast tyres, so with all the mud from the recent rain (and last night’s rain), it was basically like riding on ice. Ordered proper winter/mud tyres which arrived on Thursday
 but one was black and the other brown. Waiting for the matching black one next week. Near the end, tried to chase a train. Pushed hard but realised I wasn’t going to make it, so added a few extra kilometres to kill time. Weather was mild, no rain, a bit windy, some sunshine — pretty decent overall. It was muddy but i took ass saver, didnt like it before as not looking good, but it was great, it did save my ass. “it did what it said on the tin!” I had fun, this was a good ride.

    02:53

    43.4km

    15.0km/h

    680m

    700m

    , , and others like this.
    1. December 6, 2025

      Another early morning — woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep.

      Stayed in bed till 5, then got ready for a ride.

      ï»ż

      Left home, train, and was on the trail by 6:50.

      Took about half an hour to get through the first 3 km with all the faffing, taking pictures, and sudden need of number two, luckily found

    went mountain biking.

    November 30, 2025

    Feels like ages since I’ve been on the bike. This is my first time riding outside since I went to Scotland two weeks ago. Last weekend I felt like I didn’t want to cycle at all—completely exhausted and tired of it. A break from the bike actually felt nice. I used the turbo a few times since, and today I finally got outside. The weather looked good, though the trails were a bit wet after yesterday’s rain. I planned some off-road riding and had to travel to get to the trails. The only train early enough for me was to Gatwick Airport. I thought it would be challenging to get from the train to the start and back—let’s see, I said. And I was right. I got off the station on the wrong side, and the phone reception at the airport was terrible, so I couldn’t search properly. Then I got lost on some dual carriageway. I eventually got to the start but couldn’t figure out the one-way system as route was sort of on top of each other with all the bridges, was dark as it was before 6am, got lost a few more times, and wasted so much time. Finally I was on the right route—and then I missed a turn and got lost again like a little boy. Once I finally hit the trails, I had fun. The temperature showed 1°C, but I felt fine—no idea how, because when I’m not on the bike, I’ve been constantly cold since Scotland. The wet trails meant I was slower and going to be late catching the train back because I’ve got a busy Sunday, so I had to cut the route shorter. The plan was not to rush, not to push—just enjoy and have fun. And that’s exactly what I did. But my numbers were fairly high. Looks like I push good power without feeling it. Maybe the Scotland trip was a step up and now I can go harder with not much extra effort. That’s great. The train back was fun: me, a biker with a covered face, dressed all in black like some black-ops soldier, covered in mud with a dirty bike, getting on a train full of returning holidaymakers. Not many trains, many cancelled, all packed. I got to the train on time, went through the lifts with all the rushing travellers, got to the carriage for bikes—and then they announced that the train to my destination was on a different platform. Great. So everyone waiting, too many, went up the stairs and moved to the other platform. Me too—through a couple of hallways and back down. The train was leaving in a few minutes. I got on it just in time: full of people, each with suitcase, another bike, and a wheelchair. It was carnage. I think I’ll try avoid Gatwick from now on. There wasn’t really another train option since there are engineering works everywhere on weekends these days. It was a challenging ride today—to get there and to get back—but it was worth it.

    02:57

    52.4km

    17.8km/h

    490m

    520m

    , , and others like this.
    1. November 30, 2025

      Feels like ages since I’ve been on the bike.

      ï»ż

      This is my first time riding outside since I went to Scotland two weeks ago. Last weekend I felt like I didn’t want to cycle at all—completely exhausted and tired of it. A break from the bike actually felt nice. I used the turbo a few times since, and today

    went gravel riding.

    November 14, 2025

    Glencoe youth hostel, start and finish of the race. https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/further-elements-2025 The night was good—was up for a couple of hours, but overall slept well. Breakfast, pack the bike, and let’s go. Short briefing and off we go. Started almost last as usual, no pressure. All good. I’m trying to ride slowly. It’s cold, but soon I feel I’ve got too many layers and need to take some off. I keep overtaking riders, chatting to them; the morning is going fine. Views are great—lochs here and there, sunny, unusual for this time of year. We see snowy peaks in the distance, which is cool, but I know we’ll be much closer to them soon. We hit a longer off-road section around 35 km. It’s getting nicer. Soon we pass through the Bridge of Orchy and into a valley with snowy peaks and loads of river crossings. I’m around the same few people—we have a similar pace, yo-yoing each other, doing several river crossings together. One girl just went straight in and had to step into the water, first touch of water, first of too many. I cross fine. At one crossing we’re trying to jump from stone to stone. I see what looks like a better place to cross, but when I get closer it doesn’t look good. I see an even better spot further up. I go through high grass, lifting my bike, but the river gets deeper and deeper. When I finally cross, I go in deep. Bummer. I could have just walked the first spot easily, but that’s always the way—you try so hard to stay dry until you get wet, and after that you don’t care. Next crossing, the girl and another guy are still looking for the best place. I just go straight through on the bike. I’m wet anyway. Next one same, fast crossing. At the next river, I see a guy on a bike on the other side leaving, but as soon as he notices me he puts the bike down and gets his camera ready—event photographer. I’m thinking this picture will be epic: me crossing a river like a pro. I go for it
 and suddenly see a massive rock. My front wheel is about to hit it, too big to dodge, and I go straight over the bars into the water, head-first. Had a proper sip of freezing water. Everything got soaked except my rucksack. I feel it in my ears and airpods are making cracking noise. I pick myself and the bike up quickly, check everything is still there, and get out of the river. Photographer comes over but doesn’t say anything—just sticks the camera in my face taking photos, maybe video too, brilliant. He knew what will happen, one guy before me did the same. Now i need to be aware of them, looking for best shot, and aware of my ego, safety first. I get on the bike right away to keep warm. Changing to dry clothes is out of the question—it’s 2°C, strong cold wind. I have to move. There’s a tea room in about 15 km. It will take ages to get there and it closes at 4. I know I can’t make it, but I have a feeling things will work out, somehow, it might be still open. Worst case, I’ll change under a roof there rather than here in the open. On the descent I throw a jacket over everything to keep body warm. It works, but my hands and feet are completely frozen. I swap gloves but it’s tricky with wet hands. After 1.5 hours I reach the tea room. It looks open. Two cyclists are eating inside. I ask the owner if we can get food and hot drinks—of course we can! Riders told her more hungry cyclists were coming, so she kept things going. She overheard me on the phone and asked where I’m from, turned out she is from Slovakia too, making cakes and selling bits, little post office in the middle of nowhere in Scotland, what are the chances. Food—great. Two teas, drank some, poured the rest into my water bottle with too many sugars. I had only one spare baselayer, wasn’t expecting to need four top layers, so I had to plan carefully. Tried baselayer + down jacket + waterproof jacket—perfect. Cozy and warm. I finished the rest of the race like that. Even when it got wet a few times, the wind dried it and I stayed warm. Amazing. I took off my waterproof socks—they were soaked, wet from both sides, water got in from the top anyway. Useless now. Put heated socks on, then plastic bags to protect them from the wet shoes. Good setup, heat was lovely. Took some time to warm up properly. Ate, packed the bike, and off into the night—though it was only 5:30 pm and already pitch dark. Next stop: Pitlochry, last resupply before Cairngorms. Closes at 10 pm—Co-op, one kebab place, maybe some pubs, but you want in-out-gone. I reach town around 8 pm: Co-op, coffee, shopping, then grab a kebab and continue. Feeling good, warm, no problem. Still enjoying myself. Had a coffee after months of not drinking any—this will keep me going. Plan: ride through the night. Next open place is 130 km away (opens 7:30 am) or Inverness at 5 am (170 km). Let’s see how I feel. I marked some potential bivy spots. There’s also a bothy, but hikers + riders probably fill it. No hope there. I feel good and pass all my planned bivy marks, riding from one 40 km “mental checkpoint” to the next. Much easier than thinking “170 km to go”. Feel pain on my thigh from hitting the handlebar earlier—not pleasant, but ok. Had a few hallucinations but nothing scary. Best one was a road sign—“men at work”—the little man was moving. Had a good laugh. Checked the tracker—end of day one I was somewhere mid-pack, around 25th. Reached Inverness around 6:30 am. Quick coffee, snacks, water, go. Checked trackers—there’s a girl I rode with earlier also in Inverness. I’m in 13th place now. Now the race starts for me. Girl behind, 2–3 guys ahead. 140 km to finish. I bet they’ll stop at least once. I’ve got everything—food, water—so no need to stop. Let’s go. Leave town before the girl and focus on the guy in front—Aurimas. We met before, know each other loosely from social media. After 70 km I suddenly see him—puncture. Another one. Not good for him, good for me. Now keep going, stay ahead of the girl, chase the next rider. I’m tired, had enough, but can’t stop now. After another 40 km I reach Fort William. From here: last off-road + steep hills. 37 km to go. I overtake another rider who stopped—now I’m 10th. Top 10. My ego is screaming: You’ve got this. Don’t stop. Short and steep hills—really steep, 20%. I walk them. I’m sure the others behind are cycling them, because that’s what cyclists do. I’m saving energy. Stretching legs. Talking to my wife on the phone—helps a lot. 25 km to go. “An hour and a half?” she says. Yeah, probably. It gets properly off-road now, Big rocks. My body is done. Can’t ride it. Walk most of it. Downhill—great—but can’t ride that either. Sharp rocks screaming “slash that tyre!”. Walking, swearing: what on earth is this? Organisers said no hike-a-bike. I usually like hike-a-bike, but not this, not at the end, and not when mentally unprepared. I keep checking behind. The girl on a mountain bike can ride this stuff I’m sure. Guy behind overtook her. Oh, Great. I think I see someone. Need to keep going. Two photographers appear on hills. I focus—do NOT fall in front of them again. Pass them, they came on bikes but they have van close, Good—means tarmac is coming. Reach town. Tarmac, 8 km left. But GPS shows red climbs. Push harder. Eat some Dextro tablets or something. People sending messages: “Push! He’s right behind you!” 5 km
 4 km
 Suddenly turn left—off-road climb. Shot. Push the bike uphill. Then get lost. Tiny path into the woods. Lights behind me—oh no. Carry the bike through the woods, pop out next to a lake. My phone is blasting fast music, people staring at me. Follow the route. Fast gravel, good. 3 km left. Then
 lost again. Seriously? Now? Find the way, hit the main road. See lights behind—car? Rider? Streetlights? No idea. Push. Last 1.5 km. Cars passing me. Don’t see the rider. Hope he’s not right there. Finish line. Done. Sit down, hot drink, food. Feels amazing. Left everything out there. Then the guy arrives
 10 minutes later. All that panic—for that? Hilarious. Makes the feeling even better. Started almost last, finished top 10. Not bad at all. The whole weekend turned out great. Scotland is something else—beautiful, perfect for riding. Happy with everything and that i came here again. Now: eat, sleep, plan the next one.

    28:52

    524km

    18.2km/h

    7,420m

    7,420m

    , , and others like this.
    1. November 16, 2025

      Glencoe youth hostel, start and finish of the race.

      ï»ż

      The night was good—was up for a couple of hours, but overall slept well.

      ï»ż

      Breakfast, pack the bike, and let’s go.

      Short briefing and off we go.

      ï»ż

      Started almost last as usual, no pressure.

      ï»ż

      All good. I’m trying to ride slowly. It’s cold, but soon I feel I’ve

    went cycling.

    November 9, 2025

    Today I had to be strict with myself and take it easier — sometimes that’s hard, to be honest. Woke up early, left around 6. Checked the weather; it didn’t look as warm as the previous days. Thick merino baselayer, long-sleeve jersey, and insulated gilet — should be fine. And it was. One glove thicker, one thinner — a little test to compare. Decided to head towards Richmond Park. Sunday mornings there are usually fine, not too crowded. But wow, the park was cold — freezing, really — yet beautiful. A few cyclists, more deer. It was nice. Had to slow down a few times, keeping an eye on my watts and making sure I took it easy. A lovely morning — the sun came up, it warmed a bit, and it felt great. By the end, it felt like the perfect start to a ride
 only now the park and all roads was full of people everywhere, not my cup of tea.

    02:16

    47.8km

    21.1km/h

    310m

    310m

    , , and others like this.
    1. November 9, 2025

      Today I had to be strict with myself and take it easier — sometimes that’s hard, to be honest.

      ï»ż

      Woke up early, left around 6. Checked the weather; it didn’t look as warm as the previous days.

      Thick merino baselayer, long-sleeve jersey, and insulated gilet — should be fine. And it was.

      One glove thicker

    went cycling.

    November 8, 2025

    Supposed to have new wheels, but they didn’t arrive. I still wanted to do a gravel ride — basically an MTB route on the gravel bike. I pulled out my 650b wheels that I hadn’t used for a year, pumped them up, and replaced the brake pads since they needed it. I didn’t bed them in properly though, as these brakes had always been fine before. It was raining anyway, so I didn’t go for a spin to test if everything was working. Woke up fine, left early in the dark to catch the train — and suddenly there was a huge squeaky noise when I was freewheeling. Strange. I thought it was the freehub or something, but soon the rear brake started making the same awful noise. The kind of noise that could wake a whole village. Not sure what to do — I couldn’t ride like this. I could take it apart, but how would I clean or sand it? I didn’t have any sandpaper with me on this bike. So I decided to turn back and figure it out later. The best options seemed to be: go on the MTB instead, or swap wheels and do a road ride straight from home. So, I quickly planned a new route, swapped wheels a few items, and went. All was good — great weather, my favourite lanes. Then came White Hill Lane. “Hmm, let’s see how I feel about it this time,” I thought. “Does it still belong in the top section of my ‘It’s Only Hill’ chart?” Oh yes, it’s still steep. Felt hard today — too many cars, not ideal — and yes, it’s definitely in the top three. I wasn’t feeling great after that. Thought about doing Succumb Hill as well, like last time, just to compare. My first thought was, “Definitely not — I don’t feel like it today.” A few minutes later though, once I’d recovered a bit, I thought, “Hmm, maybe I’ll check if I’m passing near Succumb’s
 well, I am. Let’s go — could be fun.” Changed the route a bit and went for it. Coming down a long descent and through a big roundabout, I was in the wrong gear, had to stop at the bottom to change that as was on hill already. So many cars passing — that’s always the issue with this hill: cars, cars, cars. Got the gears sorted and started climbing. The first part felt like hell — I was dying. It was so hard today. I nearly gave up, but I guess the cars gave me motivation — my ego wouldn’t let me stop in front of everyone. I got through the first section and moved onto the second, which felt a bit easier this time. Overall, it was a tough one. I’d felt tired in the morning — hard week at the gym and on the turbo — and today was supposed to be an easy spin. So, really, I did this to myself. The rest of the ride was just cruising home — and in the end, it was a good ride.

    02:46

    55.1km

    19.9km/h

    610m

    620m

    , , and others like this.
    1. November 9, 2025

      Supposed to have new wheels, but they didn’t arrive. I still wanted to do a gravel ride — basically an MTB route on the gravel bike.

      ï»ż

      I pulled out my 650b wheels that I hadn’t used for a year, pumped them up, and replaced the brake pads since they needed it. I didn’t bed them in properly though, as these

    went cycling.

    November 2, 2025

    What Was I Thinking Kind of Morning Planned a good ride today, including some hills I wanted to tackle, but the weather didn’t look great. Should I wait for the rain to stop? But then I’d be out for a good part of the day. No — I’ll go as early as possible and get soaked if I have to. I’m not made of sugar, right? Left at 6 a.m., and by kilometre 4, I had to put on waterproof trousers as the heavens opened. It was fine and even fun — I was in a good mood. I could feel my feet completely swimming inside my shoes, but I had waterproof socks, so it should be dry
 or is it? After the ride, I checked my feet: one was dry, the other was a bit wet. Probably one sock is punctured or something. After an hour and a half, I hit a low moment. I wanted to chicken out — felt like it was a long way to go. I was wet, cold, and it wasn’t fun anymore. Stopped for a bit, under the bridge, ate something, got my blood flowing in my feet. Checked the closest train station, checked how far it was to go back home, then checked the weather — and as it looked like the rain would stop soon (plus the sugar gave me some energy), I decided to keep going. That little pick-me-up gave me a good boost — I was happy again and enjoying the ride. Stopped soon after for a quick toilet break, had something to eat again (it was difficult to access food during the ride since I was dressed like an onion with all those layers). Had a nice chat with a lady who was collecting rubbish along the road — she does it every Sunday, bless her. Her son Tim, I think, also rides bikes. She asked if I do the Hampshire Hills event — something like that — probably her Tim does it. It was a nice moment, another little pick-me-up. I was looking forward to a hot drink, and luckily there was a gas station on the way. Bought a pastry and some hot tea, poured it into my bottle with extra water, grabbed extra sugar, mix it all together and created warm energy drink. There was also a convoy of old cars going from London to Brighton, I think — these veteran cars were all over the place! Soon, I took off some layers to get ready for the hills — not great climbing in waterproof trousers. First hill: Leith Hill. It wasn’t the toughest, but it felt hard today — long-ish, and I felt weak and tired. Or maybe the hill is tough? Not sure. The scenery around was beautiful though — autumn colours everywhere. Finished the climb, legs working fine — maybe I was just stiff. Then came White Down South. There was a sign with “16%” on it — and that’s always a good sign. It means it’s a proper hill. Nice narrow lane, steeep. Ugh — I like it! It was a good one. A few moments I thought, “This is so steep, I want to get off the bike,” so I’ll have to rate it high — definitely top five, maybe even top three for now. Once I reached the top, I had a great feeling — not exactly achievement, more like a masochistic type of excitement. I liked being pushed hard. This is the kind of hill I was looking for — so whoever mentioned it, thank you đŸ™đŸ» At the top, a beautiful forest and a great descent. Nice. From here it was basically downhill to home — sort of. My bum was soaked from water spraying up, not very comfortable, and I had to eat again and again since I was running low on energy so often. The weather turned out great in the end. Shame it was so wet at the beginning — it would’ve been a perfect day out with a dry bum. But hey, there need to be days like this too.

    05:40

    119km

    21.0km/h

    1,380m

    1,410m

    , , and others like this.
    1. November 2, 2025

      What Was I Thinking Kind of Morning

      ï»ż

      Planned a good ride today, including some hills I wanted to tackle, but the weather didn’t look great.

      Should I wait for the rain to stop? But then I’d be out for a good part of the day.

      No — I’ll go as early as possible and get soaked if I have to. I’m not made of sugar

    Loading