Hill work

It was the end of July when I last did any hillwork on the road bike - 3 months ago! The outing with Pat and Kev 2 weeks ago was great, was pretty much on the level and just what I needed as my first outing after a break. Today, with good weather, I had hills in mind. It was Andy's first outing on the roadie after a break of 3 months, so we took a gentle ride up to the Col de Saraillé from Massat (stopping just outside Massat for an unwelcome puncture repair!) and then through to Cominac where, after a quick assessment of how we were both feeling, we decided to extend the ride down into Oust then along to Ercé. There, we had a very welcome break for a café crème before tackling the steeper road back up to Cominac and on to Saraillé. Another coffee break in Massat and then home up the Col de Port road. Only 53kms but that included over 1000m of ascent, so a worthwhile little outing.

A few observations from today which sum up this time of year.....
- the lingering smell of woodsmoke in the air
- the jangling of cattle/goat/sheep bells in the lower pastures
- the sound of chainsaws

..... yes, winter is in the air