Does anyone know what the picture above represents? and why it’s so important to cyclists?
It explains why seven of us set off from the square into a stiff breeze and battled up to Edge, then down to Cainscross, then up again to Selsey, down to Frocester, up to Nympsfield, down to Wotton, up to Tortworth, and finally down to Falfield.
What was available in Falfield that made all this worthwhile? Coffee and cake of course!
The diagram shows a caffeine molecule. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant of the methylxanthine class and is the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world. It is performance enhancing and promotes wakefulness – not that any of us where likely to drop off to sleep when there was cake to be eaten.
The coffee made a huge improvement to our average speed on the way home, or maybe that was because the south west wind was firing us along and the route was pan flat at last. Either way we made it back to Framilode before the drizzle warranted putting jackets on, and we were damp rather than wet on reaching Gloucester.
55 miles, 3,409 ft, 15 mph.
SP