Most people were turning in for the night when I clipped in. It was 23:52 on Tuesday, the sky was clear, the thermometer read 6.6°C, and there was barely a breath of wind from the west. The air was damp, the kind of cold that settles on your gloves rather than biting at your face. Ride 1,129 on Strava, number 258 of the year and day 138 of the streak, was under way.
The plan was simple: an easy loop through the lanes south-west of Maidstone, keep the heart rate low, keep the legs turning. For the first hour, that’s exactly what happened. Out through Yalding and across towards Collier Street, then the long flat run onto Pattenden Lane and back. The Weald at midnight is a different place. The lanes that are busy with tractors and delivery vans by day belong to you alone. Over the whole ride I was passed by three vehicles. Three.
Cadence sat in the low 90s, power hovered around 100 watts on the flats, and my heart rate barely crept above 105. Proper Zone 1 and 2 riding, the unglamorous foundation everything else is built on. I rolled through East Peckham, along Gravelly Ways and Green Lane, and past Stilebridge Lane, where, for once, no dog gave chase.
Then came Church Hill.
I hadn’t planned to go hard. But there’s something about a climb in the dark, with nothing but the pool of your own light ahead of you, that makes it hard to hold back. From Lower Farm Road the road tilts up and keeps going, about 100 metres of climbing in two kilometres. On the steepest part, the 800-metre Church Hill climb segment, I averaged 308 watts for three and a half minutes, with my heart rate pushing up to 170 by the top. That was good enough for my third-best time ever on it, at well past midnight in October.
Then the reward: over the top, back down the other side, and an easy spin home to let the heart rate settle.
The numbers
- Distance: 37.1 km
- Moving time: 1 hr 41 min
- Elevation: 245 m
- Average heart rate: 111 bpm
- Average cadence: 92 rpm
- Church Hill climb: 3:29 at 308 W (3rd best)
- Conditions: clear, 6.6°C, light westerly
- Traffic: 3 vehicles
The route
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
Ninety minutes of quiet, steady base miles with one sharp, honest effort in the middle. Not a bad way to see in a Wednesday.