Ride 246 of the year and day 126 of the streak started at eight minutes past eleven on a Thursday night. It was cloudy and oddly mild for the middle of October, nearly 16°C, with 93% humidity and hardly any wind. Two days earlier I’d ridden 163 km out to Dungeness, the night before had been the easy spin of Eight Vehicles in the Dark, and the next morning would be the first day of my leave, so there was nothing to prove. The Babylon Lane loop at an easy pace would do nicely.
From home I went east along the ridge through Linton, down a short dip and then up the long, gradual drag towards Ulcombe, which gained around 60 m over ten kilometres, a gentle warm-up. Then came the pay-off: I hardly touched the pedals on the way down Ulcombe Hill, topping out at 56.7 km/h.
Down on the Weald the night was dark and empty. I rolled through Headcorn and out to Smarden, heart rate sitting in the 80s, and only 12 vehicles passed me in the whole ride. Then it was back west to Babylon Lane, the best lane in the vicinity, flat and quiet and made for this sort of pedalling.
The one real climb of the night came just past 41 km: Wierton Hill, number 27 on the 100 Climbs X-List. I didn’t chase it, riding 214 W for 6:46 with my heart rate topping out at 129, the highest of the ride. Two weeks later, in Warm Mist on Wierton Hill, I’d take well over a minute off that.
From the top it was the easy run back along the ridge through Linton, and I was home a little after half past one. A Relative Effort of 19 and that top heart rate of 129 put the whole ride inside my recovery targets. Mild, quiet and easy – a good way to clock off before the leave began.
The numbers
- Ride: #1117 on Strava, ride 246 of 2026, day 126 of the streak
- Distance: 49.5 km
- Moving time: 2:18:12 (2:28:56 elapsed)
- Elevation: 303 m
- Average power: 99 W
- Heart rate: 90 bpm average, 129 max
- Cadence: 85 rpm average
- Calories: 1,018 kcal
- Highlight: Wierton Hill (100 Climbs X-List No27) – 1.43 km, 79 m, 6:46 at 214 W
- Conditions: dark, cloudy, 15.7°C, 93% humidity, barely a breath of SSW wind
- Year to date: Distance 20,306 km, Elevation Gain 207,537 m
The route
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
The profile and climbs
2 climbs: 1 Cat 4, 1 uncategorised. Biggest: 1.6 km at 5.1%, 84 m of climbing (Cat 4, from km 42). Together the climbs account for 106 m of the ride’s ascent. Climbs are the ones Garmin’s ClimbPro found on earlier rides of this route, matched by GPS; length, ascent, time and power are from this ride.
Cat 4UncategorisedPins mark where each Garmin ClimbPro climb starts. Hover or tap a pin for details.
Climbs table
| # | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg power | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.0 | 0.49 km | 22 m | 4.5% | 1:58 | 175 W | Uncategorised |
| 2 | 41.6 | 1.64 km | 84 m | 5.1% | 7:21 | 209 W | Cat 4 |
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.