Ride 262 of the year and day 142 of the streak rolled out five minutes before midnight on Halloween, and it was very much a case of rinse and repeat: another late loop to keep the run of days alive. I couldn’t find my heart-rate monitor before I started, so tonight would be ridden on power and feel alone.
The fog was the story from the start. It was 6°C, 92% humidity and almost dead still, and the mist hung thick in the lanes as I dropped off the ridge and freewheeled down Hunton Hill, the climb that had finished off Friday’s ride. The headlight just bounced back off the murk, and the world shrank to a few metres of wet tarmac.
At the bottom it flattened out into the easy miles: through Chainhurst and down Sheephurst Lane towards Marden, round a loop of the lanes south of the village and back up through Marden itself.
For company I had Yello’s new album, out the day before, on the playlist – and fittingly it has a track called Midnight Traffic. Not that there was much of that. Over the whole ride just 3 vehicles passed me – one every half hour or so.
From Marden I worked north up Stilebridge Lane and across to Lower Farm Road, steady Zone 2 work on flat, empty roads with nothing to see beyond the edge of the beam. Then came the sting: Church Hill, the one climb on the loop that Garmin rates, a Category 4. The 100 metres back up onto the ridge took 8:51 at 224 W, the hardest few minutes of the night.
At the top, in Boughton Monchelsea, I stopped for a minute and a half outside the village primary school. The beam picked out its yellow School Keep Clear markings and the edge of a hedge, and beyond them a line of street lamps faded into the fog.
Then it was west along the ridge towards home. At Linton crossroads the lights were on red, so I waited another minute with them glowing through the murk – about the only colour in a grey night.
The last stretch took me through Coxheath, where one of the night’s three cars came at me out of the fog as little more than a pair of headlights. Then home, 27 km in the bag and the streak safely into day 142 – no heart rate, three cars and a Yello track named for the occasion.
The numbers
- Ride: #1133 on Strava, ride 262 of 2026, day 142 of the streak
- Distance: 27.1 km
- Moving time: 1:16:38 (1:25:27 elapsed)
- Elevation: 183 m
- Average power: 116 W
- Heart rate: not recorded – I couldn’t find the monitor before I started
- Cadence: 90 rpm average
- Calories: 649 kcal
- Highlight: Church Hill – 2.16 km, 101 m, 8:51 at 224 W
- Conditions: dark and very foggy, 6.3°C (feels like 7°C), 92% humidity, barely a breath of north-easterly wind
- Year to date: Distance 21,275 km, Elevation Gain 217,030 m
The route
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
The profile and climbs
1 climb: 1 Cat 4. Biggest: 1.7 km at 5.4%, 93 m of climbing (Cat 4, from km 21). Together the climbs account for 93 m of the ride’s ascent.
Cat 4 Pins 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 | 21.2 | 1.74 km | 93 m | 5.4% | 7:35 | 232 W | Cat 4 |
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.