Ride Three — Chasing the Golden Hour

Some rides you have to drag yourself out for. This wasn’t one of them.

Ride three of the Cycle the Month Challenge for Prostate Cancer UK was the best one yet — 30.72km, 1 hour and 31 minutes, 152m of climbing and an average of 20.1km/h, with the heart rate sitting at a comfortable 122bpm the whole way round.

That last number is the one I’m quietly pleased about. Three rides in and the legs are starting to settle into it. The same sort of pace that felt like work at the start of the week now feels like cruising, and I finished this one knowing I had more in the tank rather than counting down the last few kilometres.

The Light Was the Story

But honestly, the numbers weren’t the story of this ride. The light was.

I timed it right without really meaning to and ended up out in the middle of the golden hour, riding into a sun that was dropping low over the fields. Everything turned that deep amber colour for about forty minutes — hedgerows, stubble fields, the road ahead, all of it lit up. I stopped once, just to look at it, and that photo is the one on the front of this post.

This is exactly what I hoped the challenge would give me. Not personal bests, not big numbers to post — just a reason to be outside at the right time of day, on roads I’d otherwise drive past without ever really seeing. Cycling for a month forces you to look at where you live properly, and it turns out there’s a lot worth looking at.

The Pattern Is Holding

Three rides down and the pattern is holding: get out, turn the pedals, come home better than you left. Some days will be short and functional like ride two. Some, like this one, remind you why people do this for fun in the first place.

Every kilometre this month is raising money for Prostate Cancer UK — funding research, raising awareness and supporting men and families dealing with a disease that affects far too many people. If you’d like to chip in, every donation genuinely helps.

Three rides down. Many more to go.