Back in the Saddle with a cracking Andy Brown Hill Fest

My last blog was 20 days ago! This is probably leading many of you to wonder what's happened? This is the big build up to Dawn to Dusk our epic 200 mile ride. It's time to live like a monk and train like a ninja! Well I have been out but possibly not as much as I expected. Since the last blog and before today I've done these rides:



This was the ride to recover from that massive weekend of 176 miles with 120 on the squires and spires and 67 on my 29r riding from Tigers to Saints.



The next day I did the same ride and was starting to feel good again. Then things got very busy at work and I didn't have time for anymore that week. On Saturday I woke up feeling rough which took me a day to get over so no ride with C&D Cycles CC. The same snuffle had Mrs Lindsley back on the nebuliser and being treated with steroids and antibiotics! Proof once again that cyclists are stronger than normal human beings. (more on that later)


I felt better on the Sunday but not really up to: smash myself silly on a Steve Sunday 'keep up if you can - but we will wait,' ride. So I decided to have some fun and do my favourite off road route. You've all seen it before. Some call it 'Clay Dick,' others Geddington Chase. What a great decision this was. It's fully dry and I finally felt I tested my 29r properly with a few PRs.

Then came the lull. Work was again very busy and I wanted to get finished up so I could enjoy my leave without any stress. No matter I had all next week...On the Saturday I took the boys to the Saints for the semi-final and with an early kick off the club ride was out. No matter I had all next week...On Sunday I was sulking due to my magnificent Saints losing the opportunity to be back to back champions. No matter I had all next week...On Monday we had a big family dog walk and the day was gone, my sister who is over from Australia stayed the night and we spent the evening drinking way too much wine so on Tuesday I had a bit of a hangover! Tuesday night my good friend Malcolm stayed over with his kids and once again a lot of good food and drink was consumed. You getting the idea? Live like a monk train like a ninja had become live like a King recover like a whinger. However on Wednesday I went for a ride!



Yes that's right SuperSam and I had a little offroad adventure and found another local geocache.

Stylish young man

Action shot

The geocache is here...by the snake skin!

Proper off road fun

OK so we can't really count the SuperSam ride which means I went 13 days without a decent workout and 17 days without going on my road bike! Yikes!!! How could I have gone from feeling great about myself to feeling a bit underdone? Well it's life isn't it? Life doesn't care about our training schedules it just chucks spanners at us and laughs.

So have I wrecked my chances of competing Dawn to Dusk? I doubt it! There is so much we choose to believe about health and fitness it takes something like this to realise you've believed contradictory facts for about twenty years. The first is a fitness instructor I worked with told me it takes ten weeks to get fit and two weeks to get unfit. Oh dear that sounds bad! Then at the same time a physio I worked with told me the physiological changes caused by exercise take at least four weeks. By that theory I should feel the benefit from Squires and Spires next week! Why do we just believe stuff people say?

If we look at what the pros do well they cycle everyday and then if the documentary about Wiggins is to be believed they don't even tie their own shoe laces in between Walking to the nearest cafe rather than rolling there on a little commuter bike is also considered detrimental to recovery. However they will do an 80 mile ride on rest days so we can't be compared! Interestingly nutrition is the key and they have all food prepared and provided linked to personal diet plans. As mere mortals we see a ride as evidence we can have pie and chips for tea, never mind we had pie and chips the night before because we needed to carb load and  pie and chips in the week because well, we're cyclists and we burn 6000 kcals a day (mostly by talking about cycling at work.) My pie and chips energy conversion and storage facility is approaching peak capacity this week!

I woke this morning feeling good about the world and really looking forward to a ride. Many facebook friends were sharing the following story: Mid-life crisis reduced to purchase of cycling equipment this light hearted poke at us lycra loonies forgets that we live longer, are more attractive and are so rock hard we go out dressed like twerps without fear of ridicule. Mid life crisis my arse says Richard Lindsley aged 44.

Poor neglected Clive

It won't surprise you to know that I apologised to Clive my faithful road bike for neglecting him and promised it wouldn't be as long next time. Then off I set up Bunker hill and into Kettering to meet the wonderful people of C&DCycles CC. On arrival something lovely happened. Ian who rode with me on the Squires and Spires handed me some brand new tyre levers, I did the exact same thing back to him! Having realised mine were useless and then breaking one of Ian's we had both gone to the shops and bought two sets of tyre levers. I bought the ones Andy recommended (there's your mention oh dark one,) but Ian bought something that looks a lot better! Again proof that cyclists are just much nicer people!

Levers I bought

Levers Ian bought

Very clever instructions

Lots of deliberately casual outside the shop

 Michael has a sweet new ride

Lovely day for a bike ride

Yes this man is riding in sandals!

Stop at Sibbertoft

Our leaders for the day

Today's ride was an absolute beauty. We went down my favourite descent and up East Farndon Hill although as Rich McNab pointed out we cheated and missed the first 20 metres! We also went up a hill I'd never seen before and oh my goodness, Neville Holt, Rocky Hill move over, this is the hardest hill round here. It was like trying to ride up a wall! It has segment names such as: "bust a lung hill," and "Mill Hill murder!" I'm definitely going to see what that's like going down!!! Another great route and lead from the club's resident mountain goat. It was a good ride for me personally as even though I wasn't expecting it there were loads of PRs.

Elsewhere in he world of cycling things are getting exciting. Here in Rothwell we are preparing for the Women's tour and local businesses are getting behind the lady cyclists with themed pink bikes.

Hairdressers

Help the Aged

Newman's

The Tile Shop

Elsewhere the Giro d'Italia is failing to disappoint with Contador looking good for the first grand tour of the year. Next Saturday Sir Bradley Wiggins goes for the hour record currently held by Alex Dowsett, he's also trying to nick the Movistar rider's 10 mile TT record. Kurt Searvogel and Steve Abraham's continue their herculean efforts to break the year record. Their daily strava uploads make out 200 mile challenge seem piddly (it's not, it's epic!) Finally a specil mention to C&DCCC rider Heather Perry who completed her first time trial this week in club colours. Great ride Heather!

I'm going to give a big mention to my wife Mrs Lee Lindsley, the queen of cakes. Lee has struggled with her health massively over the last few years and as noted above is only just recovering from yet another chest infection. This week she has walked the dogs with me every day as part of a 'get fit,' challenge I've set her. Then this morning whilst Sam was sailing Lee walked round Pitsford. I'm massively proud of her.

Right so I'm back in the saddle which means just one thing. A Steve Super Sunday. I better have more pie and chips.

Happy Pedaling

PS for the benefit of my good friend Neil, there has been a lack of references to rugby in this blog. I did this purposely with him in mind and it has nothing to do with the Saints losing.

Squires and Spires Sportive - Gran Fondo

Today was about challenging myself. Part of yesterdays epic MTB ride was about fatiguing my legs for today. This for me was about seeing if tired legs could do 120 miles. Sound mad? Well yes, but there was method to my madness. I wanted to see how ready I am for the 200 mile D2D which is in just 6 weeks. Joining me today was Steve, Nat, Frank and Ian. I'm blessed to have some great cycling mates and these four were splendid company. We met on the market square in Rothwell and cycled over to start in Naseby which turned the 100 mile sportive into a 120 round trip.

Steve's impressive get up

Squires and Spires is organised by Just Racing. I feel they do a very good job. Registration and starting was swift. Signage was very good especially as they have a clever way of preventing tampering. The feed stations were supported by USN who do some good products including the blue electrolyte drink which Paul Kelf named smurf juice last year. Smurf Juice is a firm favourite and I'm going to ask Andy in the shop  if he can order some in. Andy if you're reading this we'd like some smurf juice, please don't not try to sell us an alternative, we want smurf juice...right!

Gathering pre start at Naseby: From right to left: Ian, Nat, Steve, Frank, Janet and Janet's brother!

Steve had ambitiously claimed before started that we would be sticking together today. Now that worked for 50 miles but I was glad that Steve,Nat and Frank stopped waiting for Ian and I after that. We couldn't keep up and trying to was actually making the ride harder for us. At the start I caught up with another cycling friend and former boss Janet who was riding with her brother. Janet was bravely riding on her spare bike having had a tumble and breaking her pride and joy. The nasty bruise on her calf would have put many others off too! I'm still waiting to hear how Janet's day went, I hope she's OK.

Cheeky selfie at the Althorp House 50 mile feed station

That 50 mile mark is quite a place to talk about the ride. Up to that point there had been some good hills but I have to say the first 50 is much easier than the second 50. From Althorp House the sequence of hills through Brington, East Haddon, Ravensthorpe, Coton, Guilsborough and Hollowell are brutal. To top it off just after that it's hill of the day at Haselbech. Every bone in my body wanted to get off and walk, but I didn't! To add insult to injury just after Haselbech I punctured. Ian was very supportive at this point even when I snapped his tyre lever trying to gorilla off those tricky gatorskin tyres. It takes ages to change a tube when you've been riding. It's a combination of tiredness and wanting to get going quickly. More haste less speed as my Nan would say. The hills kept coming and coming. We reached the next feed station and the trio of power had already gone. Don't blame them we were at least 20 minutes behind. After that feed station Ian and I found our legs for a while and rode well. Then we headed into the brutal final few miles. Firstly we climbed back up to Cold Ashby, through there I went to go the wrong way as I tried to take a far more sensible way back to Naseby. Unfortunately the organisers had different ideas and they sent us back up the quick hill downhill we started on. Up as you'll all know is different to down but I laughed in the face of that hill. So many climbs it was like we just got used to it. As we got back to the start/finish,Steve, Nat and Frank were waiting for us. For that I'm very grateful. We rode back together and as I got home I clocked 120 miles, my biggest ever ride.

Recovery Shepherds Pie

Recovery Ale - It won't clear but tastes great

Developing those sharp cycling tan lines

So right now I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. I also now know I'm going to be OK when we go for the 200 miler on June 20th. So that's the blog done, now time for my serious hobby, yep it's time to iron.

Happy Pedaling

Saints With Heart - All Roads Lead to Franklin's Gardens

Saints with Heart is an annual sponsored walk started 13 years ago by...ME! Since it's inception Saints with Heart has raised way over £150 000 for the British Heart Foundation. Traditionally it's been a variety of walks finishing at Franklin's Gardens, home of the current English Champions, Northampton Saints. The main walk is from Wolverton along the Grand Union canal to FG, which is about 16 miles. This year there was a twist where we were invited to get to FG by any means possible. So Thornton, aka Leicester Saint on the Saints Fan Forum 'Saints and Sinners,' decided he wanted to ride from Welford Road, home of our bitter rival Leicester Tigers to the Saints. As the organisers knew I was a keen cyclist they asked if I'd help Thornton with this. Also joining us on the day was my great friend Mark who I have mostly walked with every year.

From left to right: Mark, me, Thornton

Mark and Thornton met me at Welford Road to start their ride. I'd ridden there 26 miles from home. As you can see this was an MTB ride as we were going to use the Brampton Valley Way from Market Harborough. My ride to the Tigers was pretty tough. For starters my 29r as good as it is feels like a ten tonne brick compared to my road bike. Then the route was very hilly. The best of those hills was into Gumley. The predominant wind direction on a very breezy day was in my face all the way to Leicester!

The top of the hill at Gumley

The ride out of Leicester was highly eventful as we nearly got took out by a flying carpet! Not quite as it sounds. The wind had whipped a roll of carpet off a local shop front and it was merrily skipping down the road in out direction. After that though it was plain sailing with wind behind. Those hills are great and we need to go back that way on a club run. It was simple dimples once we got on the BVW and we arrived at FG later than planned but in plenty of time for kick off.

Much improved surroundings

I rewarded myself with a pint, steak pie and chips after 65 miles on my 29r. I'm not sure if there's an equation to work it out but those felt like much harder miles than road bike miles! At half time we had our medals presented to us on the pitch by injured Saints and England Full Back, Ben Foden. Ben was very lovely for a bloke that doesn't have to do this stuff and kindly obliged the fat sweaty bald bloke with a selfie.

A good looking man and Ben Foden

The match itself was never in doubt and a 46 nil win secured the top of the league for the 2014/15 for Saints. That's great because it means a home match in the play offs but unlike other sports there are no prizes for coming first in the regular season.

I need to thank everyone who sponsored me for Saints with Heart. If you want to know more about our annual fundraiser and why we started it click here.

Happy pedaling

Should I shouldn't I?

Recovering after the hill into Brixworth

Last night I was so cold and shivery that I lit the log burner. This morning I woke up with a sore throat, snotty nose and headache. Under those conditions it's usually a poor decision to ride. But I hadn't been out for a week, I had my new chainset to test and I really need to keep the training up in preparation for our Dawn til Dusk 200 mile circular of Northamptonshire. So I decided just to give it a go. Luckily for me the route came through Rothwell so I had a bit longer to get in some performance enhancing lemsip and a good rub down with Vicks.

I'm really glad I rode. I didn't feel that great at times but also didn't ride that bad either. A few PR's were achieved so that's good. The ride featured two really great hills. One going into Naseby past 'Fairfax's view,' and the monument on the site of the windmill that was there at the time of the battle. The other was the hill into Brixworth coming from Spratton.


That's the view Fairfax had and here's his wikipedia page Fairfax - New Model Army leader at the battle of Naseby

I always find it bewildering to consider that we frequently ride around the site of the decisive battle of the English Civil War. I wonder about all the people who died that day and the influence that victory has had on our history. It's particularly poignant this week as we approach a general election because our political landscape today was shaped in the Northants landscape we enjoy on our bikes. It's a very important place and for us cyclists a nice hill.

The upside of the climb into Naseby is the descent out of it. The point of hills for me is to whizz down them at break neck speed. It's the biggest reason I ride and it makes me feel ten years old again. We had another reason to celebrate Naseby as it's where we met up with Phil 'the beast'!

It would be unfair this week not to give Andy the C&DCycles shop manager an even bigger than usual mention. He has worked wonders on my road bike, Clive. I no longer have to endure the FSA 'made of cheese,' bottom brackets as the whole chainset is now Shimano. It's Tiagra because 105 are now 11 speed systems but as Phil eloquently put, it's a 200g difference and you can shed that from your ride by having a good dump before you leave the house! Wise words indeed. Andy also gave the bike a very needed service as lots of things were worn and in need of attention. He also gave the bike a wipe down. Proud of his efforts he announced to facebook that he'd cleaned my bike with 'chocolate scented dick smart.' possibly the most glorious autocorrect in history. Now I'm all in favour of a clean and tidy gentleman's area but in this case I know full well he meant Duck Smart. Autocorrect is the scourge of many a misinterpreted message and as Rich was regularly corrected to shag on one of my phones I full well understand the need for vigilance! Duck Smart has the unique selling point of being a water free cleaning system. It would undoubtedly be of great use in a drought situation but in the soggy Kettering area I don't see the point. My bike did however smell nice. Maybe it has other applications though and who knows a quick squirt down your pants would potentially increase desirability! All joking aside my bike is running very smoothly and with a quick turn around at a very reasonable price I am very grateful to my favourite bike shop manager.

Back at the shop my favourite wife had done us proud on the cake front. Cake is important to cyclists. Along with beer it is in fact the foundation of a good recovery and of course as we've burned off the calories so we can get it down us guilt free!

C&DCycles owner Chris demonstrates the correct technique for cake enjoyment

So...Should I have ridden? Well I feel better for riding. It's a fact that cyclists have better immune systems than non cyclists so it must have done me good. However I don't think I need to push it tomorrow by trying to keep up with Steve!

The last word of the day goes to Alex Dowsett. The English Movistar professional has laid down the gauntlet to Sir Bradley Wiggins by setting a new world record for the hour at Manchester velodrome. I'm really hoping he can upload it to Strava so we can all send kudos!

I'm not sure what I'm doing tomorrow but feel I ought to get out on the 29r. This time next week I will be riding to Franklin's Gardens, home of the English champions, Northampton Saints from Welford Road, home of the former champions Leicester Tigers. It's off road because the person I'm riding with doesn't have a road bike, so we'll be using the Brampton Valley Way. It's going to be around 60 miles by the time I get home. The ride is in aid of the Saints with Heart 'all roads lead to Franklin's Gardens,' event for the BHF. I created this event in 2002. Since then there's been 12 sponsored walks raising in well excess of £150k. As you can imagine I'm very proud of that. The day after I'm riding in the Squires and Spires sportive. A 100 miles on tired legs will be a good test and preparation for Dawn til Dusk. The only downside will be no rides with the club because the last few weeks have been great.

Happy Pedaling

Great week on the bike

Four rides this week. Two early morning solo rides and two group rides with the brothers and sister of C&DCycles CC. My positivity remains and my legs are now feeling justifiably sore. Definitely good training with just 8 weeks to go until the monster 200 mile ride.




This is just one of my standard routes for a morning ride. Its a good burst if I only have an hour.


Whilst similar in places this ride takes me to some of the most beautiful places. The highlights for me are the road from Maidwell to Lamport via Draughton and Mill Lane out of Old. The icing on the cake is that fast road into Loddington where I am to stay over 20mph.



On Saturday I led the banter bunch for another of Andy Brown's excellent undulating routes. It took me to places I've never ridden before so despite my good memory and sense of direction I was glad of Jonesy uploading to his Garmin. Tail gunning was the man who dreams of pink tights, Mark, who I'm also sure was glad to have his road bike back this week. The best uphill was definitely Ashley to Stoke Albany. For me the highlight of the ride was the opportunity to descend East Farndon Hill for a change.

Group shot at the top of a lumpy bit (Church Lane out of Harrington)

Feeling ruined in Stoke Albany

Things didn't start well as we were all nearly wiped out leaving Kettering. A driver in the left hand lane, which is to turn left only whizzed up the inside of our group and undertook us over the hash marked area. It was incredibly dangerous. I've reported the driver of R897 CVV to the police so let's see what happens eh! The other sickening sight was me having to strip off my base layer for the second week running. Those leaders gillets are too hot and a base layer was the right choice yesterday but not with the gillet on. So sorry everyone, I hope you're not all too traumatized.

One of them is, the other two are my friends...

On Sunday it was just the four of us for one of Steve's Sunday smashathon's. He promised me 50 miles so 54 wasn't too far out. The other two in our foursome was Frank and my former friend Neil, I love riding with Neil. I really did think he was a top bloke but when I went to tag him in a facebook picture I discovered he had unfriended me on facebook! Me? I'm amazing on facebook. How can anyone live without Sunday Night Ironing? Apparently it's because he didn't like my prolific posting around the time of the Saints magnificent victory. He also unfriended people who post about donkey sanctuaries, anyone who wants sponsoring for a good cause, anyone who is having a nice time and anyone who rides their pride and joy with the off chance of a light shower. In short he's a fiend and will not be getting anymore jelly beans.

ps Neil

My legs really felt yesterday's ride so keeping up with these elite athletes (and Neil who probably takes EPO,) would be very difficult. It proved that way but I didn't make them wait too much and I'm pleased overall with the ride. Back at the shop I asked Andy to have a fiddle. I then quickly explained I meant with my bike due to the excited glint in his eye. As per usual he got stuck in and as I suspected I've worn through my 3rd FSA bottom bracket. As Justin says: "FSA bottom brackets are made of cheese." Well I've had it with these more expensive yet less durable components and will be swapping to a shimano system next week.

Our friendly mechanic we couldn't live without

That's it for now. I'm looking forward to a lot more miles next week.

Happy pedaling

Oooh how did that get there?

What a difference a week makes...

Last week I was all doom and gloom. I wondered where my cycling was going and how on earth I'd be ready for our 200 mile challenge in June. I was hating every pedal turn and the harder I tried the worse I seemed to get. Then I watched this...




This is stuff I've always known. I even use this phrase every day at work:

"It doesn't matter how it is, it only matters how you feel about it."

How very very clever of me. It took watching this for me to realise it was about time I stopped saying clever things and started to feel them! Since then my whole outlook has changed, the smile is back on my face and I've fallen back in love with cycling.

So here's this weeks cycling.




On Thursday I managed to drag myself out of bed to enjoy an early morning ride. I doubt drag will be a future description because I rediscovered the sheer bliss of those early morning quiet roads. There is no better time of day to ride and unlike my recent rides I felt really strong. These will be a regular feature from now on.




On Saturday we were treated to a cracking route by Andy Brown. The scenery was stunning, the uphills were testing, some good descents for us downhill specialists and some lovely rolling county lanes. Having looked at the route I voluntered for the beginner group, which was nothing of the sort. The only thing that might slow us down was that Mark had to use his MTB because the road bike was getting some TLC from Andy in the shop. However Mark pretty much kept up until the last few miles so there was no need to worry. Unfortunately we lost Michael in Naesby. He checked the route with me and then headed off ahead of the group to stop for an al fresco piddle. Well we never passed him and despite waiting for ten minutes in Cottersbrokke he never caught us up. I'm looking forward to discovering where he ended up.

With such a positive Saturday ride, I could not wait to get out again this morning. Ably led by an 'on his best behaviour,' Steve a select group of us gathered at the shop, including:

Nat 'not in pink tights-Queen of all the Mountains,'
Chris 'Got a hot date,'
Rob 'who also wonders where Michael went,'
Neil 'Oooh look at my new bike,'
Ollie 'who is unconvinced about getting a carbon upgrade.'

Neil's shiny Giant Propel

We all chuckled at the bird poo additions and the fact he needs blue drinks to match

The ride was in the most part very good indeed. Great company, exceptional banter and top notch group riding. My attitude switch was tested by this group of strong riders and it stood that test. When I got behind I just smiled and tried harder and on some hills I actually started laughing. In Gretton we passed a feed station for the Action Medical Research sportive. They wanted us to stop but we were kind enough not to help ourselves to some free gels, then as we went past they started yelling for us to go right an got in quite a state when we just kept going! Into the last 5th of the ride Chris and I got held up at a roundabout and then couldn't quite close the gap to the others, they waitied for us, we went the wrong ay and then we were in front of them! So I got back the shop first a bit confused. Apparently we jsut needed to go round one more corner!

Mozart looks on in Gretton

On route we discussed how us 40 somethings (Not Nat she's not old like us,) benefit from cycling. Apparently it makes us younger. When I pointed out my Helmet makes me look younger it was taken the wrong way by the smutty buffoons. I just meant you couldn't see my rapidly balding head under my Kask lid.

OK so the main points are. Watch that video it will change your life. I have my mojo back and I can't wait for my next ride!

Happy Pedalling

ps I still want this bike

My Easter week of cycling

Blogging hasn't been a priority of late. So rather than blogging every ride I've decided to blog once a week..and what a week this was!


On Good Friday I had planned to test more of the Dawn to Dusk route with a 70 miler. However time was limited by me being the only "responsible" adult at home so I set off to do one of my favourite routes. I'm not sure when I did this last but I  remember doing it on New Year's Day 2014 with Darren, a man I thought was a cycling buddy for life but alas it didn't work out that way. This route has everything that's good about cycling in Northants, with rolling hills, quiet roads and pretty villages. If I could only do one route for the rest of my life it's this one.

On Saturday I went out. I know I did. I got home just in time to discover Joe didn't have a driving lesson after all! I have no record of where I went or what I did. All I know is I successfully got home for 10:30. Hmmm...epic tracking fail followed by MAMIL memory loss!


Sunday! I know what I did Sunday! I set out to ride as fast as I could for a couple of hours and it wasn't bad at all. A lovely spin in fact and the start of the lovely weather we've enjoyed for most of the week.


Tuesday was interesting indeed! I set off without a plan. Somehow that non plan got me to Pitsford Sailing Club in time to see Sam start his training course. Then I set off in search of hills! Spratton, Holdenby, Ravensthorpe, Coton, Naseby, East Farndon, Griffin Road Braybrooke and Harrington. All beastly lumps for round here and great fun in that sado masochistic way us cyclists enjoy!


On Thursday I decided to take the 29r out for a spin, no plans again just up to weekly woods and see where it took me. Well I ended up coming back to Rushton and then doing a bit of geocaching. If you don't know what that is I must warn you look away now! Once the geocaching bug hits you won't be able to stop!

Here's a cache on the hill to Orton

View from the cache

There's a brilliant cache here

This is a geo coin...they move from cache to cache

Off the beaten track for this cache

You have to climb the tree to get the tree frog cache!

Left by a fellow C&D cyclist

Some of them are tiny!

On Friday I decided on the 29r again and more geocaching than riding using local caches and then the Brampton Valley Way to Market Harborough which is stuffed with caches! Four hours to do twentyish miles  with scrambles up slopes and tree climbing and bramble bashing to find the little containers of treasure!



Finally Saturday and I went out for a Saturday club ride. It went a bit wrong as Phil, Steve and I got dropped by the bunch and then they disappeared. I thought they'd follow rule #1 and wait for us on Middleton Hill but no...then surely the beast that is Rocky. Again no sign of them. Steve was peeling off at Gretton for a few more miles so Phil and I plodded back to Pipewell. We were very disappointed that we'd been abandoned and many rude words were said. Then Glynn appeared behind us. Then the rest of the club...they'd gone the wrong way! Ha serves them right for not stopping sooner because I knew the route. All was however forgiven.

There's a bigger problem though. I'm slower than ever. I can't work it out. I think I might be stressing about Dawn to Dusk but suddenly I'm back to 13mph averages. I've never been the quickest but that's really poor even for me. I need to look at the training plan and figure out what I can do to sort this out. I do this for enjoyment, being a hindrance to others is not my idea of fun!

Happier pedaling required!