Back to normal ?

well, no, not really

Monday was a day of rest, a simple commute, shortest way both ways, tired legs.

A few beers and some red wine to celebrate a month on the bike and a (almost) month of sobriety.

Tuesday was on the MTB, straight to work along the river, trails were filthy so the bike got cleaned up at work, it also carried on raining during the day and as much as I wanted to ride I didn't want to get the bike filthy again so I did my usual route on the roads with the Genesis Latitude, really enjoyed it despite some dodgy moments with cars.

Wednesday pissed down all day so straight there and backs, legs tired.

Thursday, road bike, straight to work into the wind, a fast looking roady passed me so obviously I sat 20 yards behind him, 23mph, impressive, wonder how long he can keep this up ?, half a mile later and the tell tale look back, he was gutted to see me sat there and put his head down, another 300 yards and another look back, this time though he was blown, straight down to 17mph and a resigned look as I passed him.

Luckily for me though I only had another 300 yards before I turned off, by now I was praying that he wasn't going my way as I was now blowing !, he turned right, I turned left with thighs on fire !.

Thursday night and the wind had grown substantially, it would have been easy to head straight home but my resolve is still strong, so I turned left into the gale, struggling to maintain 15mph. An hour and 15 minutes into a headwind was enough, I was pretty spent when I turned back, speed immediately went up to 22mph with little pedal pressure needed. Got home after 2 hours 15 minutes, 34 miles covered, knackered.

2 beers and a bottle of red later and struggled to get up the stairs, day off needed.

Friday, drove to work, legs still aching, resting for the weekend, road ride on Saturday and then long cross bike ride on Sunday, plan is to head up the trans pennine trail as far as conditions allow, stopping at Jodphurs for a bacon butty and then if everyone is good head upto the Woodhead Tunnel. It might well be a little early in the year for an 80 miler but we'll see how folk are feeling :-).