Onwards and Upwards - Ride No 1

So, the holiday season is over, the ice has melted and the world hasn't actually stopped, life at work is difficult to say the least, we are almost 30 billion dollars in debt but some people still believe in us and have been kind enough to give us another 3 billion to get us over this difficult period - God bless America

Got to see my apprentice over the xmas period, albeit too briefly (and no sight of the lovely Laura ), he's come a long way and is now one of the best photogs on the mountainbike scene IMHO, however, HE needs to keep to his own unique eye :-)

So, all the negativity has been put away for the weekend, 2 days of bike rides ahead, how can it get any better ?, well to start with today I did the first ride of 2009, all was going well, trails are in reasonable condition, not many people about for me to scowl at and then I remembered that the spare tubes that I had in my bag were 700x23 and the tyres on my bike were 29 x2.1's !.

Within 2 minutes of this realisation I heard the pop !, front wheel flat at approximately 5 miles from home, not a cat in hells chance of that tube fitting so I set off jogging, to be honest I wasn't that bothered as I'd already ridden 10 or so miles and was happy, had that slight warm leg feeling that has been so missing for the last few months.

Got home about an hour later with a very sore heel, riding shoes aren't really designed for running and walking but otherwise fine, quick bike swap and I was out back on the trails and the 30 mins later in work, shave, shower and coffee and all was well.

Long difficult day and then short way home, got cut up at the lights and the driver wound down his window and apologised !, blimey charlie !

Ride No 1 - 15 miles on the bike, 5 miles walk... a good start