As you would expect in the second week of January the weather hasn’t been great but unexpectedly I ended the week on a positive note. Thankfully the depression of last week has lifted for the time being and I’ve also managed to clock up over 70 miles on the bike including a 33 mile run yesterday.
The middle of the week saw strong winds which limited not only distances traveled but also my enthusiasm. I took the opportunity to get the gears re-indexed by OWL, part of the Papworth Trust charity who provide a great service while you wait.
These short trips were bookended by two longer ones. The plotting of new routes, planning coffee stops, and taking in different scenery is so much more rewarding than plodding along familiar roads. As Ros was meeting a friend in Woburn yesterday she dropped me off at McDonald’s car park in Royston so early that the racehorses were still exercising on the heath. However the sub zero temperature seemed to give me more impetus (and cold ears) arriving at my planned coffee stop 17 miles later with ease.
On the way I found a new friend who was all too keen to smile for the camera.
On I went, the wind finally my friend, across Grantchester Meadows, and home.
One thing I have realised is how adept I have become at avoiding the dozens of pot holes pitting the local roads. Now I am cycling further afield I am falling into some big ones. I have heard of amputees being able to feel pain where limbs used to be, well as the force of the drop into yet another pot hole is transferred to my body via the saddle I am sure it is the pain in my erstwhile prostate that causes various profanities to spill from my mouth.
Jon on a bike...La Vélo Francette 