There and back again

I must be a hobbit. Not only do I always feel hungry about 10 o'clock, but on days when I ride to work I'm ravenous when I get there. Fortunately, this conundram has been solved, and I can now have my second breakfast in our sparkly new cafe. Lean bacon and beans, with just a few mushrooms, and yes a couple of hash browns. Well I did consume 1200 calories to get there.

Do you remember the summer of 1976? It was the seminal summer, baking hot, no rain for weeks, no months, and standpipes in the street. For me it was the year I left junior school, big school was an exciting adventure on the far horizon, and the whole six weeks stretched out ahead of me. Nothing to do but play football and cricket, paddle on the beach (for I lived by the sea) or ramble about in the fields and woods. And of course ride our bikes just about everywhere.

If people of my generation looked back on summers that were always sunny, this was the one. Then we grew up and went to work for nearly 30 years, and some point we all realised that once the booze, girls, and politics phase was over, we just wanted to do all the stuff we did in those summers. Of course, rambling about on beaches and in woods tends to get Middle-aged Men arrested, modern or otherwise, but we can all ride our bikes, especially when they are as bling as mine is, hahahaha! Yes I am part of a social phenomena before, apparently I am officially a MAMIL-Middle-aged man in Lycra- and it feels great to me.

How things have changed for our children. When my son looks back on his summers, he'll remember them as full of rain, and Nintendo DS.

Other bitersweet news. K-1 has a crack in the headtube. So much for all my remarks about carbon. But the good news is that it should be covered by a warrenty and if so, I will get a new frame. Just got to get the bike to Stroud and back for inspection and replacement.

So today's ride followed much the same route and hills as the last few weeks, except that I climbed Dundry Hill from the A38 for a change and came down the steep main road with all the hairpins. Not nice in the wet and the traffic, I will avoid in future. Autumn is galloping over the hill towards us i fear, it was very gloomy first thing, and a lot of surface water about, necessitating Backup lights, leg warmers and overshoes. Which were all in the back pocket for the trip home.

I also got to try an experiement with a work colleague. I lent the Power my car park pass, and dropped it off at her house in south Bristol on the way in. On the way home we both left the car park at the same time, and then informally raced up to her house, 4 miles away. I beat her by about a minute, mainly due to the benefit of the cycling lanes through the rush hour traffic. That said I was pretty slow today, coasting down the hills, ambling in traffic and trundling along in big gears on the flat. My Risk Management strategy has become one of Risk avoidance.

Charlie's cadence sensor was also playing up, so not sure if the figures are accurate, but I was not spinning like the Texan today. may give it a go on the flat tomorrow, just a very social bit of gentle cycling to keep the legs turning.

To finish, an apology. It's Madone. I really had no idea,until Bunny pointed it out to me. He likes things to be right after all.My bike, on the other hand, is called the Red Madonne, because, well I don't need a reason do I?

For route:

http://connect.garmin.com/player/46380643

For stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46380643