What if I say I'm not like the others?

Ah, New Year. As I pulled into the basement entrance at work this morning on my bike I saw the familiar face of a colleague, arriving by an unfamiliar mode of transport. Yes you guessed it a bike. He mumbled something about "new fitness regime" and disappeared inside before i could get my security pass out from the 84 layers protecting me from the frosty, cold morning.

Every year at the carpark at the end of our road, January brings them in droves, to do a Sunday walk in the fresh air in the National Trust woods behind us. By February it's back to the hard-core. Same as our changing room today, and doubtless gyms up and down the country are at their peak of busyness.

On 1st January 1990 I gave up having sugar in my coffee. To my knowledge it's the only NY resolution I have ever kept to, can't bear sugary coffee now. So I hope that if you are thinking about some NY resolution, you do it because YOU want to or even need to, not because you feel you should.

Because of the cold, the damp and the ice (yes there was some on the back roads as I discovered near Felton), I thought I'd do a few hills today. On the way home I did my (apparently) most mentioned hill in the office, the Princess knows what I'm talking about. However coming down the other side, in the sleet, the headwind and the dark, it did not seem like a good idea. For some unknown reason the local farmers had decided to leave a carpet of mud on top of the tarmac. If you have a look at the Charlie link (the second one, called player) you will see I came down the hill almost as slow as I went up it.

Cars on full beams didn't help either, and the fact i didn't eat properly this afternoon all contrived to set a very low speed. But it doesn't matter for two reasons. First, I got over 2500 feet of climbing in. Second, as I climbed up to Winford Manor I realised I don't even need to impress myself anymore. Last year I did for me, to prove stuff to myself. Now, well I can do what I need to do, I don't need to be a pretender to anyone now.

Happy cycling

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61973885

http://connect.garmin.com/player/61973885