You can keep this suit of lights

Did you notice how mild it has become in the last few days. Wet, sure. But the temperature was in positive double figures today. Riding up Long Lane outside of Wrington I was like a boil-in-the-bag meal, steamed from the inside as well as the outside. To be hyperbolic, there was a miraculous window in the weather this morning, allowing me to ride into work and dodge most of the rain. Of course I couldn't utter the obvious fleecy-Buff related comment. That would bring the ice back for sure.

Of course there was water all over the roads from the torrential downpours we have had over the last couple of days. At times it was more a case of finding the dry bits, rather than dodging the puddles. Umm.

I also re-learned the lesson from last week that back roads are pretty pants to ride in the dark, unless it's dry, warm, and still. So Summer then. The dark definitely slows me down too. The mind is a wondrous thing usually, but mine played tricks on me today.

I know the back roads, I know when they go straight and when they bend, where the potholes are, the dips, all that. But in the dark my imagination can take over, and I find myself riding slower, convinced there is a bend coming up, when all logic says there isn't.

On the way home I took a rather convoluted route in a forlorn attempt to avoid the nasty block headwind coming straight up from the Bristol Channel. This eventually took me up Brockley Coombe, one of my favourite local climbs, mainly because it is not too steep, and has a few interesting bends and some woods on it. Not on the road, at the side. Really. I have taken to attaching one of my small Back-upz lights to the back of my jacket, a poor man's laser suit. Good for ascending on a twisty hill though. I am still alive after all, despite some mad driving from some of the commuters in the boxes.

I resisted the urge to dodge round the back of the airport, but I did wonder if the plane spotters go out at night. I bet they do. Skip and I have a tentative plan to go up there tomorrow, to cycle not to plane spot. But judging by how I feel, and how she feels, I have a funny feeling we'll end up some place else. Some place flat.

http://www.thecyclingmayor.com/?m=201101

It was great to ride today. I have had a very hectic working week, and this felt like a great release, clearing the cobwebs and all that. It's what God designed our bodies for I think, cycling. And to paraphrase Eric Liddel, when I ride I feel his pleasure. But by the time I got home I was just about gone. To my surprise I'd nearly done 50 miles today, all that wending adds up.

It would have been apt if I had done 46 miles today. I was amazed to get to this age and realise I could, with a bit of focus, no actually a complete absence of focus, enjoy myself. How did that happen? Must have been all that wending. Sometimes you need to plan, sometimes you just need to ask for the key to the bike cupboard in the basement.

Who knows, perhaps tomorrow I'll wake up bouncing and raring to storm up a few inclines. We'll see, won't we.

Ici Charlie:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63387373