It's just a state of mind

"Do you know what irony is Baldrick?"
"Of course I do sir, it's like silvery or goldy, only less valuable."

It's Saturday morning and I have had a very busy week, at work, at home, in my head. Just as the past is a foreign country, my head is a foreign country most of the time, I have to have the phrase book out all the time. So as I type this, trying to find a comfortable position for my back and neck after my latest near-miss with an automobile, whilst cycling down a hill at speed, looking out the window to blue skies and sunshine, knowing that I'm riding tomorrow and the forecast is for torrential rain, having ridden home last night in cold, driving rain and wind, seriously under-dressed, balancing hypothermia and skid risk on super-skinny tyres, the man on the radio is talking about introducing measures to counteract the effects of a drought.

Irony? Baldrick knows nothing.

The answer to the drought problem in East Anglia is simple. Don't bother with standpipes, rationing or hose-pipe bans. Just arrange for me to have an extra two or three weeks holiday, in the national interest, and get me to cycle around Bury St. Edmunds, Lavenham, Attleborough or Wisbech for the duration in lightweight summer gear and (particularly) summer shoes and socks.

It will rain for a month.

As soon as I go back to work the good folk of Suffolk, Norfolk and wherever, can enjoy unbroken sunshine for the rest of their summer, allowing the grain to ripen properly, and wheat yields will top 4 tons an acre.

As for the near-miss on the way into work, well they seem to be happening so frequently that I'm getting tired of writing about them. I always take extra care ddescending St Peter's rise in Bedminster. It is urban for a start, with lots of parked cars and so I gave them a wide berth, but usually once I get to the bend in the road I can see far enough ahead to take my fingers from the brakes and let gravity do its thing. So it was slightly disquieting that it was a car pulling out from a parallel parking space on the other side of the road and coming across my path that made me swerve suddenly into the gutter and brake sharply.

Luckily it was dry in the morning or I'd have been off. If it had happened in the evening when the roads were awash with rain I'd have had no chance. I didn't notice for a couple of hours but my neck and back are very sore, I suspect the avoiding action didn't help.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/91506795

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/467815


I'm beginning to think this post is becoming a bit of whinge, so time to get a grip. The ride in yesterday was actually lovely. It was cold, very cold for June, but nice and misty and speckles of sunshine falling into the lanes, helped by the super-early hour of the day. I think life doesn't get much better than moments like that. Few people were up and about, a desire to be at the office by 7.30 meant I left at 5.45, and with the mid-summer sun, it gives enough light to do that.

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored my efforts in advance of next week's Somerset 100. It means a lot to me to be able to raise funds for Bristol's cancer unit, and the ride itself promises to be a great one, almost the antithesis of last week's Dragon debacle. There are a few other activities going on at Sweet's cafe too, all in the same cause, as well as a very modest 35 mile ride on pan flat ground that everyone could do. So if you can ride a bike, want to support a great local cause, meet nice people and have a bit of fun, why not come along and fill the last few remaining places?

Sign up here:

http://www.somersetcycling.com/Somerset_Cycling_Somerset100.html