Winter has arrived and last night it gave me a slap. Another late night (after the kids are in bed) road ride on the cross bike-cum-touring bike, up the hill through Walshaw and towards Affetside. The council clearly hadn’t gritted the road up there and as I approached the summit I could tell it was getting more and more icy, until it was a sea of ice and slush.

I stopped to check with my feet for ice. I thought there wasn’t any. I pressed on and within a few seconds, SLAM. I found the ice – several metres of it. I hit the tarmac, twisted my wrist and listened to the crunching of road meeting metal. I’ve scratched my rear mech although I didn’t bend the hanger this time. I’ve also managed to smack the STI’s into the ground and taken big chunks out of those too. Why did I pay the extra for Ultegra? They look like they’ve been shotblasted and kicked around a car park after 12 months use and abuse, but at least they still work.