…wasn’t a ride. It had been raining all day and it was still cats n dogs so I went for a run instead. Running in the rain is good fun, however cycling in the rain gets on my wick. I’ll ride in the morning instead so hopefully the sun will come out or something wacky like that.

Whilst running I didn’t get chased by the pesky dog for a change. Normally when I’m out on the bike past this farm the dog comes running out onto the bridleway and barks and tries getting a mouthful of cyclist. I often swing an unclipped leg at it and it’s become a bit of a tradition. The last time this routine happened the other night I accelerated as usual, unclipped my right foot, shouted the usual profanity and swung the leg in the dog’s direction. As usual. This time though I caught it with the brass cleat on the bottom of the shoe. I’m not pootling along here so it’s had a proper one right across the gob. Oops.

After a brief pause, it started barking again. But it had stopped running. I’ll have to have a ride up there soon with a couple of Bonios.

CX bike, up the road to Ramsbottom, along the usual route to the Steep Carry Up The Hill Of Doom, did that 3 times then along the sheep tracks to Redisher then a bonkers sprint back down the road to home.

It was a gorgeous evening, which makes it even more of a shame that the rest of the week is supposed to be pants, weather-wise.

I had a couple of glasses of wine too many on Saturday night and a whole bar of Green and Black’s chocolate. I still managed to get up on Sunday morning and go for a ride (the straight up Holcombe Hill Repeatedly ride) but I felt ill. I had to stop at one point because I thought I was going to puke at the side of the road. I remember a time when I could sink 8 pints and still function the day after, no problem. Not that I miss being almost 15 stone though.

Later on, I had to get the car roofbox out of the cellar. In order to do this, I had to move a few bikes out of the way and just kind of leant them against each other. The CX bike fell over and the top tube got twatted by another bike’s pedal. So there’s a dent in the top tube now and I’m still annoyed about it. Brant’s confirmed that there’s nothing to worry about, but it still looks crap. A constant reminder of my own stupidity in a way.

I’ve ordered a sticker.

Deb’s away with the kids this week so I’m spending it either working or riding. Last week’s 200 miles didn’t quite happen but it should be achievable this week no problem. Is riding hard every day for a week good prep for Sleepless at the weekend? Probably not eh! I’m in a team of 5 though so I guess I can afford to be a bit blasé about it.

So. The plan is, go to work. Get home. Get changed. Eat (quickly). Ride for a few hours. Get home, clean bike, kit and self. Put that bike away. Get another one out. Refill bottles/Camelbak. Lube chain and quickly fettle bike. Go to bed. Get up. Work. Get home…etc.

Can I keep this up all week? Stay tooned.