Last Friday was Ant ‘Mess Your Pant’ Duckmanton’s birthday, to which Lucy and I went up to Stamford to celebrate. This was fine until I realised I would miss out on my Sunday club run. Due to work commitment and the lack of daylight, this is the only training I’m getting at present, and so missing a week would be quite a big deal. To which I decided to take my bike and planned on a Sunday morning trek round Rutland Water.
On the Saturday evening, I mixed a soft drink in-between the vokda’s to ensure I was clear-headed in the morning. However, in the morning I was greeted by dark clouds and rain. Not normally a problem, but this week I had borrowed Dave’s DT Swiss wheels to test out some Hope hubs, with his rubber it meant my mudguards did not fit. So I was in Stamford with a bike not suited for wet wether, clothes not really suited for wet weather and still a cloudy head. Yet, I was not put off, I still got ready and tried my luck.
The first 5 miles were really hard work, driving rain, headwinds, and long slow inclines. After pushing for a while and not certainly feeling like I was getting anywhere, something clicked, and it just fell into place. The weather no longer seamed to worry me, I hardly noticed the rain, the hills were just a challenge rather than a heart sinking eyesore.
I was out and about for around an hour and a half before I had to report back home for the British tradition of a Sunday roast!
The cycling was by far the hardest work I’ve done, but it was also the most rewarding. It also helped me decide on the Hope hubs; I want some!