Tap, tap, tap

Been out for 4 hours this morning. All but the last 30 minutes was fairly dry and then it made up for it, raining hard like needles on your face, water finding any gap to trickle inside socks and jackets. A mountain of soggy kit is now whizzing round and round in the washing machine, exchanging soapy suds for sweat and rain.

The ride was fine. Nice chat and 60 steady miles of tapping away, duracel-bunny slow. Plodding on. I am thinking a lot about Strathpuffer and whether or not I would like to be riding around an icey, treacherous and windy course in Inverness for 24 hours with 18 hours of darkness and few people other than Rob cheering me on.

I decided that yes, I probably would.

Ps: As I write this James is in the lead by 2 minutes. Go on Leavesley!

Training, raining...

Picture: View of the Quantocks from a lovely lane winding its way along the edge of Exmoor. Sigh...

I have had a great few days training, despite the weather. I seem to have a knack for picking the break in the rain to zip out on my bike. My road bike is covered in thick oily sludge and needs a good scrub but I'll do that today before I go to work.


I have ridden all over the Mendips lately. Rob and I had a beautiful ride early on Sunday morning. We beat the traffic and got up onto Cheddar early. The air was drowned and we were blown sideways at times but it was invigorating.


A few times I have had to reroute my rides to avoid floods - England seems to be under water at the moment - but on the whole my riding has been smooth and uneventful. I still have no oomph but Rob assures me I don't need any and that we are still building the base of my tower so it can go higher and higher (so that when I jump off I land a long way from the base). It all makes sense, honest!
This is a road, honest...


I feel very engaged with life at the moment. In contrast to some other female riders I know, my kit is clean, my bikes are working, my work is fulfilling, my life is in order and I am marching forwards WITH cycling - as a pleasure and a discipline - rather than flopping helplessly with cycling as an escape.

My kit - clean, washed and drying... I love the battle, not just the victory.

PS. Good luck James at Strathpuffer. Go get 'em!