A bit of a mixed bag ...

Fortunately, I recovered from Friday night's excesses in time to ride with Sags on Sunday morning. Sadly, this was my last weekend ride with Sags as he is racing this coming Sunday and I move house next Monday. :-( It was not good for other reasons as well. As soon as I pulled up at our agreed meeting place at 0730 I was overcome with dread; not only was Sags on his TT bike but he was using his disk wheel and the very deep front wheel. The only thing missing was the aero helmet. And then he muttered those words that would strike fear into the hearts of most mortals - "I want to do a few efforts as well today!" Gulp! As a dedicated roadie now I was riding my trusty Litespeed without any tribars - I was in for a World of Pain. Needless to say, I couldn't hang on to his wheel at all. On his first effort I think I lasted no more than 3 minutes - it was like Chris Boardman on his Lotus bike breaking the hour record against "Dr Hutch" trying the Athletes Hour (for those less knowledgeable about cycling matters, the Athletes Hour is done without any aero aids. As a further aside, Hutch's book about his endeavours to break this record is highly recommended reading). At one point I was on the front riding at a none too shabby 22mph when Sags just cruised past and disappeared off into the distance. I think it's fair to say his cycling is OK. And just to rub it in, he texted me later to say he had ran a number of miles off the bike at something like 6:15 pace. Now where did I put my gun?

Seriously, it was a great ride; I did a little over 92km in 3hrs 5 mins so was well pleased. The speed will come; it's miles in the bank I need at the moment. And wasn't it great to see the sun shining?

Today was fitness test day for me, so I cycled over to Fort Whateveritscalled near Haslar and did my test. I know I'm somewhat heavier than when I did the test last September but managed light blue for the shuttles and dark blue for press ups and sit ups, the result of which, of course, is no further fitness test required for 12 months - RESULT! I also did some stretch and flex and took a scenic ride home to notch up nearly 2 hours of training today. Lovely! I should mention the weight at this point, I was unable to weigh myself this last weekend due to my inability to get out of bed before noon, and only after several cups of coffee and breakfast had been brought up to me. Here's hoping that a good week of training will see me heading towards 11st 10lbs this week.

What else is going on? Well, the moving van arrives at Brampton next Monday and delivers our worldly possessions to our new townhouse on the South Coast on Wednesday. I really like the house and it's location. The house is unusual in that the kitchen and dining room are on the ground floor, the living room, study, toilet, storeroom and 4th bedroom are on the 1st floor, with the other 3 bedrooms and the bathroom on the top floor. There is a small south facing garden, and the living room and the 2 main bedrooms are also south facing, so it should be very pleasant in the summer. There is a large bike storage area as well (I think some strange people may refer to this as a garage!). If you have a good arm, you could probably reach the sea with a suitably aero pebble, and I'm looking forward to running the dog along the coast most mornings, although I expect it can get a tad breezy. It's hard to believe we have lived at Brampton for just over 5 years - doesn't time fly?

It's good to see that the race season is about to start, or has just started for many. Jonny Briggs over in MdS, the IM SA crowd, the British Duathlon Champs etc etc - has anyone had word from Reg "The Silver Fox" about his ultra the other weekend?

Race well and enjoy. This is what we do it for.