Return of the winter commute.

Return of the winter commute:

The realisation kicked in this morning, autumn commutes are back. Leaving a bit late I pedaled hard towards work:

LEDs blinking valiantly in the half light.

Needles of rain stinging my squinting face.

Fully laden bag on my back catching crosswinds & making any attempt at aerodynamics futile.

Gortex flapping like a cheap tent on a hill top.

Wary of gateways.

Wet arse.

Cold hands.

The thought of wet shoes for the ride home.

Opening the Account:

On the bright side I opened my racing account for the cx season the other day at the first round of the Notts & Derby league. I finally got round to setting up a single ring set up on my bike the morning of the race. My bike is now a couple of pounds lighter than it was last year & I'm a couple of kilos lighter than last year. However, I was still expecting the same slightly above average results. As it turned out it went pretty good. I rocked up to find I was lining up with over 170 starters in the main race. It turns out that the competition is much stiffer than at my usual North West League events. Brutally hard as you'd expect, with some good elbows out fun & games on a really ace course with some good techy bits, big step up dismounts & a bit of a motocross track thrown in for good measure. Feeling a little way off race sharp it took a while to get re-accustomed with that old familiar feeling of lungs trying to force their way out of my chest, but all went well with me finishing 36th, on the same lap as the winner.

Next stop... the Dolomites to ride up & down big hills :-)