A lay-dee on a bike

5 rides this week; 2 to meet Mikey from work, 2 other road rides and 1 off-road ride.

The 4 road rides were pretty uneventful. Just the usual idiot car drivers and some run-ins with tourists and dog walkers. The most memorable bit though was when I caught up with a youth on his MTB on the coast path. As soon as he saw me gaining on him he accelerated off but within minutes he had slowed and (without increasing my speed at all) it wasn't long till I caught him again. Another glance over his shoulder to see me and he again tried to burn me off - only to slow again 25metres along. Again (effortlessly) I caught him and then off he shot, this time barely managing 20metres before slowing. He was tiring himself out and what for? Just so he wouldn't be overtaken? Silly boy! This happened a few more times before I could see he was broken, at which point (still without trying) I glided past him with a cheery "HiYA"! He frowned. Ah stuff him and his male pride. ;-)

Today's off-road ride was good fun. The sun was out - shorts and shortsleeves weather. The usual bridleways and singletrack were much drier than last week so it was much nicer (and easier) than last time. 




Todays drier trails

 No rain all week meant that on the whole there were very few puddles. That is, apart from one! We had just swooped down some ace sweepy bridleway when we hit it. There was no way around. It looked deep and was about 10metres across. (Ducks wouldn't have looked out of place swimming on it. It was a pond!) Praying that it wasn't as deep as it looked, I was mortified when I found my feet submerged on every down pedal stroke. Yuck! My shoes now contained lots of muddy water as today's temp of 18degrees had lulled me into a false sense of security and I wasn't wearing my lovely waterproof boots. Ah well, cold and wet feet couldn't stop me from having fun in the sun. ;-)

On the last bit of bridleway heading back in to the village, we had a very amusing moment when trying to pass a family strolling and taking up the whole of the path. I called out politly and as I passed the Mum said "ooOoo look, its a lay-dee riding a bike!"  Oh the horror! What has the world come to? Not a lady on a bike? I have to say though, that I am pretty sure I look far from lady-like with so much mud splattered up my back and on my face.