Growing old with dignity

I've been chasing my tail all day. We're only a small team in the office and we have not yet replaced the irreplaceable Alfonso. Today we were down two more due to overlapping holidays, and we are still dealing with minor issues following the recent update. It's been another stressful day. Then there is the Tour de France highlights to watch ... and dinner to cook ... and some sleep to be crammed in there somewhere too. It would have been very tempting to give this evening's club ride a miss (because I've not exactly been short of miles with the commuting) but I dragged myself out for the hell of it. I was wondering where today's blip was going to come from, but one of the guys had a puncture just opposite this farm. As usual, an opportunity presented itself!

It's hard to imagine modern buildings growing old with this kind of dignity. I love how the steps have been carved and smoothed by the tread of boots over the centuries. And I love all the colours and textures of the stone. This is rather how I would like to grow old!

It was another very fast ride and I struggled with my shoes tonight. It's a side-effect of blipping. I've spent so much time exploring tracks and walking through fields and climbing walls that I've worn down the cleats. I wasn't able to clip in and it's astonishing how disabling that is. I no longer felt one with the bike. As a result I got dropped on the final hilly section towards the end of our 40 mile route, but it was still a great ride on a nicely warm evening.

Thanks for all the lovely comments over the last few days. I'm posting this and retiring to bed, not daring to start browsing because I know that once I start I won't be able to stop! I'm so looking forward to catching up with people tomorrow evening.