Winter Training Country

The serious bike training of the year started this morning. A 53 mile ride out through Wetherby and just beyond, then turning and retracing our route home. No messing about waiting for people. Certainly no time for taking photos. Have a mechanical and you're on your own. I like this kind of riding, but, without any quality time on the bike for a while, it felt more like a race to me than a training ride. I have to admit that I struggled with the pace today. I was working very hard on the way back when I picked up a slow puncture, which rapidly became a fast puncture. At least it saved me from the ignominy of being dropped!

It was a real pain to sort it out too as I lost the feeling in my hands very quickly - despite the mild weather - and struggled to put the tyre back on with numb fingers. I was so relieved when I eventually managed to do it. At least it gave me the opportunity to grab a blip before the weather closed in - which it duly did just as I got home. I thought I'd go with colour today ... to prove I'm not totally two-dimensional! I was drawn to this shot mostly by the very neatly trimmed hedgerows but I also love the soft light. It really captures the mood of the day and gives an idea of the kind of roads we enjoy for training around here. There are literally hundreds of miles of these little lanes open to us. It's quite a cycling paradise really - when it's not raining or freezing or blowing a gale, which it seems to have been doing rather a lot of lately.