upsyroundsy

Whilst I sent the text saying "I'll be twenty minutes" a couple of minutes before I actually left, when I checked the time on my computer just before setting off after reaching the start point it did in fact say twenty-two minutes, two of which could quite easily have been avoided if I'd checked in advance exactly where the particular number of house was in the selection of houses in which it could be found. Fortunately everyone else was still there by the time I got there. It'd be an interesting route to try again with no stops and without a sodding pannier (which I forgot to re-close over one section, which might have been why I maxed out at 41mph (though not being able to get at my largest chainring at the moment can't help, but I thought being able to get at the smallest one might potentially be more important, though the middle chainring was fine for coping with the terrain and speeds involved) and without the single lock I took as a compromise, though I felt safe enough to pop into the shop in West Linton without chaining up) but was nice enough anyway with the reasonable amount of wind, small smattering of snow, not too unpleasant amount of sun and my new handlebars, which have been proven sufficiently comfortable over the course of the eventual 66ish miles I managed including the extra bit at the start and finish. Despite having eaten three mini pork pies and a couple of apples I'd brought with me during the first thirty miles I thought it best to eat a box of jaffa cakes and a big bar of chocolate in West Linton just in case, though adding the third apple afterwards almost proved my downfall; after I'd eaten it I went down the close beside the shop to pop it into a bin, returning to find everyone else gone. In one direction there were no cyclists and in the other direction there was only one, who I therefore followed even though he wasn't going in the direction I thought we'd be going in. This turned out to be the case, which perhaps accounted for just enough additional movement to bring my total distance to just over one hundred metric kilometres for the day.