if you go down in the woods today….

It’s a bit fresh round the old knees first thing, so we have a short fashion parade to see if last year’s winter cycling apparel still fits and, more importantly, make us look cool when we stop at the MAMIL* cafe for coffee.

My long sleeve, merino wool, zip-top cycling jumper is almost identical to the one I wore as a Mod nearly 50 years ago. Cool or what?

We have a pleasant ride then stop at said cafe for coffee and croissants. We sit in the sun and think how lucky we are.

On the way back we run head-on into a cycle race. Fortunately, going towards them, we do not have the ignominy of being overtaken, but there’s a real danger of being mown down by the advancing peloton. We both have fat tyres on our bikes and quickly head for the safety of the grass verge. I’d like to say we bunny-hopped out of the way - but in truth it was more a ‘Stana-stair lift’ scramble.

The great thing about Milton Keynes is that we’re never far from cycle tracks that take us out of the way of other road users and we stop for a blip-opportunity among these Pine trees.

I love my bike.

* Middle Aged Men in Lycra