Back at work and it went okay really. Struggled to get up after 4 lie-ines tho. All the big-wigs are away in Amsterdam this week so Y and I had to put up with K alone! She was a pain as usual! I was quite busy, had a bit to catch up on so that was good.
Lovely sunny day today so after I'd had some tea I went out on the bike again. I probably should have gone out before eating but I was hungry and I wanted to wait until it had cooled a little. I went over the level crossing, turned right, over the lights at the Queens Head, thru 7 bends, right at the end, off the main road at the second Treddington turn, thru Tred, Fiddington and back into Northway by the station. Took me just over 50 minutes so at my reckoning that will be about 15 miles, maybe a little less but even so thats about 70 miles I've done in 5 days! The best part of tonight's route was the narrow lanes from the main road down to Tredington. There are a couple of places where the view is straight across the valley to the Malverns. The sun was shining hazily and the hills were a dark silhouette and the orangey sunset sky. Fantastic. Yes cycling can be hard on the legs and bum as P would insist but when you have a backdrop like that to look at it makes everything worthwhile. Just for a few moments it felt great to be alive and nothing mattered. I don't think I'm going to be the next Lance Armstrong or even the next PR but I am definitely going to do be doing a lot more cycling this spring and summer. When I got home and sat outside with my book and a drink, I started having fantasies about cycling holidays or huge charity expeditions! At work I speak with people at two different places in Italy, one in Czech Republic, one in France, one in Holland etc...wouldn't some kind of marathon jaunt around them all be great! Or maybe take a train between them all and cycle round their towns and have an evening drink and dinner with the folks before moving on.... is that a little more realistic? Probably not!
Just to bring me down to reality, Y called me at 9ish, for more "older brotherly advice" as she calls it. She has got wind that her dad may have something very bad wrong with him, what should she do? What do I know? What can I say? Of course I tried to sound sympathetic and offer decent advice, but I'm not sure what good I was. Maybe just being there to listen helps?