Its been a tough couple of weeks with work, work, raining and training but I am catching up with my training programme deficit rapidly. I’ve totally worn the bearings on my beast out now, so I’ve been using my wife’s chariot as an interim replacement. I spent a few hours servicing the machine, I knew there was a reason why She was SO happy for me to use it, and now well oiled and mechanically sound, I have making steady progress into the weekly requirement.

The road tyres are a welcomed relief but I do miss the Landrover rumble that accompanies you with tow path treads on tarmac, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it, particularly the speed gain. The gears however went AWOL on Sunday. After kicking off early on Sunday I managed to lose the changing facility completely, a tweak gave me three but that shortly failed on Vokes Road whilst overtaking some road works. I soldiered on until a mountain just off the A32 near Alfresford, where I rigged a temporary string mechanism to give me a one up and down change effect, it was good effort for training purposes but doing the downs in mid range gears is very painful on the hamstrings, and I wouldn’t recommend it anyone else.

That said, it was a lovely ride down in glorious sunshine, and the Portsmouth celebrations required a more leisurely and comfortable journey back. I bottled the ride and took the train to Woking, although I did a longer route home racking up another ten miles. The gear system will be restored in preparation for this evenings jaunt, so who shall I suprise tonight, who do I know that make’s really great cheese and pickle sandwiches, and is in on a Tuesday!