I can’t remember a year when spring has sprung so ecstatically and I have enjoyed it so much. Last year was a grim year for personal reasons and it was topped off with a gruelling winter. The spring was always going to be a welcome re-awakening but the unusually warm and dry conditions seem to have made it all the more of a triumph.
As the season has progressed I have got out and about as a runner and have run in six races, already a total of 90 miles racing though and while it hasn’t been fast or even very successful it has been a real source of pride.
Running is a very engrossing sport, so much so that I have started to think of myself as an ‘ex-cyclist’, quite unthinkable even a short while ago. However this Easter break has been unusual in being followed so swiftly by the May Day bank holiday and, in between, a Royal Wedding. This has given me the opportunity to get on with all sorts of things that were getting neglected, including some cycling.
I went out this morning on the ‘Canary’, what a novelty – variable gears, brakes that work, wheels that are true – a genuine miracle since some restorative work on the ageing workhorse. The bike felt good and so did the morning with the illusion of a tailwind for nearly all the ride. (Or am I just as strong as an ox? – Yes; that must be it!)
Wiltshire may not have a Tizi-n-Test or a Stelvio tucked away in its vales and downs but on a beautiful British spring day it still takes some beating. (Yes; I’d rather have been bumping along the Kerry Ridge, but I wasn’t!) I trundled up through the lanes from ‘Chippers’ to Grittleton and Malmesbury and returned via the Somerfords, great weather, felt good, even the motorists were on their best behaviour. In short, no; I am not an ex-cyclist. How could that ever be?
Oh, and I am 54 years old today. Life is good.
