Bloody Met Office

240 miles completed this week over 5 days cycling. I wasn't up to it last Friday due to my cold and tomorrow the bike goes in for it's pre-trip checkover. I made a monumental error on Saturday when I misjudged the direction of the wind and my 75 mile journey was directly into a very strong breeze for 45 miles. Note to self, ignore the Met Office and throw some grass in the air!!
The following day, the forecast in Northumberland was sunny so I drove to Beadnell, took advantage of some free parking, (thanks John) and set off to cycle to Coldstream via Fenwick. The heavens opened and It poured and poured. Note to self, remember the previous note to self.
On Monday I did the Cyclone B route again and it definitely felt easier with the new chain ring. Conditions were similar to last time and my average speed of 9.6 mph was identical to the previous attempt but I did manage to cycle up the two inclines I walked up last time.
This morning I did an easy 35 miler and felt remarkably strong. Of course, just when confidence is on the increase, something comes up to cause demoralisation. I was heading up the sea front at Whitley Bay doing what I thought was a decent rate of knots when a touring cyclist with 2 big loaded panniers went sailing past me. Cheers mate. In his defence, he did look like a professional and he and his panniers were probably lighter than me. My average speed today was 12.6mph so I was quite pleased with that. I have a days training at Harrogate on Friday and an antiques fair to attend on Saturday and Sunday so there will be some rest for the wicked this weekend.