The glass was half flat

Saturday. Early morning. A lot of rain. Plans to cycle 34km. Oh well. Now I had plans to cycle 34km in the rain. Being a little precious about Yolkey, this was the first time I was ever going to go out on it in the rain but it would be a good test of the tyres if nothing else. I helped get the boy ready before jumping on the train to Horsham. Then I cycled some of the most beautiful countryside roads I've ever been on. Powering on, head down it was not. Head up, looking around, 'la le la', 'isn't this pretty' was a lot closer to the truth. As for the rain, a little drizzle was about it which was a result!

ALL I KNEW WAS THAT I HAD TO GET TO THE TOP OF THOSE HILLS

I knew I had a 17% gradient hill coming up on the way out of a little village called Steyning so I was resting my legs a bit on the downhills approaching the village and had to come out from the kerb a little to avoid some broken glass as I was coming up to a junction. It seems i didn't come out far enough though. There I was on a grass verge at a main road junction, bike upside down and wheel off. I had to prise the shard of glass out of my tyre with the pliers on my leatherman but eventually got it out. Then repair to both, a bit of air back in and off I went again but never fully trusted the tyre again. This is why I don't like hand pumps. You can never get that solid feeling back.

THE VIEW FROM WHERE I'D COME FROM WAS SATISFYING

The hill hurt. a lot, and no, I wasn't able to cycle up the whole thing with the single speed but I got up quite a few and walked up other bits. Actually, I reckon I found the walking harder than the pedaling. Anyway, I finished the ride with an absolutely horrendous sound coming from my cranks which happened on my last ride too so it appears my bottom bracket is well and truly screwed. As it's a sealed unit so sod all I can do about it. New one is now on order along with a spare inner tube and a spare tyre!

There was plenty of rain on Saturday night which meant that lovely fresh air was too good an offer to turn down so I headed out on a lovely flat 10k run around the streets and sea front of Worthing. Bang on 10k route was plotted and a gentle pace was picked. However, I had a few minutes to go and not that long and realised I could be on for a good time here. Paced was promptly picked up and had it been a race, I would be telling you I had a new PB, 5 seconds faster than my current but is wasn't so it's not. It does mean that if I can avoid the crowds at the start of the BUPA 10k in a few weeks time, I could run my record pretty close which is kinda cool.

Next weekend sees Grim Beast in the East and a birthday celebration weekend for Mrs HMC so there won't be any time for a ride but I have a few extra km to be run this week yet and obviously a bike to clean. With the mixture of muddy water and grease, Yolkey is not looking his best!