Cycling around the Castle Combe circuit last night I was a little ( Oh all right, a LOT) disappointed to see my husband and son sailing off into the distance without me. On one occasion I distinctly heard “We’ve dropped Mum. Again.” I mean, I know my husband does lots of cycling, and his bike weighs about a quarter what mine does, but I would have hoped to keep up with my son, who does as little exercise as possible.
When we got home my husband heaved my bike up onto his bike maintenance stand to have a ‘tinker’ with it (that’s a technical term, apparently). Later he was very pleased to announce that, despite the fact my bike has only recently had a service*, he found that both brake blocks were rubbing on the wheels. Effectively I had been pedalling with the brakes on all the way around. That would explain why it felt so hard!
This morning, when trying to decide what I should do for Juneathon today, I was reminded by @weegjs over on Twitter that I’m racing tomorrow, and so should keep it gentle today. I decided I would try out my new souped up bike and see how much of a difference the non-permanent brakes made. The addition of my lovely basket on the front could only put me in a good mood as well.
I set off to the local Farm Shop to pick up a few things, then back to the village and out to the allotment for some watering and pottering, then back home for lunch.
6.17 miles in 34:38. Wish I could run that fast!
* I’ll not name the shop that serviced it, but equally I won’t go back there again.