It felt doomed from the start, I was roped into doing 11 hour days all week so I was aware my enthusiasm for the weekly 20 plus mile off road ride was gonna be low, with mounting stuff needing doing for my garden project I felt guilty about spending two hours indulging in something I enjoy, however my riding gear was with me at work and I was ready to go. As I head for the door I get a text something along the lines of family commitments and not riding, so I was going alone. Straight out the door and I can't find one of my gloves and then as soon as I hit the open countryside the wind starts wrestling me, my legs feel terrible and I can't seem to get to that trance like place where your brain starts skipping along solving all your problems and organizing your life, it gets worse too, after every boring slog section I get to the fun stuff and there always seems to be a dog a walker or a mad woman with a petrol strimmer, with each one of these irritations it feels like iron bars are being set into concrete slowly encasing my joy. O.k. So this seems very dramatic I know, but when you've had a bad day, week or month (delete as necessary). Every little thing can seem like a tragedy. After about an hour my legs started to wake up, the nagging ache in my back had gone and my mind was focused. It had crept up on me and took me unaware, it always does and that is the beauty of riding for me, I thought about not going out and then about cutting short because I just wasn't in the right frame of mind but it all clicked into place. I'm glad I forced it as today I woke up fresh and focused even though I should have been absolutely cream crackered. I even made it to work on time!
Reatin rides on.
