I've continued my commute throughout the winter, braving temperatures down to -18 deg C; this may have contributed to my haemoptasis during the first couple of weeks of 2011. Saying that, some of the worst weather days were as Lola would put it, my favourite and my best. I spent all of December on the mountain bike, straining against the resistance associated with 2kg of Schwalbe ice-spiker tyres. Although heavy, these beauties add a whole new dimension to winter riding, allowing you to ride on solid ice, (which many of the country roads around here turned into). Some beautiful moonlit, car-less, winter-wonderland rides were had during this time. Some of my commutes stretched out to around 2-2.5hrs (normally taking around an hour give or take 10mins) - the spikers suffered a litle in the deeper snow - with only a couple of unceremonious tumbles into the cold White stuff.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a computer on my mountain bike, so my mileage during this time wasn't recorded. Similarly, my computer has gone AWOL (most probably in a safe place or in the depths of Harris' car box) since then, so my 2011 rides thus far (which doesn't amount to that much to be fair) have also slipped by unrecorded - I have however taken a note of the kilometres that I've ridden - although you'll just have to take my word for their validity - alternatively, you could ask Tanya who'd quickly vouch for all the late arrivals Home, just in time for the half hour fight with the kids at bed time!
The swelling has subsided, I pulled my stitches out last night and the insane scratchiness has all but gone, but rather disappointingly, this week has been my first full week back on the bike in 2011; hence my rather humble total 'mileage' to date of 6,010km. A considerable way off what I'd aimed to have done by now, but if ever there was a bad year for me to attempt something like this, I'd say this one has probably taken the biscuit, in fact, it's scoffed the whole blinking tin.
So here's to Spring, a new start and as many hours in the saddle as I can muster, all nicely recorded on the new bike computer I've just bought today.
Meet my Family...the final draft.
