Nearly There

All the pressies are wrapped and under the tree.  I’m sat with a glass of wine listening to some Neu! on the turntable.  Ready for Christmas

Monday was wet and windy.  There was still some ice about and I went to work on the Pompino with the Schwalbe winter studded tyres on.  I’m not sure how effective they are, I didn’t crash on the bits of ice, but would I have crashed without the tyres?  I think I need some really icy conditions to be definite.

Tuesday was our work Christmas do.  I didn’t stay late which was a good job.  Some people were wrecked.  The rest of the week was warmer and wetter.  I rode in yesterday for a short day and got soaked.  I had all my gear on the radiators but still didn’t get it all dry before I had to put it on again.

We got some disturbing news on Thursday that Ian’s daughter had had a riding accident and was in a bad way.  Ian came out to the pub Friday afternoon to tell us what had happened.  His daughter, Lizzie, is a very good dressage rider and was schooling her horse on Sunday prior to a competition.  It seems the horse stumbled, either due to the claggy icy conditions or just poor footwork, and fell forward and over.  Lizzie stayed on his back and was crushed underneath.  At first they thought she’d broken her back, but after being air lifted to hospital, she was diagnosed with a broken femur and a badly bruised back.  She’s had an operation to insert a rod into the femur and is now back home, battered and bruised but able to recover.  Ian has aged 10 years!

He was able to get out today.  Unfortunately I had to go and get the Christmas turkey so wasn’t able to go.  I rang Alison who had also missed the early ride and so we agreed to go out to Beacon Fell together.  I was knackered.  It is the longest ride I’ve done in 4 weeks, 35 miles.  The wind on the way back was very strong and the roads were under water in several places, but it was good to get out and ride.

Not sure how much I’ll do before year end, but its a respectable total even if I failed to reach my target.

Happy Christmas

Tim

Miles – 102

Total - 5104