Wow,came in from my commute home a couple of hours ago,stil feel so alive and just plain great.My commute in to work this morning was ordinary,though somewhat of a rush,I left home late,it was damp,but very mild.At work I discovered one of the lads has got a mountain bike,new for Christmas,and has started to part commute,to and from work,I’m pleased to say that he told me, he’d seen the benefit it had on me,and was going to try and get in a bit better shape.He’s in his late twenties,and I’m 57 next month,so I was feeling rather proud of myself,all day.Come the afternoon the weather,as it had been forecast to do so,turned dreadful,very strong winds and heavy rain came sweeping in from the west.The newbie commuter promptly got a lift from a colleague to go home,while other colleagues expressed concern abou my trip towards home on my bike,also proffering lifts back to my car.I would have none of it,in fact I was relishing the thought of making the trip,in such weather.

The time came and I put my gear on,going outside was a struggle from the word go,I could barely hold the door open to negotiate my bike outside,one of my colleagues held it open while I got out onto the landing of our signalbox,he shouted “you’re mad”,as he closed the door again.Carrying the bike down the two flights of stairs in the wind was testing,as I was in the full elements of wind and rain,and I felt I was already soaked through,by the time I had reached ground level.Here I made a dash to a sheltered alcove in the yard while I switched on my lights and put on my gloves,only to discover I had left my beanie woollen hat in my car.

Already wet,I thought to myself,here goes,and pedalled off into the darkness,within minutes I was sopping wet,but I was warm and comfy,the wind dropped a little, and I made good progress to my car.The most envigorating part of the ride was passing a huge puddle,while at the same moment a car sped through it in the opposite direction,the spray rose up like a breaking wave, and smashed into me,whoof!!It was great,like being a kid again,splashing in the puddles.I thought,now I’m going to feel it,soaked through in this wind,but no my gloves,and the rest of my clothing kept me warm,and the rest of my ride was fantastic,in fact I wanted to keep going when I reached the car,fortunately common sense kicked in,I have to be back in work in the morning again.What’s more my limited gear has to be dried for the morning,currently it’s in the bathroom hanging on the radiators.

Looking foreward now to tomorrow’s episode.