The snow mostly hugged the pavements.

I’ve only pedalled once in roughly 5-6 weeks, which resulted in that very painful fall, as described in my last post “Snow and ice, I hate the stuff”. Since that sortie, the snow (and ice) returned with a vengeance. Finally, the big thaw set in two days ago, and now the roads are almost free of the horrible stuff. I’d made up my mind, last night, to go for a ride this morning, after doublechecking the weather forecast.

The plan was to get up at 07.30 a.m., but I’ve become so lazy, I didn’t manage to do so, till 08.30 a.m.. Eventually, after checking over the Subway, which had been abandoned in the shed all this time, I managed to ride out of  the street, at 09.00 a.m., along with a worrying slip in the chain every pedal stroke?  Thankfully, as soon as I hit the main road, the chain slip, disappeared. I put it down to the rear derailleaur, having been frozen up in my shed, where the Subway had been left , totally inactive, for the duration of the snow. Not being in any way mechanically gifted, I’ve got my fingers crossed that, that is the correct diagnosis. Time will tell!

So I’m off cycling through the village, carefully looking for the last vestiges of snow or ice, so that I don’t ride over it, and come a cropper. At this stage I have to say, that the snow only lay on the pavements, and as long as I stayed on the roads I should have been OK. In truth my fear was entirely irrational, the thaw was continuing apace, the temperature was way above freezing, but I was scared! Why? Because my back is still sore from the last fall!!

I did my u-turn here.

I kept saying to myself, “Don’t give in to this irrational fear”, but by the time I got to Resolven, I was convincing myself that the next puddle was frozen over. I stopped took a few pictures, and turned for home, WHAT A WIMP!!!

What’s more, I really need to be back out there on the bike, Christmas, and my inactivity has taken it’s toll, so much so I’m scared to weigh

As you can see, too much interest in a full fry.

myself. The trousers are definitely that bit snugger around the waist, and the double chin seems enormous. So, there is no choice, I have to get out there, and pedal. I start back to work on days, tomorrow, and I’m definitely pedalling in!!! That promise to myself, the wiki etc., to drop my weight to 14 stone by my 60th birthday sure seems to have bitten the dust, time  isn’t on my side, so a reappraisal was needed, of what can be achieved in such a short time. I’ve decided to go for 15 stone as my target,  still alot. But I have to be committed now, there are many who’d say that should have been done years ago.

I’ve also enlisted the help of Darryl at  www.lovingthebike.com, and his ebook “Cycling for optimal weight”, by the way, a big thanks to Clive of www.MassiveMTBer.co  for putting me onto Darryl, these combined with me cycling and a lot of help from my friends should see me make inroads on those excess pounds.

Cheers for now.