Robots are cool

My Mum and I have just returned from an excellent couple of days in the Lake District. Mum decided to come at the last minute when she heard Stuart had battered his leg again and she realised she wanted to get away from home for a while.

We had just arrived and were eating a pub dinner in Ambleside on our first night when, completely randomly, in walked my Mum’s brother, his wife, their two children and their families. A brilliant, once in a lifetime coincidence. I hadn’t seen my cousins for twelve years! It gave us some company that night and it also gave Mum people to hang about with while I went off biking on Saturday. It was an OK loop that the guys from Biketreks (good shop) had shown me on the map – 50km, a little too rocky in places for my tastes but it was excellent getting out on my first decent ride of the season.

Today my seatpost bolt snapped while I was going along the road no-handed. I was really lucky – it was only 500m into the ride, I was only going about 10mph and I only got a bit of road rash on my bum. I’ve been going through a real no-handed phase recently and it could have been so much worse. I headed back to Biketreks, bodged a replacement and went off to do the little 25km loop with my hands firmly on the bars. It was wicked – hardly any wind, the sun was out and the trails were really nice.

What a great trip to start the season – top weather, enough miles to satisfy, met some of my family and had loads of laughs hanging about and drinking coffee with my Mum for a few days. Magic.