Stage 5

What is happening?!  My hand is getting better and now is the time I need to be getting in some good quality training rides. After all, the only way to prepare for a long bike ride is to do lots of long bike rides. It's July and this should be the perfect time to get out there and benefit from the hilly countryside with which the Bristol area is blessed - perfectly smooth, dry roads, birds singing in hedgerows, farmers doffing their caps as I freewheel by. You get the picture.

Instead it's chucking it down yet again. OK, I have all the right gear and technically speaking there would be nothing to stop me putting on the waterproofs and gritting my teeth. Except I know that with all the muck on the roads it will be more a case of de-gritting my teeth before I am 10 minutes into the ride. Also, the chances of puncturing are much higher when the weather is lousy and there is nothing more miserable than having to spend 15 minutes in the pouring rain changing an inner tube. But in truth I could cope with all that and there is only one real reason that stops me going out in this - New Bike Syndrome. I just can't bear the thought of my new beauty getting all mucky. I know it's sad.

So it is the turbo again and today a personal best. 3 hrs 12 mins and the equivalent of 50 mountainous miles to be precise. Normally I'd find an hour was the maximum I could tolerate before having to climb off with the sheer sweaty boredom and saddle soreness that can only be experienced on a bike indoors going nowhere fast. So thank goodness for computers as I have a setup that simulates proper riding with the help of "real life video" technology. Today people I was in the American Rockies. But Helen didn't have to worry what time I'll be home for lunch as I was right there in the kitchen all along.

However, there is really nothing quite like smelling the countryside smells and feeling the wind in where my hair used to be. Must check the weather forecast for tomorrow. Oh, what a surprise, more rain... I suppose I'll just have to stay home again and bag me some classic Alpine climbs...