I rode my (new!) bike to work two days running. It was great, I am getting more comfortable on the bike, so I think my body is getting used to the different angles that I’m sitting at. It is quite a change from the hybrid, and I remember the first day Mickey took me out on a road bike – it was quite unnerving, and when my group went out, I hung back for a second so that everyone could go out before me and then I could wobble on after them.

I’m getting used to the pedals more, and I know that I still unclip in preparation for needing to, rather than when I know I’ll have to, but I think I’ll get better at that as time goes on.

I kind of forgot that I hadn’t been riding that much this winter – the rain has meant that some rides have been shortened or didn’t happen. Instead of riding to work and back twice a week, with Spin class, plus round the river every Sunday (about 160km all up) I was riding to work once a week (sometimes a fortnight), plus Spin, plus the Sunday Slow Ride – which all up tops out at about 90km. I rode to work twice this week, Thursday and Friday. Thursday was good, I felt comfortable, and I’d brought in clothes so I wasn’t carrying in much weight. Friday morning was great – no wind, and I saw two dolphins in the river. Friday evening I was a bit tired; understandable, so I took it slow.

I hoped that it was just that I haven’t been riding as much recently, but Friday night I didn’t feel great. The malaise that I felt on Tuesday came back that night, and I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to do the group ride on Saturday. I went to bed and gave my body permission to have a cold.

Well, I have it now, and in a way I wish it had come on Tuesday – I might have been mostly over it by now, and I could have experienced one of the most beautiful days we’ve had all winter. As it was, I slept.