As of yesterday I hadn't been out on my bike since Sunday and I was
experiencing withdrawal symptoms :-)
The offspring said that he'd like to go and spectate the evening's cycle
racing over at the Lotus track. So I left him and his dad to get the
offspring wrapped up and go there by car. I left home a bit earlier & cycled
there. Only 25'ish miles, and it was a nice distance to loosen the legs
over. I went via back roads and for the most part, these were deserted of
motor traffic. Full of wildlife though. Rabbits, deer, pheasants doing
'roadrunner' impersonations, partridge and strangely a lot of wrens - loads
of wrens flitting about the bases of hedgerows. Got to Wymondham and thanks
to Norfolk's delightful habit of having a lack of signposts combined with
Wymondham's proliferation of roads with 'No entry' signs on them, I ended up
taking the 'scenic route' through the town trying to find my way on to the
Browick Road that leads to the Lotus test track. Found it, but this had
delayed me. I had set myself the challenge of arriving at Lotus before
husband & son in car, so once I found the correct road out of Wymondham, I
err.. cycled fast. This 'speed' thing is an unnatural activity for me, and
of course, it an entirely relative measure. My 'speed' is merely snail's
pace compared to the fit folk. But I upped my pace to see if I could still
do what I had set out to do. And I did - just. As I was cycling along the
last bit of lane just by the entrance to Lotus, I heard a familiar sound
behind me. I looked round and it was Herman the German containing husband &
son.
Offspring got the chance to sit by the track & watch the evening's racing.
More crashes. Apparently there had been crashes the previous week too.
Dangerous stuff this cycling of bicycles where there's no motorised traffic
about ;-) People came over to see son and enquire of how he was doing, and
commiserate with him about his injuries.
It was noticed I'd turned up on my bike. Comments made from the "Good to see
you on your bike" to...
Male of the species: "You? You cycled here? How far?"
Me: "Yes, it's only about 25 miles"
MOTS looks me up & down (I am not svelte) and says in a disbelieving tone of
voice
"You? You cycled that far? Are you sure?"
I just about managed to stop myself from smacking him about the head with a
set of spanners. Good job I've got a thick hide!