I hate to admit this but until yesterday afternoon I hadn’t been out on my bike for a month. Yes, a whole month. Sorry. I do have a few excuses… The last week of the academic year in mid July is always an eclectic mix of methods of transport due to changed timetables, late mornings & social events after school. This year, to add to the usual change of routine, one of Reggie’s front brake pads fell off and refused to slot back in so he was out of action from the Tuesday. I took him down to the cycle shop for repairs and his annual end of year service and only got him back at the end of last week. So, even had I wanted to, it would have been impossible to get out onto the open cycle path… Then of course I’ve been driving for the Olympics here in London and that has taken up much of my time. I’m typing out this blog entry at 2am in my London 2012 BMW as I sit waiting for the great and the good of the Olympic movement to request a car. They probably won’t until later in the morning…
However, yesterday I finally pulled on the Lycra shorts and a t-shirt, pushed Reggie out of the flat and set off on a short adventure. My route was not planned so I randomly started to pedal east, along the A4 to Twyford, then Wargrave and towards Henley-on-Thames at which point I slowly started to complete a long loop through South-East Oxfordshire which brought me back to Reading by the early evening. It was a 38 mile jaunt and much of the journey was through the rain which started just after I had paused for a drink at the Maharajah’s Well in Stoke Row. But although the rain could dampen my clothes, it couldn’t and didn’t dampen my spirits; being back out on the bike was a delight and as I cut back and forth along and into the nooks and crannies of the countryside, I had a broad smile in my mind if not inanely planted on my face; I was happy.