Weather

Everything I read about the Etape Caledonia 2008 includes pictures of idyllic Scottish countryside filled with happy cyclists, dappled in glorious sunshine. It seems that the weather last year was absolutely perfect. Just right for an early morning ride. Not too hot, not too cold.

I have obviously been praying all year for something similar. However, it is looking less like this is going to happen... The weather here has been awful for the last few weeks. It is cold, windy and wet (and then some). This doesn't normally bother me too much (if you don't ride in the wet in Glasgow, you don't really ride much at all!) but it is getting a bit silly.

I got home from my ride on Wednesday night to find a huge puddle in the middle of my lawn and two of the local ducks swimming in it! You can see the male of the duo in the picture having a little sit down under my kids climbing frame!

I guess you have to be a little bit mad to be a cyclist and I certainly felt it that night. Everyone else was rushing to their cars or homes after work. I chose to go on a training ride to the Glennifer Braes! Probably not my wisest move but I felt good about it once I was finished. I wanted to check a couple of things before the EC came around.

I wanted to check what kit would work best in the wet (I certainly got a chance to check that!) and to check my climbing form (I haven't been riding too many hills recently, just because of route choices). The good news was that I felt good on the climb. I rode it in 11.38, which is almost two minutes faster than when I last did it in February. I also managed to climb a significant proportion out of the saddle, another pleasing factor. Just hope I climb as well on the day, Shehallion is a bit bigger than the Braes though...

Only 9 days to go,

Col.