Out today on one of my regular local training routes – lots of ups to get the heart pumping with some downs to get up some speed. A little lethargic today at times maybe as a result of recent cold. Lovely crisp sunny weather today. A proper winter’s day. Some ice on the road as I approached the Peak’s so I took it steady, and very steady, in places. The ice did not seem to be worrying several MAMIL’s though who were in the main cheerless astride carbon frames as they passed me in their all in one catsuits on their downward descent. I’m not going to post any photographs of ice today though as those who follow Dave Keenan from Stoke on Trent via Facebook will readily appreciate anyone in England who goes outside at the moment will know what ice looks like!
When out pedalling and not lost in saddle based mindfulness I often take note of what lies on the verge as I pass. It’s a bit like virtual beach combing, virtual as you never touch the stuff and you certainly don’t take it home. Usually it’s pop bottles and sandwich wrappers and packaging from the food cult that’s identified by it’s Golden Arches. Interestingly fag packets have decreased over the years that I’ve been pedalling. Today of particular note were two discarded items. One was an unopened can of Kronenberg 1664 which struck me as very mysterious. Had it been tossed out of a speeding car by a driver under the influence who suddenly made a snap decision to quit drinking with one can to go in his stash? The second was a man’s very colourful tie. Had a driver enraged by his working day thrown the symbol of his servitude out the car window as an act of defiance? Or had daddy mistakenly left his favourite tie on the back seat and it had been mischievously posted out by a child still miffed after not getting that bike for Christmas? We’ll never know.
Buzzed by two cars today, what is it about boys and their secondhand motors which creates a need to drive past a cyclist minding his own businesses at an unsafe speed?
pedallingthere 