Back in the saddle again .....

So i picked up my bike just over a week ago and then promptly flew to France (without said bike!) where the sun shone - the sea glistened and i had a wonderful time enthralled with historic cars racing the Historic Grand Prix in Monaco. I was spoilt in my precious little home from home and it was wonderful....   Whilst pottering around on the coast i was always encountering the 'peletons' of cyclists that tour around... heads down, taut sinewy muscles, lean and powerful powering along the coast roads.... their bodies look like they're in their prime 20's ...

And then you see their eyes smiling ... and they're wise ... and wrinkly ... and definitely in the last 1/3 rather than the first 1/3...  amazing fitness! Left me wondering if hauling my sorry ass up and down the country will transform me into a sinewy cyclist...  who knows... but i'm not sure that it will. Their bodies looked as though they'd come from a lifetime of saddles....

So from balmy sunny skies of the Med i flew back last night and landed in hailing Luton! YAY! And have spent much of the day avoiding getting on the bike... partly as i'm still suffering from a streaming cold (thank you Mediterranean skies!) and partly 'cause i didn't want to depress myself...  but i've just come back from a gentle 10 miles... and it wasn't too bad... Still getting used to the many gears on the bike (looking forward to the day when it feels like second nature!) and still learning the basics...

1.  If a dog sees a ball to chase it WILL NOT look for bikes! (Yep ... i almost took out a terrier!)
2. Some cars are REALLY quiet ..... and you won't hear them behind you ...
3. Water is your friend.....
4. Don't go out cycling if you haven't eaten all day ...
5. Stretch ... stretch.... stretch....

Lovely ride today ... from Hampstead down to Regents Park via Primrose Hill .... 2 laps of the park.... rest with stretches.... back up to Swiss Cottage... realised tank was empty so smoothie @ Swiss Cottage leisure centre... then up the hills of Hampstead home..... was all good....

Lovely ...  oh and must learn how to take off quick release wheels.... think i was doing something wrong!!