Review of the Week Just Gone
This week it has mainly been sunny with mud.
A week in which there were amble opportunities for those who could find time during the sun hours of the week day to get out and to enjoy winter training.
Fortunately for those triathletes of the working variety, those who are only able to experience the sun through office windows or through car windows on the way to another meeting, they will be pleased to know that the local farmers were on their side.
No doubt about it – a definite conspiracy – every available local farmer (acting for workers everywhere) had specifically loaded up their tractors with mud and kindly deposited it on a surprisingly large number of our local cycling routes.
And not the mud that quickly disappeared – no this mud had been mixed to form a cloying sticky sludge that jammed itself tight underneath the cycle forks. Didn’t matter whether the bike had the best carbon forks on the market – the mud acted as a 3rd brake. You could almost sense the smiles on the office workers as all over the county, cyclists were seen by the road side gouging out mud from disassembled front wheels. 8 to 10 miles between mud removal… The penalty for cycling during a working day. Worth it though!!
Otherwise during the week – the track running on Monday was cold, running on Tuesday night was fast, Thursday swim – a pleasure. The week-end soon arrived.
And the sun showed that it could stay around for a few hours anyway.
Sunday morning opened to a crisp frost covered landscape. More than 10 arrived wrapped up for a cold but sunny cycle around Staffordshire. A glorious morning, November at its best, as the MVH peleton headed off to Yoxall, Marchington hill, out to Uttoxeter over to Marston Montgomery, across to Sutton on the Hill and to wind its way back to Barton. 40 miles.
Now when you are cycling over such a distance you have much time to notice not just the views across the countryside but the strange practices of the MVH cyclist. Often the strange and amusing is there in front of you.
MVH observation 1: This week of course is week 2 into the campaign called “Movember” supporting prostrate and testicular cancer research. A good cause to support but not with your normal type of moustache though. It was observed that one of the MVH cyclists has found it much more challenging to create a customized line of facial hair growth just above the chin. Okay so it’s a few inches below the normal place but hey ho – it’s Movember – and anything goes as long as it’s eh fashionable… Not sure where it’s fashionable but somewhere it will be!
MVH Observation 2: 40 miles is a long way. How many spotted the MVH cyclist who found that MVH branded cycling shorts are best worn inside out and/or back to front. Why would the “MVH Tri Club” writing on the shorts go from right to left? Ooops… “But I’ve always worn them this way …”
Oh Happy days… Another week
