A Dog Bra?

I poked my head out the skylight in the roof! There was a faint but fiery red burning behind Coombes Edge. The sun was rising. Clouds were forming from the moisture of the morning dew......what a beautiful morning.

After a usual breakfast of homemade muesli (recipe: tip jumbo oats, rye flakes, coconut shavings, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and dates into a huge box, stir and schoogle) I made a pot of soup, ready for coming back from my bike ride too. Gahhhh.....my hand-blender died. I've had it 15 years too. Chunky soup it was!

I then headed to Didsbury, an hour's ride away to meet with the Triathlon club. Although it was a beautiful morning, temperature was very low with a slight frost! On arrival, there wasn't broad consensus in the group....some wanted hills, some wanted flat and others wanted easy. I picked the 'flat' group which consisted of Steve, Simon and a bloke who I didn't know. Eek....I was the only one without aero-bars, a distinct disadvantage as it was to prove. The chaps were gunning it round the lanes of Cheshire and I was at my limit just to stay in contact. There were occasional slowings of pace to regroup, otherwise I would have been dropped.

We hit the 65km mark at Tatton Park and had a gentle amble through the resplendent grounds of this fine estate. There was a plan to do a further loop....but my Garmin was already close to 90km after the ride to Didsbury too. Rather than kill myself and hold the lads back, I decided to pedal to Manchester and get the train home from there.

It just so happened that only a minor detour was required to North Tea Power for a cheeky coffee and a bite to eat. There was a welcome smile as always from Jane "helloooo Andeeee!". I ordered a cheese n leek toastie on rye (amazing), a cup of Costa Rican and a bag of beans to take home. The dejection! I looked at my wallet.....no card....no money. I remembered that I had put my card in my jeans pocket in the fruit shop yesterday! Wayne popped his head up saying "sort it out next time", which was great of him.

My coffee had the mouth feel and taste of milk chocolate, very sweet and maybe a little balanced for me! I like a bit more fruity acidity....it was still good though. Unfortunately, it was impossible to relax as I was interviewing Tom Gibbs the adventure racer for a magazine article later in the afternoon but with a precise time still to be agreed. I would now have to cycle another 21km as I didn't have the train fare home.

The legs were jelly like on the final hill. As soon as I was in the door, I put my trainers on and ran to the farm shop to buy milk! Ohhhh nooo....they had chocolate eclairs looking lonely in the fridge so I felt compelled to adopt one. The walk home was one of attrition as there was a massive hill in the way. After 2nd lunch, I called Tom, who was part of a world championship winning team in 2009. Wow....I learnt so much and got loads of content for the article.

It was now time to get my swimming kit ready and head to the aquatics. I'm sometimes embarrassed to turn up at this session as I'm rarely in a fit state to follow the set, let alone do anything intensive. Because of the bank holiday, few people turned up and I got a whole 50m lane to myself. After convincing Edwin that an IM session wasn't ideal, he through me a pull buoy and I focused on hand entry. The idea is also to 'catch' water to aid propulsion but I seemed to be orientating my hands to let it slip.....I was knackered.

There was no way I was rushing to catch the train home, so I went a wander around town with camera in hand. It was Pride weekend but the whole of the village was barriered off. No pictures to be had there....with the surrounding streets being littered with very drunk people. A lovely female couple were shouting at each other about one of them flirting with someone else!