Today Was Meant to be a Good Day!

Sunday was a bad day, with little in the way of training achieved in the last month, a questionable 12hr solo performance two weeks ago and a hectic fortnight in between, round 4 of CoD wasn¡¯t going to be my best showing, so convinced was I that things wouldn¡¯t go well I offered to marshal so I could go hide in the bushes and work on my taunts and heckles.

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My offers to marshal was rebuked and the tone of the response was if you are fit and breathing ride! Knowing all this before the start didn¡¯t help my feeling of despondency and this isn¡¯t going to go well, and you know what? It¡¯s like they say "whether you think you can or think you can¡¯t ¨C you are probably right." Knowing I wasn¡¯t going to have a good day didn¡¯t help me rationalise my thoughts and I ended the race grumpy and annoyed with myself. Rather than just accepting the day for what it was; a chance to ride my bike on a cracking course surrounded by other likeminded people, majority of which I now know by name; I decided to mentally beat myself up over something I knew was going to happen.

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What I should remember is that it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t have a lot to be thankful for, I¡¯m not at Headley Court recovering from being blown up in Afghanistan, I¡¯ve not recently finished treatment for cancer, I¡¯m not sponsored factory rider who relies on results, I¡¯m a reasonably fit bloke who enjoys riding bikes and when all is said and done a bad day on a bike sure beat all of that lot.

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Like today, rather than a quick 6 mile traffic fest ride home I opted for the longer hillier 20 mile route along country roads and with no school run mums and very little holiday traffic I had the lanes of Cornwall virtually to myself, the sun shone and a light wind blew, I had some choice tunes in my ear and my legs felt good and I despatched each climb almost effortlessly. Everything was well in the world; I had time enough to day dream a bit and think of what to write when I got home.

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Except things didn¡¯t work out quite as planned, I got home and there appeared to be a small puddle of water under the light in the kitchen. At this point it should be noted that we have had a bit of trouble with the bathroom sink (which is above the kitchen) and I recently had most of the waste pipe in pieces over the floor so when water staining appeared on the ceiling I confidently reassured Jane it was just what had "spilt" from the other weeks repair. With water now coming through the light fitting I got the feeling it was more than just left over water. It¡¯s at moment like this that you realise laying laminate flooring wasn¡¯t such a great idea; still, could be worse, could have tiled the floor; so rather than the leisurely afternoon I had planned, I spent a couple of hours ripping up flooring and investigating the pipe work under the floor.

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Seems the culprit was the waste pipe after all, a corroded hole meant that the waste water drained beneath the floor rather than out through the wall as is traditional. Not to worry I always have a length of waste pipe lying around! Shame it doesn¡¯t fit to the existing waste trap! It¡¯s now almost nine, I¡¯ve not had any tea, and I can¡¯t be bothered to cross the river into Devon for a last minute raid on B&Q. What¡¯s wrong with washing teeth over the bath anyway!

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Just goes to show even a good day on a bike can be ruined when real life gets in the way.