Its just gone noon, half past monsoon,
on the banks of the river nile,
here comes the boat only half afloat,
boatman grins a toothless smile,
only just one more to the desolate shore,
last boat along the river nile,
does'nt seem to care, no more wind in his hair,
as he reaches his last last half mile,
the oar snaps in his hand before he reaches dry land,
but the sound does'nt deafen his smile,
just pokes at wet sand, with an oar in his hand,
floats off down the river nile.
And thats the Night Boat to Cairo, Madness circa 1980.

Well, today was the first race of the season and boy did I suffer ?
Yes I did. The course was mostly flat with a little hill, and we did 5 laps. A piddling distance compared with the pros on the continent. They rode
the 280 kilometer MilanSanRemo, won by Mario Cippolini ! Hurrah ! not a Team USPro clone !
Well, to today, I went for a warm-up ride before the start, fat chance, it was just above freezing and slightly misty. So Igot back and wacked onloads of warming embrocation. I made the mistake of riding in mitts, knee-tights and only a vest&two jerseys. Not enough, even though I rode hard (we whittled the bunch down to 12 at the finish) I did'nt even raise a sweat and now my knees are sore,due to riding hard in the cold. Plus I fucked up the finish, I was'nt sure when the lastlap was, and we turned into thefinishing hill, I thought even though Ifeel lousy, I'll give it a go so started winding it up, but bugger me, the finish was at the bottom of the hill, which caught a few of us out, as we started jockeying and pushing each other to get a clear lineto the finish but we just passed the finish !
Went home feeling like I could ride another hundred miles to get going, but with achy knees.
Now Idon't feel tired, pissed off and working my way through a bottle of red, which is not good behaivior for an 'athlete'.
Addenum, Monday evening, five pints of Manchesters best, but hey ! Just saw one of Bolton Wanderers FC new players coming into the hotel in his Audi TT with a floozy, and then he hit the bar. At least I dont earn my living as a bike racer, so straying from the straight and narrow is'nt too bad !