Wednesday. Am I odd or strange ? The England football team are playing an important world cup game, and I don't really care, so does this make me an outcast ?
I am one of the few people around here (oop in t'north) that don't give two fucks about football. Football looms large in the national psyche, replacing lots of other stuff such as winning wars, having an empire, as the number one topic. It was'nt always so, since the advent of new laddism in the mid nineties this infatuation with football has spread, and so far shows no signs of failing. Unless the England team loose, might that reduce the enthusiasm ? There is also a good chance the the trendiness of football is wearing off, the in-crowd in London are'nt 'fans' any longer, having been bored witless by the game they are turning to more interesting pursuits to follow.
Whatever, I went and rode with the local bash yesterday evening. Imagine my joy as more and more MK Cycles riders turned up, leaving only me, Allan the RoadPeace vet, and a mountain bike racer who is strong but tactically unaware. He rides too hard when its his turn on the front and so on. Off we went along onto the A6, mountainbiker goes through like a train, drops back on the first slope, the gets dropped on the next uphill (not even a hill, just a slope) as does the vet. So its just me and the MK guys going harder and harder. Even some of those guys are missing turns on the front. Onto the circuit, going round the blind corner at Rivington I drop back, on the flat bit over the reservoir they go mad, my speed was 38 mph and they were pulling away from me ! Could'nt close the gap up the hill, kept them close, a couple or so got shelled out, over the top it all sped up, kept 'em in sight until the next flat bit, they were off ! waited for them, did almost all the last lap, dropped back on the hill. I rode in shorts and racing top, it was a bit too mild for a long sleeved top, but not really warm enough for bare arms.