Slavery Reparations

I demand reparations, or at least an apology, from the French; they enslaved an entire nation after 1066.

This looks good; The Sutherherland Raid.
A festival of mountainbiking not far from my homeland. However, riding this would mean 2 things;
1. I have to do a lot more training.
2. I have to go there.
A lot more training; not really difficult, as the little rides around the block I have been doing of late don't count as training.
Last week went to a localish bike shop with the idea of buying some SRAM gears to replace my XTs. But they had an XT front that didn't have the stupid ring design, so i thought 'what the heck'. bought it, fitted it and it works a treat ! So my plan of replacing all my XT stuff with XRAM is off, unless I find I just can't get on with the combo brake/gear levers.
Friday bought a waxed cotton shooting jacket and a camo fleece for David. All on the strength of a big bonus and my shares sell-off.
Saturday did 2 little rides around the block to get my gears working. Brakes are bedding in well.
But none of this is preparing me to race. At least I'm keeping my weight down. Maybe I should go for the all-or-nothing approach and do a 60 mile ride this weekend. Its worked for me twice in the past, in Autumn 1975 when I was dragged on a trip to Ilam YHA, and in Easter 1979 when i went out to Bridgnorth and back, and was left behind by a guy on a sit-up-and-beg wearing sandals. Ho, and indeed hum.