Anyone can ride a bike, can’t they?

“come and join us for a bike ride” they said

“It’ll be great fun” they said

On Saturday afternoon I was persuaded to join the rest of the family for a bike ride. Those of you who know me, know that Saturday afternoon is usually when I indulge myself with a couple of hours of tennis at Belfast Boat Club. A time to take out the stress of the preceding week, and to switch off for an hour or so.

This weekend, the boys wanted to get some sneaky practice in, on their new cyclocross bikes, and persuaded me to join them. Actually I haven’t owne my own bike for about 20 years, and that one is currently in work, with a puncture from the last time I actually cycled to work on it – several years ago

We loaded up the roof with 4 bikes and headed off for CastleWard, a great National Trust property with fantastic bike trails (apparently). It was a lovely day when we set off, but as we approached our destination, I couldn’t help notice that the sky was getting darker and looking very much like rain was on the way.

Xeno headed off, with instructions to keep away from the cattle; and we set off after him. There they all were, kitted out in their matching Powerhouse kit, and me on a borrowed mountain bike (thanks Xeno) and some random bits of kit.

Of course I had no idea how to work the gears, and for at least 30 or 40 minutes I was doing the opposite of what I intended when faced with a hill. The rains was hitting me sideways, this is fun?

End result is I survived, completely soaking and cold, vowing to leave the next excursion to after the winter!