Today was supposed to be my second last long run before the marathon. So again while the enforced knee rest continues, I decided to do a long cycle instead. What I had not factored in was that the entire rainfall for April was going to come out of the sky during the 3 hours I was out. Soaking aside, the first half was very nice. Once again I saw a plethora of birds, and had a heron flying alongside me for a spell. I congratulated myself that I had chosen not to just sit on a bicycle machine at the gym.

Unfortunately when I reached I think somewhere around Kilsyth and decided it was a good time to turn around and head for home, I discovered that the gale-force wind that had been accompanying the lashing rain, had in fact been pushing me along the canal, and when I turned round I came to an almost standstill. By this point I was getting worryingly cold and the entire journey home felt like I was actually cycling up a steep hill. During the last quarter of the ride, I was in fact so cold that I couldn’t feel my hands or feet and my calves had seized up so that I couldn’t change the position of my legs. I then discovered that I couldn’t change gear either as my hands weren’t working and at one point actually decided I wouldn’t make it home and might in fact die on the cycle. (Slightly hysterical? I think so).

Finally made it home, abandoned clothes on the floor and defrosted in a slowly heating up bath. Cycling is shit.