Sunshine after the rain...

Kona Scrap reunited with Andy's Kona Blast, Tatsfield Village

Saturday 13 December: There's been a lot of rain on a daily basis of late, prompting me to consider rejoining the gym. It's that or buying a stationary bike. Rain often means no riding, but last week, last Sunday to be precise, I decided it was time to find the waterproofs and get out there. Oddly, on my outward ride (to Sutton) there was no rain and I started to feel a little disappointed. What's the point of donning the waterproofs if it's not going to rain? Well, I needn't have worried as the return journey was wet. Very wet. I'd cycled over mum's way, or rather where mum used to live. Now, she's in a home, which is very depressing on so many levels, and I was going to visit her. It was lunch time when I got there and around an hour later the rain had started and it was really coming down. Half of me was thinking, great, I can take full advantage of my waterproofs. The other half was thinking, fuck, it's raining and I'm going to get soaked, But I didn't get soaked. I followed the same route home as the one I took out and when I got home I felt remarkably fine. Alright, I was wet and this I can never understand. I hadn't been soaked through by the rain, but my clothes were wet, mainly, I'm guessing, from sweat. So I peeled them off. The only item of clothing that had been soaked was my socks. I was wearing these waterproof fell running shoes and, while they were waterproof, they hadn't kept my socks away from the driving rain. The key thing was getting out there. For the past few weeks I've been riding only on a Sunday. My usual Saturday ride to Oxted I haven't been doing of late either because of family needs (Christmas shopping excursions) or because of inclement weather. I hate the rain and will avoid it if possible, it's the last thing I want to do, but after a while, when I realise that it ain't going to stop, I bite the bullet.

That was last Sunday (I think 7th December). It's now 13th December, a Saturday, and there was sunshine. It wasn't that cold either so off I went on a non-stop ride up to Botley Hill then right towards Woldingham and home. Coming up the steep end of Slines Oak Road where it joins the 269 there was a lot of traffic and I knew that if I lost momentum I'd have trouble getting started again. Sure enough I was forced to put my fee on the tarmac and then spent an age trying to gather enough momentum to get going. Evenually, I managed it and the rest was easy.

Tomorrow I'm planning a ride to Tatsfield village to meet Andy, it's now a regular ride to Sheree's Tearooms for a pot of tea. I'll be leaving at 0800hrs on the dot and I'll be on the Kona. The weather is looking fine, perhaps not as sunny as today, but no rain (or at least I hope not).

After a cup of tea Andy took a photo of the two bikes together. They hadn't seen each other for some time but now they were reunited. Both bikes had been on many adventures together, all of which are documented on this here blog. Check it out as both machines have been travelling the planet, or our little bit of it, for as long as this blog has existed and now here they are together again close to the bus stop in the centre of the village where they often sheltered from the rain and wind waiting to take their owners home.