Don't drink and ride

Wedding season is upon us, which makes weekend cycles all the more challenging. Minimal time and maximal indulgence; I'm not sure I have the motivation and willpower for this sort of endurance training. On the positive (yes, I did find one), it means opportunities for adventures further afield.

Dorset: the land of strange town names

Following a beautiful wedding at Sopley Mill last weekend, and an excessive amount of prosecco, I dragged my dehydrated self onto the bike for a spin into the Dorset countryside. Good news, it was pretty flat and I spent a good amount of it drafting behind my riding partner. We devised an ambitious 55 mile route, which was quickly whittled down to a much more comfortable 40 miles. 

Checking out new places is all well and good, but it did lead to some unique suggestions from Strava, including an invisible road and a rather interesting way to cross a dual carriageway. Smugglers Lane towards Everley Dairy? Non-existent. And the suggested bike route out of Blandford Forum? More hedgerow than cycle path. 

Fighting our way through the bushes to cross the dual carriageway

Rain on my parade

Sunny spells. That was the forecast for the first weekend of July. And to be fair to the BBC's Carol, it did certainly start that way. I set off bright and early down to Southwark parkrun - always a great start to a Saturday morning - where I ran a respectable 27-minute 5km before swapping trainers for cleats and heading out through London to Richmond Park.

After a quick stop for breakfast at the cafe, it was time to venture south west to the Surrey Hills. And that's pretty much when it began. Cycling from Kingston toward Hampton Court Palace could be alikened to jumping into one of those super soaking spa showers, whilst pedalling through a series of duck ponds.

Of course, by the time we found an opportune tree on a quiet road, the rain had subsided and it was time to set off again. But no sooner were we out in the countryside when our personal rain cloud caught up with us and - once again - we were soaked.

The best moments though were whilst meandering through the lanes of Surrey during those sporadic sunny spells... The burning rays shining through the gaps in the trees were hitting the puddles with such heat that we could see the water evaporating in front of us. It was quite a special scene (which you'd be able to see if I had managed to download the video from the camera onto my computer).


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