So where were we? Oh yes, we’d safely arrived at Luchon and as we had some time to kill before dinner we went for a leisurely amble around the town. At dinner we met our riding buddies for the week the lovely Tom and Sonya and Ian also went through with us what to expect for the days ahead – basically longer and more technical as the week progressed. I admit I was slightly concerned with the length of time discussing ticks and their potential removal but then I guess I don’t taste very nice as in all the time I’ve spent in woody areas so far I’ve not had to worry about extracting the little critters.

As a self-confessed Swiss Alp junkie it was a rather unexpected change this year to be zooming off to the French Pyrenees for a couple of weeks but then as I was pretty sure they have big mountains and also cheese and beer it was going to be exciting going somewhere new whilst knowing that we would at least have our basic holiday essentials covered.

What happened to August? – Part Two

“I CAN SEE A RAINBOW”

So the week went something along the lines of Mr M popping out a not too shabby 800m in the Vet’s Track & Field league on the Thursday night followed the next day by a three hour drive up to Llanberis to join his three team-mates for a 22-mile mountain marathon with 8,000ft of ascent over seven of Snowdonia’s rather wet and windy peaks. Talk about from one extreme to the other!

For one reason or another this month was a bit quiet bike event-wise but that doesn’t mean to say that there wasn’t plenty of outdoorsy stuff going on so here goes with the first part of a few highlights………

“IN THE PINK”

This little Scottish road trip turned out to be so good in so many ways that I hardly know where to start writing to do it justice.

We were both a bit down in the dumps after Mayhem and as we had successfully secured a spot at our all time ever favourite B&B we were simply looking forward to enjoying a mini holiday in the Southern Uplands with the added bonus of a race at a location that we had never been to before but everyone we knew that had spoke about it in wistful tones whilst using words like “totally rocks”, “awesome” and “single-track heaven”. Needless to say our hopes were set rather high and we were definitely not disappointed!!!!!

It’s always quite hard to write a nice up beat positive report when you didn’t finish what you set out to do but when I actually reflect on the whole experience it did actually have some areas I can be happy about. So hopefully without boring the pants off you, here goes with my own particular experience of (albeit only part of!) this year’s Giant Mountain Mayhem at Eastnor Deer Park.

My burning guilt at leaving poor Haggis behind and disloyalty in hiring a substitute for a week was too much to bear. The only way to mitigate against any persuasions towards purchasing a granny bike, besides money and garage space, was to get back out on Haggis in my most concerted attempt at getting back to where I once was on the cycling front. Yes, it seems that two days of decent mileage can cure a girl of any ridiculous notions of needing anything less than 24 gears. Despite a rather flatter terrain than I'm used to, the ruggedised nature of my lovely little hybrid thoroughly enjoyed some designated paths through beautiful countryside, speedy sweeping bends and gently glowing exertion and the odd grin inducing hard push to speeds I'm quite sure a basket and pannier just wouldn't allow. The weather was perfect when paired with some rather good suntan lotion, and the only thing missing was the padding from my shorts - how quickly you forget just how much better life is with a chamois! I'm not sure my next trip to the shops for the Sunday Times will measure up to this latest excursion - a 10 mile ride in glorious sunshine just to pick up the paper, Krispy Kreme (apple & cinnamon are yum!) and a smoothie, and spirited return journey to laze outside the tent for a few hours before returning to normality. It's not quite the Life of Riley, but it certainly beats the weekday windowless office hands down. Horray for the sunshine!

I felt a little guilty leaving Haggis behind for a week at a Euro CenterParcs, but the prospect of precariously balancing 5 bikes on my already overloaded hatchback, and the journey ahead just didn't register as being the best idea in the world, especially as I'd have been obliged to pull up alongside the caravanning public in the 'over 1.85m' section of the channel tunnel train. Any guilt I may have felt was swiftly assuaged when my after parking up the rather modest hire bike one lunchtime it was then buried up to the gears by the detritus left behind by a rather furtive bunny as he burrowed rapidly beneath our cottage in the middle of the woods. Had it been poor Haggis whose cogs were impreganted with soil I may have been a little less than amused. I was however mightly impressed at how comfortable granny bikes really are. Put your ego to one side for a moment, and as a commuting bike for jaunts to the shops and doing the school run and you couldn't go far wrong with the ergonomically perfect continental style bike. The minimal gearing was perfectly adequate for the terrain, and the brakes equally so, and the kids versions were more than perky enough to cope with the off-road track deeper in to the woods. never thought the day would come when I embraced a pannier rack and straps, but being at the very furthest reaches of the site it certainly aided my quest to do all the shopping in one go. What next I hear you ask, a shopping basket on the front? Think posture perfect 1950's and flowing skirts...