Negative Figures

L is impressed by a cyclist that she saw today, in full kit, on a very professional looking bike but with fairy lights entwined around the bike frame. A girl naturally. I’m not sure if the girl was trying to be festive or just trying to stay alive. Problem is, lit up like that, someone would probably run into her deliberately. I can imagine what I’ll be getting in my Christmas stocking now.

I have actually seen a chap a few times with a similar setup; he had those coloured light tube things wrapped around his frame, like you get at gigs. Don’t know how he powered them because the cost in batteries would be huge. I’ve also not seen him for ages, so not sure what happened to him, hope his light tubes worked and that no one wiped him out.

In the evening we head up to the Lakes for our usual pre-festive season jaunt around the Langdale 10k course. Usually we’re up there with friends in a nice warm cottage but this year we’re on our own, so we decided to camp. As we tick off the junctions on an unusually quiet M6, L watches the thermometer on the car dropping alarming into negative figures, nestling somewhere around minus three or four as we pull into the Great Langdale campsite. Think we might need to get the hammer out to get the pegs into the hard ground.

It’s not actually that bad, the ground is quite soft underneath, must be all the rain they’ve had. Our cosy home is soon erected and we’re off for a few warming beers in the pub. That’s only half the story though; the bottle of mulled wine in the tent after last orders is the other half. All rather nice, festive and warming but ideal race preparation? Perhaps not.