Greetings

Here in Cabot town its a bit on the windy side still as the tail end of Dennis goes through, a blue sky with Cirrus and Nimbus skudding past lies beyond the window, at ground level the trees are taking quit a hammering.

The weather continues to interrupt my 'plans', my Thursday ride moved to Friday and yesterday I walked instead - okay the weather could be worse but I'm still feeling very frustrated.

So the ride on Friday - well I had an idea, to ride to Street in Somerset, into the wind out then a tail wind back north and so I set off into the grey morning. Between here and there of course, lie the Mendip hills, nothing too nasty in the singular but to cross them is an up and down experience which into the wind would be less than pleasant so instead I decided on a more roundabout route via Bath and Frome. So far so good but I now had to go west across the wind to get to my target, so a rolling road to Shepton Mallet then down on to the levels to reach Glastonbury and in short order, Street.

I found a chip shop and a bus shelter and stopped for lunch, the GPS had me @ 85km into the ride and even the most direct route would be adding another 50. But the plan wasn't to go direct but to take a more loopy westerly route to avoid that lump of Mendips, so fed, I returned to the road and headed towards Bridgewater, turning short to start the journey northwards. Well at least the wind was on my shoulder now as I headed for Brent Knoll then picked up the A38 back across the levels.

Over the climb above Cross then cutting towards Clevedon to avoid the lump that the airport sits atop. The kilometres were piling up, 100, 120, 140 and still over an hour's ride to return to base. A swift ride along the Gordano valley, then a long climb out of Portbury to eventually take me to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Each time I do it I think I've cracked the route through Bristol but of course, a missed turn, no signs and you aren't where you thought but I found my way eventually, stopping the clock over seven hours, 1400m and 175km after setting out.

Its been quite a while since I've done an 'imperial' Century and given that I averaged over 24kph, I was a bit weary when I got back. It was a fitting farewell to my time on borrowed wheels, a machine I've begun to enjoy riding but i'll be back on my own steed for the next ride on Tuesday, a ride to celebrate the Wunderkind (and my) passing another milestone of life. Where that ride will take me I can't say, I'm sure the weather will have some influence on that, one thing I do know, it won't be another 100 miler!

By the time of my next post i'll be a year older of course which saddens me beyond description, not so much for the passing eon but for where I am in my life. I always try to celebrate my birthday, a special meal, jetting off to foreign parts for a few days or just a day out but this year, sadly, I'll be far from family and most of my friends and going away is not within current finances - looks like i'll be drinking my self into oblivion instead!

Which brings me to an idea that has been festering away in my head for a while so i'll put it out there and see what you think. You may be aware of the occasional series of get togethers known as Gabycons, you may have even attended one (or more), essentially they've been an excuse to have a get together based on a 'Gaby' theme - visiting places mentioned in the various tales, readings, fanfiction and so on. So it occurred to me that it would be nice to have a less specific get together, of authors (and readers of course), a TG/TV writers symposium if you like. The question is therefore, would any of you be interested in such a gathering? My current thoughts are to do this over the summer somewhere south of the Pennines in Englandshire, let me know your thoughts.

Of course, its posting day and today's offering is Bile Beans, which chronicles the conclusion to the race and some off bike 'excitement' for our favourite young woman. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have re-reading it.

That just about concludes things for today, I hope to have the next re-edited volume ready for Wednesday but for now,

So long - and thanks for all the fish!
Madeline

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