Spring has sprung, the clocks have changed and of course, the sun has made a run for it!

The second half of the week has been quite eventful, nothing bad, just busy.

Although the sun was out, i still wasn't feeling in full bike ride mode but i dragged myself out and rode down to Clevedon then, after a mucky cheeseburger, took a 'scenic' route back. It wasn't fast and at just over 60 miles, it wasn't overly long but with teen temperatures i was pretty content with the ride.

Friday was a right doozy, lots of stuff needed doing, first off laundry then return the whisk that broke first time i used it. Simple enough as jobs go but i have to complicate things, i set out quite early to walk the 7km out to the store, it was nice and sunny but the heat hadn't built up yet, so quite pleasant. Job done i picked up a bit of shopping, got a 'breakfast' in the shop cafe then got the bus back - i could've walked but i had stuff still to do.

The next, and most important job, was to get down and dirty with the keyboard, a good part of the remaining day saw me tapping away to produce another chapter which is now up on Patreon, hint, hint.

And so to Saturday. My daily ride has reached the 'needs a service' stage which given one or two of the needed jobs, means a few days off the road. Worn parts need replacing, a deep clean is in order, some fresh bar tape - if there wasn't other stuff to do it could all be done in a day but there are so i'll take my time. The good news is that i have a fall back bike - or two, i elected to pump the tyres on my best bike, itself looking a little tired at the moment.

I set off into the light breeze, stripped to short sleeves and bare legs, up onto the Cotswold massif heading sort of north of east. What a difference a bike can make, it took a few miles to get the feel of the machine, well it weighs about half of the usual steed, has a different brake set up and a slightly more agressive riding position and thats just for starters. I was soon zipping along, maintaining speeds into the wind that i generally only see when its behind me.

Out across the upper reaches of the Thames to Cricklade where i started a bit of a loop that would take me to the north Wiltshire Downs via Swindon. Okay, hardly a tourist destination, but it was in the way, after tackling some of the weirdest road jubctions i've ever seen i eventually put my feet on terra firma at Wroughton, 90km in and in need of food. Chips and sausage are not the ideal bike fuel but they sorta work, i set off for the return undecided on which route to take - well i'll play it by ear i guess.

Up onto the Downs and with the wind now more behind me, a fast ride to Avebury then on to Devizes, the bike zipping along at speeds approaching 40mph on some of the downs. Through the town and towards Trowbridge before turning to loop past Bradford on Avon to make my approach to Bath north of the river. I hadn't really noticed but the wind was rising a bit, something i only realised when my route turned a bit more northerly for the final leg back to Bristol.

The clock stopped a few minutes shy of seven hours riding, 170km (105mi) covered with a reasonable 1250m of up thrown in, the longest, and certainly fastest (almost 27kph average) ride i've done for quite a while.

And so to today, the main job will once again be writing, the salt is washed from my bike gear, i still have to sort out some lunch and plant the onions - no rest for the wicked and i'm clearly very wicked!

There is of course a new freebie chapter of Gaby here on BC, Third Degree follows on from the photo session, has Jenny guessed the truth? does Drea like hamburgers? can Manda keep mum?

Going forward into the last day's of March, i'm hoping, no i'm pretty confident, that the next segment of Book 27 will be out on Kindle by Wednesday, there're about another 4k words to put down which i think i can manage. I'm not a quick typist which can be frustrating but because of that i don't generally need as much time on the first edit as i've checked spellings/grammar as i've typed - somehow there are still missing/wrong words getting in, stuff that auto checkers won't pick up on, if you see something that looks wrong in any of my scribbles please let me know, i won't be offended.

For now thats it, i'll be back midweek,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid