come back when you're needed in about June!

Apparently, the south west of England, the area i currently inhabit, has had rain on every day of 2026 so far, i reckon here in Brizzle we've got wet at some point most days. It has made cycling a game of chance, a game that i've largely been winning but then a day like today rolls through, the forecast originally had a few showers but by the time i left the house that was replaced by a certainty of rain.

But lets go back for a moment, to Thursday. With the weather hitting my usual riding schedule, Thursday became a writing day, another Gaby chapter was completed and posted on Patreon.

Friday was to be a riding day but a damp forecast meant things were trimmed back to a trip down to Bath. To be fair, whilst it was damp i stayed essentially dry until my tea stop when the heavens opened quite vociferously. I ended up getting quite wet before it blew through, 52km for the day, just enough to almost feel like a ride.

In the new order, Saturday was pencilled in for writing but as i now had the parts to sort out Foxy, the day started with a couple of hours of bike mechanics. Replacing cables is quite straightforward on most bikes but on Foxy, the routing is a bit tortuous not made easier by needing to replace both inner and outer for both brakes and gears. Fitting the new chain literally took five minutes. The job isn't quite completed, new bar tape and a few finishing touches will get done possibly tomorrow.

When i did finally get down to some writing, it was slow so rather than labour and not like the result, i gave up - i'll go in fresh tomorrow.

And so to today. I had originally got an 120km ride down for today but for reasons beyond my control (Aunty Bev's poorly bus), that had already changed to a similar distance loop up towards Stroud. And then i looked out of the window this morning, any ride would result in getting wet so whilst i prefer to not go out in the wet, today i set off expecting to not be dry very long. That prediction was self fulfilling, i was quite damp after an hour, decidedly wet when i stopped for a cuppa in Chippenham.

The good news was the promise of some wind assist on the return leg and a plus was a last few dry km's after i dropped off the Cotswold Edge. Of course i was well soggy but it felt better to not get even wetter, especially as cold was starting to grip my very damp extremities. 92km, 700+m of up, not a bad ride performance wise, actually the quickest of the year so far, it only took me two hours to dry out lol.

Today's Gaby chapter is part 33 of Balancing Trick.

i'll be back midweek - but for now,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid