Choosing sleep over riding my bike...or not? (part 2)

Just woke up. It's 8am and my son has just come to poke me in the side so I can put the breakfast cereals on the table. Although rather knackered I happily oblige as I truly cherish the time I can spend with him. Maybe it's just down to being a proud dad, but he truly is the cleverest and best behaved 4-y old I have ever known. And knowing that I will not be going on a ride today but instead will crawl back into bed after breakfast makes it all OK. But the sun is out and the air feels warm...and I am not not sure anymore that this will be the plan of action. Having lived in the UK now for 16 years one learns to cherish the lovely sunny days and quite often you just need to reschedule the entire day just so you can enjoy it. There are just too few of them to pass up on them. But then I get a text message from Damian, telling me he won't be able to make it today either. After almost spilling coffee over myself while still quite sleepdrunk I however decide to stick with my original plan of resting up. Tomorrow my parents will stop by for a brief visit on their way back to The Netherlands and I will also have to get back to my work at Pitch. Then there are the various things that need purchasing and organising still for the Challenge ride, not least a decent camera for Ian to use.

At just after 9am Dirk pulls up in front of the house and we down a quick coffee while I make my apologies for not being able to make it today. He knows I have been pulling out as many stops as possible over the last few weeks, so although he is disappointed I won't be coming today, he agrees it is probably the best course of action for me to take. Besides, it's not as if he can say anything about it. He is probably the one who has trained the least and he has admitted he will probably be the first one to start crying when the going starts getting really tough next week.
We then head over to Ollie's place, which is just around the corner. here we go through the box of spares so kindly given to us by our sponsor Brixton Cycles - bottles, t-shirts, spare 8/9/10sp chains, cassettes, brake pads, tyres, wheels and so on. The best bike shop in London with the best customer service. Truly. If they had decided not to sponsor us I would have bought all of these bits myself as there really was no other bike shop whose name I would have been proud to wear in this event!

Ollie's kids are partly washing the car and mostly throwing water over eachother. It really is one of those lovely summery days that just make you go 'aaaaahhh....'! I wish Dirk and Ollie a good ride and head back home. Clearly the best course of action because even Ollie's wife Jo comments I look like death...cheers Jo! I forgot to tell the guys to take some pictures while out riding for the blog, so I give them a quick ring. But neither answers their phone so I figure they'll pick up the message when they stop for a break somewhere. Now, where is my bed...? Ahh. Zzzzz.