Despite the promise of bad weather it turned into quite a nice Sunday. Did a 12 miler with my new SPD's (more about that above). This was the view from a suprising little almost rural enclave surrounded by urban sprawl. There were even 4 buzzards wheeling around above me!

It was a real mixed bag of a ride. You know that old Panaracer Smoke I bought? Well I can see the inner tube through the side wall now!! I spent ages about 5 miles in taking the rear wheel apart to fix a puncture that didn't exist - it had just lost pressure because the side walls were losing their strength. However, on the plus side I noticed the front brakes were near to the metal and having now taken to carrying spare pads I whapped new pads in!! I'm getting a bit concerned about the life of these brake pads - time for some research.

Some truly excellent tracks, but some were new to me and I quickly got lost and struggled for ages to find an easy way across a bog filled valley. On top of that part of my routes went through a hole in a fence, across a field and into a housing estate. The landowners are obviously not happy with people crossing the field, they've repaired the hole and are building a new fence. So rather than force my way through I looked for an alternative (I want to use the route in the future). So, another age spent finding a way round the field.

After that I hammered for home it had been a good ride despite it's problems.