Road cycling respite Articles / La Marmotte - 174km cycle, 5180m ascent Date: May 17, 2009 - 01:31 PM Thanks to all of you who have generously donated already, 50% of target reached so far. If you haven't yet, you can help me reach the target here. Last Sunday I put a stop to the road cycling craziness and returned back to mountain biking madness, just for the day. Together with Kean, Sam & Dave, I entered the Bucks offroad sportive, 121km of undulating climbs, and some great singletrack. Gav and Susan also joined and did the 67km route. Was a looooong day, 9 hours from start to finish. We did stop off in a pub for lunch and a quick pint (it would have been rude not to!) The last week has been a bit of a write-off in terms of training. Last minute trip to NL due to family crisis meant I didn't get to do much riding into work, or sleep. So decided to rest and recover this weekend. Friday was the only day I could cycle into work on the bike. Typical then, that the heavens opened up on Friday evening, along with a howling gale. To top it off a car overtook on a downhill, turned left, cut me up, leaving me with nowhere to go, but sliding along the side. The driver switched on his indicators as I hit the car, and the only time he looked at his mirror was as I slammed into it! Luckily managed to stay upright, and no damage done, part from a bruised shoulder where I hit the mirror. Did explain to the driver the need to look out for cyclists, especially as he just passed me, indicate, use mirrors, etc. Passenger asked why I didn't break faster! Ten minutes later, a girl clad in ninja-black and high-heeled boots ran through moving traffic, direct into my path. Rather than running onto the pavement, she just saw me and froze on the spot, leaving me with nowhere to go, as I had a car next to me also slamming on the brakes. Luckily managed to not skid in the rain, and came to a stop right in front of her. She was so shook up, she actually grabbed hold of me after I had stopped. I think she was about to topple over on those high heels. I told her to be more careful next time, but just got abuse back, as she rushed into the kebab shop, more worried about getting rained on than getting run over. That's the joy of London traffic for you! This article comes from Jansz.Com http://www.jansz.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.jansz.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=81