Another brick in the wall.....

I woke up early as usual and as has been the case for the last few days the sun was shining and there was hardly a breath of wind. I put on my cycle kit and a pair of tracky bottoms, walked the dog and was presented with porridge and fruit on return. This wasn't a generous loving act by my gorgeous wife, just a mistake as she had microwaved the wrong flavour! I happily accepted the mistake and enjoyed breakfast. I have a cunning plan to mix the contents of the boxes up to ensure similar results in the future!!

So once more as Danielle headed out to work, I set off on my bike reversing the route that I did on Tuesday. The wee hill that leads up and over to the bike path quickly raises the heart rate and I hoped I didn't sound like a crazed lunatic when I bumped into my neighbour Anna out with their dog. It was pretty chilly this morning and I'd noticed a thick layer of ice on the windscreen when I was leaving but with the sun on my back I soon began to heat up.

The roads were pretty quiet and the only thing that impeded my way was a stray dog wandering the streets of Newmills. A lady asked if I'd seen the pooch before and for some reason I said I hadn't seen him around. Of course I hadn't, we live miles from Newmills!

I motored along to Kincardine and then headed along to Clackmannan. There is a short section of the road after you cross the link road to new bridge that feels very French. The fields are unfenced and I love the freedom of the fence less fields! I was passing one of the farms went looking around I noticed the farmer giving his bull await looked like a hair cut or shave! He was working with a set of clippers and it took me a second to work out what on earth he was doing. Not sure why you give a bull a hair cut. My morning got even stranger when someone who looked spookily like one of the guitarists out of ZZ Top was working in his garden just round the corner from the bull at the barbers. All very strange!

I returned up past the end of the cycle path and back past the Longanlea Cafe in Forestmill. There was a lone chap sitting outside with the cafe still shut. I wondered if he was waiting for his daily cup of misery and sitting in the cold was going to be the best part of his visit to the cafe! I'm being cruel but it is a miserable place!

I pedalled back in to Carnock having completed my 40k spin and threw on my runners. I only ran for 30 minutes but my legs felt strong and I felt I was moving at a reasonable pace. For those that don't know a brick session is a bike followed by a run. It is integral part of the training plan and I plan to stick a short run into my Saturday longer bike ride from now on.

At the end of the afternoon I went back into the gym for a circuit session. It was all going to plan until I tried lifting a very heavy weight and felt my right chest muscle pull tight. The heavy weight was me and I was doing a press up. My upper body strength is rubbish but I know that if I get it in better balance with my legs it will not only help my swimming but give me a stronger riding position on the time trial bike. So I did the rest of the circuits that didn't need my upper body and then stretched out to avoid pulling anything else.

So not a bad day in the training office. Weather looks a bit pants for tomorrow so heading to the pool.

It was the Dunfermline CC 10 mile Cleish time trial last night with 43 riders competing and 10 from DCC. If you've not seen a TT rider in action here is a picture of Iain Taylor that freelance photographer Allan Fotheringham took last night. His website is http://allanfotheringham.zenfolio.com/ if you want to see more of his outstanding photo's