Not having cycled further than my office - about six and a half miles away - for several years, I volunteered for a charity London-Brighton ride with my team at work which happened this Weds. The most pissingest-down day of the month, for a 75 mile route which took in Devil's Dyke (happily avoiding the Beacon) and a couple of felt-brutish-but-probably-not-too-bad-for-reasonably-fit-people Surrey hills.
To my surprise, despite almost zero training and being as wet as it is possible to be wet for most of the day, I made it with pride vaguely intact, in a bunch that included greyhound roadies and game people on hybrids and - on balance - enjoyed it. I thought that I'd stiffen up madly over the last couple of days but in fact not at all: just a bit tired (and it's been a very intense week at work anyway).
What's alarming is that I've just realised I could probably swing another Dun Run. Last time was - I think - 2009 so it's probably time. Hmm.
(And we raised £10k for Haven House, which is the other bit of the good news story
).