It’s Wednesday.  Wednesday would appear to be the day I ride with MiniMe.  Wednesday is also, one week out of four, the day I deliver Avon.  The chances of it raining on a Wednesday are thus greatly increased and today was no exception.  Yep.  More rain.  Really.  Maybe people will stop talking about drought now?

But MiniMe was raring to go, and there wasn’t any wind, and it was distinctly humid, so all it was ever going to be was wet.  And last I checked skin is essentially waterproof.  But just in case it isn’t, I dragged out the waterproof for the second time in a week.  Which at least means it wasn’t hidden away.  And it proved unexpectedly useful in that being fluorescent yellow, I was far more visible than usual, a fact for which I was very grateful as I escorted him down the A38.

Well he wanted to do a flat loop.  Longer than the Nyland loop, but not as long as the last ride, so as not to make his back hurt.  He’s also not quite ready for hills yet.  Given all of that, options around here are a little limited.  The easiest way to do flat is straight down the A38, and left after Tarnock to go straight across to Mark, so that’s what we did.

To give him proper credit he did a really good job of leading all the way to the turning.  See, if I ride just behind and slightly further out from the curb than him, then the traffic sees us, has to go round us both, and also has to make a definite effort to do so rather than just squeezing past.  And, hey, if the worst comes to worst, they hit me first!  So I sat back there scaring the traffic, and in the meantime he kept a straight line, didn’t wobble, or waver, and was less worried about the traffic than me, though he did exclaim at what he thought was their proximity from time to time.  Sadly what he thinks was close is nothing like as close as they can get!  Ignorance is bliss, right?

Once off the A38 the rain eased, the roads dried a bit, and we had an uneventful and actually fairly enjoyable ride.  We were damp but not downhearted.  MiniMe even invented a new verb – to crest.  This is when you go down a hill fast enough to have enough momentum to get over the next hill – thus “cresting” it.  I like that.  So did he 🙂  Today’s other big achievement was learning how to drink whilst riding along.  First off without pedalling simultaneously, and then whilst pedalling too.  Who says men can’t multi-task? 😉 … I’m sorry, you’re reading, and I asked you a question…are you back yet? *grin*.  Time for the stats then:

Cycling time: 1:11:53 hrs
Distance: 17.23 miles
Avs: 14.3 mph
ODO: 8908 miles

This teaching cycling lark is tricky.  I want him to enjoy it, which he is doing.  I don’t want him to have an accident, so I have to warn/educate him about the risks and dangers, but I don’t want him to be unreasonably scared.  I’d rather he learnt by my mistakes than his own!  Fine line…  But he had a good ride, he was faster, less tired at the end, less achey, and more amenable to helping me deliver my Avon afterwards.  Result all ’round! 🙂

(PS: hello to my new readers!  Feel free to comment even though we don’t (yet?) know each other.  Hope to meet you all on the road one day… 🙂 )