Week 4 was the toughest week so far. Week 1 and Week 2 I was really lucky with dry and calm weather that made the early mornings a lot easier. Week 3 turned a bit nasty with Storm Ellen and some pretty damp days. Week 4 was worse! Storm Francis landed on Tuesday and 5 of the 7 days were wet, not just damp but wet. It was hateful.

Storm Francis was well predicted and although we missed the worst of it we were still under an orange warning for most of the day.

I didn’t intend to even try going out Tuesday morning as this was the worst of the rain and wind. I did waken as usual but the rain was battering off the roof. The rain continued for most of the day while I was at work and I’d pretty much decided I wasn’t going to be able to get out at all. Once home though I decided it was starting to fair up slightly and decided to give it a go. Even a short run would have been enough to keep my streak going. In the end the rain was constant but the wind was bearable coming from the South and I completed my normal 25km circuit. Riding in the storm felt almost as big an achievement as the mileage and streak challenge!

Wednesday was my day off and I was able to coordinate my spin with a dry weather window. It was still pretty windy but this was expected. What I didn’t expect was the heavy downpour between Convoy and Kilross that left me soaked through and killed most of the fun of the ride.

Friday morning was the end of the 4th week and finally the end of the rain. It was such a relief and as the forecast was good for a few days I was feeling good again and ready to push on for the last few days.

My Saturday morning 25km took me past my first challenge marker of 1000km for the month finishing with 1007km.

Sunday was the best spin of the whole month. It was a Club event and completed a full lap of the River Finn. It was to replace the Covid19 cancelled Lap The Lough and called Lap The Finn. It was a really good social day, my first Club spin since February and at 128km my longest spin since November 2018.

Setting out on my final spin of the month on Monday morning I was really feeling the day before and regretting the extra 23km up and down from home, all the turns on the front plus the few sprints and hard pushes up hills. It was a really nice morning and a perfect spin to finish out the month but boy was I glad to see home 😆

I’m really glad I started this challenge. It’s given me back my motivation to ride again as well as helping me to build my fitness to a level that I haven’t felt for a few years now. I have a new, longer term challenge in mind but I’ll post more details on that over the next week or so.

Yesterday was a planned rest day. Today was forced rest as we’re back under a yellow weather warning again so I made myself feel better by going bike shopping. I’ve a deal done on a fantastic upgrade but until the Bike to Work paperwork is sorted I don’t want to jinx it by posting photos. Watch this space……