(No) Red Lights Spells Danger

Kerrunch! That was the sound of my rear light being driven over by a 4x4 after it flipped out of it's bracket on my ride out today. Descending a hill about 25mph, the bumpy descent, usual potholes etc, I had one of those matrix slow motion moments as I looked over my shoulder and saw the light in the road, frame by frame, I saw a couple of hundred pieces of light fly all over the road.

Fair enough. Problem was it was 4.15pm, I was 20 miles from home and dusk was quickly drawing in. Tricky. So, front light on the back, so I could be seen, head down and get home asap. It made for a nervous run home as rush hour descended and traffic increased.

A cold but bright day, I set out from home and as I passed near Ormskirk my feet were absolutely freezing, solution - divert to Harry Middleton cycles and pick up some foot socks. Thankfully, I'd stuck twenty quid in my back pocket, so had it covered. It made for a comedy moment as you had to cut holes in the bottom and they only had a blunt stanley knife blade and blunt scissors. A few hacks later and they were on, much better!

It was a nice route today, 50+ miles with around 1.6k ft of climbing. Just the ticket after a busy week at work. Saw lots of folk out. Mileage wise, I've ticked over 300 miles for the month so far, so it's getting back up there. Saying that, the old heart rate hit 5.8 at one part, as I hit a steep ascent!!

Nice way to end the week. Saw on Twitter earlier that Bradley Wiggins and David Harmon were at Dolan Bikes in Ormskirk today, don't I wish I'd stopped by!

Lessons Learned

1. Always take a credit card out for contingency.
2. Pop a temporary light in my back pocket when I know my ride out is likely to end around dusk.