These days come rarely and it is important to take advantage. A chance to postpone some work until later in the evening and to get out into the sunshine and on the road before 4pm. The temptation to simply head home and perhaps sit in the garden is strong, but instead I turn left out of the school driveway and head north towards Dulverton. Immediately my legs feel tight and I start to talk myself out of it. Just go as far as Cove, turn and head back. No, maybe head on to the roundabout by the Exeter Inn. No, keep going to Black Cat and hook up over the hill to Bampton. No, sod it, by now my legs are not feeling so bad and the weather really is glorious. Trees are budding and blossoming, but there are still lots of fairly bare branches so there are good views out over the fields to the river. Keep going. Through Exebridge and up through Battleton where the flags hang limp, caught in a strange kind of doldrums. Manoeuvring past buses and 4x4s in Dulverton, the wind is back in my face up Jury Road. I resist the urge to push harder and instead ride to heart rate, desperately attempting to stick in the fat burning zone. Goodness knows I need to. And then finally, back the way I came: drifting down the valley and savouring the sun. Two hours and sixty kilometres, near as damn it. I feel better than I have in a long time.
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