Yesterday I did something, that I haven’t done for a long long time. I packed my riding kit and bike into the car and drove so that I could then go for a ride. When we lived in Liverpool, this was the norm, but now we’re in the Peak District there’s great riding from the door, so I rarely bother driving anywhere else, unless there’s a race of course.

Sometimes though, it’s good to do something different, and yesterday was one of those days. I drove to Penmachno.

There were supposed to be a few of us meeting up, but in the end at the off, there was TwinklyDave and I with Jase and Michael running late, thinking that’d they might catch up in due course.

We set off up the hill, and it was clear as one of my lungs tried to escape through my mouth, that I still haven’t got rid of my lurgy. Thankfully Dave wasn’t in a rush so I spun in a very little gear whilst gasping for breath and trying to chat at the same time.

Penmachno is one of, if not my favourite trail centre. Each climb is rewarded with a truly fantastic flowing singletrack descent. The sort of descent that demands that you don’t sit back and catch your breath, but stamp on those pedals, and ride as fast as you can through the turns, the blind corners, and the little kickers that propel you albeit briefly skywards in a quest for something or other. Penmachno is not a groomed place without risk. Pushing hard has it risks, big rocks and falls await the unwary, though thankfully the worst that caught me out was the embarrassment of the high speed “oh so that’s the way the trail goes” as I went the other way with the anchors swiftly pulling me to a halt.

Which brings me to those icy puddles. The trail was covered in them. A hard crust that crackled under tyre followed by a drenching in ice cold water. We could have ridden slowly through them, but then that’s not what Penmachno is about. The swooping singletrack demands speed. We got wet and cold.

Jase and Michael greeted us back at the car park. Their day hadn’t gone entirely to plan, but they had sampled some of Penmachno’s riding before retiring early.

A great ride in a great place.

Maybe I’ll get in my car a bit more often to go riding.

One of the best days for British Cycling in the public’s eye ever, well at least since they won all those medals.

Today for the first time since Tom Simpson won the award back in the year of my birth, Chris Hoy won the BBC Sports Personality of the year. Not only that but David Brailsford won the coach award, and last but not least the British cycling team won the team award.

A  clean sweep.

I’m proud that they not only got the medals but the publics recognition.

An encouragement for future UK cyclists to move to the fore of the sport.

Hopefully Nicole will get the recognition she deserves soon too.

Via the Mynydd Climbing Club, I got a place on a track taster session at the Manchester Velodrome.

A couple of laps to get the hang of the banking, then I was flying.

If you haven’t had a go, do so. Absolutely ace fun. I’ll be back.

Not today though, I’ve got some flu type lurgy, though I did manage a couple of steady hours on the Commencal in the ice, and remains of the snow this morning, before retiring to my bed.