I was knackered before last night's ride and to be honest two hours of trying to keep up with The Fun Hoover was never going to improve that!

I was looking forward to three days of trail centre fun all last week. An early start on Friday saw Jamie picking me up before we collected Mad Dog on our way north. We were running a bit late but managed to make the planned rendezvous at Glentress on time at midday.

I can't remember the last time I actually started a ride needing to wear a coat? This changed on Saturday. As I drove into the busy pub car park I couldn't see the usual suspects messing about on bikes. For a moment I thought I was going to be the only one that had turned up due to the wet weather but at the last minute the vans and cars rolled in. In the end eight of us set off towards the woods.

What a contrast between last night's ride and The Viking Challenge on Sunday! At the weekend we were sweating whilst riding and sunning ourselves in the beer garden afterwards. The temperature was in the high twenties. Last night the temperature was down to single figures (plus added wind chill) and it was raining!