My original plan was to ride on the Friday, get back late on Saturday, and then have a whole day to recover before I had to go back to work.

Challenge accepted said the weather over the Atlantic, and proceeded to throw us the biggest storm of the year. I don't know if this was related to Storm Ian, but it helps to personify it to have someone to swear blame. There was 50mph winds and sheets of rain and it all came from the West. I realised I really had picked a good way to go directly against the prevailing wind and Dartmoor would be right out (if there's a breath of wind it'll blow you around up there) and none of it would exactly be much fun. I decided to postpone, and just go straight from ride to work the next day. 

In the end it meant I spent an extra day in Totnes and had a great day catching up with my mum and dad. I also ate a vast amount of pizza, which was good for energy, and forgot to send my shoes back with Caroline (I actually ended up chasing her receding car down the road while waving them on my hands, much to the puzzlement of the neighbours). Since I couldn't carry them it would mean I wouldn't have any ordinary shoes at home. In other news I've managed to strip the bolt that attaches my stem to the steerer. Fortunately it was safely tight for the ride, but I suspect if I loosen it again it won't go back on.

It's these minor annoyances that are the very stuff of life!