Cycling With Ben & His Bros

At six foot I’ve always felt I’m a pretty decent height for a bloke but my pal Ben is a twenty five year old fella two or three inches taller which gives me a little crick in the neck. Well, yesterday I met up with Ben and his two younger brothers Mike and Sam for a cycle trip from Kinver to Stourport, a distance of ten miles. These geezers were taller still. To avoid any neck strain I stood or sat several feet away from both of them. They rode to Kinver alo

ng the canal which was around four miles. I met them at the Vine pub and we cycled to Stourport from there. The canal and the river Stour run more or less parallel with each other for all of the journey. We cycled the canal tow path at a leisurely pace so we could take in the landscape and chat along the way. At mile nine we needed a pint and stopped off at a canal side pub just on the outskirts of Stourport. The beer was good but I was hungry – the young guys with me were starving. We rode on into the small town and looked for a suitable eating venue. We dropped into a nearby pub and I ordered a burger. These guys ordered the same but, for an extra quid they had an extra burger each. I remember those days – when I could eat a cow between two bread vans and have room for a pudding after. I struggled with my lonely burger, chips and token offering of salad.

We didn’t hang around too long at the pub. We got straight back on the bikes and rod bake to Kinver. This time we didn’t hang around. We made it back in an hour and five. Ben & co. went straight into the village to the local butchers while I prepared the BBQ, sauces and home made beer. When they arrived they brought locally made chorizo sausages, traditional sausages, spicy burgers and traditional burgers. Not one green thing in site! I flame grilled everything and they had no problem demolishing the lot. They

even put Buffalo Wing sauce and Reggae sauce on their chorizo sausage hot dogs – phew! These guys could eat for England.

I think we had a great time which took my mind off my 50 at 50 run less than two weeks away now. I’m a little apprehensive about it at the moment. My plantar faciitis  hasn’t completely cleared up and training hasn’t gone as best it could. I ran to work and back today in temperatures hotter than I’m comfortable with. I hope it’s not too hot on the day. I can cope with cold, snow, wind and rain but the heat will make it that much harder. Ben will be joining me at around mile eight from the end (mile forty two-ish) I tried to get Mike and Sam involved but I still don’t know how successful I was in recruiting them.

It’s the White Peak, Matlock Swift Half Marathon this weekend. I’ll be meeting up with Nigel (Running From The Reaper (the second podcast I started to listen to after Pheddippidations)) Drusy and Billy (geezer), Petra and hubby (first HM), Mark (who laughs at hills and spits at mountains) Iain (DevonIain) who puts more tri-miles on the clock than my car (you think I’m joking), Paul Abrale (AKA Run Yank Run) a soft speaking podcaster that’s easy on the ear on the longer runs.  A person that I’ve run with a couple of times now and is an absolute diamond – Steve Chopper, I’m hoping he’s ditched the pink tent he had last year (I need to introduce him to Decathlon).