Double trouble

Life has a habit of providing degrees of symmetry where things are paired together.
Things like:
Day and Night, Ying and Yang,Thunder and Lightening and Heaven and Hell.
Society has followed suit by making its own pairings like pairs of trousers, glasses, scissors, headphones and even handcuffs and shotguns, some of which I don't really understand the origins.
Over this weekend East Yorkshire had its own unique pairing in the form of twins.
My brother Paddy and I. We dabbled in our own favorite pairings too consuming, strawberries and cream, beer and peanuts and of course fish and chips.
We also had two cycle rides together.
Paddy is over from Houston on business and decided to come over to spend the weekend with his younger brother. When I say younger brother its actually Ten minutes, which is significant in the world of twins. It is the gap that separates the younger and the older.
I suspect that he also wanted check out the fitness of his 'Anglo Mules' (Simon and I) part of his 'Travels with my Mule Cycling Team.
Our event in August 'The Hotter than Hell' was apparently a very tough event and not for the unconditioned.
After group training for months with the Texas contingent, and clocking average miles in excess of 20mph he was perhaps concerned that Simon and I might slow the team down.
I was as nervous as a city banker at the potential scrutiny, as our own average times were far more modest.
Paddy resisted the invitation to head to the hill country and insisted that he wanted to replicate the sort of high tempo riding that we were likely to expect on the Texas plains.
With our own narrow twisting country roads, obligatory junctions and agricultural vehicles such a comparison was hard to achieve but it was all I could offer.
My East Yorkshire alternative was 'The Holderness Plain'
After 55 miles of riding Simon and I demonstrated to him some real Yorkshire grit.
We may not have had the advantages of team training, but we have had 3,000 + miles of riding in ice, snow, rain, gale force winds and F***ing big hills.
Our tempo seemed to impress our team leader and was at times too hot for his jet lagged legs.
By the end of our ride we had got the 'lone star' seal of approval.
Paddy declared 'I think you guys will be a great asset to our team'
Thank you Paddy we look forward to wearing our shirts with pride as well as copious amounts of sun block!!!!!!!

Training

209 miles this week, making 3,506 for the year. I will now try and do at least 200 miles per week. My virtual ride takes me into Charleston and as I enter this lovely city I really seem to be dancing on the pedals...............roll on Houston.