The Wind in the Willows

In Kenneth Grahame well loved children's story the Wind in the willows he depicts a tale of four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England.
The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie things that I both like and appreciate.
The story opens with Mule ............sorry I was meant to say Mole
For those unacquainted with such a creature a Mole is a bit like a Vole, which in turn sounds a bit like Vowel
As O and  U are both Vowels and the difference between a Mule and a Mole, in essence they are very similar, and permitted in my story.

Anyway Mule - the Mole is a mild-mannered, home-loving animal, and the first character to be introduced. After hibernating all winter and waking a bit early he passes the time away cleaning his house and completing any other chores that he can think of.
 Eventually he gets fed up with this and ventures out onto the riverbank where he meets other adventurers in Toad, Badger and Ratty.

I feel for Mr Muley the Mole.

This winter my bikes have done less miles than in any previous winter.
Our fair Isles have not been fair.
We have been battetred by severve Gales, Snow right through and out the other side of easter, and enough Ice and Cold to attract Eskimos for a weekend break.
When we have ventured out...its been Grim.
So grim that rather than have a latee afterr my ride at The Corner House I have been forced to consume The Full English, washed down with Guiness and a Brandy Chaser.
Is it any wonder that Im now in deep Therapy at slimming World.

Like Mr Mole I understood the frustrations of having to stay in, and wait for the time to be right.

From the comfort of my now overused sofa I took some comfort from watching the proffessionals 'Man up' and ride in some dreadful weather.

I am sure some of the sponsors would have been wincing

I felt especially sorry for the grim faced Vacansoleil riders.

Their distictive livery depicting the sun with their main sponsor a Holiday company.

I dont think Vacansoleil do winter breaks.

As all good things eventually come to an end, well thankfully so do the bad ones.
Although the road ahead may sometimes be bumpy there is always a destination at the end of it.
Just ask Fabian Cancellara he gets a free shirt to boot.

With clothes chosen from the winter catalogue a small handful of Mules undertook the North Lincolnshire Sportive our first of the year. With modest training under our expanded belts we opted for the 100km route.
If it had been a training ride I am sure there would have been no takers as the wind was up to and gusting over 40mph......It was grim.

Despite that, and in our usual masochistic way we all got something positive out of it.
Congratulations to Ben (One of our New Mules) for completing his first Sportive and Metric Century.
For part of the Route we were joined by Carl pictiured below also on his first sportive. Great riding!
For me it reminded me that the season is now upon us and that I need to start blogging again.

So wishing you all great riding and I am pleaed to confirm that normal service has resumed