Miles, Pals and Pies

By this morning I'd already clocked up 40 miles and headed out on the MTB to Cardiff, to the farmers' market and lunch with the Melodeon Master.  Yesterday I did a 'quick hilly 20' so decided to take it relatively easy down to Cardiff and back, just the 30 miles...  I met the Melodeon Master at the farmers' market, we did shopping and then we headed for lunch.

This is me doing my impression of Aleksander the Meerkat, and the Melodeon Master looking normal...

Yes, we went for pies at Pieminister who make just absolutely the bestest pies ever.  And they've opened a restaurant in Cardiff - hooray!  Apart from the warm wine, the wrong side orders, the dry pies and the over-perfumed waitress, it was lovely.  Just teething problems, I'm sure...

Then I pedalled home again and this time I had company - first of all a girl mountain biker (proper grungy gear and everything) who cycled alongside me for a mile or so before heading up to Caerphilly Mountain to do off road stuff, and then a slightly portly older chap who was heading for the Taff Trail cafe.  He turned off to the cafe after a while and I carried on.  At the next gate I looked back and saw him puffing hard and pedalling like mad - he was trying to catch me up after finding the cafe closed.  We cycled along companionably for about a mile then he too went a different way.

I'd gone down to Cardiff quite gently and, after the first 5.6 miles, it's mostly downhill.  On the way back I decided (despite it being mostly uphill) that I would do it quicker.  And I did, by 4 minutes.  Yay!  I did flake out on the grass when I finally made it home though...

And the American saddle?  It went on Ebay this week.  No, of course nobody bought it.

They've all got more sense...