Flying in the saddle, pain in my legs

What a day. Having been asked this morning if I wanted to go for a gentle ride I was excited at the prospect. However as the day progressed I began to feel worse and worse, almost to the point of telling my riding partners that I wouldn't be able to make it. Anyhow, I didn't want to loose face or let a tiredness feeling put me out so I went anyway.

So having finished work, off I set on my 1 hour drive home to meet my friends to ride. Started out feeling terrible, having repaired a puncture in a hurry at Tom's house as my tyre was flat when I got it out of the car. Riding at just 14mph to begin with was hard, and I just wanted to sleep. However, this feeling didn't last. Soon we were all flying through the peaks at an outrageous speed. A 30 mile ride, averaging 19.1mph (for me) and 18.5 for the other two was an impressive showing by all. Undoubtedly our fastest ride yet, by a long way. The adrenaline rushing around afterwards was fantastic and there was a real buzz between the three of us. So thanks very much to Tom and Pete for the ride of my life. I haven't experienced such pain and an adrenalin rush since my rowing days.

Not what I was expecting when sitting at work at 4:00. How things can change in a moment. Amazing, simply amazing.