the jumping rat ride

the jumping rat ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

Wednesday night is night ride night, especially when I've not ridden to work, Ian and i headed out in the balmy evening air with him telling me "strictly no more than 15 miles", suits me! as we went overland from one end of the canal tunnel to the other i was beginning to regret putting on a long sleeve jacket, i was boiling! then as hit the narrow towpath the other side and it quite quickly got colder and colder and then colder as we headed down in the direction of Worcester. As we were passing the place we saw a Barn Owl last time a rat ran from the waters edge across the towpath and into the undergrowth, then came another, but this one ran in front of my wheel and launched itself into the air, not exaggerating but it was ENORMOUS!! no wonder the owl was there.
sadly the cake promised above wasn't available at that time of night (what a ride it would have been if it had!) it didn't get any warmer as we headed back uphill towards home but it did mean that Venus, Jupiter and Mars were clear to see in the sky. Weirdly for this time of year was that the bike was covered in dust from the super dry trails. i know the land needs rain but it's making for great early spring riding.
ride 39
19 miles
total 709
commute 261.5