Bourne Whs. Hilly 22.5

Just got back from Portugal at the weekend, ten days of sun and I took the bike to get in a few miles and build a but of early season fitness



The previous week I had ridden my first event of the year the Bourne Whs (Where?) Hilly in Lincolnshire, I'd got a 2nd place in their early season Road Race a couple of seasons ago on the same course based at Essendine but also using some of the roads I ride alone when doing a 100 mile loop out this way through Stamford East of the A1.
I'd had a cold all week (my first of the year) after being ultra careful and avoiding anywhere and anything germ infested. Handrails and door handles have become Persona non Grata for me and Fiona and I have to include lots of hand washing after being in public places, this is no hardship for Fiona as she has (like most women I assume) an obsession with knowing and rating where all the best and worst toilet facilities are in the whole world. For your information Worst - Cairo central market & Best - Bicester Shopping Village. Is there a potential book here? I'm beginning to think myself with a touch of OCD with the paranoia of people and germs, turning into the Howard Hughes of Leicester. But a trip to Brussels on Euro star proved too much for my defences and my immune system was overwhelmed despite copious use of hand wipes. To be fair Belgium does not have an illustrious history in the toilet department a service station just north of Lille taking my top spot for sheer awfulness well up in my bottom ten (literally)
Not wanting to shift my cold onto my chest I did not go all out in the Bourne event, and finished up in 5th place but well off the pace of the winner James Perkins of the Zenith CC the local 'fastman'. I had been the 'scratchman' or the last man off so expectation was high but as I now miss two weekends away in the Algarve but It was good to get a race under my belt before going away which I'd never done
The south of Portugal was scorching all week (9 days) and I had to be careful over the first few days not to get burnt, those of us with less than the full quota of hair have to run a fine line between getting a tan on our exposed bonse and having a two tone line around our heads for the rest of the season and these first few days seem to be crucial as to get it wrong means six months of alternating peeling skin and a scalp like a map of Middle Earth