***Most of the words were written Thursday evening***

In the office, early. Ploughing through a day’s worth of email inbox, coffee mug cupped in my hand. Sitting in an air-conditioned, tinted-windowed, automatic fluorescent bulb-lit office it is a world away from 24 hours ago.

Garage Bikes close on a Wednesday. Bike mechanics need to ride too. Usually Al and the team ride locally, or drive a couple of hours to destinations a bit further away. A one-day window does have limitations though, especially as the shortest day is merely a month away. Al, Joe, Sarah and Hannah were keen to get in a visit to Bike Park Wales, after Jenn and I raved about it, following a trip for Singletrack (feature in the next issue, available from Garage – probably next week). BPW is a good four hour drive away. Not really daytrip-friendly. A plan was hatched (and then mostly planned by Sarah and Jenn) to throw bikes and kit into the back of a van and a car and drive down on Tuesday night. Grab a few hours comfort in a B&B, before riding until we could ride no more, then head home (via a visit to Mojo suspension to have a wander around their workshop).

The riding was great, the company was (of course) great. Mojo were friendly and welcoming, and kind enough to show us around the whole workshop, seeing their technicians servicing forks, their huge stock of spare parts, and the staff bouldering wall.

Ultimately, the drive home was never going to be fun, despite eating large quantities of Waitrose posh service-station food, but we were safely tucked up in bed by 11pm, and had a great mini-adventure in just over 24 hours.

While I might be a little more tired than a normal Thursday, the week is a little brighter than normal.

Thanks to Sarah and Jenn for doing the grown up stuff like booking B&Bs, Al for having the idea, and to Garage Bikes for paying for our BPW ride tickets.