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Despite the great British weather doing it's very best to stop us and everyone else from riding bikes at the moment, we are yet to be defeated and have been out on our mountain bikes every Thursday for a number of years.
Now I can't claim to have been the most

Mondays have always been a day to dread, returning to work after a weekend of riding, but this Monday was very different thanks to an invitation from Garmin Pro cycling team to a ride out in the New Forest, alongside some of its top riders.
My 'plus one' in this case was Dan who deserved the opportunity due to some great results in recent events and for 'representing' Mud, Sweat & Gears so well.
So we arrived and, after a safety briefing and being introduced to the likes of Dan Martin, winner of the Tour of Poland and other such cycling elite we set out on a route through the New Forest of just under 20 miles.
Starting from the back, the gentle ride out soon, predictably, turned into a flat out race, mainly just trying to keep up with the (cruising) pro riders. A long hard chase down of the leading group, mainly by Dan towing me along, meant that by the time we eventually caught the tale end of the lead group, I had nothing left and couldn't hold on!
Dan kindly dropped back with me and we found our own level, or my level, and worked with a small group and managed to maintain a 20.9mph average around the 20 mile course. Just before the end of the ride I gathered myself together, wiped away most of the sweat dripping off me and arrived back at the start/finish looking as fresh as I could whilst passing the pro riders, who had got back a few minutes before and still looked like they did before we started.
The ride was followed by a superb bbq spread, although I don't believe they used a bbq as you could still tell the burgers from the sausages!
A great day and I made sure to leave our contact details so that Garmin Cervelo can get hold of us when they need a couple of 'domestics' to help the stars to more wins! (we're used to delivering Paul at the end of a sprint back to the pub!)