Ever had a ride when you get home and wish you hadn’t bothered? One when you’ve spent almost the entire ride wondering if fishing might actually be the sport for you and how much a decent rod and reel would cost? Well I did yesterday. I’ve had such rides before and I’m sure I’ll have them again, and so I suspect have you.

So what made it so awful? did I fall off? no. Did I puncture or have a mechanical? no. Did I have to fight off a large savage canine with my mini-pump? no. It was just a ride to forget. We’ve all had them I’m sure. One where lots of little niggles combine to create a maelstrom of dissatisfaction that will have you reaching past Cycling Weekly to leaf through Anglers Times next time your waiting for the wife in the newsagent.

I wasn’t feeling the love from the off. I was having one of those lethargic mornings that seem to be coming more prevalent the further into my forties I go. Mornings when everything from getting out of bed to turning the handle of the shower seem to require more effort than its worth. It was however a rare free morning. A morning unencumbered by hateful tasks such as tax forms or grass cutting. A morning free from any ‘oh, could you just if you get the chance….’ or ‘Don’t forget to pick up……’ instructions from family members as they left the house. In short this was a prime guilt free riding morning.

I knew from the first few pedal strokes this wasn’t going to be a vintage ride. The legs felt wooden, the bike seemed magnetically attracted to every pothole in the road and it took me several attempts to clip my disobedient left foot into the pedal. In the true grit spirit though I pressed on. Alright, this obviously wasn’t a day to set Strava alight or set new distance records, but the sun was shining, the roads were quiet, so lets just take it easy and have a nice ride…… right? that’s what I told myself. That’s how I quieted the little inner voice telling me to give it up as a bad job, turn round and go home, put the bike back in the shed and watch ‘Homes under the Hammer’ on daytime TV.

Then the creaking started. Arrrrrrrghhhhhhhh! This was supposed to be fixed. This blasted collection of tubes and bearings had been meticulously stripped down, lovingly greased and reassembled last month to banish the mystery creak forever! and it had worked……. for exactly four rides. I could have wept. In fact I think I might have, I certainly cursed. I told the bike in no uncertain terms exactly what I thought of it and exactly what was going to happen to it if it persisted in creaking. I may have judging from a startled dog walkers face slightly overdone this John Cleese like moment.

The next few miles past in a familiar way. Is it the cranks? is it worse out of the saddle? when I pull on the bars? is a wheel QR loose? could the phase of the moon be affecting it? Then I just ignored it. I had other things to worry about. My old friend the left knee ache started clamouring for attention. Not in a big way. Just in a niggling eating away at the back of your subconscious kind of way. The sort of ache that when you’ve had a persistent and long-term injury is guaranteed to start the gloomy paranoia voice in your head. ‘Here we go again….’ ‘I knew this knee still wasn’t right…….’ ‘I wonder if I’ve still got that Physio’s number…..’

Then common sense kicked in and said, ‘If you ease off a bit and just cruise along spinning a little gear, the bike stops creaking as much and your knee stops hurting as much Dumbo……’ so I applied some common sense and all was well for a few miles. Till the ear worm started. Mr Ed Sheeran and his catchy little number ‘Galway Girl’ to be exact. I don’t even particularly like Ed Sheeran, and after yesterdays ride I like him even less. So ‘Galway Girl’ kept me company along with the occasional creak and knee ache for the next few miles till it was time to turn for home.

It was then that the other great truism of rides you don’t enjoy raised its head. Or to be more precise – headwind. Why do rides when you’re struggling or not feeling the love for it always seem to be into a headwind? I’m riding a loop back to my house for gods sake! how can I have a headwind all the way? It really shouldn’t be possible but somehow it is.

So with Ed in my head, the phantom creak accompanying him and my left knee providing the occasional high note I ground my why back home into the headwind. It really was the perfect whirlwind of grumbling as I put the key gratefully into my front door.

Luckily I know every ride isn’t like that one. If it was I’d be swapping the carbon forks for a carbon fishing pole for sure. Why was it so bad? well sometimes rides just are and its no good looking too hard for a reason or over analysing it. I’ve had rides which have hurt more or rides where I’ve crashed or had a mechanical and I’ve still enjoyed them more, that’s just the way it goes sometimes. I think the key to yesterdays debacle was i started off in the bad mood and the wrong frame of mind and things went downhill from there.

So thinking positively for the future, I’m going to see the creak as a challenge to be faced and overcome and clamp the bike back into the work stand this afternoon to hunt it down. I’m going to go back to the gym and work on the muscles around my knee to strengthen the joint, and if Ed Sheeran comes on the radio I’m changing the station as fast as humanly possible.