I was thoroughly enjoying my icebreaker ride for the year. Nothing was stirring on the club message board and there was still a lot of ice and snow about so I set off for a solo ride using my mountain bike again.

It was a lovely day. Where the sunshine had reached the soil we had warming conditions with melting snow turning to mud while elsewhere the bitter cold was keeping a firm grip.

All was going nicely until my rear derailleur disintegrated 10km from home. That shouldn’t be a problem, I just shortened the chain to ride home on a single gear. Except that the chain splitter decided to snap too, leaving me without a working bike.

Some cursing may have taken place.

Then I ate humble pie and phoned home.

Maybe I have got my bad luck out of the way for the year already. Hope so.