It didn’t start well. Setting off from the first set of traffic lights on my way to the regular Sunday 09.30 rendezvous at Nauthólsvik, my chain snapped. Weighing up the options, i punted myself back home, hopped in the car, went to the workshop, fixed the chain and went off in pursuit of the group. I had suspected, and it was confirmed, that my efforts were in vain and so i went off on my own 2hr loop. Ominously a ring darkness seemed to hang on the outskirts of Reykjavík, shrouding the mountains of Bláfjöll and Esja. Part of me thought “ash”, the other, slightly more optimistic part, thought “rain”. Later, when i was safely ensconced inside watching Liège-Bastogne-Liège, last of the Ardennes classics, it proved to be the later.

And so to the week ahead; an XC race on Tuesday and a talk at the Icelandic Mountain Bike Club (IFHK) on Thursday, both of which Cycling Under Glacier feels woefully unprepared for, so the only aim in both cases, will be finishing.