Decent ride out with Stretch, 35 miles at a reasonable pace, and our usual loop nr Hexham, Fourstones, Chollerford, Wall etc incorporating a few good climbs (pic).

Probably my last session before the Five Boro Tour, 7 days and 3,500 miles away!

Rain most of today so will take the opportunity to clean the bike and pack it.

Well, a Sunday morning jaunt with my reliable training-partner, stretch.

Rather pleasant out in Northumberlandcestershire this morning.

A good day out in Northumberland with Adam on bikes training. Very windy though, despite our route being a "loop", we were heading INTO the wind most of thug way round. With the hills & wind, a solid 46km (26miles in old money).

Although purchased almost 4 weeks ago, Adam hadn't yet been out on his new bike, due to weather and work-shift changes.
Well the weather in Northumberland was a little kinder yesterday, and we ventured-out. 
An important first session, Adam hasn't ridden a bike since passing his test at 17, and has NEVER ridden a road-bike before. 
To the uninitiated, a bike is a bike is a bike. Usually to be found with a saddle, handlebars, two wheels and some pedals. 
Those that do ride however, will understand road-cycling is different - different position & feel sat on the bike, and crucially, the way you ride is different: pot-holes and poor surfaces you simply mash-over on your mountain-bike or hybrid, have the potential to inflict major damage on the more delicate wheels of a road bike, not to say the rider! So, you look ahead more, you plan ahead more as irrespective of how powerful your brakes are in grabbing the wheel rim (unlike MTB's/hybrids, discs are rare - we care more about weight!), you've only got a few mm's of rubber on the road so shedding speed needs more control & planning. And as Adam observed within the first mile of our ride - poorly-surfaced C-cat roads from my house to nearest civilisation - YOU are the suspension on a road-bike.
We did a loop of 22 miles at a steady pace - I was more interested in making sure Adam's position and riding style were comfortable, and that he was thinking about unclipping/clipping-in to the pedals (again, totally new experience) all the time he needed. No issues at all (maybe next-time out, we ALL did that slow-mo fall over to the side at 0.1 mph!!).
A slight few spots of rain at about mile 8 started to get heavier - and we had foolishly checked the forecast which indicated no rain until mid afternoon - taking refuge under a bus-shelter until it lightened-up a bit, although we seemed to catch-up to the rain again, so, now throughly wet-through, we took a bigger loop back rather than straight-home. You can see our route on the "My Strava" tab at the top of the page.
 
Really pleased - except the part 2 miles from home (i.e. after 20 miles), where Adam just rocketed up the hill as if it were merely a bump, leaving me for dead huffing and puffing to haul myself up it. Bloody youngsters!!!

Still, a key day/ride, and here's to many more through the coming months as our training progresses.
(still think his bike needs some - ahem - "ballast" in the frame tubes.......)