Without rhyme or reason, I woke up this morning (always a good sign), got out of bed (and straight away had a Blues song half written). Seriously though, although not up to marathon fitness, I was much better this morning, despite finding the house devoid of Bob - a quick investigation revealing that his bike and the car were still here, hence he must be running. It was a long run, and quite late by the time he returned, however the day looked stunning, despite a chilly -2* overnight, the sky was a brilliant blue, the countryside a rich green. I wandered around in a towel for a while to see if Bob had anything planned, otherwise I was going to go for a ride. Although tired, cold and hungry from the run, he was up for a slow-coach-Carolyne cycle as well, and after a quick bowl of cereal and an apple, we headed off. I couldn't find my trusty thermal socks and skullcap to wear under the helmet, but it looked like such a nice day! In fluorescent lime green and navy, we headed off to Gunghalin (for the heck of it), with Bob spying Strewth on the way around Lake Ginninderra. Well spotted, Bob! G'Day Strewth!

The untried, although promising looking Noodle Bar and Asian Tea House at Gunghalin was alas, closed, as was "Billy Baxter's" the only street side cafe which wasn't known to me as part of a megalopolis chain. Bob was hungry, so of the franchise options of Gloria Jean, Coffee Club, Cafe Guru, & Starbucks left us with a sandwich at Subway instead. Maybe not the most exciting birthday lunch, but a 6" Veggie delight (for me, sans cheese and dressing) was at least fairly good for me.

After that, instead of returning via Lake Ginninderra, we headed down Flemington Road, with it's indifferent and changing road surface on the bike lane down towards Northbourne Avenue and then up to the base of Mt Ainslie. Home via the National Museum, I felt better as I went along, and kept dreaming about upcoming events and made plans to cycle as much as possible over the coming days while the weather was clement.