Pembrey

Good news and bad news. Bad news first. My bike dropped a valve during practice and my weekend was over before it had begun. I'd hoped that the poor running was an electrical fault but when I found pieces of metal - valve collet, it turned out - in the airbox, I knew I wasn't that lucky. I can't grumble too much as this is my first mechanical problem in nearly four seasons of racing. Nevertheless, this could be rather expensive to fix. Much more unlucky still, when the bike failed my dad was on his way to watch me. From Canada. 8000 miles and a ten-hour overnight flight. I'm waiting to meet him in Swansea right now, at which point we'll retrace most of his very long coach journey through flash floods and terrible traffic. The good news? There's a lovely rainbow over Swansea at the moment...