Common soldier beetle

Today started it a bit meh, but forecast was for lesst wind, a little sun and no rain so there was something to look forward too. I started one load of laundry before breakfast, and a second one later on - emptying the basket.

Late in the morning I made some GCN/Hannah Grant energy bars. Unlike most muesli and energy bars that are bound together with sugar and or fat, these are just dried fruit and nuts & seeds, bound with mashed ripe bananas. Very easy to make but I just had to convert from the silly cup measurements to a weight - how do you measure a cup of banana?

After lunch we watched the penultimate stage of Le Tour, Va Va Froome! Very exciting and right down to the wire...

We then went for our own bike ride, my first on my road bike since changing medication. I managed an average of 21.7 km/h, max 52.8 km/h and a 1:23 hour rolling time. Hardly fast, I should be able to average that loop at over 22 km/h, but a lot better than the 19 km/h I've been doing lately! On the hills rather than dropping back like a sprinter as my better half danced into the distance like Quintana, I was able to chug along like Froome behind her matching her all the way to the top.

If I can get a few more kilometres on the clock then I'll be a lot fitter, and should be fine for a change. I can't imagine riding today's ride carrying the 15.8 kg of dead weight that I was carrying at the start of the year. As I've lost my weight gradually I don't feel a change from day to day, it's only if I compare the trousers I bought yesterday with an older pair that I can see the difference!

Today's blip is a common European soldier beetle (Rhagonycha fulva) it was exploring a flower head in our wildflower lawn. I've blipped quite a few flowers from our lawn this year but not so many insects.