Cheers Mossy!

Has anyone else got one of those super reliable, always there when you need them friends.....unless they've been on the sauce? I've got a few, and one in particular known as Mossy.

He lives in Burton which is where I was doing my FA coaching badge assessment yesterday (Sunday). I was very organized and dropped my kit at the leisure centre on Saturday in order that I could get up at 0'dark thirty to cycle back over on Sunday morning. The plan was then to drop my back pack including my kit, a pair of football boots, a pair of trainers and a hefty A4 folder from the course with Mossy and ride back.

All went well in the morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6.15 a.m. despite the clocks having gone forward and the youngest Sadler having made a late appearance on Saturday night and keeping me up beyond midnight! Arrived at Burton in loads of time having covered 25 miles in just over one and a quarter hours. I then played football for the best part of three and a half hours.

Whilst we were waiting to have the course signed off I thought I'd get in touch with Mossy to arrange a drop off. The weather had improved somewhat since 6.30 a.m. so I thought I would shed a few layers as well. But no Mossy. Texts, calls, you name it, nothing. I wasn't going to ride across town to try and find him so I had to set off with the pack on my back.

The weight, added to the fact that I had been giving it some on the football pitch, and it was uphill mostly back to Ashbourne meant it took the best part of 1 hour 45 minutes to get back and I was bushed. As I rode into Ashbourne the text came through "Just got up, been on the ale, are you still in Burton?" I won't tell you what my reply was.

He was suffering a mystery virus bought on by a mixture of Guinness, vodka and red wine and had just (at 4pm) rolled out of bed.

Needless to say he won't be top of the list when it comes to driving the support vehicle on 26th May.

(Oh and yes, you can now call me 'coach'!)