Not only were the seats extremely comfy, the whole Audi experience was as cossetting as it always is. The slick auto gearbox means you hardly use the left side of your body at all, which, I reckoned, would conserve a few calories for the sprint finish in the bike race...

Burbling along with effortless, V8 power and torque is a great way to travel, every prod on the throttle bringing forth a relentless surge of acceleration. And somehow it feels doubly cool because it's an estate car.

Once at the campsite the Audi drew plenty of admiring glances, my fellow mountain bikers, young and old, pointing and mouthing 'phwoar, S4' or something similar. I guess the understated Audi just looks right. Not overtly flash but classy and sophisticated, neat from every angle, and possessed of a 'want one' factor that seems to be missing from a BMW Touring or Merc estate.

We've recently changed tyres to Uniroyal RainSport 1s after Andy Morgan noticed the inside front Contis were chewed up rather badly, showing through to the carcass. The Uniroyals are a deep-block 'wet' tyre that don't seem particularly good in the rain and screech in hot, dry conditions. However, they are improving with the miles, so we'll give 'em a chance for now.

As for the mountain bike race, I managed only one ten-mile lap around Eastnor Castle (Land Rover's off-road proving ground) but then the conditions were atrocious; heavy rain turned the track into deep fudge, making it virtually unrideable on my one-wheel-drive machine.

I was glad of the Audi's 4wd in getting us off the muddy campsite once the race finished, but I didn't fancy putting our mud-covered Giant NFSs in the back of the S4's lovely interior. Luckily there was room in the van of a fellow biker, which saved the white alcantara upholstery from turning the colour of a winter field. So, much obliged Alan.