Walking, Thinking, Planning

hmmm....

let me think

Fairford Airshow weekend - ace

Munro weekend, 22 miles on foot, at least half of it uphill, cyclists legs meant pain, solitude, peace ad quiet (no wind) midges, beer whisky, stretching, 3 fried breakfasts - ace

last two work weeks punctuated by several there and backs - ordinary

New/Old bike - ace

fast as a very fast thing if someone else was in charge

30 miles yesterday in the rain and mud - ace

20 miles today in the rain and mud - ace

legs feel strong - ace

weekend rides looming, local trails as I'm on call - ordinary

Delamere early Sinday with Tim - double ace

Keilder 100 FAIL already, common sense dictated that I'll be a tail end charlie marshall this year - gnar

Big Dog barking away in my head, should be doable, and bonus ride in the downs that are south - ace

some photography, some creativity - ace

more rain expected in August- shite

great stuff

Le Tour - fantastic, too much to say - ace

Some friends coming back into the radar - treble ace

some friends going off the radar - minus 7 aces

and as always plans, plan and more plans, looking at this coming winters cx races, looking at next years middle enduro races, we'll see, there's a lot of water to go under the bridge before firmness can be achieved

eyes bigger than my belly

hard to believe I know....

but the belly has to go

the drinking is under control now, I'll never be tea total but its a small step towards sobriety (not that I am ever out of control drunk), the diet is good (averaging around 2000 cals per day) an I'm starting to feel the benefits of a half stone of lard already gone (trousers are less tight)

I've set some targets

Brighton Big Dog solo in August, 6 hours of fabulous trails, aim is to finish

Keilder 100 in Sept, I "might" have bitten off more than I can chew with this one, at least for this year, but its good to have a target.

However the biggest target is to be fit enough to keep up with two friends on a Scottish road trip in October, now I'm realistic enough to now that I wont be kicking anyones arse up those Scottish hills but I don't want to be a burden...

So, after last weekends century I wanted a century in a day, had all the right intentions but a bit of an issue in the bottom department meant a delayed start and feeling pretty weak, no matter, I managed 66 miles in just under 4 hours which was pleasing.

Less pleasing was my no show on Sunday, tired from the previous day I slept right through, first decent nights sleep since the rib incident meant waking up at ten, I was supposed to be in the valley by then !, so an apologising text was sent and then a change of plan, a late afternoon departure and a quickish (for me) 40 miles was knocked off meaning another 106 miles in the bank.

Two century weekends, combined with a Penmachno trip in the week and some middleish commutes have added up to finally getting some decent miles in my legs, its not enough, I'm not kidding myself but its a start.

And, for the first time in over ten years I'll be using a geared bike, its the only sensible option, and Tim has a bargainous VooDoo Sobo semi soft tail at a price that can't be bettered, I'll swap the mjority of the gear over from the Stiffee, fit new running gear and the Magura forks from the Retrotec, it should build up fairly light and cot me no more than the money I've raised from the sale of a pair of forks and an old Nikon lens :-)


.....

Century Weekend

This weekend saw the first running of he Singletrack world classic weekend, for various reasons I couldn't make that event so decided to try for a century on my own, the weather looked promising so I picked the SS Felt from the quiver and set off on Saturday afternoon. The transpenine trail was the choice, flat and dusty, all going well until mile 30 when my right knee imploded which meant standing and bearing my weight difficult, so I turned back defeated, still the sun was shining, there wasn't too many nerks on the trail so I limped back home.

Three miles from home and the heavens opened, proper tropical rain drops the size of eggs meant I was completely soaked by the time I got home.

54 miles

Sunday and again the sun was shining so I set off again, down the TPT which was bone dry already, all going well, even bumped into an old friend, and then the rain came down again, and even heavier than yesterday, the trails had no more soakabilty so it was standing brown water for the next hour until I eventually gave up and once again turned for home.

No knee issues today and the trails started to dry out so I continued upto the pyramid at Stockport, threatening clouds meant a sharpish retreat to get home with 52 miles on the clock.

So it was a century weekend but done over two days,maybe next weekend....

.....

97 rides, 1493 (approx) miles

last week was astonishing even by my standards, the weather was fine, a bit of rain but mostly dry and warm meant road rides into the wind, ending with a 35 miler at a fair old lick.

Friday was one to forget, a bizarre accident at Tims shop meant a punctured arse and a called off visit to Afan, luckily Andy was on his way to pick me up and so Afan was back on, and to be frank it was fookin ace, no need to say much other than that really.

This week has been steady, nursing my wounds, my back/ribs are still painful at night in bed and my leg is now getting sore, just there and backs despite my ambitions.

Tomorrow night may well be the highlight of 2009, kraftwerk at the velodrome :-)