26 miles today

legs felt okay

broke a spoke on the rear wheel whilst sprinting up hill :-0

turned home with the wind

diet okay today

bowl of bran flakes

2 bananas

2 cheese butties (getting rid of stocks)

2 apples

lots of water

chicken and rice tonight

last of the beer in the house

spoke replaced

Trek 69er recovered from the cellar and fettled, if its dry tomorrow I'll go off road, if its wet I'll go on the road

might weigh myself tomorrow

More targets to aim for

Keilder 100, one week before I'm 50.

Lose 3 stone.

Sort out the drinking.

Tell my wife I love her every day.

Be a better person to my family.

Stop being a moody fucker.

Ride the ride of pork with my head up.

Start Again

still suffering from some sort of allergy thing affecting my breathing, still drinking too much and not riding enough, 12 hours of exposure turned into 48 hours of sleeplessness helping out instead of riding, in some ways this was harder than riding but a lot more fun, gave me time to catch p with friends and do some snapping.

Rode my Croix de Fer yesterday, was hoping to get to Delamere but wind and rain and tired legs curtailed that to just 25 miles, today headed to Hebden for a social ride that involved more coffee and chatting than riding but was still a good day out, bizzarely my legs felt fine on the climbs.

Road bike week looming, hopefully alcohol free.

Someone died

A cyclist died yesterday, I didn't know who he was, I've never met him or even know anyone who knew him

It has upset me far more than it has any right too

I don't understand my reaction to this, people die everyday, cyclists die everyday

maybe because I was discussing his race team with a friend just a day ago and she was explaining how it worked and the process's they went through to put the team together, maybe its because I can understand the anguish his family and friends must be going through right now

maybe its because I can appreciate and understand (but never experience) the sacrifices he has made to get himself to where he was in the world of bike racing and ultimately this cost him his life

maybe its the fact that I just spent a weekend witnessing people on bikes pushing themselves way beyond anything that they ever thought was possible and come out the other end smiling for no good reason other than to feel alive

whatever the reason, a young man lost his life yesterday, yet another reminder that we are so fragile and we should (but rarely do) celebrate and make count every day

today I rode a short distance, it felt good, tomorrow a bit further.....

make every day count

2 month catch up

ok, whats been happening ?

erm

March, lets think

road rides, mountainbike rides

road rides down south, art fag stuff, lots of drunken chat, meeting nice new people, feeling stronger on the bike

April ?

road rides up north, mountainbike rides in the locale, a bad cold, I mean really bad that got on my chest, the return of hayfever as the sap starts to rise and the trails dry out (happens every spring), a long holiday from work hat has involved gardening, riding, walking, laughing, eating, drinking and lots and lots of lovely sunshine leading to bike riders tan lines, all leading to an attempt at the 12 hour solo championships, well at least riding around for 12 hours.

oh yeah, fat bikes, I've bought two Surly Karate Monkeys with fat front ends and semi fat rear ends, frunning 26 inch wheels in these monkeys allows for a fat 3 inch tyre, me and the boy have been on a few rides now, the 32x20 gear is very very spinny on the flat but perfect for on the beach, looking forward to getting to Skye for a week of exploring the coast line, first of many I hope :-)

Thats pretty much it, no major dramas or depressions to report, mostly happy :-)

Prepare to fail or fail to prepare

ok, I failed but I didn't deserve this...

Sat came and went, no ride

Sunday came and boy did we ride, me, Jack, Tim, Nick, Rob and Jeff

Teggs Nose, peaks epic light, all the best bits of the foothills of the peaks, gettng lost, finding new trails, lots and lots of climbing and descending, all good

but then a comedy fall for me, it went like this...

last climb of the day, back up the cobbled footpath to Teggs Nose car park, always was a challenge even 20 yeras ago when I was fit, getting to the gate 4/5s of the way up was a challenge, going beyond the gate to the rocky steppy section was an achievement to boast about

today I got within sight of the gate, pleased with my self that I had done it, pleased that I was about to stop and use the opening of the gate to get my breath back and tuck my lungs back into my chest, remove my heart from somewhere near my ears and get my breath back before the others arrived

but, I didn't factor in the couple of walkers, he saw me struggling and ran to the gate to open it for me, I smiled weakly and mentally braced myself for the challenge ahead, just needed to lift the front wheel over this small step to get through the gate

Bang

chain snapped

I looked up to see the chap shocked at the noise and my immediate reversal back down the hill (bearing in mind its about one in four at this point) accelerating backwards I was most pleased to have the presence of mind to not apply the back brake, that would have been disastrous

Applying the front brake didn't slow me down at all, so I bailed to my right and took the inevitable crash on the chin, or in fact in this case in the ribs, the bars swung round and caught my right hand side, I knew immediately that this was gonna hurt but was laughing so much at the absurdity, meanwhile the chap had run after me, he was also laughing and helped me up, he was also apologising as he realised that this was totally his fault, and we both laughed and went on our respective ways.

In the car I knew, it didn't hurt that much but past experience told me that 2 days later I would be in agony, and so I was, luckily on this occasion I managed to involuntarily push something "back in" whilst tossing and turning in bed and so it isn't now as bad as it could have been, still sore and ten days later I've still not ridden but will do tomorrow.

so where was the failure ?, well this same chain had snapped 2 weeks ago, I fixed it out on the trail and promptly forgot about it, a failure to prepare :-0

Fail ?

30in30 - day 5, a big day, an hour and a half in the cold cold morning, misty, claggy mizzle, and then another hour and a half in the evening, warm sun, clear skies, going cool, but just lovely - got home full of endorphins, very happy and pleased with a good day.

30in30 - day 6, up early but legs not playing, straight to work, bout 30 mins, hoping that a days rest will see some life appear, a few difficult issues at work drained me, I'm out of shape where work issues are concerned, one particular issue has been plaguing me for a week or so now and this all conspired to suck my desire to ride right out.

So, I headed straight home, legs heavy, heart heavy, no inspiration, not looking forward to the weekend as a failure....


but then this happened

http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/2011/02/friday_target_blank_12.html#more

just watch this video with the kid in it and tell me that doen't make you smile and brighten any day up :-)