My New Friend

Is a blackbird. He popped over to say hello when I stopped for a text break at the carpark at Moortop on the Grizedale North Face route. Very accommodating with the photo taking and everything. We swapped numbers and I said to drop in if he's ever in the area.

I did my first proper MTBing of the year (Cwmcarn was a bit more of a sledging session) this afternoon at Grizedale. I was on my own after leaving A and the Boy to have a walk elsewhere, and it was fantastic.

That sounds cruel perhaps, but what I mean is that I like my own company; I set my own pace; I could admire the scenery; and it was simply an opportunity to get a bit zen. The conditions were excellent - cool, crisp, clear. I much prefer that to summer heat. The trail was bone dry in places, icy and wet in others. So all-in-all it was a great ride.

I like to grind up the fireroads (actually, that's more have to), attack the technical climbs (so I don't fall off) and boot it on the downs and being in a group of one meant that I didn't have to wait for anyone, and I wasn't slowing anyone down.

Onwards to the goal!

Spex

I found them. On Thursday night.They were in my festering Camelbak: I should be a microbiologist, not a materials engineer.

Connect Five

Yeah, I have confirmed my suspicions that I am in fact Super-Ace. My reasoning and evidence is that I have completed a run of 5 days of cycling. It's been the commute run, but I could very easily have caved on Thursday or Friday, but I didn't.

So that's part 1 of my Super-Ace-ness.

Part 2 is that despite my preveiously unheard of rock-bottom fitness levels, I didn't feel that bad during the rides and I could (and still can) walk with at least a semblance of being an upright citizen (and not a loping ape who's legs won't bend).

In conclusion, I believe that I deserve the title.

Where The Hell Are My Glasses?

Because I ride so fast that without them my eyes water and it's terribly dangerous.

I'm deadly serious.

No, really.

On to matters much more serious: I rode to work for the first time this year, and it didn't feel as bad as I thought it would. Now, only 297 more rides and I'll have achieved what I set out to do. But only if I find my glasses.

New Rubber

But on the washing machine and not on either bike. And it's not really rubber but a silicone material because rubber would perish too quickly. Ah, the excitement of being me.

Replaced the seal on the washing machine so it no longer p*sses water all over the floor, with the added bonus of the new one not being full of rancid scum. Marvellous.

Let's see if it worked: I'm running the thing now to test it.

I Did 370 Miles Today...

Unfortunately that was in a car. Nevermind, I was thinking of riding my bike in the stunning lanscapes of mid- and North Wales, so that sort of counts I reckon.

I had a partly-impromptu (is that an oxymoron, or am I just a normal mornon?) trip from Ross-on-Wye, through to Ludlow (ish), across to Llangollen, sort of past Festiniog, skirted round Snowdonia without really knowing what I was looking at, passed a couple of reservoirs (Llyn Celyn, llyn Trawsfyndd) went through Porthmadog and collected some wheels from Pwllheli. I then started up again and went north through Caernarfon, Bangor and Conwy and eventually joined the M6 at the Thelwall viaduct.

The drive was an amazing combination of real British countryside with beautiful rolling hills, crags and all the wintry bleakness that I rather like, and the coast's altogether more sunny disposition. I'd never been to any of the places I went to before I got onto the motorway and I'm blown away by them, so now, unbeknown to my wife I think that's where I'll plan a holiday to sometime this year. The difficult part will be to choose which one of the places I saw.

Ha! In Your Face Weather!

Or something slightly less Americanised.

The Dutchman and I did Cwmcarn yesterday at 3pm. It fits the "greater than 30 minutes rule" because we were out for over an hour, but it definitely wasn't 10 miles. The ground was mainly slush and snow, so the going was slow and difficult (can you spot a theme in my riding yet?) and the decision was made to take the road up when we got to the bridge due to our wobbly progress and the Dutchman's predisposition to fall off, which wouldn't have been much fun a) for him rolling down the embankment through bushes into a stream or b) for me having to slither down and rescue him while trying to preserve my own skin (or, if I'm honest, vice versa).

However, even the road was a pig and neither of us could find any grip. The majority of the afternoon went like this: find a bit of ground without deep snow or ice on, stay in a low gear, get some grip, pedal a bit, forget that this smooth riding is the exception rather than the rule, dig the front wheel in/ spin the rear wheel, slide about and over-compensate, fall off, repeat. It was good fun though, but we took the decision to cut the ride short when we'd not even reached the top after an hour.

It always amazes me that the Dutchman dresses the same regardless of the weather. I am very weather-specific, partly because I like to be comfortable and safe, and partly because I'm a kit-ponce and like to have the right stuff. He wears shorts, jersey and jacket regardless of the weather, occaisionally omitting the jacket if it's sunny or something. I was in bib tights, shorts, warm baselayer (a new Craft Pro Warm zip which is awesome and good value), waterproof jacket, waterproof gloves (not too great when your hands are already wet - see below), waterproof boots. And my knees were still a bit cold. He must be made of stone not to feel the cold.

I'm convinced that weather is capable of conscious thought too. On arrival at the carpark it started to chuck it down, just at the least convenient moment. I can cope with (and secretly quite like) rain during a ride, but when I'm faffing round putting on shoes, jackets, attaching wheels, checking tyre pressures and all that pre-ride neccessity, I don't appreciate being soaked. Which is what lead to the wet hands before we'd even set off. The rain eased off during the ride, but that may have been because we began to ride through the cloud On our return it started to throw it down again, which meant rushing to get stuff in the car before the seats and doors got sodden.

Guess what: no photos (again). The added complication of photography in the already difficult rain/ snow/ skill-gap mix wouldn't have resulted in happiness or any reasonable pictures.

I really should take more photos.

But I don't.



Anyway, I had something to rant about this afternoon that I was going to add in here, but I've forgotten it. I'm sure something else will come along and piss me off any moment now, so I'll try and vent my spleen as soon as that happens.

I can see this turning into a shouting-at-society soapbox.

And Hey Presto! My Legs Work!

As if by magic, I actually went for a ride. It was a late afternoon effort through the slush and ice up past the Black Dog and down into Irleth. Not too slithery either, which was a pleasant surprise and meant I could concentrate on how slack my body is after a few weeks of no riding at all combined with several thousand calories too many over Christmas.

It seems to be warming up a little round here but in spite of that my toes were cold even in my winter boots. Thicker socks?

At least my new jacket did it's job admirably.

A Conspiracy Of One

The one being me, or at least my weak resolve and willpower.

I think I've forgotten what a bike is and how to ride one. I suppose I could blame the weather in that I didn't ride to work at all last week, which is very poor. The weather is pretty ropey, but if I made the effort to ride my MTB in it wouldn't be impossible, just a bit slower.

The biggest obstacle is the first ride. Once I'm into the swing of it I'm fine, but at the moment it's very easy to get in the car or get a lift. No excuse really.

My other problem is that I've loaded 2 academic courses onto myself which I'm only now starting to complete the work for, so the evenings are becoming clogged up with probability and 200-word assignments. Perhaps I should go on a time management course...

Lazy, lazy, lazy

I'd better kick my arse into gear and get a shift on today and tomorrow.

First One

A very modest target of 300 bike rides this year. It was going to be a-ride-a-day but the missus told me to be realistic.

The self-imposed rules are thus:

1. A ride only counts if it's at least 10 miles or 30 minutes, so no cheeky cheating by popping to the shops and counting that.
2. Cumulative rides count. So I can count my rides to work as one, since they're 5 miles each way and therefore at the 10 mile limit.
3. Rides can be offroad or on, or a combination of both (so I could do a 5 miler on road and a 5 miler offroad in the same day.
4. Rides can't be added up unless they're on the same day, but not 24 hour period.

         *I may add more rules.

Anyway, I'll have to fit them in round work (obviously), family life including a pregnant wife, 18 month old and the new baby (when it arrives) and the most potent barrier to achieving my aim: my inherent bone-idleness.

Tally ho, chocks away, pip pip, and I've got off to a flying start with no riding today. Ace.