Back to decent mileages

After a poor week, I’m back to some decent mileages.  Just work and back in the main.  I had a migraine on Thursday so missed the Thirsty Thursday ride.  Friday Karl was away, so no ride then.

Yesterday Jayne and I went out to the Courtyard Cafe at Great Ecc for a tea cake and a coffee.  It was a bit cold while riding, Autumn is definitely here, but really nice and sunny outside the cafe.

This morning was the Fleetwood triathlon.  I usually volunteer to manage the bike course.  This basically means riding the course constantly, making sure all the side streets have marshals.  We got off to a poor start with turn points only marked on the ground, no marshals or bollards/signs.  This was soon sorted and the majority had a good ride.  The real work for me started once the adults have finished.  Tim (the organizer) runs a youth and kids event as well, with 5 different age categories doing different distances.  My job was to make sure the turns were manned, sweep the previous wave and  get the marshals home and the roads opened.  These are not always mutually achievable tasks.  In the first two hours I rode about 12 miles.  In the last hour and a half I did another 25.  All on a 3 mile course!

We rode out to the Villa for a well earned pint tonight.

Total for the week – 133 miles

Total for the year – 4198 miles#

Tim

Wilco!

A very poor week mileage wise this week.

I rode to work on Monday but there was a howling gale and pooring rain. By Tuesday it had got worse, with 30mph winds gusting up to 50. I decided to drive. wednesday wasn't raining but the wind was still very high, so I drove again.

I was off Thursday and Friday to go up to Glasgow to see Wilco. My sister and her friend Kirsty came up on Wednesday. I cooked them lamb steaks in red wine, very nice. I was texting Ian with a pick up time for the next morning when there was a traffic bulletin on the radio. The Pope was in Edinburgh and driving to Glasgow for a mass on Thursday afternoon. All sorts of roads were closed. I quickly texted Ian with an earlier departure time. Ian's response F#@king Pope!.

We drove up Thursday morning and had no problems with the traffic, getting there nice and early. The drive up the M6 and M74 must be the nicest stretch of motorway in Britain, skirting the Lakes, the Howgills and the Borders. We checked in to the hotel and got something to eat. Then Jane and Kirsty went back to the hotel to freshen up and Ian and I headed across town to find somewhere to eat later and scout out the venue. After walking all round central Glasgow, we eventually found the venue and a nice looking Italian to eat.

If you are in Glasgow, the Fratelli Sarti restuarant on the corner of Renfield St and I think Bath St was very good. Their pre-theatre deal of two courses for £10 was great. Two courses plus two bottles of wine was £80 for 4.

We staggered out and walked down to th Barrowlands Ballroom. The support act was Phil Selway (SP?) from Radiohead. A bit samey, but highlights were a saw player and the finale where they gathered round the drum kit and all played some form of percussion.

Wilco came on about 9ish and played a blinding set. Nels Kline is the most demented guitar player I've seen in quite a while. Think Animal from the Muppets. They played a good mix of the new album plus stuff from right across their previous ones. Highlight had to be synthesiser Patel!

We wandered back to the hotel for a final drink before bed. Next morning we found a nice cafe that advertised Hot Porridge which Ian needs in order to function properly. Kirsty and I had the full fried, although I did make the mistake of asking for a full English, much to everyone's ammusement. Then it was back in the car for the 200 mile drive home.

This weekend has been rain and more rain, so apart from nipping up to the Villa on Friday, I've done no more miles.

Total for the week a dismal 19 miles.

Tim

Happy Birthday to Me!

47 today. Don't feel a day over 50

Poor mileage this week, just 81. Most of the guys were away mountain biking in Switzerland, and the weekend weather was poor.

Went to Mancheser on Saturday and got some new gloves and a Gore cap. Also bought Neu! and Neu! 2 on vynyl, white vynyl even. Very good,

Miles for the week - 81
Total for the year - 4046

Tim

4000 miles!

I passed 4000 miles on my way to work yesterday. Split roughly 1200 fixed, 1200 tandem, 1400 Hewitt and the rest MTB

Quieter Week

A steady week of riding this week.  No big miles, just riding to work.  Our Thirsty Thursday ride was just me and Ian.  we were both tired and so we just did a gentle ride out, not quite straight to the Plough, but not our recent spins over Beacon Fell.

I seem to have a lot of Allen keys.

I got my Pace forks back from Tim at Fork English on Wednesday.

I was a bit worried that Tim had left the steerer too long, but it was just OK.

Got them fitted to the P7 and started the final little bits of assembly.

Came to do the pedals and found that there was no thread left on the drive side crank.  Years ago Joe had borrowed the P7 but wanted flat pedals on.  So I gave him some really nice Campag off road pedals, which he proceeded to put on the wrong side, only noticing when he couldn’t get his feet in.  Those pedals have been on ever since, kept in place only by dirt I think.  Anyway the crank is trashed.  Hopefully Karl will have a set lying around.  If not, back to retrobike I think.

Mile for the week - 92

Total miles – 3857

Not many more to get to 4000, but I am off to Switzerland tomorrow.  Hopefully back for Thirsty Thursday.

Cheers

Tim

Back to Work

After two weeks off, I’ve been back to work this last week.  Its been busy, 600 emails to respond to, that’s after I’ve filtered out the crap!

Mileage wise, its been OK.  We move buildings which adds a few hundred yards to the journey, more if I forget we’ve moved.  I rode all week, getting 68 commuting miles.

Continuing the theme for the last few weeks, we went early on Thirsty Thursday and did Beacon Fell.  This week just me, Ian and Nic.  Karl and Alison are off to the Hebrides this week touring.  It is Alison’s first proper tour and they decided to use the run out to the Plough as a full dress rehearsal.  We were  expecting a dour mood when  we got to the pub.  It had rained all evening.  But when we got there Alison was quite up beat, pleased with her performance and looking forward to their trip (!!!).  We got a soaking 30+ miles in .

Saturday evening was supposed to be the Rapha Nocturne criterium in Blackpool.  Nic and Ian both said they might go depending on the weather.  We got up to blue skies and decided to go to the Lakes walking.  As we pulled out onto the road Ian texted asking if we were going to go to the Nocturne.  We replied yes and would be at his for 7 ish, i time to see the support race, the folder race and the pro race.  He replied saying be at his for 5 and he would barbeque before hand, aiming to get there for the folder race.  We rapidly changed our plans and went for a walk over Nicky Nook. 

We rode out on the tandem to Ian’s calling in at Nic’s on the way, but they weren’t in.  We got to Ian’s about 5:15 and they plied us with wine.  We tried to get Nic and eventually he turned up sans Elizabeth at 6 ish.  They’d been to Ingleborough and struggled to get home.  Elizabeth was knackered.  Nic came on his own.  Ian’s barbeque was excellent, as were the three bottles of red.  We eventually staggered off and got to Blackpool just as the folder race finished.  By the time we’d got a spot on the barriers the Balckpool bike-hire race, using bikes from the bike hire scheme, had just about finished.  I chatted about tandems with a drunk Scottish guy, Ian talked Independent Fabrications with a guy from the Dahon stand.  Jayne and Nic got us coffees. 

The racing was very intense, eventually won by Russell Downing, who nearly lapped the field.  We rode back through the Blackpool traffic.  Jayne wasn’t happy riding at night but we eventually got out of town and headed to Lytham.  Ian and Nic stopped of at Ian’s to admire his Parlee frame that had just arrived.  Jayne and I headed home.

As we headed into Moss Side, along unlit roads, Jayne yelped, followed by a loud crunching noise behind us.  A car, coming the other way, had come round the bend on the wrong side of the road.  It missed us by quite a way, but side swiped a taxi coming up behind us.  We stopped when we heard the crunch, I thought maybe our pannier had come off.  We saw the taxi stopped in the road.  The car that had hit it didn’t stop.  We gave the taxi driver our details and made sure the 4 elderly ladies in the taxi were OK.  The driver was pretty shook up.  Jayne had reinforced her fear of riding at night!

Today we did a gentle 25 miles out to the Courtyard Cafe in Great Eccleston.  Tea Cake, coffee etc and away. 25 miles of easy pace.

Total for the week – 156

Year to date – 3765

Cheers

Tim

In Other News

It was Jamie’s 17th birthday on Saturday.  We went for a meal at Zio Carlo’s

Jamie wore one of my old suits.