Who's the Man

How good does the boy look?

Muc-Off Part 2 29th July

It had been two weeks since our North Wales trip, so a leisurely Sunday ride around South Oxfordshire was put in the diary. We decided to make it an early start, however Garry cancelled due to his ankle injury, but we were joined by Alex from Stone. We decided to do the same loop (well similar) near to Christmas Common that Bruce and I did a few weeks ago. I was expecting the trail to have dried out slightly, but how wrong was I, it was very gloopy in the forest sections and we all struggled with grip in places. We rode for two and a half hours and must have covered close to 20 miles. Alex took some good photos and will hopefully join us on future ride outs. The weather stayed fine but all three of us were covered from head to foot in mud and as for the bikes.......time

for some Muc-Off !

Bayfords foot/ankle update

Two weeks on and the Bayf was unable to join us yesterday in the Chiltern mud, due to his ankle still been swollen.

Apparently it had been ok, but a Friday night-out in Birmingham brought it back on...

Coed Y Brenin pictures

(crap) Campsite with a view west

A quick Latte break, not sure what Bayf is thinking... he looks pensive, maybe thinking about whether he'll get out damage-free?

MasterChef at work - notice the rain on the windows

Jog On

Yesterday, Sunday 22nd July, I went to support two friends who had entered the Milton Keynes half marathon. Both of these two friends have been training for several months, gradually building up to the 13 miles distance. As I looked at the runners crossing the finish line, I thought to myself, now that is an achievement and does not look too difficult.

My fitness has greatly increased as of late, but the thought of pounding the same streets week in week out training for one race really does not float my boat. The thought of loading up the bike on the back of the car, driving to a new location and riding for a few hours seeing parts of the countryside you would not normally see, does.

Jogging is a lonely pastime, whereas cycling is social, jogging is repetitive whereas cycling is varied, jogging is boring whereas cycling is challenging. Jogging - I just don't get it.

So yes hats off to my two friends for achieving their goal, and maybe they will enter the London Marathon next year but for me no, not a chance.

Who is the greatest sportsman of all time, Sir Steve - no, Seb - no, Paula Radcliffe - perlease ! no the greatest sportsman in my opinion is Lance Armstrong. Anyone who thinks different can jog on !

Coed y Brenin - A mixed bag of a weekend 13th - 15th July

The 3 of us finally left Buckingham shortly after 2 pm on Friday the 13th and without a lucky rabbits foot or black cat to hand, we headed off "up North" (well North West). Luck was, as a result not on our side and despite the use of a road map and a Tom Tom we hit bad traffic and later bad weather.

We arrived at the camp site at 7.45pm and met a chap who needs to go on a people skills course. Had it not been late and raining, I have a feeling the usually calm Garry would have told him where he could stick his campsite rule book and we would have found an alternative site. When we unloaded the car, the rain had eased a tad and we quickly got the tent up, the now traditional "Speckled Hen" opened and Garry firing up the camp stove. After another few beers and some interesting chat it was time to get some z's.

The morning was overcast but at least it was not raining, in fact the weather steadily improved throughout the day. Following breakfast we "saddled up" and headed off down the road to the trail centre.

The first trail was a short one at just under 9k's called Temtiwr. This was basically a warm up, however the start is fairly technical for the uninitiated. Also the end of the trail was a hard fire road uphill and a fairly technical downhill back to the centre. This would be re-visited later.

A quick snack at the centre and it was off to tackle the Dragon's Back, 31k's in length and graded as Severe. The start was the same but after about 10 minutes into the trail it branched off from the Temtiwr trail via a bridge over the amazing white water rapids below. A section of the trail called "Beefy" was interesting as it was basically a stream. Half way round we stopped off for a cuppa and a cake at a Cafe. At this stage we took a short cut and both Garry and myself decided to walk up the extremely steep road, Bruce on the other hand spun that granny ring all the way up, so the fitness is back.

We then rejoined the trail at several downhill sections named after the Adam's family. We had missed out Gomez and rejoined the trail at Morticia which merged into Pugsey and this is the most difficult cycling I have done so far, in fact I along with 3 others we had met from Bristol decided to walk our bikes down, rather than risk broken bones. Back on the bike for Lurch and then Uncle Fester which was a man made section and rather like a roller coaster, and very enjoyable, and I know "Dave" would have had fun on this section of the trail.

The next part of the trail was called the Pink Heifer, and as ever I rode at the back and about half way down I met the other two and what looked like an incident. Garry had misjudged a jump and hit the bank with his right ankle taking the worst of it. We had a few k's still to go, mostly familiar territory as we rejoined the Temtiwr trail, and this was the hard slog uphill and the technical downhill.

We had a hard ride back to the camp site but had the beers and dinner to look forward to.

Saturday evening was fantastic, good weather, good beer, good food (even Bruce rustled up supper) and good company. Sunday was wet and Garry's ankle was looking like an elephants foot. Time to call it a day and drive home.

My highpoint from this weekend was the fact I did not struggle with climbing up the hills and I am pleased with my overall fitness level.

Can't wait for the next outing, and we really do need to take some more photo's !!

Coed Y Brenin

Quick post, before anybody else gets here.

Got away with Friday 13th, but took for ever to get to the campsite - and it rained in biblical proportions.

Campsite owner had obviously had the worse day of his life, before we arrived... and boy did he let us know. The campsite was crap, half-built, but not in any particular order. I reckoned that he was ex-Old Bill.

Saturday dawned good, the weather stayed fine, no rain and we rode to the centre and did two loops (Temptiwr 10km and the Dragon's Back 30km), both 'reds'.

I especially liked the Adams Family set of trails - not sure if its 'Gomez' or 'Morticia' but I was the only one amongst ourselves and 3 others we'd met up with that managed to ride the steep rocky/rooty descent. There are times when you need the full six inches!

Unfortunately, for Bayf, he had a run-in with a banking (spread liberally with stones) trying to keep up :-), spraining his ankle - but he did finish the loop (probably 10km) and ride back to camp (another 3-4km)...

Pitched-up the next morning and came home, as although Garry was in no fit state to ride, we had him do breakfast and help pack.

Next day I get this 'in the post' - I just think he got a thin friend to pose with him!

Aston Hill, and a new member

Saturday afternoon involved a visit to Aston Hill - Garry, Duncan, myself and 'Dave' along with one of my neighbour's, Mark.

Unusually for the current weather, it didn't rain, but the ground was wet and slippy.

We split into two groups, Garry and Duncan went off for the XC, and we went for a 'play'. Mark hadn't ridden this year, so struggled a bit with fitness.

Only incident of note, was Duncan falling off 3 (or was it 4) times at exactly the same place on the top XC loop...

We spent the afternoon there, and enjoyed it.

Next weekend, its Coed y Brenin - yippee.

Muc-Off !! - 29th June

On Saturday Bruce and I headed off for a quick blast around South Oxfordshire, near to Christmas Common. The rain was in the air but never actually started, however the ground was very wet and muddy, will the Summer ever arrive? The ride was good with some excellent downhills that really tested the brakes in these conditions, and some punishing uphill sections, of which two were impossible due to a lack of traction at the back wheel. My uphill riding has improved and apparently the expression for this according to the other two is "bandit", a term I am not used to with regard to sport but refers to the fact that they think I am better at uphill riding than I make out. The reality is I am just getting fitter, and as far as I am concerned Garry still wears the polka dot jersey.

After 3 hours of riding, covering 20 or so miles we were back at the car. Both Bruce and I looked as if we had been playing rugby, so it was time to get back home and use the miracle mud remover that is Muc-Off to clean the bikes.

On Friday the 13th (recipe for disaster), the three of us are off to Coed-Y-Brenin for a weekend of serious mountain biking.

New addition

Nikki's new boy - won't be changing the carpets just yet, as previously planned.

Saturdays (Almost) Dry Ride

As the boy Frost mentioned we had a good ride, but my backside does hurt after the flower-pot incident...

Mind you, the funny point was him finding out that the 2.1 Nobby Nic's on my Trek (that he's riding) with their quite tall profile are incompatible with Aylesbury Vale clart (mud) and consequently meant that at one point he just stopped moving...

And amazingly it didn't rain until the last tarmac stretch.

Looking forward to the weekend.

And then there were 3.........again !

I decided to join Garry and Bruce on their leisurely tour of the vale on Saturday. We headed off out the back of Fairford Leys and onto the land surrounding Waddesdon and Stone. The going was sticky and muddy to say the least. All in all we did about 20 miles and it eased Bruce back into it, but 2 months out of the saddle and the fitness is bound to suffer. One comedy moment; Bruce fell off on to a flower pot outside a tea room in Westcott and he put his bionic wrist down first and it didn't break which is a big plus. Shame we didn't have a camera.

Bruce and I will be heading off for a tour of the South Chilterns on Sunday the 1st July to build both our fitness levels before we head off to Coed y Brenin in mid July. Can't wait.

Happy Birthday To Ya.......

The day started out with the silly shoes at the bowling, Terry felt right at home as it brought back memories of his love for all things MOD, but he was disappointed the blue and red ones didn't come in his size; which is a 4. The teams were ready and with Steve running late we all covered for him and bowled well in his absence except Henry; who classically put the bowl in the gutter twice and then bowled a strike for his own team. The look on Bruce's face .........priceless. After round one the Genius team and the Specialized team were level at 310 with the Commencal guys lagging behind on 260 odd. So into round 2 and by now Steve had arrived, warmed up and hit a double strike. Garry, Henry and Erik also discovered their form. The Genius boys were lagging behind, and what with Terry trying out every weight of ball until he found one he could lift up which ended up being pink like his old car, we were losing. With a bit of sportsmanship aimed mainly at Neil, and a double strike from myself we were back in it. The Commencals won round 2 easily, but they were out of the final running. In the end us Genius boys won by 3 points. Competitive................. not at all !!!

So into the pub for a couple before it was time to head off and get ready.

The weather was trying it's best to rain, and luckily it pretty much held off. Pimms on the lawn was greeted by a dozen or so Penguins and not a meringue in sight, instead the girls looked fantastic and the cameras were clicking. Nikki looked amazing in her ivory number, anyone for extra melon in their Pimms !

Dinner was fantastic, but I am sure they forgot the veg. On my table was Terry and Amanda, Neil and Mel, Cheryl, Henry and Kelly. Mel delighted us with her stories of Neils recent antics and what with his lame attempt to chat up the waitress all in all a priceless evening. Can't remember too much else as the red wine went down particularly well.

Lastly, I would like to thank Nikki for her generosity and organising a terrific day and evening to celebrate her 40th. Welcome to the club.

Bayf here.
I entered the Rough Ride event on the 3rd of June. On my own for this one as Bruce hadn't ridden in anger yet and Duncan still feels he can't manage this sort of thing. This is not a race, although we had timing chips fitted to our bikes, it's an organised ride starting and ending at Kington (mid-Walesish). The main route was over 75km but I decided to take the short cut option and just did the 42km route. I'm glad I did because the climbs were some of the longest and gruelling I've done and I certainly felt the effort when I got back to Kington.
I'd been checking the BBC weather website every half hour leading up to the event but it turned out well on the day. The trails were mostly dry and it wasn't too hot.
I'd done the same event (slightly different route) last year and it was baking all day. Thank you Mr Camelbak.
It's a great event because it's not a race, however there were the usual - "I'm tired, I'll stop in the middle of the track" riders, who mess up whatever rythm you've managed to keep going.
But generally a great event and you get a good t-shirt at the end (oohh!).
Hopefully we'll all be fit enough to enter next year.

I also finally took the plunge and bought a new towball mounted bike rack. I'd been borrowing my neighbors but he asked for it back the day before the Rough Ride which made up my mind to get my own.

One of it's first uses was to take Christine and I off to Salcey forest to tackle the 5 mile, flat as a pancake, beautifully surfaced forest cycle trail.
The big deal here is that Chris hasn't ridden her new MTB since I bought it for her two years ago so getting her to ride in Salcey was a great achievement.

Bruce and I are going to try an easy route around Buckingham this Saturday to see how his recovery is going. He certainly seems to have most of his flexibility back.

Box 2 (29 - 39)

Alas, tis true. The end is nigh, or at least to being in box 2 (29 - 39). I'm told 40 is the new 30, unfortunately that's from 'girls' not even in their 20's !!!!!!!!!! What do they know ?. Having had time to sit down quietly and reflect (Bruce being away this week) many things have changed my life in the last ten years.

My 30th was spent alone in a pissed state feeling very sorry for myself. A knight in shining armour came charging to my rescue but Bruce pushed him off his steed grunting 'Oy, that's my bird....bugger off'.
14 months later came the patter of tiny feet and 'Dave' was born. (you do the math!!).
Still, now that we were a family, life might settle down and maybe we would stop moving house. (x2 so far).
'Dave' had more or less celebrated his first birthday when Bruce announced ' Ey up kid, ow do ya fancy livin int Germany ?'
MOVE NUMBER 3.
x1 bizarre wedding (page 27 of 54 Chinese girl-who couldn't speak German to UG German who could ONLY speak German but also couldn't believe his luck), x2 visits back home, x3 visits from friends, x7 nights touring up and down Germany, x40 German language classes, x10 months later and Bruce announces ' don't unpack that last box our kid, we're going back 'ome'.
MOVE NUMBER 4.
I'm happy to say that move number 4 has been a long term project, albeit Bruce has changed jobs over the last 5ish years but with 'Dave' in private ed. any other moves would have been financially impossible.
Mid way through my term of 30's I went through a 'mid term' crisis and took the plunge and went under the knife. Didn't help that the surgeon was gorgeous but came out feeling a lot lighter round the tummy and also in the pocket.
Child born, tummy tucked, so Bruce sent me back to work as any self respecting northerner would do. ' eey lass, int it time yo contributed tut bills un stuff '
Returning to Rothman's was like attending a school reunion. I was lucky, I worked 6 months then took 6 months off (conveniently falling between the months of April and September). I did that for 2 years running and then someone realised I was taking the piss and didn't renew my contract.
I had hoped that Bruce may not notice the fact that I was at home an awful lot after that but ever the control freak, back out to work I was sent.
I landed myself a temp position at HBoS having gone through the most ridiculously rigorous competency tests at Pertemps. They never could understand why I really wasn't interested in the results !!.
Onwards and upwards I forged my way through the ranks and finally managed to negotiate a more reasonable hourly rate. The low cut tops and short skirts bared no influence on the negotiations what so ever.
Along came Tia. The most beautiful 15.2hh bay thoroughbred. My Christmas present from Bruce. Only problem was, she wanted to kill me. It only took a few months to realise that the rearing and bucking was personal as apposed to something physically wrong with her. Two chooses - MacDonalds or re-sale. In hind sight I would have got more for her at MacDonalds but hey, it was Bruce's money !.
Sad and despondent I loaned a horse called Barney. I feel in love with him. I also feel off him and dislocated my shoulder, cracked some ribs and broke my collar bone. Naturally I drove home to find child care for 'Dave' first, before I took myself to hospital and within 3 days was back at work. (unlike some who take 3 weeks off to recover !!!).
Having moved yards I now loan Star. Crap name but fab horse. Much like Bruce I'm totally absorbed with my hobby and occasionally the guilt trip hits and I think about spending time altogether as a family. That probably only lasts a few minutes and I'm back down the yard.

So here we are. Friday night, 24 hours to go before the party and 48 before 40.

AM I BOVVERED !!!

The Bowling 40's

In preparation for the party of the year on Saturday, and to escape the women, 10 pin bowling is on the agenda. To keep it competitive, the 40's have picked 3 teams.

The Genius team - Duncan, Terry, Norman and Paul (tbc)

The Commencal team - Garry, Erik, Steve and Andy (tbc)

The Specailized team - Bruce, Neil, Henry and Michael (tbc)

The winning team will be the one with the highest average score and there are prizes to be won.

Aston Hill Re-visited - 26th May

Garry, "Dave", Bruce and I headed off to Aston Hill but with only 3 bikes loaded on the racks, yes it is still too early for Bruce to get back in the saddle. I was rather nervous about this outing, as although it was my second visit to Aston Hill, the first only lasted minutes due to the accident. This time, body armour was a must!

Garry and I headed off for the x-country course, 5 miles of what turned out to be very technical riding, whilst Bruce limped over to the "Bombholes" yes you have read that correctly, and the 4x with young "Dave".

The x-country course was tough and I came off a couple of times, due to a lack of confidence and a distinct lack of ability. Two sponsored Trek riders who went past twice, made it look all too easy. For some reason I was out of puff despite putting some decent training miles in during the week, and surprisingly even Garry was finding it tough going, but that was down to the 10 pints and a ruby murray he had the night before.

Garry decided to go for a second lap whilst I looked to get my second wind in the "Bombholes" section with young "Dave". After this and a bit of a mess around on the 4-x course and a circuit of the top loop of the x-country trail, we went back to the scene of Bruce's accident. After Bruce repeatedly stated "I can't see how I came off" we all agreed, as the jump is not really that bad, and to prove the fact "Dave", Garry and I had several goes progressing to actually taking off, well "Dave" and Garry actually, as you can see from the photo's.

After lunch and another hour or so messing around it was time to call it a day. Garry had managed to shed the calories gained from a Chicken Madras, "Dave" had managed to make jumping look far too easy and I overcame my fear of Aston Hill. As for Bruce, well it won't be long before he is back in the saddle, but riding this type of terrain.........who knows.

Pimms on the lawn

Just a reminder that Nikki will become a member of the roaring 40's next month. The party is going to be great.

Gorrick - Frith Hill

<--The start of the Veterans Race, and somehow, our man has the Number 1 plate!

Later on lap 2, in a technical area--^

Gorrick - Frith Hill

Garry competed in the last of Gorrick's winter series on Sunday in his usual Veteran's class.

Myself and Duncan went to support him, and take photos (will add later).

https://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=6899&ppp=60&pcp=1&ppwd=cp8507fr&Action=VF&id=4363914

He did well, although last full finisher, he improved on his previous times by being far nearer the distance leader than in the earlier races.

Distance winner - 59 min 48 sec
Garry - 100 min 36 sec

http://ccgi.timelaps.force9.co.uk/htdocs/GorrickR5_20-05-07.htm