Still aching

Decided that an easy ride might help loosen achy muscles so went out for an hour and a quarter around Lechlade/Clanfield/Bampton. A nice flat 21 mile route. It hasn’t worked.
I got in touch with Tim Wood at Echelon Cycles in Pershore to check on delivery of my Dolan FXE and was told that it should be with them tomorrow. As soon as I get the call I’ll be off to get it. Pity I won’t have everything I need to build it up though.
I bought 2 tickets for Ben and me to go and see Twisted Wheel at The Bully in October. I saw them a while back in Swindon when they supported The Enemy and, tbh, I thought they were way better. I like these small gigs and at at only £6 who can complain? They’ve only had one album out and a few singles so I guess the set list can’t be that long but they do make a great noise. Before then I’ve got Dinosaur Jr at the o2 Academy on August 19th.
I don’t know what’s happened since o2 took over from Carling but there are hardly any decent bands playing there anymore. I told them so on their Twitter page and they weren’t impressed. I’m not the only one thinking this either.

More pain

If you could see me today you would think I was recovering from a serious operation or something. When I’m still it’s fine and when I’m actually walking about it’s fine but the transition from one to the other is absolute agony. I have to grab hold of my shorts to lift my legs up as the tendons on the inside of my thighs are so sore, my glutes are sore and the bottom of my heels are also sore. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this much pain.

Needless to say I spent the day doing not a lot apart from going to Oxford for some holiday clothes and then to Burford for a coffee when we went to pick up Hannah from her job at the sweet shop.

I’ve made a decision that once we’re back off holiday some serious hard work is going to begin on the weight loss front with the possibility of racing next year. We’ll see…..

The gloves are…on

For the first time in probably 15 years if not more, today, I played football….in boots…..in the rain……and the mud…and it was great. Trouble is now I feel in more pain than any 6 hour bike ride I’ve ever done and am just contemplating how long it’s going to take to get up the stairs to bed.

It was a local 6 a side tournament and we didn’t do too bad really. Won 2, lost 3 and drew 1. I played in goal for 4 games and although the old reflexes aren’t quite there anymore I didn’t make a complete fool of myself.

Back again

It’s been a long time since the last post and to be honest it would take too long to explain why in any detail but work is the main culprit for blog interference. I started a new role in April and it just seems to have got busier and busier with the result that by the time I get home I just can’t face sitting at the computer reliving the day. Ah but what about your days off you may be wondering…..well a friend of mine (Peter the haircutting man) has let me borrow his USB turntable so I’ve been maxed out converting all my vinyl into mp3s and getting them onto my iPod.

I ordered a new mobile a few months back and the enticement was a new 120Gb iPod Classic and, with our PC getting a bit old and clunky, I was living in fear that my music was going to disappear into the blue screen of death one day. It’s been a mammoth task which, although it’s good to hear some old forgotten tunes, does get a bit tedious at times. I’m pretty much finished with it now though.

I’ve been cycling to a from work occasionally but nothing like as regular as I would want. The last 2 weeks has been impossible as they ripped the showers out at work as they were pretty grotty. I’m off work for 3 weeks now so hopefully they’ll be in use again when I get back. I very nearly did a 10 mile time trial in July but, on the day, it rained really bad so I didn’t go. Turns out it was called off anyway. I’ve even been on my turbo trainer in the garage about half a dozen times. I’m way too heavy at the moment but hopefully things will change with the arrival of………

my latest cycling project which is getting off the ground with the purchase of a Terry Dolan fixed gear frame. I haven’t actually got it in my hands yet but it won’t be long. I first got into riding fixed when I lived in Scotland between 1997 and 2000 and I’ve ridden at Manchester velodrome about 10 times and at the track at Newport. I had a wheel built by the legendary (in Northern Scotland at least) Charlie Ralph of Alves Cycles when I was up there and I’ve always had to bodge my normal road bike with it’s near horizontal dropouts but it used to work OK tbh. I never had a chain jump off anyway. That bike has gone now so I put some birthday money towards the new, built for the purpose frame.

I had the back wheel already, bought a pair of brand new Shimano aero brake levers off eBay for half the RRP, my new bars turned up today, Ritchey WCS Logic again an eBay bargain, I’ve already got a chain and a pair of old 105 brake calipers which I salvaged off an old bike. All I need now is a saddle (which I think will be a white Rolls) and a chainset and BB (probably Miche Primato both of them) and then I can build it up.

Away from cycling the O2 Academy seems to have gone down the pan recently as no decent bands seem to be playing there anymore. However there is someone I will be going to see in a few weeks and they are Dinosaur Jr. I heard their latest single on BBC6 a while ago and got their new album Farm off the back of it. Best album of the year by far for me at the moment.
I think I’ll also go and see Twisted Wheel at The Bully in October. I saw them support The Enemy in Swindon and I thought they were better than them tbh. £6, can’t grumble at that.

Back to shift

No cycling today, mainly due to being rostered ages ago to work the Bank Holiday which meant starting at 7am. It was back out with my old response shift today and very enjoyable it was too.

Finished at 3 and time for a Leffe and some football. Come on Villa you just have to beat Hull.

Short rides

Took the van to Eynsham today and rode in from there. 11 miles in, 7 and a bit miles back. Uneventful rides but another productive (i.e. charges and cautions for the scrotes) day at work.

Saviour

Just a normal commute from home today so about 18 miles each way. Quite a tough ride home because of a steady nagging headwind all the way back. It wasn’t really that noticeable but when you’re going in the same direction for just over an hour it gets to you eventually.

I say normal but not quite. I had just got to the traffic lights at the end of Botley Road where I had to stop at a red light (yes, some Oxford cyclists actually do that) and as I pulled away there was a slight clunk. Not that unusual really but then after that there was the sound of my chain “skipping” on the gears. I tried a few up and down shifts throughout the range but it was still there. Eventually I pulled over and had a look to find that one link was just about to come apart. Problem, no chain tool to sort it out so I had no choice but to call Alyson for her to get in the van and collect me, not how I would have preferred to get home.

While I was waiting I thought I’d try the “dejected cyclist sitting on the kerb looking stranded” trick and after a few minutes a car stopped to ask what the problem was. Anyway he said he’d got a chain tool at home and he’d go and get it for me. 3 or 4 minutes later I’m pedalling off home. Who says that social spirit is dying? Well, actually I am, on a daily basis when I deal with the dross that comes my way but, hey, there is some charity out there after all.

Work, work and more work

Only 1 commuting ride recently and that was on Monday just gone. I did my new route through Wolvercote and Wytham again which I am enjoying riding as there is no traffic to contend with until I hit Botley Road. The ride back to the van in Eynsham was straight up the A40 and on the road not the pitch black bike path.

The new job I’ve got is really enjoyable but, because I’ve carried forward jobs from when I was working on response I’m having to juggle a high workload at the moment and it’s mentally draining. I can easily work a 10 hour shift and be occupied 100% of the time.

Hopefully the commuting rides will increase next week as I’ve got 5 early shifts in a row. Today is one of those days when I can look out of the window at home and see the rain and think “no I’m not going to bother today”. Cycling in the rain doesn’t bother me particularly but if you’re not training for anything in particular what’s the point?

Result!

A decent day today at work despite only dealing with one person throughout the whole shift. I took on a job where someone had lifted a handbag from a pub in town, ran off with it but got caught by a member of the public who clearly was not prepared to see someone get away with such a cowardly act.

Anyway, because of the nature of the offence, there is a power which enables us to go and search that person’s place of living for evidence relating to that, or similar, offence. We initially went to the address he had given to be met by his ex who told us that he had another place a bit further down the road. Well we didn’t know about this place so we got new authority to go into that place and, bingo, some credit cards were found with someone elses name on them that matched a crime that took place in February.

I interviewed him and asked if he had any other offences he wanted to own up to , which he did, but unfortunately not the job with the cards. Anyway, he’s now a suspect for it and I guess he may have to answer to that job at some point in the future.

So 1 charge for theft and 1 other offence taken into consideration and the powers that be love getting TICs so I drove home feeling very satisfied with the night’s work.

The plan today was to go out with the Saturday “Witney Grupetto” but I didn’t leave work until about 2.30 am and then had to walk back to Redbridge Park and Ride which took about 20 minutes so by the time I’d got home, had my bottle of Leffe blonde and got to bed I decided to have a lie in and I didn’t go out in the end.

No cycling today mainly down to not getting home until 3.30am and then not sleeping very much. The shift started off with no “customers” for me to deal with in custody which was very handy as I had a couple of files to do and a few interview statements to write. I did deal with a couple of people later on though and managed to finish only slightly after my planned finish time which makes a change recently. I could sense another job heading my way but the person was breathalysed and the opinion was that he was too drunk to be interviewed at that point. It’s great getting back from Oxford at that time in the morning, I think it took about 20 minutes. Try doing that anywhere between 4pm and 7pm.

Lazy day

Despite the temptation to have a nice easy ride to Burford for a coffee I think it’s time for a day off so I’m watching the Fleche-Wallonne race I recorded yesterday. Trouble is, whenever I watch these races I get inspired to get out myself so you never know I may head out. Starting work at 5pm today so will need to be leaving home at about 1/4 to 4 so will need to make my mind up sharpish. Not cycling in today as I need to restock my locker with essential clothing. I got halfway in yesterday and realised that I didn’t have some “essential” items!

Probably just settle for a walk with the dog.

To work and back

A nice easy day today, just a shortened ride from Eynsham as I’m working 3pm until 11pm, and I’m going to try out a new route. Along the A40 cycle path to the Wolvercote roundabout and then right through Wolvercote and Wytham and along the road that runs parallel to the A34. That’s going to bring me out just by the Botley interchange and it’s down the Botley Road into town. Just under 11 miles G Maps is telling me.

You can’t do that route in reverse so it’ll just be straight back to Eynsham along Woodstock Road after work making it about 21 or 22 miles for the day.

Late edit: Turned out to be a decent route in, very quiet road from Wolvercote to Botley and a very good surface. Didn’t quite finish on time, 0245, nearly 4 hours late due to a 90 minute interview with a lad that couldn’t lie to save his life, so it was a quick thrash along the A40 back to Eynsham. Decided to bin the cycle path for 2 reasons. As mentioned before my front light isn’t good enough for the speed I ride at in the dark and the A40 is pretty empty at 3 o’clock in the morning.

It’s a beautiful day…..

So sang Bono and I didn’t let it get away today. I had planned yesterday that if the weather was looking good then I would ride up to Chipping Campden for a coffee and it turned out to be one of the best rides I think I’ve ever done. I quickly plotted the route last night on G-Maps pedometer and converted it into a file for my Garmin and at 9 am I set off. Even at that time it was fairly warm and I finally made it out onto the Giant TCR which always makes cycling a pleasure.

Giant TCR in Chipping Campden

The long climb out of Chipping Campden seemed to go on forever but once I was on the other side of the A44 I was on quite possibly some of the smoothest roads I’ve ever cycled on Britain…it was amazing. That road eventually took me down to Bourton-on-the Water which unsurprisingly was full of Japanese people wandering aimlessly around in the road. I stopped off at Jackdaws Castle to get a quick photo. This is where Jonjo O’Neill trains race horses for the Irish millionaire and reknowned big stakes punter J.P MacManus. A quick detour to a petrol station to top up on liquids and time to prepare for the long climb up through Great Rissington to Little Rissington. Everytime I go through there I can’t help but think how lucky the people who used to be on the Red Arrows were when they were based there in the 70s. What an area to be posted!!

From there it’s a nice long downhill run to The Barringtons and then a tiny lane into Burford and home.

58 miles in 3 3/4 hours and not a single ache in the legs…I haven’t felt like this on a bike for a long time and it’s a great feeling.

The view towards Stow on The Wold

Easy spin

Another lovely warm sunny day and too good not to go for another ride. The plan was to take the Giant TCR as the roads were dry but when I took it down from it’s perch in the garage, very annoyingly, I found it had a rear flat. No time to fix it straight away so I set off on the commuter. I took a long winded route to Burford via Shilton, A361, The Barringtons and Taynton before ending up at a pub near the top of the High Street which I know does good coffee.

Once home it was out with Duke for an hour and then a quick fix with the rear wheel. If the weather repeats itself tomorrow I’m planning a trip to Chipping Campden. Shift work – don’t you just love it!!

Just short of 20 miles in 1 hr 15 mins I think.

Harlequin Hack Audax 110 Km

It’s been quite a while since I had a day on the bike like I had today. I set off from home this morning at 8.30 am to set off for the start of the ride which was starting from Northmoor just west of Oxford. 45 mins and 11 miles later I arrived at the hall to sign on and pick up my “stamp” card which would be needed for the 2 control points en route. Howard and his lady, Jules, were there already and that was the final time I saw him all day. He was pacing her round on her first long ride.

I set off at a leisurely pace and let a large group go ahead and tagged onto the back of them. By the time I got to Witney I had made my way into a group of about a dozen and was riding well.

I lost the back of them on the long steady drag out of Spelsbury on the way to Chipping Norton but knew they would be queueing at the leisure centre to get their cards stamped and duly met them there. It wasn’t the sort of control point you would want to hang around in so I set off straight away. It was warming up quite nicely now and the sun had burnt away the early low cloud.

Away from Chippy heading south and we ended up about 3 miles from my house but it was setting up to be a good day so no thoughts of sneaking off home. A decent run took us to the next control point at Uffington village hall and from there it was only 12 miles from there to the finish but what a 12 miles it was. I had to drop off the back of this group because one bloke just wouldn’t stop talking and I was starting to feel it a bit and wasn’t in the mood for chat. The final leg was into quite a stiff breeze which made it harder than I would have liked but I made it back OK for a total time of 4 hrs and 5 minutes for the 67 miles.

After some tasty rolls it was 11 miles home for a sleep in a hot bath before watching the 2nd FA Cup semi-final with a nice bottle of Abbot ale before a lovely roast beef dinner. 91 miles for the day and 5 1/2 hours cycling.

I’m so glad I’ve been doing so many commuting miles over the lst few weeks as it certainly made the ride easier. The next long ride will likely be the Beacon Road Club 150 Km on 21st June.

A bit of Porridge

Thursday 16th

19.3 miles to work 1 hrs 10 min
20.7 miles home 1 hr 17 min

Friday 17th

Went to see my gardener today in a place it’s not easy to get out of! That sentence is meant to sound like a Times crossword clue but I’m sure you’ll work it out. I took an interpreter with me.
Lots of driving today and a long day. Set off at 7 from Oxford and got back to Oxford at about 5.30 after a detour to Kidlington (got a laptop fixed) and back to Abingdon to sort the paperwork out.

Got home and started to learn Behind Blue Eyes by The Who on the bass, seems quite easy.

Back to the commuting

Easy ride to and from work today. I’d heard that today was going to be one of the warmest days of the year so set off minus the leg warmers only to find myself getting rained on about 30 minutes later but it wasn’t too cold so no dramas.

The sun did come out in the afternoon and it was pleasant tail wind ride home at just after 6 o’clock.. Had to give the bike and chain a serious clean when I got back so at least everything will hopefully still be nice and sparkly for Sunday’s audax.

Watched a documentary on John Entwhistle of The Who yesterday (being a bass player myself don’t you know) and was surprised to see Ray Manzarek of The Doors wearing a Gerolsteiner team cycling top. Very bizarre.

21.4 miles to work 1 hr 14 min
19.3 miles home 1 hr 15 min

At last…..time off

Finally a day off after 8 consecutive days at work and it seems starnge to not have to go in. It’s been a run of late shifts recently so I’ve either been starting at 5pm and finishing at 2am or starting at 9pm and finishing at 4am. In fact the night I should have finished at I didn’t actually leave until 4.45am. These shift times have meant I haven’t really felt like cycling or, in fact, doing any exercise.

It’s 3 day shifts this week so I’ll definitely be riding in for those in the build up to Sunday’s audax from Northmoor. I just hope next Sunday is a nice day.

It was quite a good shift a few nights ago because when I got in I was told that someone who I had been looking for for a few months had been arrested which meant I could finally charge him. It’s a pleasant job phoning victims up to tell them the good news. Even more pleasing was that when he got to court they told him he had to stay in prison until his trial..tidy!!

Sunday afternoon was spent watching my favourite pro race of the season..Paris-Roubaix won for the third time by Belgian, Tom Boonen.

Tonight myself and Alyson are off to see The Boat That Rocked in Swindon I guess. At the cinema twice in 2 weeks is some sort of record for me but when the new complex opens in Witney we’ll be there a lot more often.

This afternoon was mainly spent in Burford, firstly walking the dog or more to the point watching him run around a field before walking into the village for 2 pints of Abbot at The Mermaid on the High Street. It felt really warm sat outside watching the world go by.

Bank Holiday? Not for me

So it’s the Easter break for some but it’s business as usual for me. I’m working today and Easter Monday, in fact I’m working Saturday and Sunday too. Hold on, by next Friday I’ll have worked for 11 out of 12 days. Still, unlike my previous (military) job I’ll be paid double time for the BHs and get the days back another time. And people used to ask if I missed the RAF!!!!

A fair bit of (incident free) commuting this week and my legs are feeling it too, quite achy at the moment but I’m going onto 4 late shifts now so I’ll be driving in for them. Not that the dark puts me off commuting but lately I’ve realised that I’m riding too fast for the lights to keep up, particularly if I use the A40 cycle path. If I keep commuting into late Autumn better lights are going to have to be bought.

Exercise free day today, just watched last Sunday’s Lewis trying to pick out any spots in Oxford. Seems to me that the producers like Radcliffe Camera as it seems to appear at least 3 or 4 times in each episode. The places you see on Lewis certainly look good on TV but from my experience they aren’t the areas where the majority of crime happens in Oxford. Also the programme seems to deal with a different class of criminal than I’m used to dealing with. Still, it’s only drama after all.