I’ve no excuse for not writing on here for quite some time so i’ll just fill in what’s been happening.  Firstly, my training has since improved on my last effort and have been back in the saddle, more importantly enjoying it and luckily had no side effects of not riding for nearly 3 weeks.  My legs feel strong and like Jordanna I have developed new muscle of which I fail miserably on my upper body.  At the end of June a crowd of us went to watch Radiohead at LCCC, who were fantastic. They were supported by MGMT (formerly the “Management” who i’m sure were characters from Hale and Pace) and Bat for Lashes who sounds akin to mixture of Tori Amos and Bjork and both were very good.  I gambled with wearing my shorts and it paid off as the clouds cleared and the sun put his hat on. 

My second gig was to the Apollo a week later to see Interpol who I have not had much experience of.  They are an American band with a Joy Division influence and again were brilliant.  I highly recommend them, especially the second album - Antics. 

The following day was “Bike to Work” day at school of which 4 members of staff got involved and managed  60 miles, plus I had asked my kids to bring their bikes in to each cycle 2 miles around the playground.  20 laps, 10 in each direction around a coned area.  They were surprised on how far 2 miles was and each and every one of them had a rosy face.  In total we managed to cycle 118 miles which when I told the kids it was equivalent of cycling from school to the Isle of Man.  Money is still coming in plus some of the money raised from our summer fair is being contributed to the charity.

Saturday just gone was spent with 50 men, 1 token female and a stag in the forests of Standish rolling and crawling through mud, brandishing guns that fired paint.  Much fun was had by all except when you got hit as it bloody hurts, especially on your arse at close range. 

That’s about it and I hope i’ve not missed anything out.  Jord and I are off on a “biggy” on the weekend.  A 60 mile back to back over the Yorkshire dales to visit my Mum and Dad’s caravan.  Watch this space.

P.S I’ve attached some photo’s of the kids on their bikes.

I am dissapointed with myself. 3 weeks have passed and I have accumulated 50 miles.  30 miles was done with Jordanna and her 2 friends through the delights of Oldham and its surrounding area.  Well done to Jenny and Emma though! The other 20 miles was a ride after work which I wasn’t looking forward too as I just didn’t feel in the mood and psychologically I was defeated as soon as I set out.  After 10 miles I’d had enough and turned back home and since then I’ve not been out on my bike for 9 days. Bad times.

Still up at the caravan and deciding to do back to back rides we went out the following day. As it happens in the opposite direction of that hill.  Jordanna mapped the first part of the ride over to Ripon and I mapped the way back. The hills were gentle and the scenary picturesque, our main problem was the wind.  No matter which was we went it was the strongest headwind I had encountered, which put a bit of a dampner on the ride.  The ride itself was 55miles which was Jordanna’s longest to date and she managed it fine.  As I was still celebrating my birthday my mate Iain had come up from London to celebrate this with me.  Geri, Iain and myself ended up sinking a few pints in Bury and then back to ours for some Wii action.  This ended at 5.45am.  My 5* hangover (which is possibly the worst of all hangovers) began about 4pm and from then on in I don’t think I spoke to Jordanna for 2 days apart from the occasional grunt. Thankfully I am now over this.  The 2nd ride this week was a good 30 miler over the tops and was an enjoyable ride

This was my last week in my 20’s.  Was it all going to go downhill from now on?  Do things really start to ache? Will I be going to bed at 10pm? Well the answer is no, not yet anyhow.  I have noticed that my hangovers (which there have been many this week!) have take me a little longer to recover from.  As it was half term the following week, Jordanna and I decided to visit my folks caravan up near Grassington.  My Dad had told me of a couple of rides that we could do and mentioned that there was a hill that was steep and that we wouldn’t be able to get up it.  How I wanted to prove him wrong, but as ever he was right.  I started strong and adopted the “out of saddle ride experience”, my breathing was deep and rhythmic and I felt good.  Not more than 500 yards up my legs were burning, my breathing was all over the place and I felt bad. The local cud chewers must have wondered what on earth this thing was as I puffed, panted and grunted slowly past them.  I wanted to stop however an army jeep had pulled into a layby to allow me to pass (this was a narrow, steep Yorkshire hill), so they sat in their vehicle waiting (and for me it felt like they waited a long time!) as I slowly but surely crept past them.  I managed a weak and feeble ”thankyou” to their smiling faces and stopped with a sudded urge to vomit. Anyway enough of the hill.  The rest of the ride was a good and now the hill is a distant memory.

A poor week overall, however I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6.00am to begin my first early morning ride to school.  I gave myself extra time to get there due to the fact that even though my eyes were open I was not sure whether my legs were awake.  I surprised myself in getting there with just the caretaker to bid me a “mornin, cycled have we?”. Nothing else to report on although i’ve still not managed to get my computer working.  I’ll keep at it.