Not ridden again, can't find the motivation or the want to ride at the moment, I did at least ride to pick my train tickets up on Saturday which is something. I'd planned to ride today but getting up to grey just killed the idea straight off. I don't think commuting is helping I seem to spend my time on a bike damp, cold, covered in road grime and that's with mudguards. I think the last time I actually enjoyed, really enjoyed riding a bike was in November last year, which is a bit worrying really, since then it's just seemed like two wheeled misery. Still time is only wasted if you've not enjoyed your time, eating reheated home made enchilada's and refried beans and watching cross racing isn't a bad way to spend a winter Sunday. I should probably stop feeling guilty about not riding as it's not making things any better, I'm rather suspecting that the worry of an impendinf flat purchase is maybe weighing large as well, I'm just hoping it all comes off so I don't have to drag bikes up and down stairs and that I can clean them in my garden...   Read the rest of the entry...

No not daft puppetry pigs a description of tonights commute home. It was clear as a bell today and lung burningly cold, when I finished work I wondered what the chances were of me making it home before darkness proper. A clear run down fleet street and the attempt was good to go a large gear pushed, and gaps and lights pushed all the way through hackney, more than my fair share of amber gambling and tight squeezes and just one kerb hop to escape trouble saw me reach Leabridge road. From then on it was just head down big ring punishment in the bike lane all the way along to my turn off, a rat run up a hill and through the village to the flat as I turned to look west the last vestiges of pink and orange were still visible, success,  the elation of the nights pulling out was short lived as the exertions began to tell. Into the warmth and everything seems just right the first really hard commute of the year with perhaps the biggest reward, what a brilliant end to a day at work, bikes are really truly marvelous things.   Read the rest of the entry...

After a failure to ride yet again at the weekend, no thanks to rain and power links that aren't actually power links in 10speed chains... The live internet feed for the cyclocross race in Belgium wasn't working either, still I did get to have a look at th ehouse we're buying again, I have plans already made for bike storage hopefully this is just a few weeks away now. I finally managed to ride to work and back again today, it was dry and warmish, this morning's ride was a bit of a loosener, test my reactions, my lungs and my legs all felt alright and seemed to work which was a pleasant suprise if I'm honest. A fairly uneventfull day followed. Getting out of work teh basement was freezing getting outside was warmer and it struck me that the sky was a light purple, the first time I've left this year not in the black, totally black by the time I got home, but the first glimmer of light of the new year was a real treat.   Read the rest of the entry...

I rode a bike today only to work and back it was cold but fun nonetheless, dry and sunny though which was nice, still relatively quiet as well, schools can't be back yet? I'm commuting just between dawn and sunrise proper for the next few days at least so I should try and get some pictures of the Marshes really, they're lovely this time of year especially with a dusting of frost. Hopefully the last part to build my Mercian should arrive tommorrow and I can send a big box of bling off to Alvaston for the chaps to build it up when the frames built, all very exciting.   Read the rest of the entry...

Well that was grim eight and a half miles home in the pouring rain, not just drizzle but pouring rain for a grey miserable sky, autumn really is here. Still mudguards and event 3/4s made it just abour bearable, I guess that this really is the direct consequence of me cleaning the Condor on Sunday. I'm bored of wet weather now it blows!   Read the rest of the entry...

Well after a lovely weekend with Rob and Chris in the East Midlands and a week fo riding to work, I've had a weekend of doing pretty much nothing it's been grand. Commuting again tommorrow which is par for the course I expect to feel not quite so jaded after a break from the bike. The rest of August and Septembers weekend have now been accounted for they appear to be almost equally spread between riding bikes and drinking beer which is a nice way to end the summer. I've worked out the component spec for my cross bike as well, next year really will have to be the year of bigger miles, winter training has been planned already...   Read the rest of the entry...

I'm riding the bling fixie at the moment, it's really weird riding fixed again, lots of funa d the low gear I'm using is helping my spin. It's weird how it uses a totally different set of leg muscles as well as the usual ones. My legs are quite sore tonight, still just tomorrow to do and I'm done with commuting for the week, I must try and get some road miles done on Saturday, I quite fancy an early start and a spin into the City to have a cruise whilst it's quiet and then I think a shufty up to Highgate to ride some hills. I really like bikes and cycling again...   Read the rest of the entry...

I'm quite liking it, it's actually quite good fun although it could get quite dull, I've managed to resist the "I've just had a dump" post which to be honest I think is pretty impressive since I've been signed up for about a day now. First day back on the bike tomorrow hopefully my body can still remember how to make bikes work. I may have added a flash stem to my Cyclescheme build, which should be ready next week now, if my frame arrived from Italy in the last batch... Oh and I treated myself to a new pair of Mavic Avenir road shoes, not top of the range but better than anything I've previously owned for road use.   Read the rest of the entry...

Well that's the first week of commuting everyday by bike under my belt, the first three days were hard, but yesterday evening I felt less like a fat bloke on a bike and more cyclist again. Todays journey felt entirely effortless, without doabolical driving it would have been really really good fun. I'm ready for a few hours out in Epping in the Morning I think, need another twenty five or so to pop me over my required miles for the week.   Read the rest of the entry...

The sky was that dark pre black blue as I left work tonight and it lasted till Hackney, proof enough that the nights are already starting to draw back out and that winter although here is moving on. Hopefully another couple of weeks and I'll be home in daylight or dusk at least. Bored of motorcycles now though the bus lane sharing thing is a nightmare it's only red routes and bus lanes that are signed, well what's actually happened is that motorcyclists now seem to have decided they have carte blanche to carve up any bus lane anywhere, two close ones today, two murder attempts within a hundred yards and a looser driving a bus still it was light when I left work which makes the above bearable.   Read the rest of the entry...