Well last weekend was busy with riding bikes and beer festivals, then the run up to Easter was mad busy at work, inevitably a pile of applications to process arrived at the last possible moment to actually be in a position to get the work done before the Easter break... As a result I've been pretty lazy although I have done some DIY bits, cleaned and loved some bikes and watched the Tour of Flanders, but mainly I've caught up on sleep. We went for curry last night round the corner at Rasa Mudra it was superb, not your usual bog standard Indian meal, rather perfectly cooked Keralan cuisine. The Dhal that I had was perfect a mixture of different lentils some toasted, and perfectly spiced with just lovely notes of subtle heat. I'll be riding bikes a lot later in the week so it'll be nice to go to it with fresh legs for the first time in ages. More laundry, tidying and chair building today I think with a dose of Radio 4, maybe a cold beer and some bacon sandwiches   Read the rest of the entry...

I rode bikes for fun, on Saturday for the first day since November, I'm not sure why it's taken so long for it to happen to be honest, I guess Christmas drinking, beer festivals and the coldest winter for thirty years all played some part. I guess being slack may have been a contributory factor as well, last week I decided to not commute to see if that might enthuse me again, it did as well as the prospect of riding a new bike. A touch of a hangover and squally rain showers the precursor of the big storm ruled out Saturday morning, then the calm before the storm arrived about 2pm, I did some bike preparation, and left about an hour later. Spot on 20 miles at an average of 11mph, not too shabby for a cross ride in grim conditions. Bikes really are ace.   Read the rest of the entry...

I've been to the Orient beer festival and now I'm rammed fuck yeah ;0)   Read the rest of the entry...

It's lovely I might take some pictures of it, or I might just taunt you with tellimng you all how ace it is. My new cross bike is ace, posting pictures is too much effort so I've decided on the latter option, it fits just right and goes like a dream! A huge thankyou to Rob for chauffering me about the East Midlands to collect it and suggesting a stunning real ale pub for lunch, days don't get much better. Oh go on then.... [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Hmmm lovely, looks nicer in the sun though!"][/caption]   Read the rest of the entry...

Is this the most perfect beer ever brewed I believe so, it's like drinking pink grapefruit juice with kind of a really nice beery taste as well it's just great. Only one barrel left apparently, looks like that's my Sunday afternoon sorted then. It has to be said that beer seems to be the only thing that's made this winter even vaguely bearable. I find it strange that as my life seems to last less and less time, winter this year seems to have gone on forever. We should be up at 8-9c we're still at 5c I'm stil in winter gloves it sucks .   Read the rest of the entry...

I had quiate an early start yesterday and went out for  ride with Lea Valley CC, it wasthe slow group all very friendly, but it's actually confirmed that despite almost a month off my bike due to snow and bitterly cold weather I'm still a lot fitter than I actully give myself credit for. A really nice group of people though and I also learnt a nice way out to the back roads I like to use in Essex for solo rides, which is both easy to remember and not as nasty as some of the other ways I've gone. We called in at the excellent Hoghill Circuit, it's about 40 minutes away from home so just the right distance for me to get too for any cx races next season which is excellent, good cheap coffee as well, well filter and 70p a cup nice cake too although I didn't indulge. We minced about so long outside that my legs turned blue so after a bit of a pootle I shot off of the front to head home. I got lots of nice cheese in the groceries this week so after a shower I headed out to grab a baguette and ...  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...

My favourite microbrewery Brodies at the Sweet William are online now which is ace, what's even better is that they're having a festival at the William in Leyton to celebrate a year of brewing on the 5th of September. If you're about come down, drink beer talk shit and have fun, oh and eat Thai food...   Read the rest of the entry...

Well I've just been to the William at Bakers Arms which is technically Leyton, but a very good local boozer indeed. What makes it even better is that they have a micro brewery on site which produces the fabulous Brodies Beer, a truly fabulous pint and at the moment only £1.99, mental...   Read the rest of the entry...

Ok my report is a bit late, but better late than never eh. So we left London at about 11pm on Friday and after getting lost around Leytonstone twice and then again around the Dartford Crossing diversion, I should add that this was with SAT NAV so you can imagine the carnage without. An uneventful ferry crossing to Dieppe and a drive through France and Belgium we holed up in a lay by about twenty miles out of Antwerp, just as the sun was coming up, perhaps not the best plan for sleep, but Chris was tired and Phil acting as Shotgun was dozing off so it was much needed. Twenty minutes or so later we were off into Antwerp, we quickly navigated the city to our hotel, only five hours to check in so we parked up and went for a wander. Fairly quickly we discovered funny names in Antwerp A.S Adventure was funny every time we went past it. Would you believe it Greggs in Antwerp, mental! [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="Wow can Flanders get any better, Greggs as well as Frites and beer..."][/caption] Checking in was a bit weird due to some room confusion myself and Chris may have sent the ...  Read the rest of the entry...