My wife guilted me into riding bikes yesterday it was a bit of a let down really Epping Forest was really claggy in the end I quite enjoyed it, well just about enjoyed it, muddy rides suck though... Inspired by that I left work this evening and decided to head up the Lea Valley regional park it was busy till I passed Tottenham Hale and the stinking refuse ecopark (Huge Tip) then desserted till I turned off at Gunpowder park into Sewardstone, up through High Beach and back along the road to Leytonstone just short of twenty five miles all in. Low light on the way back in made me a touch nervous it'll be light time soon if I do this again Exposure Flash and Flare I reckon... I'm suspecting that my winter riding will be centred around rides in central London and up to Hampstead Heath.   Read the rest of the entry...

We had Sunday Lunch yesterday it was magic I've learned two things Lamb needs to be slow roasted for hours and hours it's magic that way in fact I won't be roasting lamb any other way from now on. Dauphinoise is all about restraint with the garlic. I think I need to do a roast more often...   Read the rest of the entry...

Happy New Year! I had a quiet one working behind the bar at the William IV most of the night, very late finish which pretty much wrote yesterday and today off as I needed to catch up with sleep. Hoping I ride a bit more this year than I did last year, no real aim for anything just to pull my finger out a bit more. Maybe drink a bit less than I was in November/December last year, just being sensible will be good. That's it I reckon, hopefully achievable, although I do feel a new bike may be required to give me motivation for number one, considering a cheap commercial singlespeed for use in Epping Forest...   Read the rest of the entry...

Cycling news and a load of oher people seem to be getting super excited about electronic shifting for Ultegra. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tech-news-is-electronic-shimano-ultegra-on-the-horizon Of course it's going to happen Shimano, have had their cyber and Nexave groupsets for city and comfort bikes for a while now, I guess the issue will be to keep a realistic margin in terms of weight and cost that makes Dura Ace a viable product. I'll be having some as soon as it becomes available as the Dura Ace Di2 is the best shifting I've ever had the opportunity to play with.   Read the rest of the entry...

Blimey been ages since i've blogged, bit more of an effort now I think! Well I've been helping make Brodies Beer and I've been drinking Brodies beer so it's all been good fun even if it has been proper knackering at times. Hopefully some bike riding again soon!   Read the rest of the entry...

I've been doing lots of beer related stuff recently, brewery stuff, and bar stuff all lots of fun, so not a huge amount of time for cycling, still lugging kegs of beer about seems to be keeping me relatively fit as I did an early morning thirty miler last Saturday before the Brodies festival. Festival was a great success as well lots of hard work from nice people made it a weekend to remember, I met loads of really nice people and spent time with a lot of good friends mostly drinking and laughing a real shame when it had to come to an end. Quite how the William the IV in Leyton fails to get in the Good Beer Guide fails me, how a pub can constantly have the best part of a dozen beers on in great condition and not get in seems to be a mystery, seems odd though that CAMRA having a campaign to support real ale pubs aren't doing anything to help the best pub in the area, more fool them!   Read the rest of the entry...

No riding due to showers of biblical proportions today, every time I thought about going out I was soon reminded that it'd be a mistake pretty quickly. After my soaking earlier in the week I decided that I didn't need to prove my capacity for self inflicted misery quite so quickly. Still Live and Let Die was on, you've got to love a bit of Bond Blacksploitation. Anyway surfing the internet I came across Flandrien a ook I should have purchased when I went to see the exhibition at the Host gallery years ago, but didn't for whatever reason, I still can't remember what the reason was for the life of me. It's since been out of print and I've continued to kick my self whenever I've thought about it. Today though I found appropriately enough a Belgian antiquarian book seller who had stock and has sent me one out, I'm proper happy!   Read the rest of the entry...

I have my share of the wretched things but this latest glut has now gone from tiresome to just tedious, in the past month I've had the following... Nail through tyre in Clapton on the way to work. Drawing pin through tyre in Hackney on the way to work two days after the first. Thorn in tyre on the Surrey Hills a day after the last. Mysteriously knackered leaky valve in tube on the Surrey hills, about a minute after the last one. Last Friday, huge thorn through rear tyre just by Caulke House. Mysterious small puncture at Caulke House five minutes after the last. Perished latex tube goes pope at Caulke House a bowl of soup and piece of cake later than the last. Second perished latex tube goes pop ten five minutes later. Yes still at Caulke House a patched tube goes pop, tea is ordered the rescue party is called... Three attempts to patch a tube and it finally holds after leaking from bizarre places but seemingly only having one hole.. Today front tyre goes down well the last half dozen or so issues have been with the rear, so I guess it's just gone out of solidarity... I've had enough now sense of humour has failed, if I ...  Read the rest of the entry...

Time away is good, especially when it's with good friends and it's lots of fun...   Read the rest of the entry...

I must not resist the I've had enough beer I'll have a cider temptation, and just stop drinking!   Read the rest of the entry...