Do The Right Thing

To fit in my extra swimming session each week, I’m doing it on Thursday mornings. The thing is, Thursday is also a day in my schedule for cycling. So yesterday was a ride into work, a short pool session, a day at the office and then riding home.
It was good fun, apart from finding that [...]

Filed under: Ashington, Cycle, Swim | No Comments »

You remember the unwritten rule of cycling when it’s windy? The one that says the wind will miraculously change direction and be right in your face for the ride home as well as the ride out?
Well it DIDN’T happen last Friday!
Ride to work was head-to-head with a 20mph wind from the North, interspersed with rain [...]

Filed under: Ashington, Bike to Work, Cycle, Wind | No Comments »

Last Thursday was officially a bike day in my training schedule. The trouble was that I had a series of off-site meetings - how to accommodate these in with my training?
The answer was obvious when I thought about it. Training doesn’t always have to be head-down-bum-up kind of work. Sometimes, you [...]

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This is my last active week in my Base 2 training period - next week (oh joy!) is recovery week, where I shall be lounging around, drinking piña coladas and notching up a mere 6.5 hours of training.
To celebrate, I opted to do a brick session - bike followed immediately by a run.
The bike ride [...]

Filed under: Ashington, Bike Culture, Cycle, Weather | 1 Comment »

Spring is just around the corner - I managed to ride both to and from work in daylight. In fact, I probably didn’t need my lights on for either journey. But then again, I was riding through Blyth - a town where it is apparently compulsory for all van drivers to have a phone clamped [...]

Filed under: Assassination Attempts, Bike Culture, Cycle, Weather | No Comments »

Yep. And then we can put all this silliness behind us.

On the plus side, despite its best efforts to rain or snow on me, all I got while I was out were a few stray snowflakes. Is this actually my first dry ride of the year?
Workout:

Type: Cycle
Date: 02/28/2010
Time: 09:28:16
Total Time: 3:55:00.00
Calories: 2860
Distance: [...]

Filed under: Cycle, Motivation, Photographs, Weather | No Comments »

Whoever said that all the deep coal mines in England were closed in the 80s & 90s? There are still loads of them.
You’ll find them at random locations in the roads of North Tyneside, Newcastle and Northumberland. As well as speleology, some of them also offer excellent opportunities for cave diving.
Next week I’ll take my [...]

Filed under: Ashington, Cycle, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Road Safety, Whitley Bay | No Comments »

Did I get your attention with that title?
OK, so there’s a lot of rubbish written about cycling - stuff about how all cyclists jump red lights, how it’s really, really dangerous, and if you believe the Daily Mail amongst others , it’s a sure-fire route to erectile dysfunction and significantly reduced sperm count. Apparently,
…competitors covering [...]

Filed under: Bike Culture, Cycle, Photographs, Silly Stuff, Weather | 3 Comments »

Because with the way everyone was driving, it sure felt like it - they were all doing everything they could to get their steel boxes as close and as cosy to me as possible. Highlights included:

Lady in the big black 4×4 overtaking me on the bend as we dropped down to Durham city centre. I [...]

Filed under: Assassination Attempts, Cycle, Gateshead | No Comments »

Not such a good ride on Sunday - not sure why, but I just couldn’t find my rhythm.
When I got a puncture at the 18-mile mark, I was pretty cheesed off. You just wouldn’t believe the thorn that had gone through the tyre - I couldn’t pull it out from the inside with [...]

Filed under: Bike Culture, Cycle, IronMan?, No More Excuses | No Comments »