Après Nous, Le Deluge!

No, that’s not a misquote from some French royalty. It’s the motto of 617 Squadron, whose story was told by Paul Brickhill in The Dam Busters - one of my Thrilling Yarns that I read over the summer.
It was Daughter’s first swimming lesson after the summer break. And although the weather forecast was for ‘rain’, […]

What I Have In Common With Abba

No, I’ve never worn spandex hot pants. Well, there was once, but that was a long time ago. What I have in common with Abba is that I’m famous in Sweden.
Actually, I have no idea if Abba are actually famous in Sweden, or if they were just an export phenomenon.
Anyway. Whatever. I’m famous for appearing […]

Ride to the Hebburn Triathlon

Today was the Hebburn Triathlon! Fat Robbie came up for the race, and as I’d managed to get us Early o’clock starts again, we had to get up at the crack of dawn. Yawn.
Seeing as I’ve got this niggling plantar frasciitis injury, I decided to take the race nice and easy - more of an […]

Hebburn Triathlon: Bike Chase-down

 . . . so Fat Robbie was about a minute or so ahead of me on the bike, on a two-lap course of 12 miles . . .
. . . by just under half way around the first lap, I’d closed the gap a little - there’s a stretch of the course where you do […]

Commuting & Errands

I went to visit a prospective new client on the Team Valley on Friday. While there, the conversation got around to cycling (funny how that happens), even though I’d taken a change of clothes, and was looking almost sharp. The woman I was talking to lives within a few miles of me, and said that […]

Another Soaking, and The Dark Knight

Riding in the rain. . . . I think I’m starting to enjoy it. Good job too.
Last Thursday, I went to work with a regular client in Newcastle. Lovely weather for the ride in, but during the day the skies darkened as a big Atlantic weather front swept over the country. The rain pretty much […]

I’d Cycle, Except For . . .

I was at a networking thing in Newcastle yesterday evening. Somehow, although I’m supposed to be talking Work at these things, the conversation always gets around to cycling. Talking with a small group, I was impressed that two of them actually brought up the subject of cycling without (much) prompting from me.
The first - a […]

This Is How Riots Start

This via UltraRob on Twitter. One of New York’s ‘finest’ assaulting a cyclist during a Critical Mass thing:

Full story on the New York Times’ City Room blog.
Cyclists are a minority group (less than 5% of the population), and in other circumstances similar to this, the result’s been rioting. Maybe it’s a good job that we’re […]

Hold The Line

Cycling in to my client’s office this morning, I had two near misses - both situations that I could have almost certainly avoided by riding more assertively, and holding my line.
In the first, I was approaching roundabout, where the lane nearest the kerb splits into two - the left (3 in the picture) is for […]

Dunwich Dynamo 2008

I got the idea for doing this back in 2007, when I read about it on Adrian Fitch’s blog. Seeing as VonSmallHaussen lives only a short distance from the start, we could combine a visit to see her with a little light cycling:

119 miles. Actually my first century ride ever. Actually, 50% further than I’ve […]




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