Posted on September 5th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
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’, […]
Filed under: Family, Friends, Global Warming, Cycle, 'A'-List Blogs, tandem, Climate Change, Whitley Bay, Bike Culture | No Comments »
Posted on July 25th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
Maybe I’m getting old, or it’s just an attempt to buck the system. But I have the urge to get a bike that’s seriously comfortable.
Inspired by sites like Copenhagenize.com (and it’s twin - CopenhagenCycleChic.com), Amsterdamize.com, and even Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery, I’ve started looking at a more traditional, upright type of bike. For […]
Filed under: Cycling, Business, Family, Where I Shop, Bike Culture | 7 Comments »
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 by Karl On Sea
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 […]
Filed under: Family, Friends, Cycle, Dunwich Dynamo | 5 Comments »
Posted on July 5th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
The run was interesting.
I hadn’t banked on it being such a cross-country affair, nor on the weather being so wet. I also thought that the route was a simple out-and-back, so within 200m of what I thought was the end of the first lap, when the route headed off for a circuit of the lake […]
Filed under: Triathlon, Family, Friends, Run, No More Excuses, Cleveland Steelman | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 5th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
The bike leg was all about the weather and the food.
My big fear was bonking - either through dehydration / electrolyte problems (a speciality of mine), or blood sugar. So my plan was to drink Zym every ten minutes (~750ml per hour), and to eat 300 cals / hour. On top of that, for the […]
Filed under: Triathlon, Family, Cycle, Cleveland Steelman | 3 Comments »
Posted on July 5th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
OK, so as I got out of the water, they announced my name, and that I’d brought shame on the NE31 Triathlon Club by being last out of the water. OK - so no one mentioned shame, but that’s how I felt. Our coach, Peter was there to see how his (daughter? and) protegees did, […]
Filed under: Triathlon, Family, Friends, NE31 Tri Club, Cleveland Steelman, Lost Mojo | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 4th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
I was going to multi-task a family picnic at the reservoir with a swim-bike session. But then the huge ride up from Gabian through Fos and to Montesquieu had been all up-hill and into the wind (OK, it wasn’t really so huge, but it felt like it!), and I saw snakes swimming in the reservoir […]
Filed under: Family, Cycle, France | No Comments »
Posted on May 30th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
So I was so impressed with the pool in Montpellier that I persuaded my 15 year-old nephew to come for a swim . . . a thousand metres. For him, this was a BIG deal. So we broke the task down into manageable chunks:
1000m = only 10 laps of a 50m pool
1000m = only 20 […]
Filed under: Swim, Family, France | No Comments »
Posted on May 29th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
We hired a canal boat for the day, and went for a family picnic. I wasn’t expecting this to be much fun (or indeed for the boat to be so big), but as it turns out, it was a great day out. I had a beer at lunchtime, and was just about to have another, […]
Filed under: Family, Run, France | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 27th, 2008 by Karl On Sea
On the second day of our holiday, I did some more multi-tasking. The whole family was going into Montpellier to visit the aquarium. That’s at the end of one of the city’s tram lines . . . and only a few stops up the line is the swimming pool. So while the family were looking […]
Filed under: Swim, Family, France | No Comments »
