Newcastle

Great run this evening on a new route - into Newcastle and back: And I got to stop briefly at Carlton Reid’s cocktail bar half way round too. Unfortunately they were right out of Bambino Splash (pint glass - half fill with snakebite, and top up with snowball), but they did have water for...
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Thursday is a bike day. We won’t let the weather, the clients we have to see, or the errands we have to run put us off doing it all on two-wheels. And this week, I had all three - cold & drizzly first thing in the morning; a meeting with a client that required...
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After falling off Lilac last year & breaking her arm , it’s taken quite a while for Wife to want to ride a bike again. First of all there was the weeks & weeks spent in a cast, then the physio, and then it was winter (remember the weather? Even I was reduced to...
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This weekend I was in That London for my oldest friend’s birthday party. An evening of booze and banging techno - I participated in the former, while enjoying observing the effects of the latter. Anyway, I took the train down, which left me with the problem of how to get from our house to Newcastle...
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That green area behind the car is the cyclists’ waiting area, reserved for bikes, in front of the advanced stop line, where the car should have stopped? The car has stopped, blocking the pedestrian crossing? The driver made a valiant effort to beat the lights (racing past me in the filter lane), but...
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(n.b. this post is safe for Wife to read. I was in no danger during this incident, and merely witnessed the results) Coming home from my long ride on Sunday, I chose the route over the top of Byker and down the Foss Way to Walker. This is a great road for tired legs -...
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Does riding a traditional British roadster count as Ironman training? When you’re riding to the train station & back? Depends on your thinking really. I had just run 14 miles, this is a heavy bike, and the headwind on the way in was totally relentless. So I’m logging it! Workout: Type: Cycle Date: 03/19/2010 Total Time: 2:00:00.00 Calories: 1168 Distance: 24...
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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...
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We’ve negotiated flexi-time at work! This means that as I work really very hard indeed (you just can’t do enough for a good boss*), I’m effectively getting an EXTRA 24 days holiday a year. Technically, that means I have enough holiday to take 52 days a year off. Tempting . . . but not...
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Well three cheers and a "Huzzah!" for the weather this weekend - the roads were neither covered in snow, nor frozen with sheet ice! What better excuse do you need to get out in the elements and experience some wind-in-your-face cycling? I did one of my favourite loops, taking in the three hills at Sidegate, Stanley,...
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