Before I write the rest of this post, I’d better clear something up about The Bike Fairy. (This is a non-PC gag, so if you’re offended by this sort of thing, skip the rest of this paragraph). Contrary to popular opinion, The Bike Fairy is a supernatural being who brings good boys and girls...
Read more »

I thought I’d show you a bit more of what its like here. This clip first was filmed from our top floor on 21st March, when the weather was pretty wild and windy - a typical March day: People often walk their dogs along the lower promenade, reached via the steps you can see. There...
Read more »

At the end of January, I splashed out (sorry - that’s a really bad pun) on a new pair of goggles. I bought a pair of Arena Cyclone goggles, which are more like a traditional diving mask, but without enclosing your nose. The idea of this kind of swimming goggle is that you get...
Read more »

After yesterday’s breakfast disaster, you could be forgiven for thinking that I’m a complete Muppet when it comes to food. But hey, as the saying goes, “the man who never made a mistake never did / learned / achieved anything”. So here are a few sensible things you can do with porridge (all together now,...
Read more »

I had a great session this afternoon - a full 25k bike and then 5k run. Setting off from Walker, at just after noon, the weather was just perfect. Sunny without much heat, so that I knew I wouldn’t get too hot. I was wearing some long cycling trousers over my ever so attractive...
Read more »

I’m getting toward the race season now - my first race is a 10K on Easter Sunday. So the training intensity is increasing, with longer and more strenuous workouts. After the mess I got myself in earlier in the year, I want to avoid over-training. The key to this is taking the appropriate rest periods...
Read more »

There was a great article buried in yesterday’s Sunday Times about how the received wisdom of the last 50 years’ urban road design is set to be overturned. The End of the Road for One-Way Street revealed that the Department of Transport’s new road design guidelines, the Manual for Streets will see streets designed...
Read more »

Swimming this evening while my daughter was having her lesson (she got the badge!), I did a couple of hundred metres, and then thought I’d better get some practice in with my Total Immersion drills. My free style’s really coming together now, but only with breathing to the right. Breathing to the left...
Read more »

It’s a fantastic cycling day here today, though I almost didn’t make it - I have a cold (may even be man-flu) at the moment, and when the alarm went off, I was feeling all snotty & chesty. That’s probably more detail than you need. Anyway, on the way to breakfast, I checked a couple...
Read more »

Snow and high winds all day yesterday, and up to at least 11:30 when I went to bed did not bode well for taking the old new fixie out for its first longer jaunt today. When I got up, the snow had melted as it hit the roads, and then re-frozen, to be covered...
Read more »

So I drove to the gym for the 06:45 spin class today - weather still blowing a gale, with snow showers thrown in at no extra cost. I’ve found that the Kaiser spin bikes have double sided pedals - traditional cage & straps on one side, and SPD on the other, which is nice, because...
Read more »

The weather forecast for today was unusual for late March - winds in the mid 30 mph’s, temperature barely above freezing, and ice / snow showers. Perfect weather for cycling in fact. But on my sturdy commuting bike, not the fixie. Mainly because I’m a wuss when it comes to that sort of wind,...
Read more »

I can’t really explain about Charlie - I found his site tonight when I was trawling Ebay for some new old handle bars. High points include . . . The truth behind global warming The blog section (sadly no RSS), featuring races with double-scoring bonuses for nakedness The almost helpful why and how of fixed wheeling Including...
Read more »

Well, yesterday was only a short trip - about three miles each way. The route out is mostly a gentle climb (into the wind - wouldn’t you just believe it) that left me thinking I’d made a dreadful mistake. Perhaps fixing isn’t for me after all. Or maybe I just need to track down a...
Read more »

Help! Someone out there is trying to track me down. Just look what was recorded under the Wordpress stats for ’search terms people used to find your blog’: That’s two seperate searches where someone’s trying to track me down. Looks like witness protection isn’t all its cracked up to be.
Read more »

So I’ve finally succumbed to the Dark Side. First little trip out tomorrow morning . . .off to the pool and back. Bike still needs some work doing on it, so no photos yet. I’m running 42 x 14T with 700C wheels. Hope this isn’t too butch for my girl’s blouse legs. As ZappoMan (pictured left)...
Read more »

You’ve seen TrainSpotting - the film with Ewan McGregor; after Shallow Grave, but before Moulin Rouge . . . and way before The Phantom Smegging Menace. (George, how could you?) Well it seems that fixed wheel living has many similarities to a life on smack. . . . I found this on fixiefaqs.xwiki.com, when looking...
Read more »

I found this on Dvorak.org/blog - a roller coaster for cyclists (with details on treehugger.com). Surely this looks like the scariest roller coaster in the world. You can see the thte ‘bikes’ have been designed with practicality in mind - they even have shopping baskets. I just hope that the ‘bikes’ have a freewheel, rather...
Read more »

I had a daft idea this morning. Since I’m doing all this cycling, would someone like to pay me for it -  to ease their conscience for driving around in, say, a huge 4×4. So I’ve put it up on Ebay, to try to put a figure on what people think it’s worth.
Read more »

No swim this morning - I took the extra hour in bed. But I did finally got around to my first brick session of the season - a 25k bike trip (work related), which I felt so zingy at the end of that I thought I really should go for a run too -...
Read more »

I found this video of Ian Thorpe via Bill Anders’ Photos & Tri-rambles blog earlier this week. I just had to have a copy here to remind me what effortless swimming is really supposed to look like. The film’s in slow motion (50% of real speed), so you can really see some detail. Check...
Read more »