Sunday 25th January 2009

OK. It's time for an update and a revamp. I've not touched my web page since December, probably due to the lack of training. Bad colds, bad chest, bad weather equals no riding. There was no point in writing about something that didn't happen. I didn't even take a bike with me back up north for Christmas, even though I was supposed to meet friends for a ride. Anyway, today was my first time back on the road since then, and there was a glimmer of hope in that I spent a long time on the front of the pack into a stiff breaze. I've done some turbo work, but that hasn't helped with the weight or endurance. I'm currently 4Kg over my target weight and way off my training schedule.

I've ordered a new bike specifically for the commute to work, a Condor Agio equiped with Campagnolo Veloce components. The frame is an aluminium main triangle with carbon forks and stays and has facilities for taking full mudguards and a rear pannier rack. This should be delivered sometime this week.

Work has been busy and slow at the same time. I'm busy with fixing issues caused by other business units on the Fiat 500. The last guy who worked on the rear seat assemblies is now on the long term sick with stress. I'm not finding it easy to pick myself up and get on with things either. New projects are slow coming in, but we have just landed another Fiat job. It makes sense that we get more work, as we can outstrip all other European units on cost.

Friday 30th January 2009

I'm letting things slip again! There is so much that I've let slip that this is the least of my concerns. I finally got back to riding to work on Tuesday, only for the ice to get worse towards Telford, resulting in me having another crash in which I damaged the power lead to my Cateye Twinshot lights. I didn't discover the damage to the lights until I was going home and couldn't turn the lights on. Although I have the other lights on my bars they are not good enough for dark lanes, so I opted to catch the train into Wolverhampton. David A had the same idea, so I bumped into him at the station. David was then able to show me a better way back to Bloxwich, via the Cannock road.

My Condor Agio was meant to have been delivered to work on Thursday, which would have made a good birthday present to myself, but unfortunately someone didn't know how to put the correct lable on the right box. The result was my bike ended up in Manchester and I was getting something else. I got a call from Condor asking me to get the couriers to take the box straight back. My box still didn't turn up today, so I'll have to wait until Monday.

Monday 2nd February 2009

The weekend was a bit of a bust. The weather was forecast to be cold all weekend, with Sunday being particularly bad. As it happend, Saturday would have been a good morning to get out on the bike. There was a strong wind on Sunday morning, but the sun was out even when the first snow flurries were falling. I stayed indoors all weekend, apart from a quick walk to the shops for a bottle of milk. I completed one hour on the turbo trainer each day, and uploaded a tonne of CDs onto my computer as I wanted more variety when working on the turbo.

The snow was thick on the ground this morning. It was a pity to put footprints into it, let alone drag the wheelie bin to the gate. A load more snow is forecast today, so Walsall Council will probably cancel the rubbish collection again.

Tuesday 3rd February 2009

Sure enough, they didn't collect the bins yesterday. It doesn't help that they have implemented the use of a smaller bin for general waste. This is the second time they haven't collected this year, which makes for a 4% collection failure. It makes you want to ask for a rebate off the council tax!

My cycle-to-work bike has still not arrived from Condor. There is a story to this one. The lady I was dealing with was off ill on the day the bike was dispatched, and someone managed to put the wrong label on the wrong box. The result of this was that my bike ended up in Manchaester and someone else's came to me. I sent mine back as soon as it arrived, as requested, but the other guy still has my bike. Apparently FedEx tried to pick up, but has so far been unable to do so. I doubt that I'll even see the bike tomorrow. If you've see the film 'Castaway' with Tom Hanks, you'll understand why I may have visions of my bike ending up on a desert island.

This morning has been spent mostly trying to retrieve data off a tape. I had archived the data off an old server that wasn't being used from day to day over a year ago, with the idea of switching off the machine. Yesterday, someone decided to put together a presentation that needed some old data, only to find that the server had failed without being noticed by the department that it belonged to. Fortunately my archive log worked, and I was able to track down the right tape, wade through the multiple archives on the tape and extract the required files. The file list could have been more helpful, as it gave no indication as to where each archive ended. I edited the file list as I went along, putting in a marker for the archive seperation, just in case the tape would be needed again.

I've added a link on my laugh page for a fun game called 'Home Run'. Give it a go, it's a good laugh!

Thursday 5th February 2009

My Condor Agio arrived yesterday morning. A guy from Goods Inwards brought it into the office. I gave it a quick once over whilst it was still in it's box, but everyone was curious so I took it out to show everyone. Condor are obviously well practiced at packing bikes; the seatpost was out, the handle bars were off and the front wheel was detached. All the separated parts were cable tied back to the frame. I put it together in the evening, but didn't attach my mudguards or set my position. I'll leave that for the weekend.

Snow again today, making driving dodgy. It was my turn to drive, David A having driven yesterday. I had a couple of slippy moments, but most of the drive along the M54 was clear. The boss hasn't made it in from Sutton Coldfield, nor has one of my coleagues from Bridgenorth.

Friday 6th February 2009

Everybody in the office made it into work today. Adrian D, who was in uncharacteristically early, had to figure out how to open the door with his swipe card, as he never usually sees the time lock in operation. The boss, who was his usual twenty minutes late after not appearing at all yesterday, was driving a hire car because his Jaguar was in the repair shop after he put it in a ditch a few weeks back. His car being in for damage repair makes a change - it's usually in for one mechanical fault or another, so much so that it's become a running joke - or a none running joke.

I finished setting up my Condor Agio this afternoon. I took a trip to Bridgetown Cycles on my way home, to pick up a couple of bottle cages and a C0² inflator set. I also treated myself to a pair of 2XU calf tights, which I hadn't seen in a while. Once I got home I set about putting the bottle cages in place on the Condor and swapping the Look Keo Classic pedals over from my Sirius. The Sirius needs a serious clean before I put my cyclo-cross tyres and SPD pedals back on it.

Amongst the mail awaiting my return was a CD by a band called Rialto, which I had ordered the other day on Amazon. Rialto were a 90's Britpop band that were unlucky enough to be dropped twice by the same record label. I heard one of their tracks, entitled 'Untouchable', at the time of their second dropping by East-West Records, and I really liked it. I would have bought it but it was deleted, and I never heard it played on the radio again. Fortunately for me, the track came to mind whilst I was doing a bit of web browsing, and I decided to look it up on Amazon. Great, they had it, so I bought it. 'Untouchable' sounds as good as I remember it, and all the tracks on the album were good, especially 'Monday Morning 5:19'. That CD will be played over and over for quite a while. I will say it now - 'East-West Records, you are idiots!'

Wednesday 10th February 2009

I got a shock this morning. As I hadn't been weighing myself during this period of low activity I didn't know what it would be when I got on the scales this morning. 67Kg! That is the heaviest I've been for a long time. I did put in one hour of level 2 yesterday evening, but that does not make up for the long hours in the saddle that I've been missing. I'm up for another hour of level 2 this evening, and hopefully I'll start to see a fall in my weight as I pick up my activity level further.

Took the Condor out for a quick spin on Sunday. I had started out intending to go for a substantial ride, but I just knew I was right out of condition. My bike computer was acting up also, not giving a stable reading for my pulse rate. I shouldn't have let that put me off but pulse rate is a major measure of my riding, so the ride felt pointless without it.

I've made a change on my links page. I became fed-up with Webftp.co.uk as it keeps hanging and loosing connection, so I've replaced it was net2ftp.com as my online ftp tool. This is the heart of Webftp.co.uk anyway, it has a greater availability and it defaults to the dialogue format that I want.

Saturday 14th February 2009

This week has been turned into a disater at work from Wednesday onwards. At just before 10am on Wednesday, users' machines started to lock up. I was the first to notice as I was just logging on, having been working on my laptop and replying to e-mails, and the machine just sat there, frozen. I started to try other peoples' machines, and one by one they froze too. Our server had crashed, caused by a power outage, so the client machines could not reach the data or check login details.

I could power the server up OK, but there was no way I could kick the operating system into action. Our UK Engineering IT Manager came over from Redditch on Thursday, to see if he could log in via the controller ports, but he didn't know how to. So we logged a call with IBM for them to come in on Friday. During this time, Wednesday to Friday, nobody could work on the CAD system, which is our major function.

Come Friday and my laptop (new to me) started playing up as well, and I had to take it to the plant IT Admin to check it over. He did a reinstall on it and handed it back to me, at which point the screen went blank. So I passed it straight back and he took it away again. After logging a call to HP, the problem turned out simply to be that the battery pack had become unseated slightly.

When the IBM Enginner arrived, at about 1pm, he succeeded to log in via the controller, which the IT Manager tried on Thursday. The Engineer commented that we had an important bit of kit missing, which he would have used to kick the machine into action. However, after a bit of mucking around with the settings on the fron display and another power-down and power-up sequence, the network ports burst back into life, indicating that the operating system was running. I went back to the office and rebooted my machine, and I was able to log in and start the CAD system properly. After a few tests, I was happy that the server was functioning correctly so let the IBM guy go. I didn't boot up everyone's machine as it was so close to the end of play, but John C needed to get a data transfer out, so his was activated.

Friday was also the first time I rode the Condor to work. I stuck to level 2 as best as I could the whole way, and boy was I slow! I took an extended route home, again sticking closely to level 2, and spent 3hr30 riding. I planned it so that I had two 800ml bottles with me on the return journey, and I needed these as I didn't have chance to have a proper lunch. I wasn't overly tired when I got home, but my upper arms were aching. I can see the benefits this morning as I am below 66Kg for the first time in ages.

After I've got some ironing and washing up out of the way, I'll be doing the first of my level 3 turbo sessions for year. I'll be going swimming with friends this evening, or, more probably, sitting in the sauna or shallow end chatting. Need to make time to rest. ;)

Sunday 15th February 2009

I was out on the club run today. I didn't have to stick to level 2, so I put in a good effort for the whole ride, staying on or near the front for the whole day. I kept dropping the others on long uphills, and Phil G was in a bit of a state by the time we turned to head for the Spider's Web cafe. I hope this bodes well for the prospect of a good pair of legs before we head for Majorca.

Monday 16th February 2009

After yesterday's thrash on the clubrun, it is a rest day. It's my first club committee meeting tonight, so I'll be pushed to fit in a core muscle routine. I need to flat-off my Cateye lights and recharge them, in preparation for tomorrow's commute. I should also wipe down the Condor's frame and mudguards.

With the exchange rates been flipping around all over the shop recently, I thought I'd missed the boat on buying my Euros for the trip to Majorca. However, today Chris W. was complaining about the stupid exchange rate that he was offered for buying his Euros off him. So we did a deal and I got £190 worth of Euros for £175. Well, I'm happy.

The club committee meeting wasn't very exciting. I was surprised to see more there than at a normal club night.

Tuesday 17th February 2009

Had a fun start to the day. The commute was OK - still not fast, but getting faster. I had extra good reason to be glad to be cycling because the motorway was block as I passed over the bridge just before Cosford. Andy S took a diversion off the motorway, and came past me on the way into Shifnal. I recognised his Mini Cooper S Works.

When I got in, I found that my locker key was missing, and my locker is where I store my work clothes. The lady who administers the lockers does not keep spare keys, so I was stuck for getting in normally. I hunted around for overall type clothing, without success, so that is when I resorted to using the 'master key', i.e. a long handled screw driver. At least I didn't do any damage, so I'll be able to use the locker again once I've tracked down the key.

I was late getting away from work, due to having loads of drawings to scan and the scanner being slow to download the files. I was delayed again slightly because I suffered a rear wheel puncture. Fortunately the puncture was slow enough for one zap of my CO₂ cartridge to see me the last 2 miles home. So repairing the puncture will be another job to do whilst cleaning the Condor on Thursday.

Friday 20th February 2009

I cycled to work, again taking a longer route home, though not as long as the week before. The regular rides are obviously doing me some good, as I find it easier to remain within my level 2 heart rate zone and I didn't go above zone when climbing the rise by Featherstone Farm Hotel, on my way home.

Sunday 1st March 2009

Another month gone, and we are just a couple of weeks away from heading out to Majorca. I've probably put more miles in during the last three days than during any previous three consecutive days. I didn't intend to extend my ride home on Friday, because I was doing a 100 mile Audax on the next day, but I was slightly diverted due to tree felling blocking the road past White Ladies Priory. This made it a full 51 miles for the day. The Audax was planned to be 100 miles, but we went slightly off course, leading to a slightly longer run to get back on course. I reckon we did 102 miles by the finish. Today's club run was 56 miles, so that makes 208 miles over the three days.

I'd expected an easy club run today as Sam, Spud's wife, was joining us. Spud is recovering from a hand operation, as a result of being knocked off his bike last year. He opted for baby-sitting duties, so that Sam could get some good miles in, in preperation for their end-to-end ride in August. Sam did extremely well for not having ridden more than 30 miles before now. Even though the pressure was applied on a few uphills, Sam remained in contact right up to the very end. Mark and I tried to persuade her that she should have a go at some of the club time trials. She says she's not interested, and I think that is a great shame. I think she would be very surprised at what she could do.

Tuesday 3rd March 2009

I putin another order for cycle gear yesterday - two pairs of Assos shorts, some SIS energy drinks and gels, and a new bike computer with heart rate monitor. Having dropped my CS200cad, at the Audax the other day, it was missing a clip zone, so was unlikely to remain attached to the bar bracket. As there is also a short circuit somewhere within it, there is a continual crackling sound and it chews its way through batteries at a rediculous rate. A CS100b is compatable with the heart strap, wheel contacts and crank sensors that I already have, so at £49 instead of £80-odd it is a much more economical deal.

Wednesday 4th March 2009

The ride to work yesterday wasn't at all bad, considering the forcast. There was some rain, but not enough to force me to a halt in order to put my waterproof jacket on. When I got in, my kit was dry enough not to warrant swapping to my spare kit for the ride home. I just thought that the weather men had got it wrong again. How wrong I was!

On the ride home, it was bucketing it down, and the wind was blowing in gusts. There were times at which the wind took me by surprise and blew me sidewards. A couple of loose cans/coke bottles in the road also didn't help help me maintain verticality, when they blew under my front wheel. Anyway, I got home safe and sound, dumped my wet kit and plonked myself in the shower. A warm shower feels just so much better after riding in conditions like that.

The weather today is so much better, as we approach 5 o'clock. Tonight's program, however, is indoors, on the turbo trainer and doing core muscle exercises.

Friday 6th March 2009

Now sitting in my living room, curtesy of Bridgetown Cycles, is one very lovely Pinarello FP5 51cm frame. I had been toying with the idea of an FP6, but that would really have been pushing the boat out a bit too far. It will take me a while to sort out all the components that I'll be putting on it, but I'll be borrowing most things off my Holdsworth.

The Holdsworth is going to be demoted to turbo trainer use, so won't be needing the Record Skeleton calipers that it's currently loaded with, nor the Record medium cage rear mechanism. I have a spare pair of Record 10 speed Ergo levers to go on the Pinarello, and I have a pair of Chorus 8 speed levers sitting around in a box to go on the Holdsworth. It looks like the Sirius is about to get a 10 speed upgrade, before I decide whether or not to sell it.

Ribble Cycles has also had good custom from me recently. A couple of weeks back I bought refills for all my SIS energy drink powders. Today I received a second order, containing some SIS gels, Nocte powder, a Polar CS100 HRM/computer and two pairs of Assos F1 Uno S5 shorts. I also put in a new order with Ribble today, for a pair of Look Keo Carbon/Titanium pedals. I'm just trying to keep my luggage weight down for Majorca, honest ;). Of course, they are going to end up on the Pinarello.

It's club night tonight, and I've printed off a few copies of the result sheet from the club circuit '10' held a couple of weekends back. Having opted not to ride in today, I'll have to fit in some training before I go out tonight.

Sunday 8th March 2009

Today was one of those rare days when the weather men got it spot-on, unfortunately so. Went out on the "club run" with just Mark and Sam, and we got rained on heavily, haled on and nearly blown over. Since nobody else turned out, we stuck to our original plan of going out to Beehive Farm, despite the wind direction. Sam had a flat just short of Rosliston, due to a nasty big thorn through her tyre. The wind was getting stronger and colder then, so I was glad that it didn't take use too long to get going again and get to the cafe. Service was slow today, as there was a big crowd of other cyclists already there.

Tuesday 31st March 2009

I've got a lot of catching up to do on my diary. I have Majorca to write up and some photos from the trip to put my photo log. I also have to add my Pinarello FP5 to 'My Bikes'.

I couldn't be bothered with any riding last week, it's been dull and windy - nowhere near as good as in Majorca. The week off showed yesterday, when I got spat straight out the back on th Bill Jinks Memorial Road Race. I ended up riding on my own for two of the five laps before packing. I know what I have to do to overcome that. The Pinarello felt great, but I have to improve my position, especially the height of the brake hoods which are too far around the bars.

It's the last day for Chris W, our contractor, so we are going out this evening for a drink and a consolation curry.

Wednesday 1st April 2009

Last night was a good night out. Starting with a pint of Bathams in the Railwaymans Arms at Bridgenorth Station and moving on to Blue Ginger, a curry house also in Bridgenorth. I should avoid the starters, as a always end up feeling uncomfortably stuffed when I visit a curry house. This place was particularly good, despite the slow service. We were there practically two hours. It was turned 10 when I made it back home.

John C heard a good April Fools joke on the news. As reported, a pet tax is to be introduced - £1000 for a horse, £220 for a cat, £250 for a dog and rodents anything up to £100, depending on size. The problem is this will give the government ideas. :(

I've caught up a bit on web page house keeping. My training diary archives are now accessible through the menus. I won't have much time before Friday in which to upload my Majorca photos.

Thursday 2nd April 2009

Completed another top-end turbo session last night. I really dug in on the first set, which left me feeling rather beaten up, so I intended just to trim it back for the following five set, but the on the last two I pushed the HR up to 170 for the last two minutes.

With having to wash drinks bottles before I could do the turbo session, I continued with more washing up. As I wasn't wanting to delay the turbo session any further, I postponed dinner until afterwards. By the time I'd had my recovery drink, taken a shower, dressed and prepared the meal, it was approaching 10pm before I got to eat.

Even though I had a sachet of Nocte overnight recovery drink before turning in, my legs were sore on the ride into work. It wasn't a bad ride. I was able to keep largely withing my level 2 zone, and I was definately moving quicker than the last times I rode in, but it wasn't pleasant when the soreness in my legs kicked in.

My legs were feeling much better on the way home. I was only 3 minutes slower, due to riding into a head wind all the way home.

Friday 3rd April 2009

I'm taking today off as unpaid leave, like John C from the office has done. Being more time poor at the weekends, I think this is a good exchange, since I would prefer the office to survive by the time the downturn ends. I will be heading over in that direction this afternoon as we've arranged to go offroad buggying. I'll also need to pick up some stuff from Parker's in Sheriffhales.

In the meantime, I've got plenty to get on with here. Need to mow the front lawn desperately, tidy the lounge, vac, clean the kitchen. Already put out the rubbish and the recycleables for Monday. Just need to finish this. There!

Sunday 5th April 2009

I was on a two race crit series at Victoria Park in Leamington Spa yesterday morning. In the first race (25Km) I got spooked and sat up, loosing the back of the pack just as we turned into the headwind - not a time to be on your own. I was caught a few laps from the finish and once back in the bunch I found I still had good legs, so I set about trying to unlap myself. Unfortunately, I dragged someone with me, so I was still lapped when they called out the lapped riders. I was lucky in one respect in that I wasn't in the bunch when three of them tried to occupy the same space on the finishing straight.

In the second race (40Km) the pace was higher and more even. I saw the front a few times and tried to make a couple of breaks, but nobody was playing ball. With 12 laps to go I was feeling great and holding mid pack. That's when someone ploughed into the bushes on the right and took a fair few people down with them. The cascade caused me to go hedge trimming on the left. I ended up on the deck with half a bush in my spokes. By the time I cleared the wheel, released the brake blocks that were now rubbing on the wheel and got going again, I was half a lap down. With the breeze I couldn't make an impact to rejoin, so I was lapped with 4 laps to go and got pulled out. Gave me time to cheer Matt home for the win. He spent most of the race at the front, just like in Majorca. Even though I didn't finish, I am well chuffed with how the legs were going. I've just got to put in my entry for a fortnight's time.

In the evening I finally made it out to go swimming with my mates. I don't think I'd been out since January, so I needed to catch-up with everyone. I only did a few lengths, spending most time chatting down in the shallow end or in the sauna. Only Ant wasn't there out of our group. John S had an 800ml SIS bottle for me, which he had been given through his running. He had no use for it, but I'm always in need of those bottles.

Today I intend to go for a long, slow ride, in the low end of level 2. This is to help recover from any after effects of yesterday's efforts and to burn fat. My weight has started heading in the right direction, most probably due to the increased activity level in general. I can't say I'm paying any more attention to my diet.

Monday 6th April 2009

Well, that's the long weekend done and dusted, and I don't know where it's gone. There was so much on that I really didn't get anything else that I needed to do done. Next weekend is the Easter weekend, so I'm not going to get anything done on the domestic front then either, as I'll be heading back up north. Still, I have the rest of the week to work with, due to the enforced plant shutdown.

I've got to make time tonight to clean my Condor Agio bike, and to regrease the jockey wheels, as they make a fair bit of a sqeaking noise as i am riding. I need to fully clear the washing up, which is crowding the draining board, and to tidy up the lounge before I can get round to my core muscle workout. The vaccum cleaner has been sat waiting in the lounge for days, but I need to tidy the place up first.

Tuesday 7th April 2009

The Condor Agio bike got a good scrub last night, followed by a thorough de-manking of the chain, cassette, rear gear mech and chainset. I stripped the jockey wheels right back and regreased the bearings. The Veloce components are obviously budget when compared to my Chorus and Record stuff, as the finish has degraded on the sprockets, but they still perform well.

Before I could do my core muscle routine I needed to vac and tidy at least half the lounge. I got by with shoving things around and re-housing my Sirius bike in the kitchen. I waved the white flag at the thought of clearing the ironing board, but I managed to get half a cleaned floor by shifting the sofa as I vacuumed around it. That did for what I needed.

There was rain in the air as I set off to work this morning. I had opted to use an old Centreville training jersey under a thin Walsall Roads top, so as not to use up my freshly washed Assos Intermediate tops too soon. I thought that putting my waterproof on top would be too sweaty, but as it turned out it was quite comfortable. The green of the Centreville top has faded somewhat from twenty years of use. It's a pity to bin something that is still useful. I have another Centreville top that has kept its colour better, but that has got a hole in the shoulder due to a crash. I could mend the hole with an old club patch that I took off the old Lusso themal jacket that I just binned.

Thursday 9th April 2009

I started the top level turbo session last night, but after beating myself up doing 160bpm+ for the first phase I couldn't keep it going in the second. I just packed in, without the proper warm down. I really need my head around how hard this is before I can put in such effort.

Tuesday 14th April 2009

I've been back home in Bury for the Easter weekend, going up on Saturday morning and returning mid-evening on Bank Holiday Monday. I put in two shortish rides on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and took Monday as a rest day. I pitched in with garden work on Monday, raking the moss out of the lawns, then airating and mowing them. I didn't get anywhere near the amount of moss out that Mum had, but I'm thinking that the moss was being that bit more tenatious with the lawn being dryer.

I have quite a list of things to get on with today, including finally repairing the front passenger door handle on the car and changing the brake pads. The car could also do with being vac'd out.

Monday 20th April 2009

OK. Brief update. I fixed the passenger door handle on the car, but the brake pads didn't need changing. The noise due to the outer shield being bent. Pity that I bought the spare pads.

Finished the first race of the Victoria Park criteriums, even though a crash happened right infront of me. I must of been the first rider to successfully get round the pile-up, but I lost a lot of momentum.

Shenstone Audax. 160 miles is the longest I've riden in any one day, and to do 130 miles of that over the Peak District is a bit mad. I got back home at 8:45, put on my compression logs and top, had my recovery drink and made tea. It was 10pm before I was able to take a long soak in a the bath, as opposed to my usual shower. It was after 10:30 before I could hit the sack.

Tuesday 21st April 2009

It was the cycle club's committee meeting at 8:30, in the scout hut. Last month's meeting was cancelled due to many of us being away in Majorca. It looks like we're changing venue for the prize presentation, which will be a good thing with the fall in price from £25 a ticket to just £15, approx. Ian Ward was looking for more support from me for the SSSCCRRL event.

Slept well last night. I needed the sleep and I had recovered from the sore arms, so I didn't stir until the alarm on my mobile phone went off at 5:30. I dont' know where the time goes to, I had everything prepared the night before but I was still six minutes later out of the door than I had planned. Fortunately the breeze wasn't too stiff on my ride to work. It was a good thing that I sprayed over the chain with WD40 as the Ice Wax just doesn't penetrate, resulting in the chain squeaking annoyingly all the time.

Wednesday 22nd April 2009

I've decided to turn my general diary page back up the other way, so that the latest entries are at the bottom, having concluded that it is easy enough just to pull the scroll bar down to the bottom, and it is a more standard layout. It will take me a while to re-shuffle things into the right order, so don't be surprised with February being mixed in with March.

Monday 27th April 2009

The weather on Sunday morning was sunny with a light breeze. I should have given the Giant a shake-down ride at least the day before, as I would have remembered about the gear mis-sync and have been able to get used to my position earlier. 1:07:00 is still good for me for an early season 25, but I'm still massively disappointed, considering how others did around me.

I rode out to the race, to give myself a chance to warm up. I rode back as far as Bridgetown Cycles with Spud, where we seperated. Before that point I suffered a slow rear wheel puncture, on the inner tube that I had to buy at the Victoria Park circuit races, the other weekend. Again, I could not identify anything in the tyre carcass, but I know that the tube was not over-pressured this time. I'll need to give the tube and carcass a really good going over well in advance of my next outing on those wheels.

When I got home, I had a Rego recovery drink, changed into my compression top and longs, and went to sleep for a couple of hours.

Monday 27th April 2009

Been working on the web site today, changing the code to match xhtml standards. It just means making sure that the lines are closed properly and that code is in lower case, for the most part. I'm now able to put the W3C XHTML 1.0 icon at the foot of my web page.

Tuesday 5th May 2009

I haven't touched the bikes since last Sunday. I was meant to have ridden the SSSCC road race league on Thursday, but I left it too late to come away from drinks with the lads from work, clebrating Geoff K's retirement. I didn't have time to swap over my brake blocks to those for non-carbon wheels. I haven't even been doing my core muscle or breathing exercises. Feeling down in the dumps at the moment.

Over the long weekend, which was even longer with my unpaid leave on Friday, I pretty much wasted two days just playing games and watching DVDs. When I eventually did get my act together, I mowed the front lawn, washed the car, cleaned the bathroom and half the kitchen, and got through half my ironing. I also, finally, sealed around the edges of the kitchen worktop and down the corner of the tiles in the bathroom. The place still feels like a dump, but I will need to brake the work down into smaller chunks.

It is the first to the club's evening time trials for 2009, this evening, so I won't have time to do anymore house work. I'll be riding my road bike with Scirocco wheels, as I need to rework the Giant's transmission to stop the non-synchronous gear changes. Using the Pinarello without aero aids for a time trial will be an interesting experiment.

Wednesday 6th May 2009

Last night's ride was pathetic. Riding a modern, carbon fibre, light weight road bike, I did a time that was slow even by the standards of those I set on my old Holdsworth, twenty years ago. I can't put it down to using the Scirocco wheels, nor the fact that I didn't have the usual pasta lunch. I need to get back into a progressive training program. I should be into my level 3 work by now.

Knowing how far off the mark I was last night, I decided to make today's ride to work a mixed level 2/3 session, rather than the usual level 2. It was going OK until I stopped to take a phone call from Stan. Bloody mobile phones! I wasn't able to answer his question then (no shit), and had to check last night's results when I got home. There was nothing wrong with the time sheet that Stan had produced, so I completed the results and posted them to Kev A. to add to the club web site.

Thursday 7th May 2009

It is the SSSCCRRL this evening, and Walsall are providing the marshalls. I've had to step in as the organiser for Ian W, who may be having to work over. The core of the organising is already done, so all I really have to do is assign marshals to the corners and help out at the signing on. I have the day-glow marshals' tabards, red flags and 'cycle event' signs to distribute.

I don't know when I'll get back tonight, so I'll have to see what I can do for dinner. I'm trying to increase the number of protein snacks I have through-out the day, with shake mid-afternoon. The idea is that you need to eat a little and often, about every 3 hours, to keep blood sugar levels even. This is not just for diabetics, it holds for everyone.

The afternoon caused the day to turn out to be a bit of a pisser. Andy Lomas was about, which we know means bad news for someone, as he is the hatchet man. Anyway, he and the local HR manager go into Andy P's office and are in deep discussion with Andy for some time. The long and the short of it is that the jobs of everyone in our office are disappearing to either Germany or the Slovak Republic, so we've all been told that our jobs are officially at risk. If we can't take up the positions abroad or find a new position within Stafford Park then we will be made redundant. Looking on the bright side, I can afford to take the whole Summer off and enjoy myself training and getting the house in order.

The race this evening made the day enjoyable again. The lads and Lynne from the club did a good job with the marshalling. It was a bit hectic at the sign-on, as I was split between the signing-on, directing the car parking, and getting the marshals together. Ian W did turn up, and took over directing people to which corners they'd be in charge of. Alan R didn't know about the rule that had Walsall Roads CC members marshalling instead of riding, so he raced. I told him it would be OK, so long as he volunteered to marshal on the independant's night. Alan did very well in the end, finishing the race in deteriorating conditions. Rodger Hammond from the Cevélo Test Team turned out and sat on the front of his group, pulling the whole race together. Come to think of it, I don't know who actually won!

Friday 8th May 2009

We've been given the day off today, in light of yesterday's news. I'm making the best of it by getting on with the house work and getting in a higher level turbo trainer session. The magic wash basket is full again, and I'm still only part way through the ironing backlog. If I can clean the rest of the kitchen surfaces and the floor, mow the lawn and finish the ironing today, it would be good progress.

Asking around on the club forum, I found out that it was Rodger Hammond that won the race yesterday evening. Thought it would be.

1:30pm. Scratch the mowing of the lawn. The sun went in and the rain came down whilst I was on the turbo trainer, so that puts paid to that plan. Still, I have plenty more to be getting on with.

Saturday 9th May 2009

The sun's out this morning, but there still is a good breeze. I'm looking to get the mowing done, and to dry off some laundery. The kitchen still needs cleaning and there is still some ironing to do. I did make quite a lot of progress yesterday, but I still need to press on.

Sunday 10th May 2009

The Giro d'Italia started yesterday with a team time trial along the beach front in Venice. Team Columbia-High Road started first and held the top spot all the way through, beating Garmin-Slipstream by six seconds. As Mark Cavendish was the first of the Columbia riders to cross the finish line he gets to wear the race leader's pink jersey, becoming the first ever British rider to have that honour.

Needless to say, my afternoon was spent sat watching the live coverage of the Giro on Eurosport. No extra household tasks got done.

Monday 11th May 2009

Watched the second stage to the Giro yesterday. Cav got second behind Alessandro Petacchi, but maintained his overall lead. I forgot to set the video to catch the live coverage today, but there will be highlights later on in the evening, which will suit me better.

We had the HR Director in the office at work this morning. The office is definately shutting, and I don't see any way that I'd go work in either Germany or the Slovak Republic. Even if there was a position that I could take up in the Building Efficiency division, I don't think that it could be as satisfying on a personal basis as I would require. Even without seeing the numbers, I think I'd rather take the redundancy package and take the Summer off.

Friday 15th May 2009

I haven't been feeling up to updating my diary so much recently, not doing much training. This understandable really, when you consider what is happening at work. My weight has risen a bit as I've kept eating whilst my activity level has dropped off. I should make the best of the opertunity to get my training back on track when we go an gardening leave in a week's time. I've bought new inner tubes and plenty of energy drink in readiness for a couple of weeks of solid riding - kind of like a DIY training camp.

Just in case I can't get my head back into things, I've booked an appointment with the employment counselling service that has been contracted for employee support by the company. I don't want to get to the end of summer just to find that I've wasted all that time because I haven't felt able to get on with stuff.

Saturday 16th May 2009

I took the Condor out on the ride this morning, knowing that I'd require the full mudguards. The wind picked up before I headed out the door, and the rain came down heavily during the ride, as was expected. Even though it was tough in places the ride was good.

I'm having no joy with my Giant time trial bike. I cannot persuade the gears to mesh correctly in sync with the changes at the gear lever. I've lubed the gear cable and the chain, rerouted the cable outer, in case it was taking too tight a line, and had the lever apart. I was going to write that it was fine at the back end of last year, but that is not the case. These levers have never sync'd properly. I can't remember them being this bad, but I can recall the conversations I've had about swapping them for Shimano levers, which can have their indexing turned off.

Sunday 17th May 2009

My friend Steve dragged me out to go swimming last night. I had been thinking of going, but had changed my mind in both directions several times. I needed to get on and atleast finish the washing up. Anyway, I was glad that he hadn't opted to take the Westfield out as it was a bit wet for that. Instead he brought the Mazda MX5 that he has just rebuilt from auto salvage. It was a category 'C' write-off, but he replaced the bent bits, had it resprayed, and now it looks as good as new. I splashed up and down the pool a few times, sat in the sauna for a fair time and then went for a sit down in the cool area, with a cup of coffee and some biscuits. John S was there as well, but I didn't see him until I was sat down with coffee in hand.

I'm feeling a little more tired than I should this morning, despite a good solid sleep. The wind is up again, and the rain is about, so I've decided to take a rest day. I have to clear the lounge and make more progress on the ironing. At least now I don't have to iron all the work shirts, they can go in the charity bin at work.

Sunday 24th May 2009

Thursday was my last day in work. I didn't need to be in on Friday, having handed over my keys and computer the previous day. Next week is a plant shutdown anyway, so we are on gardening leave up to the start of June. Even though most of us weren't going in on Friday, I still had to head in that direction to go for our leaving drink. Andy P wasn't able to make it because he was laid low with his bad back. Andy S didn't come either, probably due to workload of his family's house move. There were a few guys from the plant who came to see us off. Terry was the only one from Redditch, but he'd be with us all week, shutting down our computers and arranging them to be sent back to Burscheid.

I was meant to be going over to Curborough for circuit training, but I decided to take a rest day. Spud went over, so did Rob Cox. Spud was surprised at the speed and his lack of bike handling skills.

Tuesday 26th May 2009

I didn't finish off what I was writing on Sunday. I did manage to get out on the bike for a good long ride, being out for three hours with no cafe break. It was a pity that I didn't stop because I was passing close to Beehive Farm, a favorite cake stop of mine.

I didn't complete the top-end turbo session that I attempted yesterday. It was just a bit too much without having a large amount of level 3 under my belt. I took the rest of the day as a rest day, as today is the club '10'. I want to rest up and prepare the Giant.

Wednesday 27th May 2009

I did OK in last night's time trial, given the wind conditions, my lack of higher level training and the fact that I pulled my foot out twice - once right in front of a car on Gailey island!. 26:01 is a minute off my p.b. for that course, but it is as good as I could have expected. I beat Hugh Canning by 9 seconds - I think I would have caught him if I hadn't lost my pedal and come up against heavy traffic on the first passage of Gailey. I haven't fully solved the Giant's gearing problem, but it didn't distract me too much.

Today, I'm going to rest. I'll put in a core muscle routine this afternoon, but I'm conscious that tomorrow's league race will require me to be rested. I'll be following that with a circuit training trip to Curborough on Friday. The rest of today will be spent on domestic tasks and cleaning the Pinarello in preparation for tomorrow.

Thursday 28th May 2009

It is the SSSCRRL race this evening, so I'm not putting in any other training today. That is not to say the day isn't going to be busy, as I had put down shopping, gardening and dumping some old computers as things to do. Unfortunately, the tip is closed on Thursdays, so I had to bring the computers back home before going out shopping. I have to get the lawn mowed again before any more rain comes, or I'll never get it back into a good condition. At this point, packing my kit bag and stowing the Pinarello in the car are top of my list. I'm just writing this now as I am on a tea break.

Wednesday 3rd June 2009

I finally got some substantial time out in the garden yesterday, removing the stone chippings from around the front lawn and taking up the wed control fabric, which was bound by weeds. I still have a lot to do, including re-edging the lawn and raking up the stones. It was hard, hot work yesterday, as it was the hottest day of the year so far. It should be easier and cooler today.

Friday 5th June 2009

I didn't get back on with the gardening yesterday, as I decided to get on on give the car an oil and filter change. If I did the job properly it would have been easier, but I avoided removing the front bumper's baffle panel/trim so ended up with restricted access to the oil filter. Getting the old filter off was a pig of a job. It didn't help that my trolley jack decided to pack up half way though operations.

My signing on interview was in the afternoon, so I had the finish what I was doing on the car and go get a shower and change before heading into town. I was kept waiting for ages at the Job Centre, so it was lucky that my shortage of change had forced me to buy two hours worth of parking. I only just made it back to the car in time. By the time I made it back home, I only just had enough time to throw my kit in the car and head out to the league race.

I made sure that I got a lap of the Huntington course in as a warm up before the start. I stayed with the pack right up to the final lap when groups 2 and 3 caught us. They hammered their way up the climb through the pedestrian crossing, and that's when I dropped off, knowing that I didn't have the power to battle along with such a large group. It was safer for me to be on my own. I was caught and passed by group 4 as I tried to lift my pace down Pottle Pool Lane. I couldn't match their pace, so contented myself just to complete the distance.

Those efforts of last night have had a positive impact on my weight, and I'm not feeling overly tired or sore. It is the circuit session at Curborough again tonight, followed by club night. Alan said that he's going to the circuit session, so I told him I'd be there also. I'll see if I can hold on longer tonight.

I spent the morning doing repair work to the rear bumper of the car. I fibreglassed the crack that it's had for several years, and built up a new bolting lug to stop it flapping around. I was pleased with the result. I was also happy with the coinsidental arrival of the aerosol paint that I'd ordered. I did a quick colour match check and put it away, as that is a job for another day. I gave the car a wash before the rain had chance to come down and came inside at midday.

I have a bit of shopping to do as I didn't have some essentials on the list when I went shopping last. I was short of margerine at lunch, so had to substitute butter. I'll also have to fill the car with petrol. The price of fuel has gone stupid again. Still, I'm saving on not having to travel to work.

Saturday 6th June 2009

I've booked the car in to have all its tyres changed, which is definately needed. I'll then have to take it to get it MOT'd.

There was rain yesterday, eventually. Today it has pissed it down from the outset. I've already filled my two offline water butts from the one on the down spout.

Tyres changed, MOT passed with advisory note on front indicators showing a bit too much white light.

Went to PC World to buy a new wireless printer and network stuff for my laptop. Now I'll be able to update my web page and print stuff off whilst lying in bed. God it's a hard life. ;) Installation was easy, so now I have a wireless connection that is faster than my network port was. It feels a bit surreal being connected without being connected. There is life in the old laptop yet, although I'll have to find a new battery to enable me to be fully mobile.

Sunday 7th June 2009

Today's training session should be a long ride, but as I lie in bed writing this entry over my mobile network I can hear the rain drumming on the window. The wind sounds a bit blustery as well. I have the rear tyre to turn around on the Condor. I'll do that first and see how the weather progresses. If the rain and wind don't ease I'll go for a long endurance session on the turbo, instead.

I turned the central heating back on yesterday, due to the cold, gloomy nature of the weather. This morning, I was awake before the pump kicked in at 7. The sound is slightly different compared to when the hot water system is active on its own. When the radiators are being heated the pipes expand and slip against the underside of the floor boards. There is also the gurgling of an intermittant air bubble through the radiator.

Tuesday 9th June 2009

I have a lot to press on with today, starting with preparing my kit for this evening's 10. I have the rest of the stones to remove from around the front lawn and give it another cut as soon as it is dry. The wine bottle still didn't get washed yesterday, and they are clutering up the worktop, so that will have to be sorted.

Sunday 14th June 2009

No, the bottles are still not washed, but I have managed to remove all the stones from around the front lawn, cut the grass severly and rip out some of the weeds from the back garden. The weather should still hold up tomorrow, so I should make more progress on this between getting in another long ride and the time I have to go and sign on.

Tuesday 16th June 2009

It's the first of three evening club 25 mile time trials today. I'm down to ride, but I don't know how I'll go. My weight is up after a day of not eating much, and I've still not been able to sort the non-synchronous gearing on my Giant. I would have had the gear cables totally changed by now, but a parcel went missing in transit - rather it was stolen and I know who stole it.

I'll be taking the day easy, with a little level 1 spin-out on the turbo and a core muscle session. I won't be doing anything really strenuous in the garden, just pulling up nettles. I did list a whole raft of things for me to do, but I'll have to review the list and push some things on to tomorrow.

Wednesday 17th June 2009

There is plenty of stuff to do that I pushed on from yesterday, and yet I managed to squeeze in some time to make blackcurrent jam. I had run out of my own stuff some time back and, since the blackcurrents are just begining to ripen, I needed to use up the frozen stock of blackcurrents from last year. I used a little less sugar than my recipe said, but it tastes fine all the same.

It was a bit too warm overnight and I didn't sleep very well as a result. When I go off shopping, I'll take a moment to look for a duvet with a lower TOG value. A 13 TOG duvet in this weather is not what is needed. I hate it when I run out of dry sides to a pillow.

This morning started out cooler and breezier than yesterday. That should make it easier for working in the garden.

Thursday 18th June 2009

The rain set in yesterday, so the gardening got cancelled. I attempted a level 3 turbo session, but fell short, so I took the rest of the day as a rest day.

It was the SSSCRRL road race. I set out at 5pm for Leighton and seemed to find every hold up on route. I took me new turbo trainer for warm-up. It rained during the race, leading to my cork brake pads to loose effectiveness. As soon as we got out of the shower storm I dried out the pads and rims by holding the brakes on. Good race, better performance.

Friday 19th June 2009

I didn't get much sleep last night as it was midnight before I turned in and it was only 5:15 when I awoke. I really need to get some blackout curtains. I did take a Nocte overnight recovery drink before retiring, but that seemed to set my tummy rumbling. Still, I feel refreshed and ready to face another day. With the intensity of the SSSCRRL road race last night, I've dropped slightly in weight. I'm looking for this to continue, so I'll head out to put in a long level 2 ride this morning. I've also said to Rob C. that I'd be over at Curborough this evening for circuit race training. I hope that this isn't over doing it.

I cleaned the preserving pan yesterday, following on from making the first batch of blackcurrent jam. The rate at which the new crop is ripening means I'll need to press on and get another batch done today, before I'm overrun with the new stock. So many things are back-logged, I'll just have to press on Saturday morning or I'll be even further behind when I return from visiting up north on Sunday.

Before next Tuesday's club time trial I'll need to take the Giant out for a shakedown ride, to assess the new saddle position. The new seat pin has taken the saddle more than an inch forward, and that is a big change to make in one go. I have tried it on the turbo trainer, and it felt OK then, but a road ride is the real test. I should also change the front gear cable to see if I can overcome the non-synchronus shifting.

Saturday 20th June 2009

I knocked the intended trip to Curborough on the head for yesterday evening. I had enough riding done yesterday and I needed the rest. I got to the point where I was putting the bike in the boot of the car and it began to spit with rain. I had already got wet that morning, when out on my level 2 ride, and didn't face going round a tight circuit when it was damp.

I had intended to press on with making more blackcurrent jam, but I dropped a tub full of frozen blackcurrents and so didn't have enough to make up a batch. The bushes are not as prolific in bearing ripe fruit as I first thought. There are one or two branches that are more advanced than the others, not enough to get a great load off in any one day.

The cycle club's clothing order finally arrived, so it was time to shell out more money. I had ordered a new skinsuit, a new short sleaved road race top and a pair of bib shorts. This came to £137, which was £10 cheaper than expected because Endura made an error buy supplying the skinsuit with black bottoms, rather than my selection of red.

Sunday 21st June 2009

It was a case of up and out, this morning. I didn't have breakfast as I had run out of milk, and I needed to be on the way up to my parents for Fathers' Day. I delayed a bit just long enough to finish washing out the wine bottles that I started to wash last night and to throw another load of laundry into the washing machine. I'll need the clean cycle kit when I get back for tomorrow.

Monday 22nd June 2009

I came away from Bury at about 8:30 last night. The journey back was easy, I suppose that was because it wasn't a bank holiday weekend. My sister, Sue, paid a visit to see Dad whilst I was there, and my brother, Steve, phoned to speak to Dad as well. I had to buy a replacement card before I arrived because I discovered that the envelope was missing.

Apart from seeing my family, the sest think about a home visit is the chance to have a proper Sunday roast. Chicken, roast and new potatos, carrot and sprouts with gravy. Lovely. Mum also let me have some milk to bring back with me, so that I have some for breakfast. I'll have to go do some shopping straight after breakfast, so that I can have drinks with milk through out the day.

I am pleased with progess on my weight drop, especially considering last night's dinner. I'm looking to do a long level 2 today, to keep my weight improvement going.

Wednesday 24th June 2009

I set a new course personal best on the club '25' last night. I am well pleased, as it says I'm back in the zone. I think it was a tough night, with the wind blowing strong down the straight towards the motorway island at junction 12. I still have not been brave enough to stick to the lower level pacing, which is ironic since this is what I advised Spud to do. Spud also set a new PB, although I did beat him by a few seconds. He said he felt better for taking it easier. He should improve greatly as he learns to stick to the right zone - so should I!

It is a rest day today. I have plenty to getting on with on the domestic front, aswell as having to book more entries for the club's open 25. My wireless was acting up, causing my computer to hang, so I'll have to reinstall the network adaptor. My main task for today is to install a new air brick in the lounge wall. British Gas said that my current air brick wasn't good enough. I say the current air brick is in the wrong position anyway, up the top of the wall. Didn't the builders know that hot air rises and carbon monoxide sinks to the floor. I'll be putting the new brick down as low as possible.

One thing that I forgot to mention was the bottling of the wine from my last three demi-johns. I've filled eighteen and a bit bottles and stacked them in the pantry. The part bottle has a likelyhood of containing some dregs, so I'll be using that for cooking. It took me an age to find my syphon, eventually finding it where it has been all along, on the worktop next to the sink, hidden by all the washing up that I need to get out of the way.

Thursday 25th June 2009

I could have been busy all day yesterday, drilling and chisseling out a brick from below the front window. I gave up when it came to taking a brick out of the inner leaf, as the bricks didn't line up and those bricks are really hard. I drilled through the inner leaf, to mark through the plaster, but watching Wimbledon was more interesting than causing the dust to fly.

Tuesday evening was the official close for the club's open 25 mile time trial, so most of Wednesday was taken with logging the riders' details and sorting them into result order. A couple of people had forgotten to sign their entry forms, and they were using out of date forms, so I e-mailed them today with correct forms attached, and asked them to bring the new, signed forms with them to the event. I'm just about to post off the hall hire fee to Fradley. I need to figure how many first class stamp I need.

I had to pick some more raspberries before the day was out, as there were penty that had turned a deep scarlet. There was no point in letting the snails get them. There are still not enough ripe blackcurrents to make a conserted effort worthwhile.

Friday 26th June 2009

Last night's league race was tough. There was a strong breeze and the front group didn't work together well. Once the groups came together, the pack was too big. The whole course had been resurfaced and there were small loose stone chips lying on the surface. The faster downhill stretch was particularly bad, making staying in the bunch a bad idea. I didn't contest the last lap, despite feeling good.

I've completed the start order for the club's open individual time trial, and just need to add in the tandem riders before I produce the start sheet.

The rain is due to make an appearance today. I'll continue with work on the air brick installation. My printer and sub-woofer will have to be moved out the way to enable me to work at the wall. I also have to get round to picking the blackcurrents and more raspberries.

Saturday 27th June 2009

The heavens opened for all of the afternoon yesterday. Didn't do anything beyond the fruit picking in the morning.

Today was spent draughting the start sheet for the Walsall Roads CC open 25 mile time trial. I had all the riders in their start order, except the two tandems, which I opted to send off first. I published the start list to the CTT web site before setting about the layout for the version for the e-mail to riders and printing. I was pleased with the layout. I don't know what Andy D will think of having his photo on the front cover.

Sunday 28th June 2009

I don't know what to do with all the raspberries that are ripening right now, there are just so many. I've been rinsing them, freezing most of them and keeping a few for scattering on my breakfast cereal. I can start picking more blackcurrents as well, but I'll have to watch how much freezer space I have left.

Just going to finish the web page update, and then I'll be on with a top-end turbo session, leaving a longer level 2 road ride for tomorrow. I've already prep'd my drink bottle with PSP22. I need to buy more PSP22 and Go Electrolyte. I also need to replace my energy Gels, which I use before the Tuesday night TT's.

The club record for the 25 mile individual time trial fell twice yesterday, with Stu and Scott doing 50'46" and 50'03" respectively, when competing in the CDLA 25 on the Etwell course. The team of three record also fell, with Steve coming in with another PB of 54'18", giving a team result of 2h35'07", a fall of 4'04". It's a pity that Phil punctured before the start, because his actual ride time was another PB and would have taken the club record down even further. Scott and Phil were members of the previous record holding team, together with Mark, who hasn't been as prolific this year.

Monday 29th June 2009

The start sheets for the Walsall Roads Open 25 Mile Time Trial will be going in the post this morning. I've just got to fill in an entry form for the Manchester and District 50, have my first morning coffee, and then I'll take a walk to the post office in the centre of Bloxwich. Although it was five days after the closing date, I still had someone ring me up yesterday trying to get in to the event! Yes, I could have done with more entrants, but five days? Please! I've already printed all the start sheets and published it on the CTT web site.

Yesterday, I put a club results page on my web space, to overcome the delay between me posting the evening results to the club's web master and him actually picking up the e-mail. We've still not seen last week's results up. This new space is not available through the buttons, as I don't consider it to be part of my web site. This morning I added to this new page, to list the new club records which have been set during the past month.

Tuesday 30th June 2009

I found a new technique for picking the blackcurrents and raspberries, whereby I dont' have to keep turning to place the fruit in my collecting tub and have a reduced risk of droping it. This proved to be much quicker, resulting in me having more picked raspberries than I had freezer space for. Fortunately my large pan was clean and I had enough sugar, so I quickly made three jars of raspberry jam. I used some of the frozen raspberries as well.

It looks like I'm becoming the go-to-guy for the local kids with flat tyres. AJ from around the corner had a flat front tyre on his brand new bike, and I found that the valve core had rotated so that it didn't seal. His bike was also very badly set up, with the rear wheel rubbing against the frame, and a brake block rubbing against the wheel. It's a wonder that he could actually ride it. Also, his saddle was way too high and he had already lost the cable caps off his gear cable and rear brake cable, so those cables were already fraid.

All the start sheets for Sunday's club's open time trial were posted off yesterday, but I delayed filling in my entry for the M&DTTA 50 mile event. I have that to post now. I have to go buy some tomatos for making my pasta sauce for lunch. I'll post the entry form as I go shopping. Filling out the cheque for my entry also prompted me to order a new cheque book. I'll have to ask the club treasurer to fill out the cheques for the time trial prize list.

I'll have to pick more blackcurrents and raspberries today, but the priorities have to be making more progress on the air brick installation and preparing for this evenings club time trial. I hope I can post another course personal best time, but I'll be experimenting with my effort, trying to keep it more even throughout the event. I think I've lost too much time through having to recover mid-ride. There is a bit of a breeze about right now, but it doesn't look much, and it will no doubt change towards 7pm.

Wednesday 1st July 2009

Another month gone, and another new page in the training diary. I'll have to go over last month's page and compare it to that of a year ago, as I need to see how I'm going wrong. I was fairly beaten up after last night's race, and I wont' be touching the bike today in any real training sense. Wrong pace, wrong, rest, wrong fuelling.

Yesterday, I removed some plaster from around the area in the inner leaf where the air brick will be coming through. I need to make more progress today and will hopefully have the aperture open. This is not, however, the main priority of the day.

First things first, I need to fill in the sign on sheets for Sunday's race. I downloaded the required document off the Midland District Council's web site, but it is a pdf so I couldn't edit it to fill in the event title or the riders' names. So I printed it out, re-scanned it into JPEG format and will now edit it in the Paint program. I will have to use my best handwriting for filling in the large results sheet. If I was still at work, I could have used the CAD system to fill in the names, etc. But, as it is, I at least plotted off the blank formats on A0 before leaving.

I didn't get to pick any blackcurrents yesterday, so they will definately need doing today. I'll do this just as soon as I've done the club race work. I've also decided to buy myself a Javascript tutorial and reference book, as I need that extra help to learn it.

Thursday 2nd July 2009

I didn't touch the air brick work yesterday, too much time taken with fruit picking, jam making and writing out the race's results board and sign-on sheets. I'll have to make a stand for the board to go on, having watched the operation last year which was a bit hit-and-miss. I've got a design in mind and have already cut a sheet of clear polyethene in half to form the surface. I just need to come up with a tripod arrangement.

I need to make headway to clear the wash basket again, and to mow the front lawn. The lawn is patchy since the last time I really did scalp it. Of course, there will be fruit to pick and, being Thursday, the evening road race league to prepare for. I don't like Sundourne, it's tight so there is an increased risk of a crash towards the end.

Must get on.

Saturday 4th July 2009

I had plenty of time today. I picked up the extra 'Cycle Event' signs from Gordon, at the bike shop, picked a good load of blackcurrents and raspberries, drilled more holes in the attempt to remove a brick in order to install the new air brick, and did a bit of reading up and practice of JavaScript web programing. I still made time to pack my kit for the open time trial that I was doing this evening, and make up the drinks bottles.

The race was a ten mile event, on a tough course, and I'm pleased to say that I broke my personal best, despite the strong breeze. As that was my first open 10 miler of the year, I'm looking forward to what I'll be able to do with the power training in, especially on a better course. I have a ten and a twenty five entered on the better K33 courses, later in the month, so that will be telling.

Monday 6th July 2009

Yesterday's club open time trial seemed to go with a swing. I could have done with one more marshal on the top interchange, but the last person available to me had ridden out, so I couldn't send them that far and the cars had already left. There were a couple of ties on time in the prize list, so that cost us more than it should have. It wasn't as bad as when I ran ABC Centreville's '10', when they tied for the top prize, costing us an extra £30.

I didn't get in my level 2 ride in the afternoon, as the weather deteriorated, and I had to get on with more fruit picking, etc. The rain was still coming down today, so I swapped a 2 hour level 2 road ride for 1 hour on the turbo, whilst watching the Tour de France.

Tuesday 7th July 2009

The weather is wet again this morning. I hope it drys up for this evening, when we will be going back to the 10 mile time trials. The mini island at the top of Penkridge would be no fun in the wet.

I'll need to push on to see if I can get the bricks removed for the air brick installation, today. I also need to get the result sheets for Sunday printed and in the mail. Talking of the mail, someone has sent me something without the full postage being paid, so I'll have to take a trip to the Darwall St post office and pay a £1.08 collection fee. There is always fruit to be picked, also. From 1 o'clock, I'll be sat watching the team time trial of the Tour de France on Eurosport.

No work on the air brick. I had to reload my PCGuard software because of a corrupt setting in the parental control section. I don't need the parental control, so it's more annoying that it is this that caused my PCGuard software to hang. My computer ran slowly for most of the rest of the day, only getting back up to pace at the night, as I came to write this.

The rain cleared for the evening time trial, but the breeze was tremendous. It was tough, but it didn't stop me from recording a PB for the course of 24:54. I'm on target to achieve my goal of being consistantly within the 24's on 10 mile TTs. I've got an entry for the Plan B Racing 10 mile TT on Saturday, to be held on the super fast Etwall course. Given a good day, this event should see me beat my PB again.

Wednesday 8th July 2009

Air brick work today, for definate! That b@$t@&d brick is coming out, so help me G_d! I swear that the new vent is going to be cemented in place by the end of the day. I will also motar in under the front door, where the motar has perished. If I spare time, I'll be mowing the front lawn, followed by digging out the blackberry canes in the back garden.

Forgot that I didn't pick up that piece of mail from the post office yesterday. I'll do that this morning, as I go and drop off a stray sign from Sunday with Gordon.

Thursday 9th July 2009

Oh, b&&ger it! I just wrote a big long entry for today and forgot to save it before returning to the FTP program's main menu. Anyway, briefly, there was no work on the air brick yesterday, as I had too much to do with the result sheets. I still have too much to do with the result sheets, but I managed to do a fair bit in the garden before 11, when it started to rain. SSSCRRL race tonight, I have good legs so I'm thinking of fitting smaller sprocket on the cassette to be able to be in contact with the gear as we charge down Pottle Pool Lane. Looking forward to the BBQ after, to celebrate the end of the series.

Friday 10th July 2009

All the results sheets that need posting are in the mail. Those that weren't being sent with cheques for prizes and where riders had expressed a preference to receive start and result sheets by e-mail have already gone electronically. I have a couple of result sheets that I will be posting by hand or giving them to the rider in person.

I still haven't received the result sheet for the Leamington C&AC event held the weekend before last, and I need that information to update my entry forms.

Saturday 11th July 2009

My weight is up this morning after last night's curry night, but not disasterously. The later you eat, the longer it hangs on to you. I went for the prawn biyiani as my main dish. Of course we all started with the popadoms and spices. I had an onion bajji for starters, but didn't go for a naan bread as I always feel overly stuffed if I have one of those. Mark ended up with two naans, having not noticed his main dish came with a naan included, so Shaun helped him out with that.

There is a bit of a drizzle this morning, so I'm in two minds about going out to pick more blackcurrents and to prune back the spent blackcurrent and raspberry canes. The yield of raspberries is definately falling off now, so until the second flush in autumn, which is usually the better crop, I think that I'm coming to the last. At least they are better on breakfast cereals when thawed from frozen.

The Plan B 10 isn't until 5pm, so I've got plenty of time to prepare. I'll leave the new cassette with the 11 tooth sprocket on, as I won't need anything greater than the 22 second sprocket. I'll read over the course details from the CTT web site, as those on the start sheet seem confused. I think I'll take the new turbo trainer to warm up on. I don't know the local roads around there well enough to use for an extended warm up.

I'm back home at 8pm having recorded another new PB for a 10 mile time trial. My PB now stands at 23:27, and I didn't feel that I had very good legs. I'm putting my feet up and just resting now, as my start time is just before 9am for the Warwickshire RC 25 tomorrow.

Sunday 12th July 2009.

I could have done with setting my alarm an hour earlier. I forgot how long it takes to get out to the Evesham area, where the Warwickshire RC event was being held. I didn't get as long a warm-up as I would have liked, nor did I put my embrocation on or go through my PowerBreathe exercise. Just an extra half hour and I would have ticked those boxes. In the end, I ended up 15 seconds off my personal best. It was not a good day, with the wind being in the worst possible direction, blowing down the major uphill section. If I felt capable of pushing it more on the return downhill leg may have seen me beat my PB, but I wanted to hold something back for the final effort into the wind towards the finishing line,

I had to put a splash of petrol in the car on my way back. I couldn't find a filling station on the A44 towards the M5, so I had to put in as small amount I could get home on at a motorway service station. I didn't top up at Sainsbury's as I went to do some shopping, thinking that there was no point having it sat in my tank until I next used the car, but this irrelevant since I would charge it to the credit card anyway.

It's 1 o'clock. I'm back home and I've got my feet up, watching the Tour de France live on Eurosport. I got the hole cut for the air brick yesterday, so I don't have to tackle that today. Hopefully the weather will hold off tomorrow, enabling my to to do the mortar work. I will have to go over the blackcurrent and raspberry canes, picking the ripe fruit and clearing out the spent shoots. The grass needs cutting again, but it will have to wait until tomorrow as the lawn is wet.

Tuesday 14th July 2009.

I completed the mortaring of the air brick yesterday, followed by filling the gap below my front door. There was plenty of motar left over, so I secured some top blocks on my front wall, which had been loose for some time. I'll have to revisit the rest some time soon.

This morning, I did the rounds of the fruit canes and cut out those from which all the fruit had been picked. I gave the the front lawn another trim and did the edges, which made it look that much better. Before a rain shower set in, I began to take down the leylandii at the top of the garden. I have arranged to take out the fence panels between mine and John's at the back, so that I can drop the tree in his direction, removing the risk of crushing anything. The apple tree next to the leylandii will benefit from the removal. I'll advertise the leylandii logs on Walsall_Freeworld (replaces Freecycle).

We abandoned the club time trial this evening, on safety grounds. The rain from the afternoon started again and got heavier. I had started my warm-up just in case we were going to run the event, with most other riders sheltering under the trees in the lay-by. Although I had carbon specific pads for use with my Pro Carbon 50 wheel set, the braking performance was definately reduced, leadind me to apply my brakes gingerly. We had discussed abandoning before I set out on my warm-up ride, saying that we'd wait a few minutes after 7 and see how it went. But the rain didn't ease, so as I pulled up the decision had already been made to scrub for this week.

Thursday 16th July 2009.

I took down the leylandii yesterday. I had already taken off the lower branches the day before, to enable me to get access to the trunk. I had been toying with it in the morning, just putting a few cut in on the reverse side, but I decided just to get stuck in and get it done. John and I popped out the fence panels and I set about the trunk with my axe. Terry from next door to me popped round with a good idea, so he and John pulled on the trunk with a rope to ensure that it fell in the right direction.

Today, I've been digging weeds out of the raised bed that I had used in the last couple of years. When I get this cleared I intend to plant some lettuce and the last couple of large cloves of garlic that I have in my cupboard.

Friday 17th July 2009.

The garden is looking a lot neater now that I've weeded the raised bed and strimmered down the long grass that was surrounding it. I took the mower to the remains of the back lawn, and even gave it an edge trim. I gave the trunk of the leylandii away on Walsall_Freeworld (was Freecycle), and the guy who took it came along with his chainsaw and cut it into managable logs, so that we could stack them in the back of his car. The weather started off dull and damp this morning, so I don't think I'll be doing much in the garden today.

I rounded off last night by chasing out some of the cracks in the plaster of my lounge walls, in preparation for polyfiller. Looking at the time, I decided that my neighbours would not thank me for the hammering at that hour, so I've left that job 'til today. I'll propably get to it this afternoon. I need to fit in the washing up, picking some fruit and a turbo session. I'll have to assess what plastering I'll need to do to finish off the air brick work and repair under the window ledge. I still have to fit a drain valve to the lounge radiator and think about how to set aboutn installing the under floor insulation, for which I've got to lift all the floorboards.

Saturday 18th July 2009.

It is looking dull, and there is quite a bit of a wind. I hope the weather improves in Cheshire for this evening's race. It's bad enough that it's my first 50 of this campaign, but I've not been on a time trial this year when I could say that the conditions were really favourable.

I'll be doing a little light gardening this morning, after I've checked over my Giant TT bike and packed my kit bag. The front lawn could do with another trim, and I really should strimmer down the weeds in the patch between my apple tree and my damson tree. I've counted fourteen damsons on my damson tree, not enough to make a single jar of jam. I may see about repositioning that tree furter into the garden, so as not to be affected by the apple tree in Terry's garden.

Just made a bit of a change to my results page by listing upcoming events. When I get a moment, I'll change the button in the menu to read 'My Events'. When I've learned a bit more JavaScript and better use of cascading style sheets, I'll give that page a bit more of a calender/diary look to it.

11pm. I didn't get home from the race until well past 10. I just grabbed some stuff to bring in from the car, poured a glass of milk and went to get a shower before turning in. I think I'll sleep well tonight. There was a wind on the event, accompanied by two spells of rain, the second of which was on my final lap, heavy and cold. I probably mucked up the pacing, as I had caught my minute man on the first lap, by Booths Hall island which was 10 miles approx. from the start. If the time difference had continued to gro, I would have put five minutes into him. As it was, I put only three minutes into him. I've updated my results page - obviously this will be a new personal best for the distane, since this is my first attempt at 50 miles.

Sunday 19th July 2009.

It doesn't look like I'll be mowing the grass again today. I didn't manage it yesterday, with all the prep work for the race. Today, the rain came down again whilst I was out on a level 1 recovery ride, meaning that the lawn is too wet to have a go at.

This afternoon is going to be spent with my feet up in front of the TV, watching the Tour de France. Today's route heads into Switzerland with an uphill finish, leading to predictions that this stage would be decisive.

Monday 20th July 2009.

It's a rest day on the Tour de France. Alberto Contador has taken the leader's yellow jersey, and Bradley Wiggins is up to third in the overall standings after climbing with the best of them right the way up the final HC climb. Only Contador and Andy Schleck put any time into Wiggins, and Lance Armstrong lost ground.

It may be a rest day for them, but since the sun is out here it looks like I'll be having to mow the grass, finally. That will have to wait until I've put in an early turbo session. I'll have to see if I can fit in another load of laundry to get ahead of the game on that front. The kitchen needs cleaning again, and I need to make progress on chasing out the cracks in the plaster work on the chimney breast above the fireplace.

Tuesday 21st July 2009.

It's a good job I got the lawn mowed yesterday, as it has started out dank and miserable this morning and it looks set to continue that way until well into the afternoon. Luckily the DIY indoors is still on the cards, so I'll be keeping myself well occupied. It's a pity I didn't get to the laundry yesterday, as there will be no chance for today.

Fingers crossed for this evening's time trial. We had to cancel it last week due to the rain, so I've been keeping a beady eye on the weather forcast. More than one forcast has predicted that it will clear up from 4pm onwards, so I'm hopeful that we will get away with it this time.

Wednesday 22nd July 2009.

No luck with yesterday's evening time trial. One minute it would be drizzling, the next it would dry up, then it would absolutely bucket it down. We had no confidence that, even if it did dry up, it would stay dry for the race. It was just too risky.

Today I'm going to put in a long level 2 ride, starting sometime later morning. I've got washing up and shopping to do first, before anything else. I've already put a load of laundy in the machine as I need the kit for this weekend, but with the weather we are having I'll have to dry it inside on the clothes horse.

Thursday 23rd July 2009.

I let the day slip by all too easily yesterday. In the end I spent it just watching the Tour live. It may turn out to be the decisive stage that we've all been waiting for, with five major climbs and resulting in Bradley Wiggins and Lance Armstrong both loosing time to the Schleck brothers and Alberto Contador. Today is the final time trail, which is still to be followed by Mt. Ventoux. Any time that Wiggins makes up on Contador in the time trial will be lost again on the final mountain stage, although I don't think that it is inconceivable that Wiggins could be in yellow tonight - just unlikely.

Level 2 ride this morning, in lieu of yesterday. Just got to check over the Condor, find my better compact pump and fill my bottles. On my way out, I have the entry form for my second '50' to post, even though it is the day before our club 25. I'll either have to recover well or help with the time keeping.

I forgot about the entries in my jersey pocket when I started out on my ride, so I had to post them as I was passing through Hammerwich. The rain came down heavily three times whilst I was out, the second time was only minutes later than me having removed my rain cape after the first spell.

Friday 24th July 2009.

This morning began warm and sunny, with little wind. Pity I'm not doing any road riding today. Today is going to be domestic chores and a short tabata protocol turbo session. It is time to clear the TV stand, move it from in front of the window and break away the loose plaster from under the window ledge.

I bought a pannier rack and a set of Altura panniers at Bridgetown Cycles yesterday. As I was passing on the Condor I decided that it was a good time to take the bike in and try the racks for size. I didn't want to fit the rack then, so I left it with Lynne to bring along to club in a couple of weeks. The idea of the panniers is to make it unnecessary to use the car for up to medium load supermarket runs. I doesn't do the car any good doing such short trips, and I can do with saving on the petrol.

Saturday 25th July 2009.

This morning began like yesterday, warm and sunny. I hope that I can trust the weather forcasts, that it'll remain warm and dry throughout today. The last time I was down the K33 course it was terrible. With starting early on tomorrow's race, I might be lucky with that one as well.

I need to crack on with things today. I need to clean the Giant and lubricate the chain. The last couple of times I had the Giant out was when the heavens opened, so the bike will need checking over at least. I will need to fill up with petrol on the way out, as the needle is in the last quarter.

Sunday 26th July 2009.

It's 7:30, grey and the wind is already picking up. I can see me doing a good time today, given that yesterday was so bad. I got stopped by a van that couldn't proceed on the first island. There was a lot of traffic on the island and there was no room to the left of the van, so I had to come to a full stop. I wouldn't have got anywhere near my PB anyway, the wind was just too strong.

8am. On the motorway, rain coming down, turning around and going home! A good ride wasn't on the cards today anyway. Now I can watch the finish of the Tour de France live on Eurosport.

Monday 27th July 2009.

Spent today working on my cascading style sheet experiments. Click on the 'Experiments' link and you'll see where the site will be heading.

Wednesday 29th July 2009.

I set about the garden yesterday, clearing the weeds and blackberry bushes out of a large bed. I hadn't cleared much of it out by the time the rain set in for the afternoon, but I had amassed a large pile of weeds which will have to be binned before I can make more progress.

The cracks in the lounge plaster were tackled in the afternoon, with polyfiller. I have more to do, with the rawlpulg holes for various speaker positions yet to be filled. The plaster work under the window ledge needs chisseling out, as it is too uneven to be fixed with a simple skim. I carried on with the filling this morning, tackling the window sill, and sanding over the areas filled yesterday.

Checking on my raised bed, I found that both of the cloves of garlic that I planted are sprouting. I'll soon be self sufficient in garlic. The rocket seeds are not showing, but I don't know how long they take to germinate. I might be unlucky with those, as I have had the pack for some time, and there wasn't and expiration date on it.

Went out to B&Q to buy some DIY stuff, returning via Sainsburys. At B&Q I bought four white LED bulbs, a vent cover and some glue to fix the vent cover with. When I got home I discovered that in one of the two bulb boxes one of the white bulbs was blue, and in the other box one of the bulbs was missing. I'm heading straingh back to B&Q just as soon as I've finished a drink.

Checked with Stan about last night's time trial. Again, it didn't take place. That is three times in a row. Bloody weather!

Thursday 23rd July 2009.

I have still more filling to do this morning to put a neat finish around the air brick aperture, so that I will later be able to glue the inner vent cover in place. There is much sanding down to be done, followed by clearing up. My Condor got a liberal coating of filler dust as I sanded a patch on the ceiling down. If I could have found the dust cover that I had bought a while back I would have used it. I'll have to have a better look for the dust cover before I move on to repainting the ceiling.

I doubt that I will get around to doing much in the garden today, expecting it to be too wet again. I'll have to fit in a turbo session to get me back into a training routine, but I'll first have to repair the stand to my fan as it was only a cheap thing and one of the legs has broken off it.

The weather turned out better than I'd expected, but I'd already set about decorating the lounge. Even the polyfiller I thought was dry turned out not to be strong enough to paint over. I have completed emulsioning half the ceiling, an easier task when using my paint stick, which I can load with paint by sucking it into the long handle thus avoiding the need to keep going back to a paint tray. The ceiling already looks much better.

Saturday 1st August 2009.

It's the Heanor Clarion '25' on the Etwall course this afternoon. I've not given myself the best chance in this, having done next to no training in the past week and doing the decorating, which had me kicking up a dust and breathing in paint fumes. But the decorating needs to be done sometime, and now is the only time that is ever available to any of us.

I picked up my new panniers and pannier rack from Lynne at club last night. They will work well for carrying loads on the Condor. I think I've written before about wanting to reduce the number of times I take the car out on short trips. Having said that, I had intended to ride down to Walsall this morning to get my hair cut and do some banking. However, the rain is coming down, and I don't want to be left short on time, so I'll have to go by car and put up with the cost of parking.

Monday 3rd August 2009.

I didn't touch the bike yesterday, despite telling myself that I needed a long level 2 ride. I set about the gardening and decorating instead. I hoed around the front lawn to disrupt any weeds that were appearing, dug over and levelled the bed that I had been working on, and planted the acer sapling that had been sat around for a couple of years. The idea is that by the time it grows to a size that makes it a problem, I'll be able to sell it. The front lawn also got another stiff raking of the bald patches, to break up the compacted surface and remove the moss that was taking up residence.

On the decorating front, I completed the filling of the area around the air brick and under the window ledge. With having enough filler left over, I moved into the kitchen and filled the gaps around the window that were left from when it was last replaced. This would have evicted several spiders, but at least there is no breeze blowing in from the cavity. I had to lift the blinds to get to the window surround, and came to the conclusion that I prefered the view of the garden (even if it is still a mess) without the blind obstructing it. I'll be lifting the blind more often from now on.

This morning I took just a moment to check on the garder before moving on to decorating. I watered the acer sapling, the apple tree and the raised bed with my garlic sprouting, and my rocket still being just potential plants, ie no sign of them yet. I forgot to say that I sowed two rows of carrot seeds yesterday, from an old packet. These may not come to anything again, but you never know.

I was just about finished with the rollering of the ceiling when an old patch of filler pulled away from a plaster board nail, ruining the effect. I will now have to filler this patch, wait for it to dry, sand it and repaint it, before the ceiling can be considered finished. I emulsioned some of the walls as well, as I had some paint left in the paint stick. White shows up many imperfections that would otherwise be missed, so there are several filling jobs that still need to be done. I'll repair the ceiling blemish along side doing these. I must say, the paint stick makes rollering ceilings much easier due to not having to be constantly returning to a paint tray to reload the roller.

Wednesday 5th August 2009.

Brief entry to say that I'm going home for a few days. I'll be riding all the way, via Ashbourne and Buxton. I'm riding there today, having a rest Thursday, and riding back Friday. I'll have to see how I get on with hauling my panniers over the climbs.

We also managed to run the evening 10 mile time trial yesterday, although it did start to rain as we were starting the last riders.

I arrived at my parents' in Bury at just before 4pm, having set off at 8am. I did 7h30 of actual riding, covering 99.3miles, over the High Peaks area of Derbyshire. I thought it would take longer with having the panniers on. It was hard to keep to my level 2 band with the extra weight, at the route was just too tough to not have to raise my heart rate to keep moving in places. I got a recovery drink as soon as I arrived, followed swiftly by getting a shower. I'm not doing any riding tomorrow.

Wednesday 12th August 2009.

It's been a week since I updated my site, so it's high time for a catch-up.

On the Thursday I helped out around my parents' garden, hoeing, weeding and trimming the edges to the lawns. Dad had been forced to make an extra trip down into Bury, to correct an error in a prescription. The pensioners' free bus passes meant that he does these journeys by bus, leaving the car on the drive.

I set off back to Walsall just before 10, heading straight down the A58 and onto the A34 at John Dalton Street. The A34 goes straight through Bloxwich, so it is nearly a door-to-door trip, but the countryside over Ashbourne and Buxton made the detour on the way out more pleasant. The A58/A34 route is shorter aswell - 81 miles compared to 99. I did the trip in less than 5h30, arriving back quite fresh.

I took Saturday as a rest day, which allowed me to get on with some decorating and gardening. It is slow going with the painting of the lounge. I filled the hole in the ceiling where the old filler came off from over the plaster board fixing, and left it to dry. I dug over the cleared bed again to remove the twitch grass that had been missed.

Sunday was a bit of a bust, cycling wise. I packed in the road race, having not lasted even a lap. The rides to Bury and back hadn't really helped, and my weight had shot up. I need to reassess my training seriously.

I paid a visit to the Hollybush garden centre on the way back from the race. I took time to browse around, and bought some seed for things still in season for sowing, and some grass seed to repair the lawn with. I sowed two packets of mustard seed on the cleared bed, to act as a green manure, that it a crop that is grown specifically to gather nutrients to be dug back into the soil.

Monday was another day for painting and planting. I sowed three rows of Japanese onions in the raised bed, which should over-winter and be ready next summer.

Tuesday. Warm and dry. A good day for the club '10' in the evening. I spent the morning painting around the window in the lounge. I had to take down the curtains and nets before cutting in the edges using a brush. The paintstick roller helps get though painting a large area quickly. The lounge looks a lot better, even though this is just the undercoat. There is still much to do.

There was a breaze on the course for the evening timetrial. I took 1 second off my couse PB. Stu Walker won, having come out specifically to beat Matt Nichols. Alan Phillips also PB'd, tieing with me on time, but beating me to the points for the handicap.

Today will be more decorating. I have to clear stuff from a couple of wall areas before I can cut in and roller them. That should be it for the base coat. The next thing to do would be to remove the carpet and sand the woodwork prior to glossing it. I have to buy a new electric sander as the old one packed in.

Thursday 13th August 2009.

It has been a DIY day today. I couldn't fit in the turbo session I had down for this afternoon. I've now ripped out the lounge carpet and gripper rods. I had to move everything around whilst I cut the carpet into strips. The floorboards were in pretty good nick, but I've decided against sanding them as I'd have to do something about the concrete harth.

Friday 14th August 2009.

I forgot to mention all the ironing I got through yesterday, before setting about ripping up the carpet. Having no space to operate in downstairs, I set the ironing board up on the landing. Although the landing is small it didn't matter because I didn't need to get into the two back rooms. I got through all the shirts and t-shirts that had been sat around just waiting for me to get around to it. I still have a duvet and pillow case set to do, but at least I broke the back of it.

The washing up I like to do with really hot water, so a pair of rubber gloves with a leak are a major pain. Not only do they let the heat tranfer to the hand, but the dribble of water into the sleaves when you lift your hands is yukky. My left hand glove had a small hole between the thumb and fore finger, which I fixed with a self-adhesive bicycle tyre repair patch.

I also didn't mention having dumped the armchair on Wednesday. This made getting the carpet up feasible. I'll have to book to have the sitee taken away on Monday, and then I can start to think about ripping up the floor boards to install the under floor insulation that I've had in mind for some time.

As soon as I've finished updating my web page I'll be searching out my training plans and getting on with a threshold turbo session. I've replaced the rubbish legs on my fan with 2x2 wooden studs. I can't see me accidentally crushing those as I stand on them, nor will the fan fall over in use.

Saturday 15th August 2009.

I'm looking forward to the race today. It may not be on the best of courses, but I'm the lightest I've been in the last two years and I PB'd on the club 10 during the week, so I think I'm on some form. Let's see if I can finally do my first sub-hour '25' today.

Fu%%ing wind! There was I dreaming of a sub-hour ride and went in the opposite direction. One of the faster guys said it was like riding in a wind tunnel. I couldn't pace myself in those conditions, so I should be happy to come within 10 minutes of the winner, with a 1:06:23. It looks like I may have finished high up in the handicap standings, but we'll have to wait for the official results.

I succummed to the lure of a Wimpy 'Chicken in a Bun' meal deal with fries, at the Stafford South services. I was falling asleep at the wheel on the way back down the M6, so I needed a break. It was just timely that I ate something, and a fried artery blocker just seemed to reel me in. With the delay I was too late to go swimming, so that was scrubbed, along with the shopping trip. I'm feeling really shattered now, so I doubt that I'll be up for the Stafford '25' on the K7/25. I'll have a Nocte nightime drink on turning in, and see how late I wake up.

Sunday 16th August 2009.

Just a quick update. I have to be up and out quickly if I'm going to make the start for the Stafford '25'. This will be the first time I do a private trial. It will tell me how I've recovered from yesterday.

I did the Stafford event. I was 36" slower than yesterday. This showed good recorvery, but I could have been faster if only I hadn't kept sitting up. I just wasn't comfortable and my legs were heavy. Still with 10' of the winner. I'm putting my feet up for the rest of the day, although I may just fit in polishing off the ironing.

Monday 17th August 2009.

The sitee is sitting out at the gate, awaiting collection to go to the dump. I had to have it out there for 7:30, as it is not known when the bin men will actually collect it. This meant me being up early to manhandle it out past the car. For now, all I have to sit on in the lounge is a choice between the floor or my swiss ball.

I had to go shopping at the supermarket, so, as I had nowhere else that I needed to visit and didn't need to carry too heavy a load, I set the Condor up with its panniers and cycled there. The two pint bottle of milk was the heaviest item, followed by the bottle of orange juice. A pack of chicken fillets was of no weight by comparisson. The entire shopping load was no problem when distrubuted between the two panniers. I was feeling a bit peckish by the time I finished the shopping, so I treated myself to a slice of carrot cake and a capuccino in the supermarket cafe.

By the time I arrived back the council had been and collected the sitee, so now the driveway is clear again. The lounge has that bit more space for me to be able work in. I'll have to get around to ordering the under floor insulation tomorrow. The room is approximately 4m X 4m, with a small area to remove for the chimney and the bay return.

I also cycled out to the club committee meeting, as it was too short a distance to warm the car up in.

Tuesday 18th August 2009.

I shouldn't give in to temptation when it comes to carrot cake on a rest day, as I'm up 0.8Kg over yesterday. That is with a salad for dinner. Two 'Eat Natural' bars wouldn't have helped. I got to bed early but didn't sleep particularly well.

I need to sort out all the piles and files in the lounge before I can think about ordering the underfloor insulation. I've already shifted all the magazines upstairs, along with my CDs and vinyl records. There are a few books and notepads to separate from the rubbish and battery chargers.

I should get a moment or two to dig a few weeds out of the front and back gardens, but I don't want to spend too much energy on this as it is the last of the Walsall Roads evening 10s, and I want to put in another course PB.

Last week, I took one second off my K6/10 course PB. This week I lowered that mark by 45 seconds. I did everything right, from warming up for 30 minutes with intervals up to a point where I was stretched, to remembering to take my gel, applying my embrocation and use my PowerBreathe. I got Alan P in my sights early and didn't let him regain an advantage, like he did last week. Phil B had a late start, due to arriving late because of a puncture.

Wednesday 19th August 2009.

It's a rest day for me today, riding wise. I have to print and put some entries in the post for races in September, and then finish clearing things out of the lounge. As it takes up so much space in the back bedroom, I've decided to collapse the computer workstation shelving. I'll put the standard computer desk in there from the small bedroom, and put my colour printer in there for the time being.

It hasn't rained for a while, so my front lawn is looking decidedly bad following the lawn sand being applied. I'm running low on the stored rainwater, so I don't want to dedicate any to the front lawn when I need it for watering the japanese onions, which have started to show, and the garlic. I could use the water from the butt at the back of the shed, as that is only standing there.

Thursday 20th August 2009.

I forgot it was the day to be putting out the brown bin, so it will be another fortnight before I can get ride of any of the garden waste backlog. It being Thursday also means that the tip will be shut, so I can't get rid of the Yellow Pages and the IBM computer keyboards that I envisaged dumping today. Since I won't be doing that, I'll put off going shopping for another day, and continue with the clear-up instead.

My old work mates from Johnson Controls are having a get-together tonight. Just going out for a drink and something to eat. I won't be drinking too much myself, since it is still within the racing season, but I'll definately be having at least one pint at the Railwayman's Arms at Bridgenorth Station as the beer there is just too good to decline. I'll be having to watch what I eat too.

Friday 21st August 2009.

It was a good night out last night. It was good to see the lads and that life wasn't getting anyone down. John H was still in no shape to join us, but it would be doubtful that he ever would. Out of those of us who were likely to go only Andy S was missing, due to family commitments. I got a lift with Andy P, so I was less restrained in my beer consumption than I'd usually be, and quite rightly given the natural of Bathams on tap at the Railwayman's Arms.

We headed to the Blue Ginger curry house a little after 8:30, and everyone agreed the currys were excellent. My main course was something like Kirahi Chicken Tikka. I'm probably missing a letter or two, but I'm surprised I can even remember that much. I couldn't finish the main course or half the garlic naan. I always regret it if I stuff myself. Andy P dropped me back home just after midnight, having dropped Chris W off along the way. As soon as I got in I grabbed my usual bedtime glass of milk and hit the sack as soon as physically possible.

This morning I was up at 7:30, unable to lie in any more. My head was dull, as should be expected after drinking a pint and two half pints of Bathams, a pint of Bathams shandy, a bottle of Cobra and a pint of Kingfisher. OK, that isn't a lot for those with hollow legs, but that is more than I've since......OK, I don't know when - probably Steve's Roadhouse Xmas open bar four or five years back.

I've moved one of the dinning chairs into the lounge, as the Workmate board is just too uncomfortable even with my sleeping bag and ground mat rolled up on top of it. Having sorted through the piles in the lounge yesterday, I have to find some way of storing the stuff I want to keep in an accessible manner upstairs. There is still plenty of stuff to shift before the lounge is clear enough to proceed with taking up the floor boards.

I've just put my first item up for sale on eBay, a box of 20 Land Rover Freelander rear seatbelt latches. These are the ones that Andy P let me have after the Freelander project finished. I wonder if anyone will want them.

Saturday 22nd August 2009.

The morning has started fine and bright, with just a low breeze. I am hoping for a good ride on the Congleton '50' this afternoon, and intend to cut 9 minutes off my previous best time. If it is as sunny as it is right now, I'll have to take sunblock instead of embrocation. The event is being held on the same course as the other 50 I did, so times should be comparable. There are a couple of difficulties that I'll have to work around; firstly as I'll be travelling when I should be eating I'll have to rearrange lunch time to 11am, secondly, as the HQ is between the course and Holmes Chapel I'll have to make full use of the turbo trainer to get a good warm-up, as there is nowhere suitable off course to get a good warm-up on the road.

I've rearranged things in the lounge so that my cable modem is right next to the cable entrance point. This means that there isn't a stupidly long co-axial cable strung across the lounge floor. I've moved my wireless router too, so now I have plenty of free power sockets on my multi-block.

Wednesday 26th August 2009.

Things are coming apart in more ways than one. It seams that after a hard ride I hit a band of depression. In that mood, I'm just as vulnerable to comfort eating as anyone. My weight has shot up a bit, and I just dont' feel like geting out on the bike. I've just got back to the routine today.

To lift the floor boards in the lounge I've found that I needed to remove the skirting and archiatraves. I bought a set of wrecking bars from B&Q yesterday. It looks like I will have to buy new floor boards, as the original ones are not surviving being lifted. I bought the first packs of Jablite ridgid insulation and should be in a position to install them tomorrow I will have to plaster the base of the walls before I put any new floorboards down, to avoid any staining.

Thursday 27th August 2009.

I pressed on with lifting more floorboards and installing the first of the Jablite insulation. As you can see from the photo, the lounge is a complete bomb site, and will remain that way for some time to come. Having thought again about the order of doing things, I understand that I'll have to lay the floorboards before I plaster the walls or I'll not be able to slip them into position.

It was sunny today, unlike yesterday, so I spent some time in the garden just pulling the odd weed, with a mug of coffee in hand. Most of the day was spent lifting the floorboards and cutting the insulation to shape. By the evening I had enough, so took a shower, shaved and treated myself to a McDonalds rather than bothering to cook.

Saturday 29th August 2009.

I installed a couple more rows of insulation this morning, then proceeded to lift more floorboards. By 6:45 I had lifted all but two boards. I need to buy four more packs of the Jablite Premium insulation blocks. They had none in B&Q when I paid a visit yesterday, only the standard polystyrene packs, so I came away empty handed. Hopefully they will have some tomorrow when I go back. I'll have to fit the roof rack,as I'll be wanting to buy the new floorboards whilst I'm at it. Once I've lifted the last board I want to be on with laying the new boards. I'll use the old board to patch in in the bedrooms and on the landing. There are several re-useable boards.

Sunday 30th August 2009.

I had a nice long lie in this morning. It was 9:30 before I was down to see the clock on the cooker. I did a bit of washing up and had a shave. Before I knew it, it was after 11! I had a coffee and my mid-morning banana before I headed out to browse Homebase, Wickes and the local B&Q. I bought a pack of 'lost head' nails at Wickes, as I want to have a good looking finish on the floorboards when I lay them. Neither Homebase, Wickes nor the local B&Q had the Jablite boards that I was after, so it was down the M6 to the B&Q Warehouse, after briefly stopping for lunch at McDonalds. I had a premium salad, so got a free Coke glass (whoopy).

16 packs of pre-finished French pine floorboards and four packs of 25mm Jablite insulation boards came to £282.44, including £50.04 discount. I had a fun time finding the car in the car park, as I hadn't taken my usual route right up to the entrance with it being so busy due to it being a bank holiday weekend. I thought that it would be easy to spot the car as I had installed the roof rack, but I still had to think though how I parked, remembering that I had reversed into a spot before I worked out that I was in a different aisle to normal. I had to put the insulation on the roof rack as it wouldn't have been up to the task of carrying the mass of the floorboards. It was a squeaze to get all the boards in, but the car handled the weight fine. I didn't notice a lag in the acceleration, nor a deterioration in braking performance. I did however take it a bit more steadily around corners than usual, as I didn't want to find that a pack of timber was able to shift and clout me one on the ear.

It was 3:30 by the time I arrived back home, and I unloaded immediately, not wanting to leave anything on display. I won't get on with any more work today. I'll just think through the prep work and the juggling of objects I'll have to perform to get stuck in with the laying of the first boards tomorrow.

Tuesday 1st September 2009.

September! Just where is the time going?

I got the first three rows of new floorboards laid yesterday. I'll be pushing on with this today, hoping to get half way across the room by early eavening. I thought operations were going to be hampered by my power saw nearly bursting into flames, but most of the cuts I've been doing have been quite easy to do by hand. It's not as if the power saw had seen much service, maybe just a bit of wood dust getting into the contacts. I've just replaced my orbital sander, so I'm loosing a bit of faith with Black & Decker at the moment.

Friday 4th September 2009.

Nearly finished. I have just got four rows of boards to cut and fasten down, and then it'll be on to repairing the plaster work. I really pushed on with the work today; starting from half way across the room, I pulled the speaker cables right across the room, under the insulation, secured those blocks that I wasn't sure about with underlying nails, and laid the boards to the point that you can see in the photo.

I went to the cycle club evening, as is usual on a Friday. The talk is already turning to 'Majorca 2010' Most of the people from the club that are going are going for 9 days, to get the cheaper deal on the flights. I'll phone Chris in the morning and confirm that I'll be going for the 9 days, and that I'll be taking my own bike this time.

Sunday 6th September 2009.

There was no work done on the floor yesterday, and there will most likely be none do today. I was on a 25 mile time trial up in Cheshire yesterday, on the J2/9 course. I have a bit of a hate-hate relationship with this course, always failing to give it my best shot. Any, yesterday I gave it my all and, although I came away with only a 1:06:28, I am quite pleased considering the wind conditions and the two weeks past in which I didn't touch my bikes once.

I am on a 10 mile race this afternoon on the K10/10F, just past the site of the old Ryton Peugeot plant. This is a good, fast course on the right day. I'm not sure that today can be called a good day, but after yesterday, I wouldn't be pleased with anything less than a result in the 24's.

With the flooring, I have a spare pack of boards and of insulation. I would have taken them bake to B&Q yesterday, but I didn't want to unload the car fully. I'll just double check my board requirements and then put everyting that needs to go back to one side. I might as well pick up a new can of PVA adhesive and a bag of multicoat plaster while I'm there, to save me having to go back for a while. I could do with a new plastering float, come to think if it.

Update to events page. 24:43 on Leamington C&AC '10'. I'm happy about my overnight recovery and my performance overall considering my two weeks lay off. I was beaten by John Blower by a few seconds, but that was to be expected from my interrupted training.

Monday 7th September 2009.

I completed the flooring in the lounge this morning with the cutting and laying of the last three rows of planks. I had to put the last nails in through the face of the plank in a position where they will be hidden by the skirting when I install it.

Popping down to B&Q, I returned the spare packs of floorboards and insulation. I bought a new tub of PVA adhesive, some chrome effect light switches and power sockets, shiney door handles and a smoke detector. On my return journey I stopped in at Furniture Village and SCS, to browse new sofas. I was more impressed with the Furniture Village offerings. I swung by the supermarket on the way back home, to do my main weekly shopping run.

Tomorrow, I'll do a lot of brushing up before I get on with anything else. I'd better wait until I've knocked all the loose plaster off from behind where the skirting boards ran. I'll apply a coat of PVA adhesive to prime the surface before I go buy the plaster and skirting.

I bought a fire surround off ebay, which will be the focal point of the room.

Tuesday 15th September 2009.

I've been on a bit of a spending spree recently. It's a toss-up as to who has the greater claim on my credit card; me, eBay or B&Q. Actually it's The Furniture Village, at least it will be when I pay the balance on my new three and two seat sitees in nine weeks time. Of course you don't get 0% finance when you need it, when you're out of work. I should have said that I was self employed, as I am near as dam it!

I've bought a few things off eBay; a fire surround, a couple of small things to fix the car, a job lot of jeans for me to take to a car boot some time, a second hand pair of good Sidi cycling shoes and a new gas double oven. I'm trying to sell a few things as well, but I'm not having as much luck there. People seem to be content to sit back and watch rather than actually bidding. My old Sun Systems Ultra 10 units are advertised under vintage computing, together with all the extension drive units. It will cost me more to post these than I'll get back from the bidding.

Having shelled out so much recently, it is nice to get something for free. I needed a garden shredder to help get through all the prunings that I've amassed. Knowing that I had to curtail my outgoings pretty severly, I decided to put a wanted ad on the Walsall Freeworld Recycling Yahoo group. Luckily for me a lady spotted my notice as she was just about to put an offer notice on for a shredder, so I saved her the trouble. I picked the shedder up this evening. It has a missing nut, but nothing else wrong as far as I can see. I'll be dedicating tomorrow morning to clearing the garden, I think.

Having finished the flooring last week, I set about repairing the plaster work and designing the shelving units. I have the material for the shelves, which will be suspended by edge battens. The front edge of the shelves will be finished with a strip of wood from the left-over floorboards, to tie in. I'm just waiting for the plaster to dry a bit more before I fit the skirting. I have most of the archiatraves cut. I just had to buy some more No More Nails adhesive before I could fit them. The new archiatraves are a bit narrower than the old ones, so I'll have to put down a strip of white emulsion on the walls before I can do the top coat. Another thing coming from B&Q this evening is a marble hearth panel, which will cover over the ugly concrete plinth that is there.

Saturday 26h September 2009.

Busy, busy, busy! The DIY is the lounge is coming along nicely. As can be seen in the photo, I have done the basic construction of the shelves and put them in position. The front trim is on the lower shelf but it needs to be trimmed back with the router, and the trim on the upper shelves has yet to be cut and attached. Following that, the surfaces of the shelves have to be primed and painted. I have most of the skirting cut and installed but I have to install the fire surround before I can cut the last pieces of skirting to size. It looks like I'll be able to take a pack of skirting back to B&Q, as yet again I've been over generous on my estimation of how much I needed.

The shredder that I picked up for free the other week has been doing a grand job of getting through the leylandii branches. I had to tinker with it a bit, including putting an inline plug/socket set in the lead where the conductors had got damaged. I still have to do some more shredding, put that has to wait for me to get to another milestone in the lounge DIY.

It cost me another £150 to get my cooker plumbed in. At least it sits flush with the front of the units this time. The cooker is a Stoves 61 GDO stainless double oven, which has a programable controller rather than just a minute minder alarm. The lights in the ovens are bright, so you can actually see what is cooking. I'm already wondering what I can cook to use both ovens simultaneously. I can see myself putting on weight with all the deserts. I got rid of the old cooker through an advert on Walsall Freeworld Recycling, which is where I picked the shreader up from. That site has proved pretty useful recently.

Finally got out for a real ride on the bike yesterday. I did 22.5 miles in 1h25. Going out again this morning, just as soon as I've made up a bottle of energy drink.

Back from today's ride at about 12:30. I rode up to Birches Valley and twice round the old road race circuit. The second circuit felt better than the first, as I was able to stay within the level 2 zone more easily and yet my pace up Birches Valley itself improved.

Sunday 27th September 2009.

Up early this morning as I want to get on with the day. I going to put 4 hours in on the bike at level 2, to start rebuilding my base endurance over autumn and winter. I can't leave it too late to complete the ride as I have to get some shopping in, just a couple of things for the evening meal, the odd item that I previously forgot and cleaning products so that I can have a good go at cleaning the kitchen.

The wash basket was getting full again, so I've put a synthetics' load on to wash. The rest can wait until I get back. It will be good drying weather today, so I don't expect to have tonnes of stuff draped over drying racks.

It has been a good day today, good weather, good ride and a good lunch. I went out to Ironbridge via Codsall, Bridgenorth and Brosely, stopping for lunch at the Tea Emporium in Ironbridge. I had a large cuppucino cream, which came with a thick topping of whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, a tuna mayo bagette with salad, and a slice of delicious lemon sponge cake. I suffered from cafe legs after the stop, and found it harder to remain within zone on the way back.

I dug out my Delia cook book for doing tea tonight, and prepared roast lamb loin chops with potato, tomato and rosemary. I think there was too much potato and tomato. I would prefered to halve the quantity of these and done some cabbage. It was still very tastey and satisfying when washed down with a glass of my wine.

Monday 28th September 2009.

It's a rest day for me, at least from cycling. I'm going to get stuck in with the DIY again. Things to achieve today, in order, are fix the fire surround, cut and fix all the remaining skirting, return spare skirting if possible, fix trim to front for upper two shelves, and dress off trim on lower shelf. That will keep me occupied.

Sunday 11th October 2009.

I've been very busy today in the role of Race Secretary for Walsall Roads CC. I was attending the Midland region AGM and event date setting meeting, held down Redditch way. I had to despirately contact Phil G, to get his details off him. We got the date we wanted for the open 25 and the 2-up team time trial.

Saturday 24th October 2009.

Going to the dark side. I've just won the bid on a Handsomedog "Arrow" mountain bike frame. Now I have to buy all the components for it. The ideas is that I'll be able to join the rest of the Walsall Roads lads on their off road rides. I've also picked up a pair of good mountain bike shoes off Phil B for free.

The road bike bits buying continues apace with me buying a Zipp 900 disk and 808 front wheel off Mark S for £700. These are like new and would retail new for around £1200. I did a swap of the cassette freebody with someone on the timetrial forum; he had a brand new Campag freebody and wanted Shimano, whilst I had a slightly used Shimano freebody and wanted Campag. I paid a £10 differential and we both ended up very happy. Picture of Giant with Zipps installed and new lower position on aero bars coming soon.

It was last Sunday, the day of the final Walsall Roads hill climb, when I last got out on a ride. I've just been too busy with the decorating. I've emulsioned the walls; 'Egyptian Sand' for the most part, with 'Choc Chip' in the alchoves by the chimney. Ive started on the gloss painting of the skirting and architraves, but had to pause to go out on last night's curry night. I also have to finish the shelves. After that I'll have to consider how I'm going to tackle the covering of the radiator.

I should be going out on a road ride with some of the Walsall lads this morning, but if the rain comes early, they will swap to a mountain bike ride, and I'll have to go out on my own. I seriously need to get my level 2 riding back on target.

8:45pm Entry 2. I didn't make it out to meet the others in the morning as I had wasted too much time on my first web page entry for the day. I got out for a ride by myself about 10. This had negative consequences towards the end of my ride

I was nearly crushed under the wheels of a tractor and trailer combo, coming back down the A34 to Bloxwich. I had only just been talking to friends at Bridgetown Cycles, saying that you get more room given to you when you take more room for yourself. This f@*king bozo obviously was the exception to this rule. Having been riding at my usual 3ft from the curb, I found myself having to make use of this safety margin rather rapidly as this tractor came past me right on my shoulder and proceeded to taper back in towards the curb as it past a side road. I became aware of the trailor next to me as I saw the rear tyre of the tractor rub the curb immediately in front of me. There was no time and no space left for me to do anything other than pull the quickest bunny-hop of my life and clear the curb onto the pavement, together with shouting some loud expleative.

Needless to say, I gave chase and pulled the tractor over. I doubt the skinny young, bispecticled, dark haired lad who was driving could have been left in any doubt with how I was feeling at his lack of driving skills, but I would like to have heard what he thought he was doing (driving safely was definately not it), but he waved his hand, indicating where he was going, and took off down the next turn to Hobble End Farm. I followed, hoping to have that quiet word when he stopped, but he proceeded through the farm yard and out into the fields. I obviously wasn't following there. I suppose I'll have to satisfy myself with a letter to the farmer. I suppose it prudent of him not to get out at the first oppertunity, because I probably sounded like I felt - in punching mood. I doubt that he's ever been shouted at so hard in his entire life. Talking of his entire life, I doubt that he could have the experience nor necessary qualification to pull that trailor on the open road.

To make matters worse, having tailed the tractor down the lane, I picked up a puncture as I made my way home.

Sunday 25th October 2009. Easy day today. A bit of touching up the new paintwork and a lot of reviewing watch items on eBay. Won the bid for these DT Swiss wheels at the last minute. I was looking out for Mavic XC717 rims and Hope hubs to build into wheels myself, but I saw these at what I thought to be a good price and went for them. They are new and unused. I'll probably cut the hubs out of them later, to replace them with Hopes.

I won these shifters and gears at about 7 in the evening, for a price that the shifters alone were going for in another auction.

Tuesday 3rd November 2009.

I've finish painting the lounge and it's looking pretty good. I started a bit of a tidy up yesterday, removing the cardboard that I'd been protecting the floor with whilst painting the shelves, and sweeping up stray bits of packaging. I'll have to continue today, to get everything in the right place.

The mountain bike project has been coming on too, although I've hit a snag with the headset, as I've been given the wrong information about the type of headset needed. The zero stack models recommended do not fit, so they have to be sent back to the suppliers. The grips are going to be a bugger to fit, so I need some Isopropyl alcohol to slide them into place. The hose guides that I bought are not going to work out, as there is nowhere to fix then on this frame. I'm just waiting on the chainset to arrive before I can go out to buy a rim tape, an inner tube, some frame spacers, and a couple of bottle bosses.

Wednesday 4th November 2009.

I've got a lot of parcels to send out today, as a result of me selling stuff on eBay. A single old Campagnolo Record front hub has gone for £22, there was a good battle over a pair of Campag quill pedals, my old Look delta pedals went cheap by comparisson at £5, and my disused Suntour Superbe Pro cranks went for £17. My Holdsworth track bike is going to go for more than £205 today, probably more than I paid for all of it in the 80's. Despite the money coming in, the thing that pleases me the most is that these quality items will be used by people that appreciate them.

I'm also returning some stuff to UK Bike Store and to Wiggle. The headsets that don't fit my mountain bike frame, the cable guides that I can't use, and the duplicate seat clamp all have to go back. I can't afford to be wasting money on stuff that is just going to sit around doing nothing.

Thursday 5th November 2009.

The bun fight over my track bike accelerated towards the end of the auction with five bids being left in the last minute. I thought it was good when the price went over £100, I thought it was silly when it went over £200, and I was totally floored when the selling price arrived at £332.64! Like all my retro stuff sold so far, it is heading south.

Tuesday 10th November 2009.

More parts arrived for my Handsomedog mountain bike this morning. The cassette I got off eBay for half price, new and still in its box. The Shimano compatable cassette tool arrived simultaneously, also bought through eBay. I assembled the cassette onto the hub freebody immediately and set about mounting the chain and tuning out the rubs in my disc brake rotors, a rather methodical and satisfying job. I waited until the afternoon to start routing the Gore Pro cables for the gearing and syncing the transmission. I'm still waiting on the delivery of my headset and brake hose guides. That should see the end of the construction for the Handsomedog.

I sold a few more things on eBay as well, a couple of chain rings, a couple of chainsets, my unused 8-speed Campag Ergo levers, some old down tube levers and the Campagnolo Mirage rear mechanism from my previous turbo trainer bike. By the time I've finished, I'll have paid for my mountain bike with the stuff I've sold.

Saturday 14th November 2009.

Yesterday I tried to chase J.E.James over my headset and hose guide order for the mountain bike. I must have been on the phone for 15 minutes and didn't move up in the caller waiting queue. I tried again this morning, but I left a message this time. I'm not holding my breath for a reply. If I don't get one, or it turns out the parts are out of stock, I'll want to cancel the order. I would have cancelled the order yesterday, but there is no way to interogate your account on their web site. Merlin have been recommended to me, so have Chainreaction. Wiggle do not have the part in stock, and I'm not using Ribble again until they get PayPal in place because I don't trust their credit card security anymore.

Saturday 21st November 2009.

It's been a bit of a domestic day today. I'd been meaning to vac the bedroom for a long time, and the dust had collected into thick mats of fluff. Went right round, moving everything and getting right into the corners.

The weather has been diabolical today, so I spent 40 minutes on the turbo trainer at what I thought to be level 2. I couldn't judge it with the pulse monitor as it was on the fritz, so had to guess my power rating for that level. This was OK because I was using the Flite power trainer rather than my old fan and kilo flywheel rig.

Sunday 22nd November 2009.

Heading out to join the club run at The Turf for 9 this morning. The weather forecast had been dire, but it hasn't shown it's hand as yet.

I had to re-do the puncture repair to the front tyre of the Condor yesterday evening. I'm happy to say that it has stayed up overnight this time. Park Tools self adhesive patches are out, as they are not reliable. I'll have to find out the brand of those that I bought from Bridgetown Cycles as they are far better.

I suffered another puncture when out on the club run today. It was a good run, despite the impending doom of the weather forecast. We got rained on a bit and the wind increased towards the end of the ride, but there was nothing in the order of what had been predicted. My puncture occured just as we got going again after the cafe stop. We couldn't find anything in the tyre carcass, but I figured that it was the base band that had slipped, exposing the edge of a spoke hole eyelet to the innertube. Swapped the tube for the one punctured last week, which I repaired last night.

When I arrived home, I treated myself to a hot bath, as opposed to my usual shower. There is an advantage to taking a bath in that I can drink my recovery drink at the same time, rather than having to wait until I'm dry and changed. This was good because it meant that I could soak for a reasonable time without worrying about the time limit for taking the recovery drink for best advantage.

I was also pleased to find out that I had won the seatpost that I was after on eBay. Although I'd upped my maximum bid this morning, the price hadn't risen from the £12.09 that it stood at last night. I'm looking forward to receiving the seatpost so that I can get the Handsomedog out for a trial trail ride, or a trail trial ride. Either way, I want to take it for it's first off-road excursion soon.

Tuesday 24th November 2009.

Got a three hour ride in today at level 2, at least trying to remain within level 2, but I found it increasingly difficult to stay within the band towards the end of the ride. It was windy any rainy, but I enjoyed myself. I was wearing a new heart rate monitor strap and transmitter, which I bought yesterday. The monitor performed faultlessly, so I hope the same goes for tomorrow when I'll be on the turbo trainer.

My route took me up Fishley but I had to turn towards Great Wyrley because the road from Pelsall up to The Turf had a closure from by the canal up to the A5. I found that School Lane had been gated at both ends, to cut the fly tipping that used to occur over it's length. Now the grass is growing over the road surface, cutting the width to single track. I hope this doesn't disappear under grass entirely as it is a good lane for getting through to the A5 without using the Pelsall- Turf road. Once I reached the A5, I headed east to Muckley Corner, where I turned sharp left to pass through Hammerwich, Farewell and Longdon Green, to Armitage with Handacre. Passing through Rugely, I joined my usual route past Shugborough, up towards Stafford, and back down the A34 through Cannock. I cut off down Pottal Pool Road and through Hatherton, to rejoin the A5 into Bridgetown.

Wednesday 25th November 2009.

The power trainer session went well today. I extended the duration of the session to 45 minutes, holding 240Watts. I felt quite comfortable and could have gone on for longer.

Bought a mountain bike helmet, two bladders to turn my rucsack into a hydration system for offroad riding, and a pair of Sealskinz waterproof winter mountain bike gloves. I should be able to make use of my second-line road kit for trail riding, although I could do with more waterproof longs and jacket.

Thursday 26th November 2009.

The Outland alloy seatpost for my handsomedog XC mountian bike arrived this morning. It wasn't 15 minutes before I had it out of it's packaging and installed in the frame with the WTB titaniunm railed saddle on. I will be making time to give it it's first ride and to adjust my position on it this afternoon. I don't know when I'll be getting it muddy though, as I still have to wait for the off-road clothing and accessories that I've ordered to arrive.