January 29, 2007

Is 2:45am too early?

A strange question you might ask, especially if you are a "normal" sane rational person, who likes at least 8 hours sleep and can't cope with early mornings, whether they be extended nights or genuine wake ups.
Well generally I would class myself as the last person in the world to get up before 7am even with the mobile alarm clock known generally as Oliver.
So when (attempting to devise some sort of training plan to fit round work and family), I foolishly came up with the idea of an hours cycling before work on the days that Caroline doesn't work, I knew it may not be the easiest to implement.
However despite my doubts I have managed to drag myself bleary eyed into the early mornings quite successfully so far.
That is excluding the aberration when I set the alarm for 5:45 and then the elves came along whilst I was asleep and changed my clock by moving it forward three hours!
Hence the polite version of the question posed by Caroline, which I being a half awake bloke responded with, Are you sure that's what time it is? My clock says its 5:45!
The response involved turning the alarm clock off and coughing (or at least I think that's what she said I had to do!)
Never mind eh! Only another 174 get ups and all this training and riding will be over.

Maybe I had better start getting up at 2:45 after all!!!!!

January 24, 2007

Uplifting v White van man

What is it about my bike that has this magnetic attraction, to white vans, that means that they have to pass less than 6 inches away from me and then cut my nose off by pulling in front before they've passed my outstretched pedals?
I know they do it to cars, buses , lorries, they'd even do it to trains if they could but just what can't they see of a 6 foot bloke, on a bike, in a day glow yellow jacket and with more flashing lights than Blackpool in early October.
I know I know its all in a days sport for the poor souls.
Anyway apart from that, what a super training ride over flowing hills, with the wind in my face and still enough energy to sing I was born under a wandering star (Lee Marvin Style- basically cos I started halfway up a bloody big hill and started running out of breath), crowned by the wonderfully uplifting sight of a Barn Owl in the middle of a hunt (Just had to stop and watch!).
Not that White van man would have seen it, unless of course it was there to overtake!

January 18, 2007

Drowned rat syndrome

Don't you just love the English weather, there I was not able to sleep listening to the rain lashing the windows, the wind howling and thinking I need to get up in half an hour to do some training for the Jogle. When it struck me if I got up and got on with it I could spend some time with my boys and Caroline before I set off through the damp to work.
So up I got, donned every bit of waterproof gear I possess and headed out into the dark. I had reached the top of the drive by the time I was a little damp, the mainroad by the time drops of water were dripping off my nose, and full drowned rat syndrome by the time I turned for home after three quarters of an hour.
If you've ever wondered how deep one of those all over the road lakes that appear at this time of the year can be, I can assure you my semi submersible craft (or bike with 12 and a half stone of me upon it) felt to be just about mudguard level when I hit the middle.
Bizarrely (or not if you know me) I had a whale of a time, splashing through the puddles singing singing in the rain. Though luckily the wet footprints from my socks on the dining room and kitchen floors dried quickly, otherwise I think Caroline may have had something to say about it, other than her current level of comment to Oliver that "your Dad's a little bit mad".

January 15, 2007

Opening Gambit

Hi, If you have fallen into this blog by pure fluke or through sheer psychic instinct, Welcome.

Over the next month or so I will be developing the detail, into the blog in order to keep you informed of the hugely historic event which will forever be known as Richards Jogle. So keep coming back and see if you can spot any differences. Racing