Most agreeable

Tail wind all the way home last night, very quick and a rather enjoyable commute, manky weather, 3 people tried to take me out but I still got home with a big grin on my face. Must be the wind assist, few and far between so gotta appreciate them when they do happen.

1. Car in the middle lane (of 3) stuck in traffic, passenger decided to open the door to get out as I was passing, close.
2. Leaving kearsley roundabout I take the next right so I keep to the right on the wide exit slip, car undertakes me then cuts me up cos he's going right too.
3. Approaching a pinch point (pedestrian island) lady in a car going slightly faster than me, started to overtake realised she wasn't going to pass me before the pinch so just drifted left into me. I calmly tapped on her window and made a few comments.

2010 round up

2010 was supposed to be a big mileage year so lets see how I did.
180 rides 4786 miles
XC
2462 in 91 rides
Road
2324 in 89 rides
Average was 27 offroad 26 on (better than last year), mode was unsurprisingly the 25mile commute, one century (finally! and it was xc too!), four half centuries and twenty rides 30-50miles. 1 broken bike(boo), not a whole lot of punctures (yay) no bad riding injuries but a whole heap of bugs/viruses.
How did I do with my aims?
3000 xc miles, nope too many bouts of illness but I did manage more xc than road which makes a change.
Coast to coast, erm no.
SSEC yes and very good it was too!
STW weekender, nope.
Keilder 100, well it wasn't looking too good for a while but I managed it, pity it destroyed my knees. Quite chuffed with managing the course.
Get Charlie walking, don't think I can take much credit for this but yes, done.
Snowboarding holiday, no chance and not next winter either I'd guess.

So a bit of a mixed bag, some big mileage rides and slightly longer average rides but not enough of them.

So lets get ready for 2011 then :-)

Fallout Boy

I'm a bit of an obsessive, tend to do things to death, riding bikes, drinking beer, various other pursuits also spring to mind, a huuuge time sink of mine is computer games as once the initial outlay is over with you don't run out of money (as with drinking) and as you are sat on your arse the whole time you don't run out of energy. If I get a new game you can guarantee I'll be up till midnight playing it, a good game it'll be the early hours, a great game...well I've looked up from the monitor to see daylight on a few occasions. Over christmas and new year the mrs has been ill so we've been indoors most of it, this coincided with me obtaining fallout new vegas, so anytime both her and the baby were asleep (frequently) I was on the PC. In nearly 2 weeks I think I've only made it to bed before 2am twice. Cracking game, thoroughly recommended if you have huge swathes of freetime (or don't care about sleep deprivation) First of the series I've played but will be looking into FO3 I think, maybe not bother with the earlier ones tho.

When not roaming the mojave virtually we visited family with the accompanied lots of eating and (only a little actually) drinking but after a week of that I was feeling a little off colour. I finally got off my arse on the 30th, mrs was still ill and the trails were looking icy so nipped out for a quick run jog instead of a ride. Only out for 75mins or so and no big hills but came back with my left leg/hip aching liked I'd pulled something, cold bath, food & painkillers then a nice hot bath later, I felt fantastic. Running, one of the most painful/tedious/annoying forms of excercise and it had transformed me, why don't more people excercise when it makes you feel like this? Was having trouble walking 2 days later when all my leg muscles seized up but I felt fine otherwise, no sign of any pulled muscles. Should do more runs when I'm short on time.

Drifty

Wow that was hard work, rode in offroad this morning and it hurt! Riding on the flat was like an exercise bike on very hard resistance. Some places were well tamped down by weekend walkers, others not so, following the tracks laid by a quad bike at forest bank was OK until front tyre touched the powdery snow at the edges and pulled over started a big front wheel drift. On a short road section I picked up speed and frost formed on all leading edges of me and the bike, including my discs, as I found out when I tried to brake! Properly tired now, going home will be a grind.

Had plans for the weekend which all changed due to the snow, took wife's little matiz out saturday morning, quite tail happy on sharp corners, back end skipping out frequently - all slow speed on big open quiet roads so amusing rather than terrifying. Later doing the shopping in my car it was the other way round, understeer, turn the wheel and nowt happened, eek. Still manged to bimble around without any fuss, no spinning tyres, getting stuck or near misses, I'm a pretty lame driver so if I managed ok I dunno why there were so many numptys revving the nuts off their engines going nowhere and/or getting stuck. So glad I didn't have to drive any distance tho.

A very mixed ride

Near death experiences, ephemeral christmas trees, gay cruising and some very slippery stuff. It was the official (ie formal/boring) christmas do yesterday afternoon, there are 2 more to go so I abstained from drinking so I could get out for probably the last night ride before christmas. My mrs thought my "priorities were all f***ked up" apparently I should have been out getting pissed like any normal person. Ho hum. Johnnie bailed at the last minute, ill health again and no doubt moving issues. I was going to head over to darwen and back via jumbles but as I got onto winter hill I decided I hadn't done 2 lads/wildes for a while so I went down there. 2 lads was properly slippy not quite lethal but definitely a handful, in a good way. Halfway down wildes just as I got to the cobbled section I was thinking this was the first quick run I'd done in ages, got to the lefthand bend before the sharp right and suddenly I was on a wide section of compacted snow/ice shhhiiiiiiii... straighten up, off the brakes, unclip one foot, just head straight on (towards the wall at the far side) and think smooth thoughts. Made it across, phew, sharp turn before I hit the wall and thank my minion ST for not dumping me on my arse. Lucky escape, sticky tyres have been ace during all this snow/ice.

Up school climb and the pike, very slippery coming down from the pike. As I was eating my mince pie riding up winter hill access road I looked up, the mast was wreathed in cloud, the red lights up the mast shining out created a christmas tree effect, like so

very festive (awesome artwork eh?). San marino was fun, legs aching by the bottom, this really is a very stiff frame but I said that about the kinesis at first too and I did manage a 40 miler at weekend without irreparably damaging my undercarriage so can't be that bad. I headed over to the jumbles via bj alley where I saw at least 2 different guys (presumably) drive all the way along, get to the end and turn back, wonder what they were upto... I ripped along the roller coaster then down www (where I saw a barn owl - cool!) to turton tower and home. Very very tired today.

Bipolar

Nowt much to report last week, rode in xc on tuesday and it was like a bloody ice rink, went home onroad where I noticed the front brake was rubbish, leaky caliper had pissed oil all over the pads. Whether this is due to cold weather ruining the seals or my latest hamfisted maintenance i dunno, either way caliper is screwed. Threw a hope mini on saturday night and finally went for a proper ride sunday. Almost all the snow has gone and it was milder weather so I could tone down the sub zero clothing but still cold enough for hard packed trails. That was the plan anyway, mixed results tho, I was pretty warm even overheating slightly but my feet were still cold (crap circulation I guess) the ground would be arctic winter frozen solid one minute then I'd sink into a mild miserable winter boggy section. Great to be out tho, went up winterhill then over to darwen, had issues getting me and the bike over the 8' dry stone wall at belmont res! Re-rode a load of different trails I've been shown by various people but never been back to. On my own so the pace was reasonably high, whilst climbing out of darwen I noticed the sun was very low, oops. I'd come out at 11:30 to do a 4-6hour ride, bearing in mind I leave work at 4 everyday and it's pitch black, I came out without lights, I can't believe I didn't see a problem with that plan! Idiot. Quickened the pace even more, up duckclough didn't quite manage the climb, a lungbuster at earnsdale res (where I may have seen julbags and friends) and then up wheelton for a hat trick of nasty climbs within an hour. Down to white coppice and along anglezark then fast as I could home. Legs were toast when I got back, walking downstairs was proper painful. This is just a taster tho, next years plan is to get quick, this years aim was distance, next year its speed, hopefully do a few brownbacks races.

Fading fast

Ride home was a little easier last night but still took me ages to get back. Going through the woods the snow was light on the ground and looked grey, like ash, with the bare tree's and gloom it looked very blast site/post apocalyptic. First time I've ridden without a headtorch for a while too, really increases the night ride tunnel effect, look to the side nothing but dark, can only see where your bars are pointing. Got home after the time I normally leave to go nightriding, text Johnnie and he was in a similar position, cancelled again, sensible choice. Not so sensible was riding in this morning, I died on my arse, halfway in my legs were weak, stomach feeling off again and dizzy, hmm. The ride home is looking fun it's proper heavy snow. Oh and I've just seen a guy walk passed our building with a pair of skis over his shoulder!