Rugby day.

Coaching at Bees this morning, watching England play Italy this afternoon. With the added bonus of Wifey's brilliant Sunday roast with all the trimmings. Pork today.


Bike stuff is all sorted for tomorrow too, weather looks wintery for next week.

Family day today...

We enjoyed a few pints at the Dodford last night, Richard had got a lovely IPA in from a local Brewer Cannon Royall Breweries, which was very gluggable and it could have got messy if we hadn't got the Spawn of Satan in tow to remind us we have to go home after 3 pints! In all fairness he wasn't too bad for him though.


I sorted my commuter and cycling kit out yesterday (Saddle repaired) as well as checked my Rifle Cabinet and Ammunition safe was ready for the Police's inspection visit on Monday. I got quite a bit done which was nice. I do dislike doing admin at the weekend.


Today is about spending "quality" time together, a morning out at for a bimble down the canal at Stoke Prior near Bromsgrove with Wifey, the hounds and the kids, chuck Dan over the swing park, knacker him out and be back in time for tea and medals.


Then hopefully, I can watch France v Ireland in the 6 Nations.


Planned route me and my mate are doing to my Mom and Dad's in the summer.

Moving in the right direction...

A 2Ib weight loss this week which is nice, and again has shown I musn't get pissed off when nothing happens even when I do high (for me) mileage, I mean a 106 mile week a few weeks ago and not an ounce lost and only 54 miles this week and 2Ibs lost. I'm sure there are experts out there who can explain it. If so, let me know. I do need to know stuff like that.

Reading a few other blogs has also shown that I wasn't alone in getting a bit down. It seems the malady has been Nationwide, maybe it's the Winter, maybe it's the sheer grind of what we're doing but whatever the reason it yet again proves that this is more of a psychological battle than a physical one. It seems most people's Demons have been pretty active lately. I know mine have. But they're back in their box for now anyway. It might also be prudent at this point to thank everyone who has and who do show their support. I describe this fat bikers blogging thing as a community, and it bloody well is. So ta very much you lot!

I'll be sorting commuter out this evening after a swift visit to my local for my Friday pint with the family. We stay as long as the Spawn of Satan is behaving himself and the minute he kicks off we go. It's a personal thing, but I have an aversion to families who stay in a pub/restaraunt with mis-behaving kids. Everyone works hard these days and are entitled to a bit of peace and quiet in their down time so we will not inflict him on others when he's grown his horns. He starts, we go. Simple.

I had a bit of a morale booster yesterday too, one of my old Sub Contractor's popped by to say hello, I hadn't seen him since about August last year, he wandered into my office, his jaw dropped and said "What the f*** has happened to you?!" I told him I'd got aids...

What else can possibly happen?

So I don't have to go to Bracknell! Phew...

I fixed the bike last night, flat front repaired, and the gears things was a stick in the derailleur which cacked the indexing. Both sorted in record time thankfully.

Which meant I could pedal in today! Bonus!

The whole pedal went pretty well, through the City Centre because we had a bit of snow last night and I didn't want to risk the cut being icy. As you know I pedal in at stupid O'Clock which means minimal tin boxes trying to kill me. I got to work, got off the bike and the saddle got off with me, both rails snapped! I mean, come on! I've lost 3 and a bit stones, how tough does a saddle have to be? It now means I've had to get one of my engineers to give me and my bike a lift home when he comes in at 0800hrs.

What next?

Just playthings for the Gods are we!

I had a great pedal home last night, I took the long way down the cut, off at Kings Norton and did NCR5 back home for 16 miles. I was feeling good, the sun was out and everything was right with the world.

This morning I was up at the crack of Sparrow fart as usual (0515hrs) and did my usual ablute, got all kitted up and rolled my bike out of the garage...Or tried to. A flat front tyre! Just as I was about to get round to fixing it I noticed that my drivetrain and gears were all clunky and not rotating correctly. How can a bike be working perfectly when you put it away and be all buggered when you come to it the next day? I hadn't got the time to muck about, especially in the dark so Bike away, root around for everyday clobber to wear (tricky as I couldn't turn any lights on to avoid waking the family) then into the car and arrive here at work.

To top it all off it looks like the Spawn of Satan (my 2 year old son Dan) is coming down with a nasty cold. This is bad for 2 obvious reasons. He's even more Diablic when he's ill and he'll probably give it to everyone else, including me with all of the implications for pedalling!

Tonight will be fixing (hopefully) my bike and tomorrow is a work meeting in Bracknell, so no pedal then either.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

A tail wind?

Was it the rest or was it a tail wind? I absolutely flew home last night, I went the along the cut and did the whole journey in 51 minutes, considering that it is normally an hour or slightly less then that was remarkable. I really did feel pretty strong and seemed to be pedalling in every part of the journey in a higher gear. I did catch every traffic light on green for the first time ever though. Maybe it is a combination of everything.

That leads to a question, why should I be making a big deal about time? I'm not cycle training per se, although I love cycling, I'm cycling to lose weight. I have no intention of doing cycle training for competitions. I don't do races, never have never will. I have my Rugby to stir my competitive juices. So why the obsession with time?

This morning was a bit of a slow burn (Tuesday), I was up half an hour later than usual, but I was in bed late at 2330hrs due to a Rugby meeting I had to attend in Solihull last night. I am on record at the club as saying I hate meetings, but this one as meetings go wasn't too bad. I only got to the sticking needles in my eyes stage once.

So, out of the house at 0550hrs and chance the cut in the dark, bad move, my front light batteries started to go so I had dim light all the way along which by necessity slowed me up a bit. I arrived at work with absolutely no ill effects and not even sweating. Which is good news for my colleagues.

Wet and windy.

That was a great re-introduction to commuting, a stiff head wind and raining. At least it wasn't snowing. But, I got here to work via the City Centre route with no Jobys to report. Albeit with an annoying creak in my stem/handlebar area.

Maybe you have (or haven't) noticed the addition to my Blog title, the "Don't ever stop" phrase in the brackets. This is a reminder to me that this battle is for the long haul, probably a lifetime one and I'd better get used to the fact. Last week I was feeling pretty cack, but could I have pedalled? Yes I probably could have. The bimble round the hills with Rafe was proof of that. The real issue I'm sure was a psychological one not a physical one. I still feel pretty lousy truth be told and my back is still giving me gip, but I pedalled in and it proves that my inner wimp Demon won the battle last week.

I've been looking back over my logs and I've noticed a pattern, usually after about 2 months there is an issue of some description that stops me pedalling, maybe I need to dial in a week off every 2 months to provide a natural R&R period? If I deliberately don't pedal instead of coming up with reasons not to then maybe my morale might not be so damaged? Interesting one that. April the 5th is my next break then, maybe.