Aspiring - "desiring or striving for recognition or advancement"

Rouleur - "type of racing cyclist that is considered a good all rounder"



Friday 27 January 2012

I'm rubbish.

No really I am. I’m full of excuses too.

All my best laid plans haven’t really taken off! Christmas bivvy was cancelled (wimped out and went for a ride around Ladybower). To be fair I kind of didn’t see the point in sitting out in the cold and dark from 4.30pm just for the sake of doing it. I’m itching to get out but will wait until March when I can coax some friends out to join me.

Afan didn’t happen this month either, just haven’t had the time to get away for a whole weekend. I am doing an Audax on Sunday though so it’s not as if I’m not riding! 65 miles at this time of year should be a nice test of fitness. I’m still feeling relatively strong although the pounds have crept on over Christmas.

The turbo trainer has been promoted from the garage to the dining room and occasionally gets glanced at. I’ve managed three sessions on it this week and I can see that picking up with time.

Purchases? The last couple couple of weeks have seen a few new additions. Firstly, I’ve revolutionised my whole shaving experience by switching to a DE safety razor which is a nice retro twin sided bladed approach to shaving. I started with a cheap Boots job but have since bought a Merkur 34c. I’m pretty impressed and have tweeted a few times about it. Shaving’s actually become more enjoyable and a lot closer. I feel more manly too. GGGRRRRRR.

Another blade in my household is a Mora knife which should see some outdoors action as the year goes on. I’ve also picked up an MSR Pocket Rocket because my meths stove leaked in my bag and I’ve just found it too messy to work with. I’ll take the weight penalty for the ease of use. I think that because of the convenience of gas the MSR will see more action.

Second Yoga lesson this week and I’m still enjoying it. I think Matt took it easy on our first session because this week I really ache. I’ll report back in due course as it’s still early days but I think it will have great benefits to my core strength.

Thursday 19 January 2012

And breathe...

Every winter it's a struggle to out on the bike but in the last couple of weeks I've been a bit more motivated to invest in my cycling.
Unfortunately the weather has been pretty awful on my days off so I've not put in as many miles as I would like but I'm feeling optimistic about riding. No huge plans for any major events but I do have a few ideas.
I can't say that the cycle show in London last week was particularly exciting. All much of the same really so I won't bore you on the details. I'm just glad that I blagged a free ticket rather than paying for one!
The main reason for my positivity is that I had my first Yoga session last night and it's stimulated me to think more about my breathing and posture. It's early days but I'll give a more detailed post in the next few weeks.
Happy new year everybody.