June 2012
1 post
May 2012
4 posts
April 2012
15 posts
C'est fini! Peoples Grand Tour day 23
It wasn’t entirely surprising that the sun was up and shining brightly when I awoke this morning, in fact given that I was very tired when I crawled into bed at 1am waking up at 7 was still comparatively early. We’d had a fabulous Saturday, though long and tiring, in London. A guided trip down the Thames started things off nicely. One of the great regional British cliches is that...
Dawnbuster - People's Grand Tour day 22
In sharp contrast to yesterday morning, today began with reveille at 0515hrs. I say reveille but in actual fact I was gently awoken by “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, probably the most perfect alarm ringtone ever. For those unfamiliar with Pink Floyd’s work “Shine On” starts quietly and gently and takes several minutes to get to full volume. As such it gently and...
Where's Fred on P.O.E.T.S Day? - PGT day 21
Late start this morning. Trying to get three teenage girls up and out for a set time as early as 10am is a ridiculously painstaking affair, and my own plan to leave home by 8.30 was holed way below the waterline from the moment I woke them up at 8. In the end they left 5 minutes before me, and with Friday being P.O.E.T.S* day in the building trade I almost met myself leaving work whilst still...
A Pulled Tooth and Pouring Rain - PGT day 20
When you roll out of bed thinking about how soon you will be able to get back in it’s not usually a good sign. Whether my tiredness had made me more emotional I’m not sure, but about 90 minutes after surfacing from the Slumberland, I was shedding a tear or two at a gritty, warts and all, American Cop show, The Wire. My interest in this programme had been piqued months ago by it...
Day Tripper - People's Grand Tour day 19
Early start (and an early blog post), familiar route and a short ride today - well, a 1 hour ride to stay within my “minimum PGT ride threshold” - because we’re having a day out in Aberdovey and introducing our French guest Amelie to the British seaside. So the car boot is loaded up with food and “toys” (balls, bats, buckets and crab lines), and by 8.30am we’re...
A Dinosaur With Integrity - People's Grand Tour...
We probably looked quite the odd couple this morning, Finn and me, him in camo combat shorts and hoody on a BMX and me in winter lycra and waterproof on my road bike. I often wonder whether people assume we’re off to do a few miles of riding together in those differing kit set ups and think how hard Finn is or what a wuss I am. The mundane truth is that Finn was off to his friend’s...
Apocalypse Averted - People's Grand Tour day 17
It was certainly a wet ride today, but the rain never quite reached the Biblical levels we expected based on Met Office predictions - I was certainly pleased not to have panicked last night and built an Ark. So uninspiring weather spawned an equally uninspiring route choice - yesterday in reverse (the easier way). In spite of the steady drizzle I quite enjoyed the grind from Bobbington to Tuck...
Staccato Cycling and Princes of the Realm - PGT...
With Amelie, our French visitor, safely arrived, and Paula due to go out briefly at 8.45am, an early start for an hour of riding was a necessity today (the afternoon will be written off for anything other than watching Paris Roubaix of course). The chosen route was broadly the one that I rode last Sunday, although mercifully without broken motorcycles scattered all over the road at Six Ashes....
Rainy Day Spinnin' #12 & 35 - PGT day 15
The Permadrizzle that had been in evidence since I first opened the curtains at 6am turned out not to be so perma after all. Within a few minutes of setting off the air was dry, even if the roads remained wet, but my “joy” at that situation was abruptly cut short when I realised that I’d forgotten to put my Lezyne frame pump back onto the bike. Mercifully I appear to be in the...
Sedgley Bonk and Club Day at Fred's - PGT day 14
Who cares about the cold when it’s beautifully sunny and a bank holiday to boot? Friday is “Club Day” at Fred’s when team members who can make it turn up at the shop, make coffee and hinder the staff’s efforts at making a living. Obviously this is never a full turn out as most of the team have proper jobs, so we’re talking about shift and flexible workers as...
Floppy thermometers - People's Grand Tour day 13
It was still jolly cold on the morning of Thursday 5th April 2012, but at least the wind abated considerably overnight leaving cold air, grey skies and damp, twig lined roads. Although my temperature gauge showed that it was only about 2° at 8am, it didn’t really feel THAT cold, not like on a crisp, sharp morning in January. When I notice this clash between the temperature reading and the...
Sprung Spring recoiled - People's Grand Tour day...
Gales and snow in the Midlands today prove that although Spring sprung last week, it didn’t really establish itself. Still, at least I get an opportunity to catch up on some of the winter riding I missed whilst convalescing. I was also awaiting a call to notify me that I could go to a customer’s office and collect an outstanding cheque this morning which, combined with the challenging...
Beyond Halfway - People's Grand Tour day 11
Another shorter ride day marked passing the halfway point of The People’s Grand Tour 2012. Quite simply an out and back on my 14.7km medium commute, although I added in an extra little bit (the climb of New Road) on the return. As far as I can recall today is also the first day of the PGT this year that I’ve had to use my Pinarello Angliru, now my wet weather bike equipped as it is...
Reamed and Ready For Pulling - People's Grand Tour...
This morning I opted for my 14km commute route. As ever on the first day of the childrens’ school holidays I was late leaving. Even though I know it’s coming the disruption to our normal routine always comes as a little shock to the system and usually I find my self unprepared for it, today being no exception. Of course once you’re behind schedule fate conspires to keep you...
Two Wheeled Vulnerability - PGT Day 9
Today was always going to be a short ride. With Paula at work and Finn at a sleepover I didn’t want to leave Romie at home alone for too long as she was suffering with a heavy cold and needed mollycoddling. Furthermore I’ve had to start taking amoxycillin because the gum below the tooth that I’m having root filled has become infected and swollen up. I blame those antibiotics for...
March 2012
9 posts
Run to the hills - PGT day 8
By the start of their second week the Grand Tours have usually found their way to the mountains, or at least to larger hills by way of a transition into the really high passes. We’re not blessed with anything that could be considered even half a mountain in the West Midlands, but that’s not to say that we are without hills and testing climbs. So for today’s 8th stage of The...
Feeling Grumpy (Bad sleep, bad mood, bad day) -...
One week of the People’s Grand Tour is now complete. The legs felt good again today, but a really awful sleep overnight meant that I was in an unusually bad mood, the sort of grump that I rarely experience or inflict - for we do inevitably inflict our downers as much as suffer them. A visit to team HQ (yes, Fred’s again) at lunchtime brightened my mood, but the fug remained either side...
Feeling Groovy - People's Grand Tour day 6
Prior to starting the 2011 edition of The People’s Grand Tour my main concern related to how well my legs would recover from daily cycling over an entire calendar month. As it transpired I need not have worried because they were fine, they didn’t necessarily recover but they certainly did adapt and after the first three or four days were performing well and not aching at the start of...
Thrills and Drills - PGT day 5
The highlight of stage 5 of The People’s Grand Tour was undoubtedly the visit to my dentist for the second phase of a root filling (the Americanism “root canal surgery” makes it sound a much more dramatic and dangerous process than it really is) replacing an earlier root filling that I had done back in 1987 and which had become infected. I’m probably a bit unusual in that I...
Traversing the Wolverhampton Poseur Belt - PGT day...
My stage 4 was always destined to be a short one, the morning being wholly swallowed up by travelling to and from an appointment with a customer in a village school in Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire. I was reminded again what a beautiful and underrated cycling area Warwickshire is with miles and miles of quiet, undulating lanes overlooking rolling farmland and tidy homesteads, all fringed by...
1 tag
Welcome To The Working Week - PGT day 3
Split stages are rarities in modern day Grand Tours. However, as most People’s Grand Tourists also have “proper” jobs their inclusion into this GT are a necessity, many of us weaving functionality into our daily rides to make them easier to accommodate into our normal schedules and routines. So stage 3a may be a ride to work, stage 3b the ride back home. Today I am introducing...
The Boscobel Loop - People's Grand Tour day 2
Yet more perfect cycling weather greeted day 2 of The People’s Grand Tour - the sun providing ample warmth to stand still in, the air carrying just enough chill to cool the moving cyclist. There was no umming and ahhing about a route plan this morning, I’d already decided to do my favourite 2 hour circular ride, known in my house as The Boscobel Loop. Boscobel House is famously the...
4 tags
The People's Grand Tour - day 1
Ride every day for a calendar month? For a self employed family man that’s as much a logistical challenge as a physical one, but something about Lionel Birnie’s People’s Grand Tour announcement last March drew me to the concept of just such a challenge. Setting myself a target of riding for no less than an hour for 30 days straight (rest days to be avoided if at all possible),...
WatchMy local bike shop/ cycle club HQ as never seen before.
