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Wednesday for most people marks the half way point of the working week, it has been a bit of an up hill slog for me to this point of the week, lets hope the second half of the week is a downhill roll. I should be feeling happy what with the sunny spring like weather and the wife now back working but I just don’t seem to be able to motivate myself. This morning I was up early for my drive to the Cotswold, left home at 5:45 and it was misty but light, not quite what you would call day light but light none the less. The drive up was pretty much stress free, wished I had my camera and could have stopped on the M27 to photograph the orange sun rising in the east. The drive back home this afternoon was OK until J1 of the M27 where there was an accident, at least according to the radio there had been, by the time I spent 30 minutes queuing there was only the grit on the road (they use to soak up oil) to indicate there had been an accident. Then it was just nose to tail till I got home which took nearly an hour for a journey I can normally do in 20 minutes.

Yesterday I had a drive to Northampton and had the joy of idiot drivers on the way up to our branch up there which delayed me by 30 minutes. Anybody that does a lot of driving will know the sort of thing I mean, slow drivers in both lanes of the dual carriageway, accidents tail backs, idiots who believe they are the only car on the road so they own the road and can do what they like (yes he was a young Audi driver), catching a pair of juggernauts overtaking each other. OK I know it is not the lorry drivers fault they are governed to 56mph but when it takes nearly 2 miles for one to pass the other you can’t help getting a little frustrated especially when I got stuck behind 4 separate overtaking incidences like this.

I enjoy driving but the past two days make me wonder why I continue to drive 32000 miles a year, maybe I am getting old (that was not an invitation to pass comment!) but some how I don’t think I would enjoy a job where I am tied to a desk 9 to 5, 5 days a week, I like my freedom……..

OK here something different, do you like decent music mixes? check out the appozone. He is a music lover that love remixing tunes. If you look around his web site you may well find some downloads (note they are not small downloads some are 100mb’s is size). As well as music, he loved kite flying which is where I met him, a genuine 100% guys

Appo (on the left) enjoying his two passions, music and a kite festival

The above picture was taken in 2007 at a kite festival in Essex, unfortunately there was no wind but the music was good!

As for Mondays night weigh-in, I am trying to forget it………………..

When I get stressed I eat and this past 5 days I have been eating the wrong foods (as far as a diet goes), bars of chocolate, sweets, really not looking forward to Monday night. Just have to try and behave (if only it was that easy) between now and Monday to soften the blow.

I went out for a ride this morning, went out and tried the new cycle trail at Moors Valley Country Park (you won’t find it listed on their web site yet or publicity sheets yet). According to the blurb on one of the boards displaying the forest maps it is a Blue level route of 4.5 miles, so it is not a taxing ride. I went round with my 10 year old son, so my first loop round was a slow one. In all it took us about an hours (I think the board said between an 1hr 15min to 1hr 30min) which allowed for several stops for drinks. There are no real hills as such just a couple of slopes that youngster may struggle with. The trail is made up by 95% narrow hard core compacted path, there are a couple of wide wooded board areas (north shore type) over boggy areas and a couple of section of riding along fire roads to join paths together, longest was about 60mtrs. Having returned him to mum in one piece, I left him quite happily telling mum she would like it and I set off to do the loop again but this time a little bit faster.

Now this is not quite as simple as it sound, because while the route is relatively flat they have built in some awkward little 90 degree corners (there no big berm areas like the bigger trail centres), riding between two trees just over handle bar width apart. Riding slowly behind my 10 year old son these are not a problem, but try them at speed it is another ball game. Then there are the small boulders that mark the path edge, while only small they are big enough to bash your pedal into them or clip your front wheel on one and throw you off the path in both cases (fortunately I avoided both) so it not as easy as it seems.

Unfortunately the path is already being used by dog walkers (plenty of evidence along the trail), walkers and runners so riding at speed had to be tempered with care. But all in all an enjoyable ride. I thought about doing a bit more riding but (with the doctors words from Tuesday still ringing in my ears) I decided to head for homes although I still intend to ride again tomorrow morning.

This afternoon I remembered why I hate going into town on a Saturday afternoon, the town centre is full of idiots, young one, old one and dumb arse one that just stop right in front of you. Thankfully I only had to go to one shop and then I could get the hell out of there. On the drive home we nearly had a run in with a BRAS (Boy Racer Arrogant Sod) driving an Audi (Audi is the new BMW don’t you know). BRAS and Audi driver seem to think that giving way on a roundabout to traffic approaching from their right is below them so just pull out in front of you expecting you to brake and avoid them, one day I won’t.

Well I am off to make some more home made soup, at least it is diet friendly……………

I think building an ark would be a wise precaution based on the weather we have had in the past few days. The weather made it more difficult to decide where to have our family day out, the forecast was rain so it was going to need to be indoors, in the end we decided on Trago Mill just outside Newton Abbott in Devon. To anybody that does not know Trago Mills they are a very large store, that sales everything from, food, engine oil, cloths, carpets, furniture, plants, paint, musical instruments the list goes on in one very large store, plus there are many smaller shops on the site and they have there own leisure park set in 100 acres of land.

I have done the drive down that way several times to one of the companies site just outside Plymouth and it takes me about two and half hours, so leaving at 9am I had expected to arrive about 11-ish, it soon became apparent that the caravanner’s of the UK were going to put an end to that idea. With rain falling from the start and progressively getting worse as we headed west, our lovely winding “A” road do not lend themselves to overtaking caravans, so we joined the que behind each caravan till the opportunity to pass presented itself. I had hoped thing would improve from Honiton where we picked up the A30 dual carriageway, but the rain got heavier and the traffic got slower.

By now I was fighting a battle in the car to keep the windscreen clear from fogging up, the only way was to run with the air conditioning on but I was getting to cold, so we opted for switching it on and off to keep the screen clear and the occupants just of frozen. Around 2hrs 40 minutes later we pull into one of Trago Mills large car parks and is by now absolutely *issing down.

The first purchase in the store was an umbrella, not having one with us and knowing the kids will want to go around the leisure park it was a wise investment. We spent a couple of hours (and a few pounds) browsing the aisles. I am pretty sure it has shrunk in size since our last trip (they had a major fire there about 12 months ago and there is a lot of building working taking place at the rear of the store) as we soon found ourself out in the rain again and looking at the food outlets. After feeding time and kids being kids it was of to the leisure park. The rain did not seem to detract them from them wanting to wander around the park. To be perfectly honest many of the rides were closed due to the weather, the daughter wanted to go on the mega slide (a 15ft vertical drop down) but this was closed as it was under repair so the kids opted for the smaller slide (both indoors). Finally we opted for a ride on the train around the park, at least the carriage has a roof even if it did leak.

If we thought is was *issing down when we arrived it was definitely lashing it down now, the sky had that dark foreboding storm colour to it. Once again the battle of the steamy windows started not helped by the fact that we were all wet but this time I decided on raising the temperature in the car so now we would be slowly cooked on the way home. Once the heat was in the car I turned the temperature down and manage to keep the screen clear. The drive home was easier than the drive down despite a diversion due to a road closure (accident). The rain rather than relenting got worse as we got closer to home, standing water was now a major issue.

Not far from home the daughter got a phone call asking her why she was not at work, turns out the manager had asked her if she wanted overtime for Thursday night and forgot to ask her about Wednesday night but put her down for both nights, so now we had to race home, change out of our now drying cloths, drop the daughter of at work and then go shopping.

I eventually got to sit down at about 8:30 last night, I slept well last night!!

Not sure what we are doing today, I want to get my bike finished and lubed up from the weekend and maybe a test ride to see if I am up for the ride tomorrow. My back is feeling a lot better but there is still a twinge every now and again to remind me.

It was Swanage Carnival this weekend and all week the plans has been to drop wife and son off in Swanage and then go for a ride round the Purbecks. Wifey and son were happy with this plan especially as the Red Arrows were displaying over Swanage bay at 11:30am. Well throw in the iffy weather (the Red Arrows should of flown at Cowes, Isle of Wight last not but the display was cancelled due to bad weather) and the fact that the Red Arrows were grounded earlier in the week with technical problems, the whole day has been a bit suspect all week and I really wanted to ride the Purbecks to put a couple of ghosts to bed.

Fortunately the Red Arrow were given the all clear to fly earlier in the week and the weather dawned nice and sunny in Bournemouth. So we loaded my bike and kit on the car and head for Corfe Castle. As we drove to Corfe Castle the dark clouds came in and it start to drizzle that horrible fine rain. The wife and son were catching a train from the excellent Swanage Railway to Swanage. I would start my ride from Corfe Castle and then pick them up in Swanage later. By the time we got to Corfe Castle the rain had stopped although it was still cloudy.

From my starting point up a small side road the riding is uphill from the first turn of the pedal and apart from one almost level section it is up hill for the next 2 miles. This is where the Purbecks scored it first goal, I was determine to clean Brenscombe hill and I tried and pushed myself but it ended in failure. In hind sight I think it was the lack of any warm up riding that was the main problem, starting the ride straight off up hill is not a good idea.

Unfortunately having pushed myself hard early on made the next few hills hard work, I cleared them but they were harder than they should of been. As with all things that go up, they have to come down again and I was soon taking the bone shaking ride down the other side of Brenscombe hill. At the bottom is the slow slog up the road toward the turning off for the path up Ballard Down. Now in my mind I had though that had I cleaned Brenscombe hill I should at least make it half up the track to the Obelisk on Ballard Down. Unfortunately less than 100mtrs does not get anywhere near half way. In fact I was gasping and stopping for a rest just pushing my bike to the Obelisk, Purbeck scores its second point.

Having rested for a few minutes at the Obelisk I set of on the next little stretch of hill up to the top of Ballard Down, thankfully I cleared this bit which seemed to restore some faith in my riding. Much of the ride from here to Studland is down hill and I made the most of it, at least to Old Harry Rocks anyway. The section from here to Studland was very busy with people coming up to Ballard Down to watch the Red Arrows. Ballard Down looks out across Swanage Bay and the town its self, I had considered stopping and watching the display but as I had an hour to wait for the display to start I decided to crack on with the ride. Last year we watched the Red Arrows from the other side of the Bay on Durlston Head which is a similarly sized hill and had an amazing view of the display from up high.

Soon I was riding across Godlingston Heath, there is one hill here I did not expect to get up, it is not a large hill but it is covered in loose gravel, sand and rocks and I had expected to be completely shot after the previous hills, well at least I was not too disappointed when I had to push the bike up the hill. From here I was heading for Franks Tank (which has now been renamed Thomas the Tank). There is a nice little section of mixed single track that runs along side the golf course which eventually drops you out onto Newton Heath. From here it is Forestry paths and a small section of road back into Corfe Castle. From the main road in Corfe Castle is a steep little hill back to the car and to my surprise I cleared it.

So that’s it, I am claiming the single point for clearing the second section of hill on Ballard Down, making it half way up Brenscombe Hill and the final little hill back to the car, all three were little morale victories and as it is my blog I am awarding myself a point!!

Well that is almost it, there one little matter I want to mention, it concerns a certain Land Rover Freelander driver, I will set the scene. I am riding toward the B3351 from the Banks Arm pub (no I did not pop in for a pint), the road is a narrow affair and at the point where this story happens bears to the right. Walking toward me on my side of the road is a pedestrian, so I move out towards the middle of the road to avoid running into him, that is until a Land Rover Freelander come whizzing round the corner, he gives no concern to me cycling around the pedestrian and force me to take evasive action nearly running the pedestrian over. As you can guess the driver never stopped and there was no indication that he had seen anything, he just carried on his way, the guy must have been blind………………….

Got up this morning and looked out the window to be met with a dirty grey black cloud, went to the bathroom (other side of the house) to be met with sunshine. Decided to have a cup of tea and then recheck the weather. 20 minutes later it is grey and overcast to I finish getting ready and of on my Sunday morning ride past Throop Mill. I think not having the mid week ride saved some energy in my legs as I seemed to be flying (I was riding the Whyte). Had some fun with a Squirrel woods at Hurn, he decided to let me chase him down the forest track accept it was down hill and I nearly ran him over, fortunately he turned right and went up a tree and I carried on down the slope.

My next run in with nature was nearly head on with a horse and rider, I was concentrating on getting through some sand before turning off down a track through some bushes and the horse and rider came bounding out of said track. Fortunately I stopped but the horse came to an abrupt halt nearly throwing his rider, he was not expecting to see a cyclist, could job I did not have to apply the brakes hard as the screech from my brakes would of really scared the s**t out of the horse. Pleasantry exchanged I carried on heading for home. When I got in I checked the time and it was 10:02am, I started to put my bike helmet, gloves and Camelbak on at 7:00am, so by the time I got out of the house it would of been a couple of minutes past 7, so I make that 3 hours for a 27 mile ride, certainly my fastest time I have ridden the Throop Loop in.

Now its is time for a whinge (two in fact), there is a new phenomenon creeping into British driving, it is the act of approaching a road junction, be it a normal tee junction, roundabout, traffic light and then stopping anything up-to 2 meters from the junction white line, why? I was told by my driving instructor to make sure I judge the junction right and park with your front wheel just touching the white line. Some these people that park back from the while line are leaving enough space for a Smart car to pull in front of them, I can see absolutely no benefit for doing this what so ever, I just cannot understand it.

My second whinge is about road junctions again, but this time involves car indicator and the position of your car at the junction. If you come up to a Tee junction and you indicate right, is it to much to expect that you move to the right hand side of road and and then when clear to do so actually turn right, of course it is not possible to do that, that is why when you indicate to turn right, you position yourself in the middle of your side of the junction thus blocking access to those that want to turn left or go straight on (in the case of a cross road) and then when you move off you turn left!! Have I missed something, has a new Highway code come out that say I will do what I want to do at road junction and sod everybody else?? The driving awareness of some driver is absolutely abysmal.