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On Friday night we went down to Poole Quay and had a a look at the cars on show, a weekly event on a Friday night through the summer, this Friday was the last one for this year. The theme for the night was American cars. There was everything from a WWII Jeep to a road legal dragster and everything in between including a Peterbuilt Truck. Here are a few pictures from the night

Old Ford Pickup

Purple Pickup

6ltr of GM Muscle with added laughing gas for fun!!

Negative pickup, OK I played around with this one, it should be a Red Ford Coca Cola Pickup

Left-hand side of the Peterbuilt engine

The right hand side of the Peterbuilt engine, 16ltrs 6 cylinders of chrome, this Truck is all show

It was an interesting evening but a complete pig to take any pictures because people just wander across in front of you which is why I took the pocket camera rather than my dslr camera. One final shot from Friday night

Looking out across Poole harbour towards Sandbanks

Yesterday was shed painting day, it is only the second time that we have painted the shed in 7 years, one 2.5ltr tub of paint (well wood preservative as it now called) was enough to cover our small shed with enough left over to paint half a fence. So now we have to buy another tub to paint the complete the fence!!

Went out for my normal early Sunday morning ride today, wished I had stayed in bed now. It only took a couple of miles before my back started to complain, it was OK sitting on the bike and riding but when I had to exert a little pressure on the peddles (like going up a hill, even little inclines) or when I ran over a bump (tree root), my back complained. I kept thinking about cutting the ride short and heading for home but I stuck with it and did the full loop for 26 miles (probably not a good idea). Not only did my back feel worse than it did after Friday’s ride I also felt pretty worn out, so maybe my body had still not recovered from the ride on Friday? I had planned to ride tomorrow but I have binned that idea to give my back a rest and won’t look at getting back in the saddle until next Saturday.

So after a relaxing bath this morning I watched, the rescheduled Speedway Grand Prix from Croatia (rained off from Saturday night) and then flicked between the channels to watch the F1 from Belgium. While I am talking TV I have just watched Gee Atherton win the Mens UCI Downhill World Cup. In between the F1 and the Mens downhill I cleaned my bike.

Tomorrow we have the joys of a trip to the tip with all the rubbish I moved from around the shed pre painting. The car will then need to be cleaned ready to go into the bodyshop (2nd attempt) first thing Tuesday morning for the rear bumper replacement. Then we off to the local park to watch some bands play, one of the bands, is made up of the kids of the wife’s niece. By all accounts they are pretty damm good. They are building a web site at present so here is their Facebook Page Finally tomorrow, it weigh in night at Slimming World , I am not holding my breath this week.

I dragged my self out of bed this morning with the feeling of apprehension, would my back hold up for the planned ride, would the weather hold (it was not raining when I got up). Breakfast was followed by the filling of the camelbak and getting the bike out of the shed. I was wearing my new padded under shorts, so I was wondering what these were going to be like, half expecting them to start chaffing at the furthest point from home. I left home just before 9:00am hoping that I would miss the rush hour traffic on my ride to Colehill. By the time I had got to the bottom of the road I was beginning to wonder if I should on put my long sleeved top and trousers on it was that cold but at least it was not raining.

I had planned to check out a couple of footpaths to keep me off the main roads (its a very busy single carriage way road). The footpaths were quite overgrown and and with 7 gates\hurdle to climb over in less than half a mile I guess they were trying to keep cyclist of the route, suffice to say I decided to seek a different route home for my return.

After a 7 mile ride into a head wind I made it to the woods and started to make my way to Horton Tower some 5 miles away, the route would take me along fire roads, single tracks and bridle ways. With the rains we have had over the past few days some of the paths were what you would expect to find during the winter. The run up to the tower was as I had expected, bumpy and hard work, so I cheated. Where the fields adjacent to the path had had sheep in them the grass was nice and short, so I climbed over the fence with my bike into the field and rode up the field next to the path, it was a lot easier (the sheep were way down the other side of the field). My back was holding up quite well and by now the sun had come out to play.

From the Tower I knew the route for the next 8 miles except for a loop around the Woodlands Golf course (which I found no more interesting than my normal route). Once you pass Woodlands Golf course there is a hill which on my previous two rides around this course I had failed to get up, despite three attempts to get up the hill, this ride was to be no different. Its not a large hill it just that it is made up of loose gravel and sand and with the rain of late, gulleys. It was the only section of the ride that I walked.

I was soon on to Holt heath, this was very wet in places particularly where I lost the route, the path I was on was barely visible through the bushes but when it came out into the open it disappeared. I could either follow the GPS through the long grass across the heath or take an alternative track that I could see that would join up with the track I should be following, I opted for the later. This track led me back into the forest area that would take me back to Colehill, my legs were by now getting quite tired.

Once back at Colehill and onto the road I was grateful of the downhill run to the roundabout, I could give my legs a rest. By now the Friday afternoon Bank Holiday weekend rush was well underway and the traffic was very heavy. I eventually made it back home at 1:35pm, 4hr 40min for a 30.9 mile ride, it won’t break any records but it was my longest single ride and my back had survived although by now aching.

That is it for a few days, I am now officially on holiday and the weather forecast is………………………………..rain

Currently sat here trying to work out where to go tomorrow as a family where I don’t have to forfeit two arms and a leg as payment. I have 6 days off including the weekend & bank holiday Monday and tomorrow is the only day we can all go out as a family for the whole day, Thursday the daughter has to start work late afternoon, Friday the wife getting her hair done, Saturday and Sunday the daughter is working during the day, Monday you just don’t want to travel anywhere on a bank holiday. Now add in the rain factor, the wife can’t walk to far my bad back and the fun really starts. The kids have been to all the local attractions so were now looking further a field and drawing a blank, one suggestion was Legoland, £127.80 for 4 (3 adults and 1 child) for a day pass, they must be having a giraffe!! Beginning to think it is cheaper to go back to work…………………

Last night was a good night for weight loss as such, I lost the weight I put on last week, so I am not dis-pleased but then I am not over the moon either. I just do not seem to be able to get a handle on this weight loss thing at the moment, well to be honest for the past two years. I am losing, I have a good week then I put on what I lost, then I lose what I put on, then I put on again then lose that………………………….and on and on it goes.

At least I am staying positive and still going to Slimming World, to be honest it the only thing that keeps me motivated.

Never made it to the Air Show on Sunday as the weather was lousy, heavy rain showers, low cloud and strong gusty winds. We live a couple of miles from the local airport which is used as a staging post for the air show, I heard half a dozen planes take off, never saw one of them fly over head, the cloud was down to about 200ft. I did start cleaning the bike in the gazebo but the rain started to seep through the gazebo so had to pack up and head indoors.

My back is not to bad at the moment, feeling a bit better, still hoping to throw my leg over my bike on Friday (back and weather permitting).

Finally a message to Clive , STOP LAUGHING IT HURTS! and hello to Keiron at Welsh Cyclist