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That how my legs felt this evening on the first hill I came to, its not a steep hill just a long drag on gravel\sandy grit and a bit of a head wind. I must admit I was not looking forward to riding the same hill again and another steeper one that I would have to ride twice (I do a couple of loops across the local heath which involves riding a couple of sections twice).

But when I got to the the second hill I flew up it (well by my standards at least) and when I got round to that first hill again I seemed to get up that one fairly easily as well, maybe my legs had warmed up. It was not a bad ride just a bit windy in place and very warm saw, a total of 14.3 miles. There were loads of Dragon flies about during the ride, OK about a half a dozen which when compared to normally seeing nought dragon flies 6 is a lot, also saw a Common Buzzard, and a normal selection of local wild life.

I think I will be fitting the new wheel (I went for the Mavic 717 rim) on my bike sooner rather than later, I have been holding off till the chain needs replacing but the play on the free hub is becoming excessive to the point I think it rubbing on the brake pads so I think I will be fitting the new wheel this weekend. Maybe even before Saturday ride which is going to be an early start as the daughter is working from 1:00pm Saturday so we need to be back as she baby sit her younger brother while we are out playing.

Finally if you think road bikes are a little fragile then take a look at this video from Martyn Ashton. The final few seconds was recorded at the local shopping centre in Poole just down the road from us.

It was weigh in night tonight and I lost!! If you are wondering why I sound surprised well last week I had expected a loss and gained, this week I had expected another gain and lost, sometimes it just does not make sense. I am now at my lowest weight for a long time but I still have not cleared the 18st barrier it is a bit like being on a bit of elastic, I get close and then shoot back up work my way down a little further, shoot back up………….

Also annoyed on the bike front, been keeping my eyes open for a second hand bike but nothing had come up. Seeing as my rear wheel was causing me problems and the fact that the wheel I wanted was on special offer I decided to buy a new rear wheel for my other bike. So what did I see advertised yesterday, only the bike that I would of bought had I not bought the wheel. If it was not for bad luck I would not have any luck.

Will post another update later in the week after an evening ride.

It is a week or so since my last blog and with the way thing have been for the past few months I have not really wanted to write anything. But as it stands at the moment, somebody has left the door open at the end of the tunnel so we may be emerging from the bleak darkness soon..

Last Monday weigh in did not go well a small gain and still stagnated around the same weight now for the past couple of months. Not two sure how tomorrow is going to go as I have had a mixed week, had an Indian on Friday night (wife birthday).

Having got the wheel to the Cyclefix on Monday for two new spokes and got the wheel back later that day I was hoping to get a couple of rides in during the week. But due to one thing or another It never happened until I took the day off on Friday. I went for a ride around Moors Valley, found a couple of nice short single track runs and some stroppy workmen laying a water main……….”can’t cross here mate”. I will need to sit down at some point and work all those little single track runs into a nice long ride and hopefully Mr Stroppy will have gone. I also had a visit from the puncture fairy which arrived at exactly the same point I was going to take a break so that was handy, it was also very close to the same area I had a previous puncture again in the rear wheel, never found what caused the puncture. I ended the day with 17.4 miles on the clock.

For Saturday it was a ride with the wife and I had decided to stay local and try some new areas which I thought I might be able to add to existing routes to make them longer. Basically it turned out to be a waste of time, we found one path that had recently been cleared as it must have been fully overgrown judging but the roots and stems (which were still growing in the middle of the track). Give it another couple of weeks and nature will have reclaimed the path again. Other paths I wanted to try just seemed not to exist so pretty much rode 10 miles of tarmac for a 14.5 mile ride.

Sunday morning dawned and as I ventured into the shed to get the bike out I noticed that I had had another visit from the puncture fairy and it was the rear wheel again. This time I found the cause, a large thorn stuck in the tyre. Once fixed I was on my way to do my normal Sunday loop. Only thing to report is I can’t wait to get my new knee pads (see below) to arrive, not to protect my knees if I fall off but they do a good job of protecting my legs from the stinging nettles and brambles that are encroaching onto some of the narrow paths I ride, my shins are still stinging now. Apart from my stinging shins, my knee are aching a bit which I guess is to do with the 26 miles I did today for a total 58 miles over the last three days.

In regards to my knee pads I mentioned above I bought some a couple of months ago and they had like a nylon backed foam with hole in to aid breathing\ventilation around the sides and front. Well in the pair I had these areas had started to tear so I sent them back and got a full refund. I have ordered another style of knee pads but I am still waiting for them to arrive.

Got the enjoyable job of driving up to head office tomorrow so it an early night and an early morning, oh joy………………..

Just when you think its safe to get back in then water or in my case just when you thought it was safe to return to a normal life. Thursday morning I notice that I can’t access one of my hard disk, it an external USB drive I use for back-up not to much of a panic as it only the backups. Anyway after much fiddling the drive wakes up Friday night like nothing is wrong.

Saturday we get up early (as we are going to Studland riding again and we want to beat the heat and the crowds heading for the beach), as I walk into the room where the computer lives all I can hear is this metronome like squeak squeak squeak squeak. Turns out that my other external USB drive that hold my pictures (about 38000 or there about’s) was non functioning, no attempts to get it back to life so I left it till I had come back from our ride.

After a 30 minute drive to The Banks Arms at Studland it was off the trace the route from my first visit to Studland (the bike demo where my legs gave up the ghost). This was going to be a more gentle ride as the wife is not a fast riders. Well the start of the ride started out on the same tracks as that first ride but after about a mile or so we were heading along track I did not recognise. We found some a nice single tracks and as we met three other groups of riders on the same section it obvious they think it s a good trail as well. To my embarrassment I fell off twice, both on the same section of trail and last one I ended up sat on a bramble bush that was trying to get friendly with my butt To my defence it was quite steep deep sandy trail that I was trying to go down, don’t think I will be trying that trail again somehow.

Once we had done our small loop we headed up to Old Harry Rock, by now the sun was up and warming up nicely so after a short break at Old Harry we headed back to the car park and home, I had a external hard drive to revive and a bike service and clean (the wife’s bike, I was only going to wash the mud off mine and service it on Sunday after my next ride).

Once the service and bike cleaning was over it was over to more pressing matters, the hard disk. It did not take long to realise that the hard drive had popped its silicones chip and left this mortal world for silicone heaven. So it was off to the shop for a new hard drive, I was soon the owner of a new 1.5TB Seagate external USB drive. After a quick play with the wiring (four computers, two monitors, two laptops, two printers, network switch and scanner means the electrical wiring is interesting………..) and the drive was up and running but by now it was time to start thinking about the evening BBQ so further configuration would have to wait.

The BBQ went well and after watching the Speedway Grand Prix it was time for all things computers, well it would of been except I caught the end of another programme and then it was 10:30 and I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny and I wanted to stay in bed, the alarm went off and so did the three snoozes that I set but still I remained firmly under the quilt. I eventually heard my daughter getting ready for work so decided it was time to get up. In the end my daughter left for work as I was still getting ready, I normally wake her to get her up for work as I leave for my ride.

For a change I decided to do my ride the loop in reverse, the only part I did not do was the Sopley woods section as there were two big hills that I would have to walk up so I passed on them, only lost about 1.5 miles. Towards the end of the ride (when I am on the road heading for home) I noticed the back end of the bike moving around, so I made a mental note to investigate during the afternoon service. Due to my late start I made it back in time to have an early lunch before I started on the bike service.

One of the first things I check for when I put the bike up on the stand is broken spokes, well this week I was not to be disappointed, two broken rear spoke on the rear wheel (hence the wobble), I was not impressed. I have only just ordered a new rear wheel for the bike as I a little bit of play in the free wheel hub and being a cheap wheel it is not serviceable. I still intend to run the current wheel for a while long till either the chain and cassette expire of the free wheel hub expires. I purchased the new wheel as it was on offer so knowing I was going to need a new wheel I ordered one. SO I stripped the wheel down ready for a trip to the LBS tomorrow to get the spokes replaced and the wheel straighten more expense I could do with out.

I has been an expensive few days, just hope the coming week is not so demanding.