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Tonight was the final school visit (if you don’t what I am on about read my previous posting), tonights school was the local boys grammar school and was the other one I wonder why we were visiting (that is not to say that my son is not intelligent enough to go there). At each of these school visit we have had an introduction meeting from the head master\teacher and other member of his staff. At two of the visits they held two of these introduction as the demand was high (one was probably because the hall was quite small) but tonight they held 3 introduction meeting in a hall that easily had seating for 200 people and from what I could see, there were parents standing all around the walls of the hall in each meeting such was the demand. But the school only take 150 pupils each year, has no catchment area but currently have pupils from 45 miles away coming to school each day.

The whole air of the school was different than any of the other we had visited, there was no hard sale (like the last one), it certainly was not a modern built school, but it was clean and tidy, the staff and pupils were helpful and friendly, that’s not to say the other schools staff and pupils were not friendly, but they were friendly in a different way which I can’t explain. All in all I was impressed, I was not expecting to be but I was.

Now it is down to a lot of form filling and like every other parent with children moving to grammar\secondary next September a long wait until March the 1st

OK, a question, guess what I nearly ran over this morning???

No it did not have any legs

No not a snake

??????

Ok it was a “Henry the Hoover”!!!

As I went up the road this morning a van pulled off the petrol station forecourt onto the road in front of me and at speed (I was a little way back so no danger), as he went up the road the rear door of the van flew opened and Henry came tumbling out. On impact with the road, the motor section parted company with the body with rubbish spewing out across the road. I managed to swerve around Henry and chased the van up the road. The driver was completely oblivious to the fact that he had lost Henry. After flashing my lights at him and waving my arms out the windows he pulled over. I drove up along side him and told him his rear door was open and Henry was a quarter of a mile away outside the petrol station sat in the middle of the road, I don’t think the driver was impressed.

Secondary School visiting, or should that be Academy or High school or College or……………….

Dear son moves up to Secondary school next September so as decent parents we are visiting 4 schools in our area (3 down one to go). Tonight was a visit to the closest of the four, son currently attends the middle school on the opposite side of the road from the “Academy”. Of the four schools this was the least looked forward to visit for two reason, it has had a lousy reputation and everything is now Pink at the school, dark pink ties for the boys (to got with the grey trousers and blazer) and dark pink blouses for the girls again with dark grey uniform and lots of pink paint.

As mentioned it has had a lousy reputation so at the end of last term a new brush (I think it was paint brush with a lot of pink paint) swept through the building. A new head mistress with 3 different colour in her hair (and she was not the only member of the teaching staff with multi coloured hair) was brought in to make amends. The already mentioned name change from School to Academy was part of this change along with lots of new toys like white boards and over head projectors and pretty coloured plastic chairs and yes a lot of painting much of it pink.

But it is the same old thing, a lick of paint won’t make everything better, if you were prepared to look closer, behind the brightly coloured curtain hung around the walls and the coloured paper stapled to cupboard doors you could still see all the broken windows, odd panes of glass, broken blinds, large hole in the ceiling (funny as this classroom was the only classroom open in this particular block). On a positive note the central heating worked, it was more like a sauna in there tonight.

It seems as though there was a sum of money to be spent on the school………I mean Academy to bring it up to scratch, but there was not enough money to fulfil the job completely so the money was spread thinly over all departments barely touching what was needed. A name change, a sprinkling of managers and a pretty Pink reception along with the aforementioned new toys and lick of paint (did I mention it was Pink) does not really cut it.

While I don’t doubt the teaching staffs intentions it is a long way from being where it needs to be and with the cut in government spending, I think by this time next year the cracks will be reappearing.

Will our son being going to that school next September…………I mean Academy, not unless it is our only choice (and we can persuade him to wear pink).

12 months ago today I was taking my first tentative ride on my new mountain bike along with the wife on her new mountain bike, the most memorable moments of that ride was the wife falling off (which she has carried on doing over the last 12 months). So here we are 12 months down the line, I have just got over a pain in the butt\back injury after a fall and the wife is off her bike after aggravating an old knee injury in a fall off her bike earlier in the year, nothing has changed?

Well the fact is a lot has changed, I think that first ride totalled about 4 miles (which was all on road\cycle paths), a few weeks ago I completed a ride of just under 31 miles of which 75% was off road and I regularly do one ride per week in the mid 20′s (off road).

The bike I bought 12 months ago was a Cannondale F5 2009 has changed quite a bit since I wheeled it out the shop, biggest change is a frame swap under warranty and as the old F5 frame was no longer available any more it is sporting an F2 frame. I have also upgraded the front forks, fitted different handle bars and saddle and many other items due to wear and tear.

One of the reasons for all the changes to the bike is that I have now got into mountain bike riding, 12 months ago I just wanted a bike to ride to help with the weight loss and fitness. Had I known I would become involved in mountain biking I think I may have done some research and possibly ended up with a different bike. Which is possibly why I now own 2 mountain bikes having obtained my Whyte E120 a few months ago.

Since getting the mountain bikes I have packed in my then main hobby which was kite flying, lack of flying facilities locally meant all my kit spent most of its time sat in the shed. At least with my riding I can start rides from my house and have forest, heathland and hills I can ride within an hour drive. OK they may not be mountains (don’t think I am ready to ride up a mountain yet) but at least I am out riding every weekend.

The question I guess must be has riding helped my weight loss and fitness? Well my weight when I bought the bike was 19st 1.5lbs and on Monday just gone I was 17st 3.5lbs, a 26lbs loss. Now I am not suggesting that all that loss is riding as I have been dieting as well but I am sure it has helped. One of the problems I am looking at now is the fact of fuelling myself before and during a ride, a lot of the ‘energy’ food and drinks out there are not exactly diet friendly. I am looking at what is available and will probably post what I find in a blog later in the year.

As for fitness, I can remember some of the hills on the local heath when I first tried going up them, regardless of walking or riding up them, I was a gasping panting wreck when I got to the top, the only difference between walking and riding was the intensity of my panting and gasping when I reached the top. Now I am able to ride up those same hills without much of a problem, it may not be fast or pretty but I am riding up them.

One good side affect of the cycling is the fact that I have discovered little corners of Hampshire and Dorset that I never knew existed. A lot of my school holidays were spent in my dads lorry doing deliveries (cattle food), so I got to see lots the Hants and Dorset countryside. But I have been to corners of both counties in the last 12 months I never knew existed. I have come face to face with Lama’s, Alpaca’s and deer…………well the deer was more face to butt but hey ho!! I have walked along paths where the weeds were that tall you could only just see the top of the front wheel as you pushed the bike through on its back wheel!! I have rested on the Purbeck hills over looking the blue waters of Poole and Swanage bays and looked at Corfe Castle ruins from the same height as the top of the ruins.

On the downside I have a great distaste for riding in traffic ( to be honest I think it is more like re-awakened) and will do what ever I can to avoid it and yes that will include riding on the pavement. OK I know thats is a big no no to some cyclist but I am responsible for my own safety and the pavement is where I feel safer.

So what targets do I have for my second year of mountain biking, I think the wife would like me to say spend less on cycling but we all know that would not be much fun…….. I want to improve my hill climbing, I would like to be able to do a 50 mile ride where at least 85% of the ride is off road and of course lose a lot more weight. It seems strange sitting here thinking that if I do the same as I have done in the last 12 months I could be sitting here in 12 months time stating that my weight is around 15st.

Well I have waffled enough, better leave something write about in 12 months time

Decided to take the Cannondale hardtail out for a ride this morning and seeing as I was lacking in imagination I did the same route as I did last week around Badbury Rings, although this week there were some subtle differences. First it was a lot colder, second, it was more slippery in places than last week due to the rain of the past week. I knew it was cold when I got the bike out the shed and loaded the car which is why I put my long sleeved base layer on with a normal T shirt over the top. It was even colder in the wind swept car park at Badbury Rings, I put my rain jacket on it was that cold, it is only the second ever time I have worn it.

The first half mile was a surprise to my butt as it has been pampered for the last few month of sitting on the Whyte’s full suspension. Apart from a few slippery moments the ride was pretty uneventful, no ninja squirrels this week although I saw three deer two of which crossed the trail about 20ft in front of me and I chased several groups (flocks?? they were running not flying) of Pheasants up the trail, embarrassed to admit but one of these groups of Pheasants were running faster that I was cycling…………..it was up hill!!

The biggest surprise of the ride (not actually related to me or my riding) was a field, last week this field was a sun baked, ploughed and raked field (is that the term) ready for sowing, this week the entire field was a mass of 2″ green shoots. Sometimes it hard to imagine that much growth in a week.

Still have to make my mind up what bike I am going to ride on next Saturday Wiggles ride around the New Forest, they are calling it an XC ride so I may well choose the Cannodale, see how I feel after a long ride tomorrow.

Added another item to my cycling wardrobe today, Mountain Warehouse have their winter cycling range in store and I picked up a new cycling jersey. It is fleeced back and front with the back going down over your butt and has nylon side panels, if I had had it this morning I would of been wearing it.

No that is not a comment that was aimed at me, it was a comment that I aimed at two cyclist (in two days) that very nearly became bonnet ornaments on my car.

Dumb arse cyclist No1, I was sat in the normal Monday morning slow moving queue of traffic approaching a road joining (the road I am on) on my left. Sporting a lovely shiny Carrea MTB\Hybrid bike and wearing bright fluro jacket (which obviously makes him invincible) and a helmet, the cyclist rode straight out of the side road across the front of my bonnet, straight over the white line down the centre of the road and into the path of the oncoming traffic. Fortunately for him the on coming traffic braked, while our dumb arsed cyclist continued riding up the centre of the road on the wrong side into on coming traffic. This guy was no youngster, he must have been in his 40′s

Dumb arse cyclist No2, only about half a mile from where the other incident happened (maybe it something in the air), going down a hill I am confronted with a guy riding down the middle on my side of the road who is getting slower and slower until he stops in the middle of the road. No hand signals, no indication of what he is intending to do, he just sat there……… Then suddenly he seemed to wake up, realised he was in the middle of the road and quickly scurried to the side of the road. This guy was a mature student type, summer jacket, no helmet or cycling attire what so ever

Is it any wonder as cyclist, car\van\bus\lorry drivers have such a low opinion of us when we ride like this??

Last night was weigh in night and I carried on the traditional Monday night weight yo-yo, fortunately this time it was a 3.5lb loss, I was pleased. Just hope I can be good all week and make it another loss next Monday.