Monday (week 2) and amidst the dawn chorus, I went out for a swift 42 miles, darkened morning and fog, plus a tad chilly again so skull cap and sleeves re-instated - grrr! The remainder of the day was an outdoor workout in the garden, emptying rotted compost bin, refilling rotted compost bin from part rotted compost bin, digging over back corner of garden, planting raspberries / strawberries - potting up runners from both to sell plus general tidy up all round.
Tuesday, getting into the habit now - walk to station, head off to destination (Woodbridge) then return to Norwich and walk home. Had a good meeting with Tracey Fearn of St John's in Woodbridge learning about their gap year programme - Form. Once home it was out on the bike for a quick round the block spin (18 miles) in contrast to yesterday, the legs,arms and fingers were all exposed for the first time this year! Then another quick change before out to Wymondham to see an after school club in action - Awesome!
Wednesday - earlier start but same routine walk/train/walk this time destination was Cambridge, before being onwardly transported to Haverhill. Cambridge station is like a bike graveyard - approx 500 bikes "abandoned" by their owners in the cycle racks outside. Spent day looking at Reach a community outreach project headed up by River of Life Church (Henry Wilson) - Foodbank, Furniture Bank, CAP, Drop in Cafe and more... - so inspiring, a great day even though the weather was miserable. Home for tea then First Taste small group - phew!
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Monday, 28 March 2011
Sabbatical Days 5-7 Christology, Hermeneutics and an evening in Diss!
Twas LT Foundations for a couple of days, so head down, ears back and brain engaged for study.
Almost a full house in terms of attendees this time, we had Mick Taylor for both days - very engaging to listen to, and he probably presented the most interactive sessions yet. It was Goff's birthday too
Friday night it was off to Diss to deliver the kids for the youth weekend and then back to Norwich to collect two others whose car had broken down, before returning as far as Long Stratton to hand them on.
Out Saturday night for take away at Simon and Sian's - nice relaxing evening, in great company.
Simon and I now have our rider packs for Norwich 100, and we are...wait for it...numbers 1 & 2 or as our respective partners have taken to caling us Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Clocks forward overnight, which meant lie-in on Sunday (obviously!) lazy day with my beautiful wife, before the kids returned around 5ish.
1st week already over - eeek!
Almost a full house in terms of attendees this time, we had Mick Taylor for both days - very engaging to listen to, and he probably presented the most interactive sessions yet. It was Goff's birthday too
Friday night it was off to Diss to deliver the kids for the youth weekend and then back to Norwich to collect two others whose car had broken down, before returning as far as Long Stratton to hand them on.
Out Saturday night for take away at Simon and Sian's - nice relaxing evening, in great company.
Simon and I now have our rider packs for Norwich 100, and we are...wait for it...numbers 1 & 2 or as our respective partners have taken to caling us Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Clocks forward overnight, which meant lie-in on Sunday (obviously!) lazy day with my beautiful wife, before the kids returned around 5ish.
1st week already over - eeek!
Friday, 25 March 2011
Sabbatical Day 4 - Of Trains and Brains
Trains, Brains, training, brain training - busy day today!
So it was off to Bury St Edmunds (BSE!) on the train. Seemedd simple, Norwich to Stowmarket CHANGE then Stowmarket to BSE. Only snag was at Stowmarket, the sheer volume of comuters getting on, prevented my leaving so it wa on to Ipswich and then back - nice and scenic but obviously killed the time schedule.
Arrived at BSE and got to venue for Re-thinking Evangelism seminar/forum thing - quite varied and informative, and also presented in a relaxed way. Speakers included Andrew Buttress (Spectrum), Krish Kandiah (The EA), Dave Gardner (Vicar of Woodbridge) and others.
Returned by train (no mishaps this time) , and managed to finish reading my first book - "Brothers we are not professionals" by John Piper (only 4 more to go!).
Evening in, on my own so cracked on with my LT foundations assignment (and completed it) due in tomorrow whilst watching the World Track Cycling on the Red Button - British Girls got Team Pursuit Gold and Sprint Silver, Hoy and Kenny through to Semi's (unfortunately against each other) in men's sprint.
LT Foundations for the next two days, and that will be the first week over - phew! Out Saturday night with friends. Might squeeze in a ride on Sunday...
So it was off to Bury St Edmunds (BSE!) on the train. Seemedd simple, Norwich to Stowmarket CHANGE then Stowmarket to BSE. Only snag was at Stowmarket, the sheer volume of comuters getting on, prevented my leaving so it wa on to Ipswich and then back - nice and scenic but obviously killed the time schedule.
Arrived at BSE and got to venue for Re-thinking Evangelism seminar/forum thing - quite varied and informative, and also presented in a relaxed way. Speakers included Andrew Buttress (Spectrum), Krish Kandiah (The EA), Dave Gardner (Vicar of Woodbridge) and others.
Returned by train (no mishaps this time) , and managed to finish reading my first book - "Brothers we are not professionals" by John Piper (only 4 more to go!).
Evening in, on my own so cracked on with my LT foundations assignment (and completed it) due in tomorrow whilst watching the World Track Cycling on the Red Button - British Girls got Team Pursuit Gold and Sprint Silver, Hoy and Kenny through to Semi's (unfortunately against each other) in men's sprint.
LT Foundations for the next two days, and that will be the first week over - phew! Out Saturday night with friends. Might squeeze in a ride on Sunday...
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Sabbatical Day 3 - Fast speed & single speed
A new day, and more sun, so the proposed ride with Mark was on...
In all 56 miles at an 18.2mph average - good ride! Funniest things was that we went out to the coast - Sheringham and Cromer, but other than a few miles, it ws all back roads and most of the time although generally aware of location, specifically had no idea where we were! - No punctures today - hoorah!
Practical project no.1 kicked of - The Singlespeed conversion of my Trek, both derailleur's, chain, large (outer) chainring and cables removed. Next job is to beg,borrow or otherwise obtain a chain whip, to remove the cassette from the rear wheel, then it is the fun job of putting it all back together again!
KK meeting last night (slight hiccup in sabbatical plans) - good meeting though, lots sorted, and some great ideas.
Off to Bury St Edmunds tomorrow...
In all 56 miles at an 18.2mph average - good ride! Funniest things was that we went out to the coast - Sheringham and Cromer, but other than a few miles, it ws all back roads and most of the time although generally aware of location, specifically had no idea where we were! - No punctures today - hoorah!
Practical project no.1 kicked of - The Singlespeed conversion of my Trek, both derailleur's, chain, large (outer) chainring and cables removed. Next job is to beg,borrow or otherwise obtain a chain whip, to remove the cassette from the rear wheel, then it is the fun job of putting it all back together again!
KK meeting last night (slight hiccup in sabbatical plans) - good meeting though, lots sorted, and some great ideas.
Off to Bury St Edmunds tomorrow...
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Sabbatical Day 2 - Sun, Cycling, Shorts
What a beautiful day - sun and plenty of it, barely a breath of wind, and the temperature was good and high too. Just gotta ride don't cha?
So inevitably the posh bike was wheeled out and I set out with the goal of acheiving my first metric century for 2011. [Mid route, another achievement with my 2nd puncture of the year - changed tube and continued, later discovered that my previous fix (yep same tube/tyre combo) had failed!] Glorious cycle, shorts for all (?) and target achieved with an eventual mileage of 67miles, breaking my "records" for 20miles and 50 miles in the process - update on all of these figures at end of week.
Thinking of subtitling this sabbatical as a Sub-Fat-ical as a motivator - Whlst I don't necessarily need to lose weight I wouldn't mind re-distributing it! So Wii fit was dusted off and the scary moment of a weigh-in - a pleasing BMI of 24.39, and corresponding weight of 11 stone 11. No logic to this but I like the sound of 11.5 stone and/or a BMI of 23.80 - something to work at then... 50 minutes of exercise ensued - more to come...
Invited out on a ride tomorrow with a guy training for London to Paris in the summer, looking like it will be another great day - got to be done then innit?
Mowed lawn, and cleaned kitchen plus washing / ironing - domesticity rocks!
Lazy evening but well deserved - well i think so anyway.
So inevitably the posh bike was wheeled out and I set out with the goal of acheiving my first metric century for 2011. [Mid route, another achievement with my 2nd puncture of the year - changed tube and continued, later discovered that my previous fix (yep same tube/tyre combo) had failed!] Glorious cycle, shorts for all (?) and target achieved with an eventual mileage of 67miles, breaking my "records" for 20miles and 50 miles in the process - update on all of these figures at end of week.
Thinking of subtitling this sabbatical as a Sub-Fat-ical as a motivator - Whlst I don't necessarily need to lose weight I wouldn't mind re-distributing it! So Wii fit was dusted off and the scary moment of a weigh-in - a pleasing BMI of 24.39, and corresponding weight of 11 stone 11. No logic to this but I like the sound of 11.5 stone and/or a BMI of 23.80 - something to work at then... 50 minutes of exercise ensued - more to come...
Invited out on a ride tomorrow with a guy training for London to Paris in the summer, looking like it will be another great day - got to be done then innit?
Mowed lawn, and cleaned kitchen plus washing / ironing - domesticity rocks!
Lazy evening but well deserved - well i think so anyway.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Sabbatical Day 1 - Lazy days
Hello, good morning and welcome to my sabbatical.
A what you say? A sabbatical - According to Wikipedia Sabbatical stems from Latin sabbaticus, from Greek sabbatikos, from Hebrew shabbat, i.e., Sabbath, literally a "ceasing" - it is a rest from work, or a hiatus, often lasting from two months to a year.
In my case it is a month now up to and including 20th April and then a couple of months in the summer. Being an erstwhile blogger anyway I thought why not share my thoughts and musings eac day from my sabbatical and see what happens.
Ok, I have 3 focuses (or is that foci) for my sabbatical - Rest, See, Think - pretty straightforward huh?
Rest, I reckon stands for Ride, Eat, Sleep, repeaT, so there will be some cycling going on, but it is essentially a break from the norm, so rather than lie still for a month I will be keeping myself busy in other ways, doing chores & oddjobs, might even cook a meal or three! Generally spoiling my wife as much as possible and trying to be a decent husband and dad.
See, is all about looking at what is going on in other churches/organisations, and as such i have a few visits planned, so will report on those as and when
Think, is having time to read, study and ponder about stuff, about my role, about the wider work that OG is involved in, or could be...
So intro over, day 1 report:
As the title suggests a lazy day - i did put in a 42miler on the posh bike, which was all very good and to keep the totals updated - did 235 miles last week all in too. Other than that, we did a dump run with bottles and hedge trimmings, went to Aylsham sales then had lunch at Greens, before coming home and watching a pre-recorded police drama on TV, then received a Tesco grocery delivery, had tea and watched TV some more during the evening, with a little bit of ironing thrown into the mix - A lazy day.
A what you say? A sabbatical - According to Wikipedia Sabbatical stems from Latin sabbaticus, from Greek sabbatikos, from Hebrew shabbat, i.e., Sabbath, literally a "ceasing" - it is a rest from work, or a hiatus, often lasting from two months to a year.
In my case it is a month now up to and including 20th April and then a couple of months in the summer. Being an erstwhile blogger anyway I thought why not share my thoughts and musings eac day from my sabbatical and see what happens.
Ok, I have 3 focuses (or is that foci) for my sabbatical - Rest, See, Think - pretty straightforward huh?
Rest, I reckon stands for Ride, Eat, Sleep, repeaT, so there will be some cycling going on, but it is essentially a break from the norm, so rather than lie still for a month I will be keeping myself busy in other ways, doing chores & oddjobs, might even cook a meal or three! Generally spoiling my wife as much as possible and trying to be a decent husband and dad.
See, is all about looking at what is going on in other churches/organisations, and as such i have a few visits planned, so will report on those as and when
Think, is having time to read, study and ponder about stuff, about my role, about the wider work that OG is involved in, or could be...
So intro over, day 1 report:
As the title suggests a lazy day - i did put in a 42miler on the posh bike, which was all very good and to keep the totals updated - did 235 miles last week all in too. Other than that, we did a dump run with bottles and hedge trimmings, went to Aylsham sales then had lunch at Greens, before coming home and watching a pre-recorded police drama on TV, then received a Tesco grocery delivery, had tea and watched TV some more during the evening, with a little bit of ironing thrown into the mix - A lazy day.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
30 days of biking - yes please!
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| Why are you riding? |
Quite simple - just ride your bike every day for 30 days (During April) and blog / tweet etc as you go - I'm in!
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Give Cyclists Space!
Got the T-shirt yet? - No - get one - they do car stickers too!!!
Spread the word
Monday, 14 March 2011
re-Found my Focus!
Great week on the bike despite the chilly weather, although even that warmed up towards the weekend. But best news of all is that the Posh Bike aka my focus Cayo, came out after a winter of skulking largely neglected in my garage. but more of that in a mo.
The stats - 234 miles covered, making 1694 miles ytd - all moving in an upward direction so all good. back to the focus then...
Saturday morning dawned, and a dry bright morning beckoned, so it had to be - lubrication done, just had to pump tyres and go. Removed dust caps and on both tyres managed to unscrew valve too - result two pancake flat tyres - never mind that's just 25 pumps of the track pump rather than the 10-12 that I would have needed anyway. So pressure resumed and off I went, just over 3 miles up the road felt the air leave my front tyre - puncture - first for 6 months or so, ho hum I thought. Removed wheel, tyre and old tube and grabbed spare tube from saddle bag and fitted. Pumped tyre then removed oump and for the 3rd time in about 20 minutes managed to remove the valve - however this time the item was nowhere to be seen - frustration was now rising. Ok fix the puncture old skool then - patch, glue, chalk and re-fit (again) the tyre and wheel. - Success!!! On I went, brain calculating time lost and therefore revised distance target for ride as I had somewhere to be by 9am. - In all 27.84 miles covered, in just over an hour and a half at an average of 18.2mph - happy? Oh yes. It's good to be back, as someone once said... Workout is here if you are interested?!
Sabbatical looms (21st March - 20th April) so space for a few longer distance rides over the next month or so - would like to be up to pace for 10k miles yearly target by end of April i.e. in the region of 3333 miles covered by then or 240ish per week between now and then - eeek!
In other news Cav remains quiet at Terrano-Adriatico, but Tony Martin wins Paris Nice and Wiggo an admirable 3rd too. As a bit of fun i have also "entered" Road.cc's Fantasy Cycling with my team Phat Cyclists - effectively fantasy football but for Pro cycling. First race Milan San Remo...watch this space!
Sunny day again today and i have clocked up a 30 miler - here's hoping the sun continues, as does the mileage and that the Focus remains...!
Monday, 7 March 2011
Can the weather please make it's mind up?!
Ffffff-freezing cold for most of last week, yet despite the climate's best efforts I still produced a 247 mile week out of the proverbial hat! - That makes it 1460 for the year to date, which feels better (well it does to me)
Today dawns and although a cool start, the sun shone and by the end of my 42 mile jaunt it was beautiful - perfect riding weather cool, bright, and little wind - loving it - only downside should have prepped the posh bike, but atill managed to do a shade under 18mph average for the ride so all bodes well.
In other news, Bertie wins in Murcia (subject to UCI making their minds up on the whole clenbuterol thing).
Cav has stated his intent to ride all 3 grand tours this year, but first up will be Milan San Remo in a coupleo f weeks. Paris-Nice kicked off yesterday, and Tirreno-Adriatico starts Weds. Giro d'Italia has announced 23 teams are to take part this year.
Finally I looked at Olympic Track cycling schedule with prices today - cheapest tickets £20, rising to £325 dependant upon session and chosen seating, sessions are also only 1.5 - 3 hours max. - Think i may stay home and enjoy daily highlights in the comfort of my lounge - come back Manchester Velodrome all is forgiven!!!
Today dawns and although a cool start, the sun shone and by the end of my 42 mile jaunt it was beautiful - perfect riding weather cool, bright, and little wind - loving it - only downside should have prepped the posh bike, but atill managed to do a shade under 18mph average for the ride so all bodes well.
In other news, Bertie wins in Murcia (subject to UCI making their minds up on the whole clenbuterol thing).
Cav has stated his intent to ride all 3 grand tours this year, but first up will be Milan San Remo in a coupleo f weeks. Paris-Nice kicked off yesterday, and Tirreno-Adriatico starts Weds. Giro d'Italia has announced 23 teams are to take part this year.
Finally I looked at Olympic Track cycling schedule with prices today - cheapest tickets £20, rising to £325 dependant upon session and chosen seating, sessions are also only 1.5 - 3 hours max. - Think i may stay home and enjoy daily highlights in the comfort of my lounge - come back Manchester Velodrome all is forgiven!!!
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