Ohh S***… Ouch !!!

I went out for a bike ride yesterday afternoon.. the first one for 6 days.  I really am not getting enough miles in but there always seems to be a reason to prevent me.  However I ventured out yesterday afternoon after having to wait in all morning for my new BlackBerry to be delivered.

I got a new Bold 9780, my previous Storm had been playing up lately and had been returned 3 times for repair in the last 3 months.  Vodafone’s policy on this is that after 3 returns you can have a new phone but I negotiated for a different phone and got the one that I would have swapped to at the end of my current contract anyway.

 

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However I digress.  My bike ride took me around one of my usual circuits and was going pretty well until I got almost back home.  I was riding up Olney High Street, and for those that are unfamiliar with it is a very wide road and cars pull in and park at right angles to the road and spaces are always at a premium.   So I was riding up the high street at about 18mph and cars were coming past me and one clever chap who had just  passed me and then saw a gap to park in and did a sharp to turn left into it…  Unfortunately he didn’t appreciate the speed I was going or even look in his wing mirrors.  He just put on his brakes and did a sharp left turn and took me with him.

Luckily no damage to the bike and my only ‘injury’ seems to be a tender left butt cheek!!  just as though someone had given me a good kick.  No hurts to my arms, legs or head!  makes me think I was wearing my helmet at the wrong end ??

After the exchange of a few words me and the driver parted company.  I just have to say in passing though that my first instinct after picking up myself and my bike up was to turn off the Garmin timer so as not to ‘damage’ my average speed !!! I am sure most cyclists would understand this insitinctive behaviour ?

Departure Day

Wow where did that time go?  Time to go time already.  Spent the morning cleaning the car (In the rain!!) prepared it for loading later today.  Removed the rear seats to give plenty of storage for bikes and camping gear etc.

Managed a final ride yesterday.  Thought I wasnt going to make it as we aborted the morning ride as it was pouring with rain.  I was annoyed because I was only 28 miles off the 1700mile target I had set for May 3rd way back at start of this years biking.  However It cleared up in the afternoon so I forced myself to go out.. I didn’t feel at all like it as it was cloudy and a strong wind but I went regardless.  Was tough going but I wasnt going to miss my target just because of some crappy weather.  Once I got out I couldnt remember wether I needed to do 22 miles or 28 so I kept extending the route until I was sure I would reach both aims.  As it transpired I  did 35 miles so my total was 1708 !!!  Yippeeee.

Today is really cold and windy not at all like a spring day but ‘what can’t be cured must be endured’ as someone once said.. was it me ??  I seem to use that saying a lot anyway.

Not sure I will be able to update this while I am away as it will depend on getting a Wifi connection but I will be updating my Twitter page (  http://twitter.com/briangoldsmith ) and Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1538889679 ) via SMS if all goes well and if anybody is interested in keeping up to date with my travels?  I believe McDonalds are a good source of free WiFi connections and I also belong to the ‘Fon’ network but I dont know if I will find one or if it will work !!

Ok folks this is it.  Last posting for just over a week and I expect there will be plenty to write about when I return.  Until then Au Revoir !!

Busy Week, ( for a pensioner anyway …)

Sunday was my friend Cyrils 65th party to celebrate his actual birth day was on Friday, the 13th!!!  It was not too much of a surprise for him by the time it came around though.  So much preparation going on there it would have been hard to keep it a secret anyway.  It was also good to see my old friends Allan and Sandra and Peter and Mary there.  Peter had printed some copies of some old photos taken in 1962 when we were all so much younger, and thinner.. wow how thin we were..  Much time was spent reminiscing I can tell you.

Monday we had a revisit from the plumber as the work he did last week to hopefully fix our heating problem obviously wasnt the solution.  We were hoping it was though as it would have been a quick and easy solution to swap the pressure limiting valve.  The diagnosis unfortunately was that we needed a new boiler but it seemed a reasonable price to me really.  Still not want you want to have to do right before Christmas though.

Tuesday wasnt a happy day except for me that is, because I got my new Blackberry Storm 2 phone.  So that kept me busy all day and into the evening trying to work my way around it.  I wasnt sure I had made the right choice at first but in hindsight, it was right.  It does so much and a lot was unfamiliar to me so it was a huge learning curve and the learning curve goes on still.  The thing is hardly ever out of my hands. 

Tuesday evening was fly tying club which was a ‘normal’ night just tying demonstrations from Bill and Mike.  Bill gave a DVD of some fly tying and also lent me another one.  I took a couple of copies of the magazine page that had my published letter in that Charles Jardine signed for me last week. One I gave to Roger for laminating and to go on the club noticeboard and one for Bill.

Wednesday was boiler fitting day.  Ian arrived at 8am as promised and work began.  Jan disappeared to Milton Keynes for some ‘light shopping’ and ‘retail therapy’.  I gave Ian a hand where I could and also was roped in to do the electrical wiring.. I still havent lost the touch..   The job was done by lunchtime and it seems a much better, more powerful boiler altogether, very pleased with it, despite the expense.   The downside is that as its smaller I have to make a new casing to cover the pipes and also repaint the unpainted parts of the walls.  The afternoon was spent doing more ‘blackberrying’.

No cycling this week and not for the last 10 days now.  Its going to be tough getting back into shape again. One soon loses fitness at this age.  The weather has been bad though, extremely strong winds and plenty of rain too.  Plus the fact that, as you can see, there has hardly been time.

More details of the rest of the week to follow.. looks to be quite an interesting one.