Woohoo

We're up to twice a month for the ride in...stunning.

Nice morning actually, if it stays like this I might ride in Friday as well.. Nice.

Finally

Rode in yesterday, after a hell of a break.. Ride in ok, but home along the ridgeway was gopping! Thick claggy mud..

Roundabouts..

...when giving way to right, please include me in the equation.. Mind you, the look on the poor wee lassies face as I sounded my large vocal horn ("Ooiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!") an inch from her side window was almost worth being mown down for.....almost.

New job

...same organisation, but now in a shared office instead of my own little den.. I thought this would cause problems with riding in, but a new locker seems to have sorted most of the probs.. :-) Nice ride in after all..

2 inches

...from my elbow at about 60mph.. I honestly can only imagine these people have no concept of how scary it is to a cyclist.. and I forgot my lights, so I had to ride home before going out for the evening..bah.

Oooeee

That's been a while. Changing jobs soon which may make it tricky to ride in very often...though I hope not. Will have to make the most of my last few weeks.. Alright ride in today, though back hurting a bit. Must do more core exercises..

Bicycle race

Slow ride in this morning, on the big bike for this evenings ride, so wasn't going to break any records.. That is until I was overtaken on the way up the hill by a bloke in jeans on a rigid mountain bike.. He was pedalling away like fury, clearly trying to make a point to the guy in all the pro-looking kit...plus ca change. Anyway, usually I just draft behind such folk until they run out of puff and then casually overtake, perhaps commenting that it's a marathon not a sprint (if feeling overly smug)...this time however, I'd just overtaken him when a fast road bike came up the outside, not really standing a chance on my MTB against a skinny tyred bike, I was happy enough to be in the middle of three, but gave it a bit of welly to show I wasn't a pushover...until my chain fell off. By the time I stopped and rechained myself I was far at the back, and only managed to reel in the two riders ahead just as they both pulled off my route. Oh well, I should know better than to get into races on my commute. Most of the time my opponents are only riding a mile or two* so can afford to put in more energy than myself with 11 more miles to go..


* the exception to this being the guy I started to race on the way back to Cardiff once, who when we got chatting turned out to have ridden from Bristol..

A head wind..

...and dead legs. Although I've been keeping up a fair mileage recently, I always notice the difference a big tyres bikes makes.. It'll be fun this even when I get out on the trails on the way home, but on the road to work this morning it was a grind..

To the driver of the blue Ford Escort.

If you cast your mind back to this morning, you may remember overtaking a cyclist just before you got onto the roundabout below Rhymney Hill. After you had passed him no doubt he dropped from your mind, sadly you failed to wait for your entire car to pass him before choosing to forget his existence, which explains perhaps why you pulled in across him forcing some alarming avoidance manouvers on the part of the cyclist, who as I'm sure you've now guessed, was me. If you had bothered to check your mirrors once in the following half a mile, you would have seen me chasing your car so that I might have a word about your behaviour, perhaps you did see me gaining on your feeble family saloon despite the steep gradient and that is why you ran the red light on the way up the hill...outside the police station. Either way, I just wanted to say that I'm sad you didn't look in your mirror enough to appreciate the wide range of hand gestures I was performing for your benefit, and I hope the daytime TV show you were rushing home for was entertaining enough to offset the lives of those you nearly killed en route.. If it had Carol Vorderman in, or perhaps John Leslie, then at least I won't have had my enitire existence nearly snuffed out for nothing..

Bah, red car rage..

Idiot driver this mornign thought getting to his dead end job 5 seconds earlier was more important than my continued good health.. Mind you, the sprint up Ryhmney Hill trying to catch him should have put my cardiovascular system into tip top order.. ;-)

A bit wet

It were a bit wet yesterday, and riding to the pub to meet the WNR I realised how crap my little LED light is... Oh well. Managed to pinch flat riding the CX bike down the steps too.. ;-)

Traffic jams..

Big sky
Originally uploaded by hairy_matt

Well, after taking 45 minutes to drive in yesterday (some poor folk took 6 hours), there was no way I was getting in a car today... Lovely cool crisp wintery morning too, probably the end of summer.

Pic from Brechfa at the weekend.

Full speed ahead

Full speed ahead
Originally uploaded by hairy_matt

Fairly uneventful ride to work on Friday, although on the way home a bus almost cut me up, noticed me at the last minute and pulled back out again. This meant he left a load of irate looking passengers at the stop we were passing at the time, more people who now hate cyclists I suppose.. :-(

Photo is from a lovely sunny blast we had round Brechfa on Saturday. Fun in the sun..

45lbs of fun

Well it took me over an hour to ride inthis morning..a new longest record. But I was riding my downhill bike, so I don't feel too bad.. Putting SPDs on makes it quite ridable for longer distances, but it ain't exactly nippy..

Rode in, yadda yadda

Another day, another donut. Actually tomorrow should be interesting, I'm planning to ride in on my downhill bike... At 45 odd pounds, with 2.5" tyres, it's not really made for the tarmac.. but it should be worth it when I meet up with the WNR on my way home...sadly after 25 miles of slogging. Watch this space.. (but don't hold your breath cos even if I set off at 8am, I still might not get to work in time for lunch..)

Friday comes

The Welsh mafia size up the Slab at Dalbeattie
Originally uploaded by hairy_matt

Well a nice non-eventful ride in this morning...sadly not via Dalbeattie (pictured). Got a lot of work to do over the next few weekends which is a pain with akll this nice riding weather suddenly being upon us... Oh well. I'll try and get it finished and get out to play as soon as I can..

Dead mammals

Been a bit lazy this week, but rode in today as I'm meeting the WNR after work.. Lots of dead things on the road today though, squirrels, rabbits and a rat (I think)... I just hope cyclists aren't next..

Evening ride ahoy..

Rode in on the medium sized bike today, so home via the ridegway (stopping for a pint at the Maenllywd) to meet the boys at the Lewis and then go on a ride (probably back to the Maenllywd) and then back to the Lewis and home.. 30 odd miles, 5 or 6 pints... not a bad way to get to work and back..

Bits and pieces

Quantocks
Originally uploaded by hairy_matt

Been a bit of a random week. I rode to work on Wednesday, then left the bike and went drinking in Newport in the evening.. Thursday I got a lift to work and rode home.. Friday I rode to work and got a lift from work to a wedding for hte weekend..and today (Tuesday) I got the bus to work and will ride home.. Got out yesterday for an offroad ride in the Quantocks though..

Splashdown

Mugs
Originally uploaded by hairy_matt

Just had a cracking weekend riding around Rhayader.. It was a tad damp on the saturday, as you can see from this pic of the bombhole at the top of the golf links descent.. Still great fun though..

Nice ride in this morning too, except for the car on newport road which passed me so close I almost took his wing mirror off with my elbow :-(