Yearly Archives: 2010

Who Should You Vote For?

By 12 commentsTat

I Recommend You Use This

I used this application just now, to make sure I don’t vote for the party my Dad voted for without a better reason.  It quizzes you on your agreement or disagreement with policies, then tells you which party is most closely aligned to your own opinions.

It won’t make you right, but it will help you vote for the party that you think will be right!  It won’t take you more than 3 minutes, I promise.

Good luck, and don’t forget to vote. Let me know what you get.

Take the Who Should You Vote For? England quiz

Labour 18
Liberal Democrat -6
Conservative -8
Green -10
UK Independence -17

You expected: LIB

Your recommendation: Labour

Click here for more details about these results

Pfffffft! Blame The Almighty.

By 11 commentsRides, Tat, ,

Ever Had One Of Those Days?

On Sunday I awoke from a short night’s sleep nursing a headache that I’d paid for.  I’m not one to complain about hangovers so I won’t: I’ve got better things to moan about today.

We went to Mass on Sunday morning.  It was parade day so off we went, and I even got mentioned (briefly) in the sermon.  It’s not a good thing.  The Vicar mentioned me because he needed an example of somebody he didn’t know in the Church!  At this point I should point out that I’m not actually C of E: I should really be in the Church on the other side of the road.  Anyway, my point is that a little Sunday Worship should really stand you in good stead for a good day, shouldn’t it?

Lost Tools

When we were at Gisburn the other weekend, I noticed that my tool pouch wasn’t on my bike.  I’d assumed that it was either in the shed or the car, but yesterday I checked and no; it was missing.  This is an important detail.  I made a mental note to buy a new one this week, before my son and I headed out for a quick ride before tea.

Lost Time

We’d got about 3 miles.  We were talking about how good the new surface on the canal towpath was.  It’s a combination of bitumen and pea gravel.  Some of the pea gravel has been split by the whacker (Technical Term: A “whacker” is a pneumatic device for squashing aggregate surfacing into place), leaving a number of fine rock shards.  You know what happens next don’t you?

Yep.  That unmistakable sound. “pffffffftt!“, followed by “Dad, you’ve got a flat.”  Bugger.

Lost Temper

Well, not quite.  At that moment, the rain subsided (did I mention that it had started raining as we’d set out? No? Well, it flippin’ had), the sun shone through and we were treated to a gorgeous rainbow as I grumpily dismounted and knelt down to extract the stone shard from my Racing Ralph.  This rainbow stopped me losing my rag, in addition to the puncture repair kit I’d already lost.

We resolved to walk it up to Hollingworth Lake for a cuppa, make a phone call and await our fair rescuers.  So that’s what we did.  I have to be brutally honest and say that it was nice to get out, clear the cobwebs and have an experience with my son.

I didn’t even mention the random guy with the “Always Rejoicing” badge who emerged from the pub at Hollingworth Lake to hug me, tell that he loved me and comment on my pot belly, did I?  Well, I’m not going to mention him, other than to say I wasn’t rejoicing with him, as I pushed my bike towards my tea and rescue stop.  The random, drunken, joyful idiot.

Anyone know which multi-tool and puncture kit I should buy?  It must have tools for a day’s trail riding and be small enough to strap to my headset.  Suggestions welcome. 🙂

Friday Ride Damned By Diabetes

By 12 commentsDiabetes, Rides, , ,

The Best Laid Plans…

Yesterday someone told me off a bit for not using my bike more.  It got me thinking about how I could use my bike more.  “How can I use my bike more?“, I thought.  On four days a week, I wear a suit for work.  I’m also fortunate enough to have funding towards my car from my wonderful employers, so if I was to ride to work questions would rightly be asked.  However there’s nothing to stop me going out for a quick ride in my lunch break on Fridays, the one day each week when we dress down.

So, I resolved that today would be the first day of the rest of my life.  I’d put the bike in my car this morning, along with a change of clothes.  At lunchtime I would simply get changed into my bike gear, get on my trusty Fat Boy, head away from work for 15 minutes, then head back, get changed back into my casual work gear and get back to my desk.

But of course it never happened.  Kids’ homework, getting ready, sorting out breakfast and other things conspired to make it impossible to get the bike plus change of clothes packed in time.  So here I am at my desk.

Ruddy Diabetes

On top of that, my blood sugars dropped to coincide with lunchtime today.  This hypo meant that I’ve been sat through my lunch break, staring through pinholes in a cold sweat and avoiding talking gibberish to anyone whilst my unusual lunch (below) took effect and put me right again.

My Hypo Lunch

Tip To Cure Hypo: Eat Everything Here, Right Now. I Said Now.

So maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t get the bike in the car.  I would have checked my sugars before setting off, but if I hadn’t been careful, the hypo whilst I was out riding would have been bad news.  Maybe the Gods of Cycling were smiling down on me, really.

Every cloud, and all that.

So…. Next Week…

… I plan to put my bike and change of clothes into the car on Thursday night.

On Friday, I’ll ride out for 15 minutes, turn around and head back to work.  Then each week I’ll see how much further I can get.  It’s only once a week so I’ve got no excuse.  Maybe with enough time, I’ll work out a loop I can TT each week, but for the time being a simple there-and-back ride with no route will meet my needs.

And now I’ve published it here, you might ask me how far I got.  No pressure then.

Gisburn Forest – Playing Out

By 10 commentsRides, , ,

Sunday’s Road Trip

A few weeks ago there had been good intentions expressed by around 8 riders from work.  When the end of last week came, it was clear that 4 hardcore, reliable chaps would be making the trip.  On Saturday, following a disappointing performance by his football team, one of those chaps drowned his sorrows and his chances of riding on Sunday along with them.  So…. I picked up Chris on Sunday morning and we met Russ an hour later at the car park where the Gisburn Forest rides start!

We three musketeers set off and by 2/3 of the way up the first climb it was clear that I was the unfit one.  Chugging a fruit bar immediately we’d set off to make sure I didn’t go hypo (curse you, Diabetes) didn’t help, as my stomach closed around it and threatened to have me hurling whilst I waited for my heart rate to return to normal within a mile or so of setting off!  However, things got better and over the next 3-and-a-bit hours I had a bloody great time.  Russ bailed halfway round because he needed to travel to London that night, so Chris and I completed the Red Route loop with just each other for company.

Best & Worst Bits

There are some long, hard climbs in the forest.  It’s not nice that the route begins with a long, hard (for me) climb and I can remember wondering if I was going to enjoy the day.  However, those climbs give way to brilliant lengths of singletrack!  Over Winter 2009/10 there’s been a fair amount of trail-building and it shows: the Red Route deviations from the main loops are fantastic fun.  My Focus Fat Boy hardtail and Chris’ ancient fixed rig coped with the terrain, but a short travel full-bouncer might have made things a little easier.  In fact, some of the funniest moments were simply listening to the sounds Chris involuntarily made on some of the less-expected drop-offs!

I fell twice.  Both times, it was because I was going too slowly, not too quick.  Lesson learned.  I bailed on two drop-offs, with a squeal of brakes and an unrepeatable exclamation along the lines of “I’m not going off that ****ing thing!”.  However, the whole day was brilliant and we swept along the vast majority of the route with silly grins on our faces, no doubt catching flies in our teeth – in fact, I’m sure Chris had one stuck in his throat when we finished.  The cuppa from the butty van in the car park sorted that out though!

If you get a chance to spend a day there, do it! Tell ’em Phill sent you 🙂

A map on MapMyRide is here, too:

Lee Quarry Mountain Biking

By 6 commentsRides, , ,

This is my first blog update for a little while as I’ve been off on a late Easter break. It’s been fun and has involved barbecues; family reunions; baptisms and seaside days out among other things – we can cram a lot into a week!

Mountain Biking at Lee Quarry

But this entry is about the rather wonderful place they call Lee Quarry.  On Monday, Number One Son and I threw our bikes in the back of the car and headed just outside Bacup for the afternoon.  On arrival, our first thought was “Ooooh, pants” as the hill up to the entrance from the car park is a bit of a doozy.  Nevertheless, we trudged up, rode a bit, trudged a bit more and got to the trails.  We weren’t disappointed!

As you can see on the Google Earth map, we only did about 1/3 of the quarry.  We should have taken a map really!  The quarry is brilliant: an alien moonscape reminiscent of 70’s Doctor Who sets without the Daleks, but 70’s Daleks would struggle with the killer gradients on some of the trails.  There are sections where you definitely have to get off and push/carry but hey, for every uphill there’s a down!

The trails are well marked and a lot of trail-building has been done over the winter.  There’s a new pump track which you can see in one of the photos above, and the skills area has been improved.  Parts of the red route run alongside the green and blue trails, which is excellent if (like me) you take your offspring along with you.

We had a fantastic couple of hours and we’ll certainly be going up there a few more times over the summer.  I’d go if I were you.  Tell ’em Phill sent you! 🙂

Here’s a short video of one the little technical sections.  I posted a couple of others on YouTube too if you fancy a glance:

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