Definitely one of my favourite music artists…

So last night I decided that I’d switch my bike into fixed. That was the easy bit, the fun started when I decided to change my pedals. In the fight to remove one of them, I managed to dent my bike frame. That was the final straw, and I headed off to my local bike store to buy a pedal spanner. I must say, people don’t like “Corporate” stores like Evans, however they quite happily removed the pedal’s for me without charge.

The cycle in was … interesting… It decided to rain heavily, so I doned my gear and off I went. The initial part was fine, as it’s quite a casual cycle however… once into central London things changed quite a lot. I must have looked like an epic n00b, as I weaved between traffic (ok, more like almost fell off). I made it though!

Started the slipper down slope on bikes, having just found some pure white tires! They are 2000 yen each (9 quid or so), so I’ve emailed the store in Japan asking about shipping rates. The bike is grey+white, so next is some deep v’s for it.

Ok, so it is a very british thing to talk about the weather, but seriously, what is going on ?! It’s very muggy, warm, and generally uncomfortable. Then the sky gods decided to tease us the other day with excellent lightening/thunder… but no rain!

We recently had a BBQ to watch the Red Air Race… was excellent. There are some photographs of Leela’s Birthday Party up on flickr. The weather was a bit poor, it was overcast, hence the lack of plane photographs.

Wow is it hot… well, it’s more humid than hot, but still. I don’t mind 30+ celcius, just don’t like it when it’s followed with 80%+ humidity.

So last week wizzed past, and I actually did not go cycling this weekend. Instead I took some time to sort out parts of our apt. Moved one of the bikes into my bedroom, and debating where to keep the others. I say others, as I’m now looking at a really light race bike. There’s a brillient thing in the uk called Ride 2 Work, which gives you upto 50% off the price of a new bike (to 1000 pounds). So, I’ve got my eye on a few nice bikes… no rush though. Something like the LeMond Chambery , but I’d have to talk to people before buying something that nice!

So at the weekend it was both Michelle & Naomi’s birthdays. On friday night, Michelle had a small do at Bar Salsa. It was a good night, although I did not dance ;).

On Saturday, we headed to Naomi’s birthday at the Greenwich Jazz & Beer Festival. This was the main night, with “The Chicargo Blues Brothers” band playing. There’s plenty of photo’s here.

On Sunday, I did a long cycle ride (around 50 miles) around Essex. We started in Colchester, cycled down to West Mersea for lunch on the beach. After this we headed to Tollesbury to check out the docks (and get rained on!). The final stretch was up to Tiptree, to the jam factory there for tea.

Photo’s of Michelle’s night, and the cycle ride to come…

So my Bikeathon pictures have been added to an online news page:

http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/cyclists-take-londons-streets-bikeathon

Go check it out

The guys opposite me are geeking out over old style IBM keyboards 138somethingorother… scary!

Model M’s apparently!

Yesterday I did the London Bikeathon for Leukemia Research. All signed up and ready to go, then noticed the start point was the other side of London. The casual 26 mile was now up at 40+ miles… and it was getting close to starting time. Made it there just fine. Was a very enjoyable day, but man there was thousands and thousands of people. We managed a casual 10mph… with various moments of mayham and photo’s in between. It was kinda weird seeing a bunch of Deer just hanging out in Richmond park right next to the road. They were watching all the cyclist pass, probably quite confused as to what we were.

The photo’s are here: http://flickr.com/photos/kirth/sets/72157606159548333/

Daz & I are gonna set up a group for doing anything related to charity. This could end up being rather silly, but as long as money gets raised, it’s all good We’re currently trying to track down a female to help us partake in the London Rat Race (http://www.ratraceadventure.com/page3.asp). I’m tempted to try the Crisis event, since it’s for charity … but raising a grand is tough in this climate!

Well good news! ibuprofen is working, I can walk again (although I still kinda look like John Wayne). This bodes really well for the weekend’s cycling. I’ve confirmed that I’m definitely signed up for the Bikathon on sunday. There will be no real issues with my leg, just won’t be hurtling around the place at 40 mph!

So, I’ve managed to pull/strain my Adductor Magnus muscle. At least that’s my best guess. Hurts like hell when stretching, and walking down/up stairs sucks. I’m trying to work it out slowly, as I have a 26 mile race on Sunday to complete for charity. If it’s still messed up, I guess I’ll just aim to complete it, rather than win anything!

One other minor thing, the 26 miles, actually is 42 miles due to the cycle to / from the starting point. I really didn’t think about this did I ? Thankfully Daz will be a long for the fun/pain