NIGHT RIDER OR UFO

fishing meeting last night so,of up to the acorn at burncross,nice leisurly ride up whiteley lane.when you think your the only daft bugger on an unlit country lane in the pitch black its comforting to see a bright light coming up behind as slow as you, ufo was my first thought,cant be some one on a bike at this time of night, the light he ommitted was imense made my led light look like a candle in a jar.as he overtook me,I stepped up my pace it was so nice to have the road iluminated ,want one will have to talk to my financier julie,top of the hill i was cast back into darkness as my leading light turned left and i turn right.

at the acorn a welcome drink and a sponser donation from judith thankyou very much.now that it getting down to weeks rather than months away its amazing how many people are actualy taking intrest or is it just my excitment showing through when they talk to me about it

cough cough cough

well that's another course of antibiotics done,i seem to be fine till i start riding the its cough cough cough.it don't seam so bother me its just annoying for any one round me,if i keep of the milk it does help keep the mucus production down.

new shoes are bedding in,wore them yesterday and they seam to be loosening up,mind i did smother them in dubbin sat night,might try dubbin on the saddle tried everything else and in the absence of a volunteer to break the saddle in desperate measures required

panniers back from being altered will have to try pack all luggage in trying to prevent taking trailer if poss save on weight,going to purchase a bar bag for the right hand side plus extra bottle carriers for tool buddy etc.

leather ouch

new saddle ouch

new shoes ouch

after Sundays ride went out on recumbent last night,the seat was lovely to sit on so just to prove i am a masochist i decide to put new shoes on(very nice shoes bought by julie and gemma for Christmas)let hope they break in quicker than the saddle

twas a bit drafty

Saturday saw me running round cycle shops looking for brooks prof hide,using road bike sunday and new saddle bought last year ain't no sofa,desperate measures,(it didn't help)

Sunday morning up with the lark and of to the meet at millhouses cafe,cheated thought took van as far as millhouses,after drinks of tea we all mounted and agreed to regroup at the top ,owler bar roundabout.we all set of at a nice steady pace climbing through totley but as we moved into open country,boy did it get hard legs were burning and the wind was in our face,nearing the top it got stronger and stronger,resulting in a couple of stumbles as the wind blew two riders from there saddles,lucky to get their feet down quick,at the top 4 of our party decided it was to dangerous to carry on and return down the hill,four of us battled on having to pedal down hill to baslow is wrong,cafe on the green was a welcome cuppa and a decision to re route as we had lost our leader(one of the returnees)it was a joint decision to head for grindleford and on to hathersage ,were we had another cafe stop.after refueling i decided to head up the surprise towards my van,the others carried on round to return vie moscar,
surprise certainly expecting a tail wind home it didn't materialise instead i found myself battling wind yet again until fox house were by i was blown all the way back to millhouses

but even though twas a bit drafty i still enjoyed my day out.quite proud of the fact i battle on rather than surrendering to the wind

pale rider

does this world revolve around me?

i remember headmaster edwards from hinde house in a morning assembly saying"you can only prove that you are real and every body else could be a figment of your imagination"

you think about something it happens!

i read somewhere that pale rider was fast becoming someones favorate drink(never heard of it before),then today at work we got into a conversation about real ale pubs and low and behold we are talking about pale rider!
is it in my head or is it real?

at the begining of 2011 didnt feel like celabrating the new year,so am i just having a crap year because thats what im imagining,
so if i think of happy joyful things will it get better.do i control my destoney as edwards hinted.

i dream of winning the lotto, but only on weeks when i dont buy a ticket. is this were im going wrong,should i be planning my dreams

drival am i getting good at it,who knows, who cares,i think the only people who read my drival are the people who know and care for me anyway,or should i have carers and a sleeveless jacket,dreams do keep coming back lately,perhaps i should try not dreaming

so thanks for looking one day it may actualy get intresting.

bye for now all my imaginary followers

a ctc welcome for a slow climber

after best part of 25 years yesterday i thought it time to try a proper club ride,over the past 18 months i have rode with other cyclists but not with a club,so i used to ride with the sheffield da ctc,so found out they were meeting meadow head

so 9.30 on time to be welcomed with the gift of thier latest magazine,thankyou.

a familiar face in pat wilson,and the rest of the crowd welcomed me with coments that they had never had a recumbent trike ride with them before and over the day i found out why,recumbent and road bikes dont mix with hills ,recumbent was far too slow up hill,but credit due they waited (regulaly)for me to catch up at the top.

ctc still means cafe to cafe glad to see, with 3 cafe stops things havent altered that much,realy enjoyed myself,but as the afternoon wore on i decided to let the bunch go ahead and i opted for the main roads home.(thanks for the concerns over my welfare but i honestley felt fine just needed to let you lads and lasses get on rather than waiting for me on every hill)

up the a61 may sound a bad choice of roads but on the trike i do find traffic does not bother me even climbing dronfield by pass i was not alarmed,arriving at the top to catch a glance of two of the riders on a side track that i had left earlier so im glad i let them get off without me.i arrived back at meadow head just before dark,fine result.although riding in the dark doesnt bother me as most of my cycling is done after work in the dark.

once again if anyone from the sheffield ctc is reading thanks for the day out.

how low can you go

well thanks to lombard finance i had to make my self bancrupt on tuesday 25/1/11.

thought i would feel better when it was over,but it was like a birthday it comes it goes but you dont realy feel much different.

realy need to get out on bike to cheer me up or atleast get away from it all for a day.

restarting my diet this week may have been a mistake looks like its going to cost me tonight when i get on the scales.at least ian will be pleased

roll on may

25 days into 2011 and im wishing it away already.with every day i wake(or should i say get up from where i lay) i seem to get another problem,stressing me out.its 10 past 2 in the morning i cant sleep,i so want to sleep.im just hoping that come dinnertime today the pressure is off.i just want 14may here so i can go into my own little world,20 days of nothing more than wondering which way to go south,east, west but hopfuly not north after arriving at dunnit head(most northerly point on british mainland),roll on may,

feel like a condemed man waiting for my punishment,had my last drink,had my last meal,no sleep for the wicked just time to ponder where i went wrong,can i turn back time sell my soul if it would work i would but it wont,but one day i could be a millionaire,might even get to wear a bat man suit,they had a dream too(but whos my rodney or am i just some elses plonker)

tangents,neshlectavarda just to stop me swearing.is my jogle a way to the past or a route to my future,

people keep asking why,but then admire my intentions with out me answering their question,or does every one get to a point they need a jogle,a piontless excersise with little meaning apart from self indulgent satisfaction(although st lukes will benifit).

are you still here i havnt bored you yet with my meaning less drivel,laid here writting this listerning to vintage pop on tv,nostalgic, julie would say depressing cos im sure they have took the play list from my ipod.so someone out there has a simular taste in music mind it is 3am so perhaps its just for me,is there anybody out there,8 hrs to go and counting,no one on facebook must be all asleep,why are waiting hours longer than busy hours,why even ask i ask myself.

back soon reputation in tatters no doubt

competition dieting back on

ian the brother in law and myself have started dieting again,and just to make it intresting the loser each week pays the difference in pounds,the losser pays in sterling to our respective carities.
working in morning,wide load to ponds street then out on trike,did try using road bike for winter but the trike maybe slower but boy is it much cumfier
got new panniers so may not need to take trailer trying to all tackle on trike next week as a practise

MICHAEL HOPLEY is fundraising for St Luke's Hospice (Sheffield)

MICHAEL HOPLEY is fundraising for St Luke's Hospice (Sheffield)

summer no more

well winter clothes out of hibination,next it will be chest infection and antibiotics.at least with the water proofs on you dont get cold,you still get wet but with sweat rather than cold rain,wonder weather i could cycle in my surfing wet suit,would anybody notice its not lycra it still shows all the lumps and bumps,then there would be reports of whale riding bike from the deans household,who already think i ride a trike to spread the load on the road

heres one to see if he reads my blog,dean has nearly finished putting the roof on his dads house,only ever seen the lad working up there,but still thats what lads are for(slaves)

why is it that on the days i dont ride its fine and on the days i do it rains,i know i need to train in the cold and rain but it would be so nice to ride in the sun,even when i went camping the other week it bloody rained,infact even when i go fishing it rains,so thats the weather forcasty sorted for the next couple of weekends rain rain and more rain,at least i only have one more fishing match this year,i hate fishing in the rain ,but cycling can be refreshing so long as you can keep warm,

baked tators and sea food,seems to be my diet at the moment and i just cant loose weight,may need to go back on the JD and coke ,cut the beer out,just so expensive and it goes down to easy,mind dont seam to wake up heavy headed on JD but the coke tends to upset my sleeping need decaf coke,diet cke wonder what water tastes like ,yuk boring,vodka tonic, try that or gin and tonic,mind then id get deppressed dont need that,may just keep with the beer

seem to be rambling a bit,jumping from subject to subject,just about repainted my fleet of vans into new comany colours,lets hope it brings in extra work to make it worth while

,looks such a nice day starting why cant i just lock the yard gates and go on my trike for the day,because its my time to work,see even talking to my self now,think i might tidy office,unless i can find something else to do,

must go work calling

heavy haulage to edale

well my first trip out with trailer loaded with camping gear went reasonably well(but very wet),it certainly taught me i need to re jig my plans.the new tent worked well but when it rains there is no where to cook apart from out in the open.think i need to make shelter of some discription.cooking spagbol in the rain aint fun,but i managed it even if i didnt have any seasoning (very bland),i must get a kettle need to be able to brew without using pans that need washing between coarses.i also need to rethink what i need as the whole trike n trailer is far to heavy.and living in sheffield id found out as soon as id set of as its up hill which ever way you go and boy did it hurt.by the time id got to fox house my thighs were on fire,still edale in just over 3 hrs was a good result at that weight.il rethink then have another go in a few weeks.i think the camping trailer must be a magnet as iv never had so many people wanting to chat as i cycled along a bit like old times riding and chatting takes your mind of the feeling in your legs,so thankyou to every one slowed down for a chat.