Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Four Flat Fingers and a Camel


Above: Jo, Roly, Katie, and Nigel on the South Downs, enjoying the view.

Welp...It's been almost a week already. Where has the time gone? Oh that's right, I've been having loads of fun catching up with friends and riding bikes.

I've done some really long rides since I've been here. Much longer than anything I do at home on my own (at least on the mountain bike). Other than some er, 'discomfort in the saddle region', I've hardly felt any sort of suffering in that debilitating, 'I've just bonked' way. I attribute this to being in great company. What a difference riding with friends makes. I'm reminded how much I miss it.

So thanks to Jenn for slowing down to my snails pace and at least pretending to be cheerful throughout the ride (although I know there was no faking involved), Nigel and Katie for being great new friends who don't mind me stopping along the way to pick blackberries, Tim for letting me crash his party, Biff, Ruth and the boys for being the great humans that they are, and of course Jo for, well, just being Jo (there are far too many things to thank you for in the space of a blog post). Sorry about my carbon footprint.

My gratitude extends to the ever lovely Fisk's. Anyone who has the good fortune of knowing them understands why a visit to theirs is a special treat.

The best is that there's more to come! More bike riding, more time spent with friends, more enjoying everything I love about the UK.

And let's not forget, more of these (which are great):

Friday, August 03, 2007

Mysteries of the Human Body

This post is a work in progress...I'm trying to sort out how to display the map details from my ride.

Ok so that's not going to happen. Oh well.

The point was to show that the 40 mile climby ride I did yesterday, during which I felt great even though I did about 15 miles of climbing, left me feeling quite tired. On today's ride I felt like poo, and I went out easy on 30 miles of flat to rolling.

Now, I know a bit more than the average person about how the body works, but it never ceases to amaze me that I can feel so strong one day, and like a boneless mass of flesh the next.

I think I'm the slowest person in Boulder on a bike.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Oh, Canada

Well...British Columbia is ace. By all accounts, I should have a very bad taste in my mouth from my trip to the Northwest. I had two rocks hit the windshield, one of which left a big, traversing crack in the glass while the other left a flare-like ding. I had a piece of trim fall off the trailer (that miraculously stayed perched on the trailer tongue) which led me to buy a torx set, none of which fit the bolts that hold the side of the trailer together. Then the coup de grace came in Whistler when a phone call at 7:15 in the morning woke me with the news that my trailer had been broken into. Dan's bike got nicked, which makes me feel horrible. Good times.

Oh, I forgot to mention that two days after getting over the break in, I discovered that a mouse had taken up residence in the trailer. Never a dull moment.

Still, Whistler or all of the BC coast really, is such a beautiful place. I tried downhilling for the first time and had an absolute blast. I spent a couple of days with Dan and Laura in North Van catching up on some R&R and generally didn't want to leave.

The not-so-short list of places I'd like to live now includes B.C. It's yet another places that leaves me feeling like coming home to Boulder is anti-climactic.

I didn't see any Canadian sheep, but I did see several black bears.