bikes and things

After stacking it the previous day I managed to get myself out of bed and on the road to Afan with Dad. We set of a bit later than planned so hit all that traffic heading down to the South West on the M5 but finally made it to Afan and headed out on the start of Whites Level. Dad’s bike had a few issues on the way round so we made a few tweaks including re-joining an exploded chain. I had pumped myself full of ibuprofen which meant that it wasn’t actually that bad, not as fast or fluid perhaps but still enjoyable. I knew the trail well so knew what was coming, or so I thought.

Top of the trail before the first descent.

There was a trail closure in place at the end of the Energy Trail which sent you straight back to the top of the original climb and then past to the final descent of Skyline. Less than ideal really as it’s the rockier of the two descents.

Dad on the skyline descent.

Gotta say that I really didn’t enjoy it with a stiff neck. Dad also managed a slow plop over the bars at one point. Anyway, by the time we got to the cafe that was all forgotten. Nice day out really. A lot of climbing and sad to see on his trip computer that it was only 12 or so miles. Good day out and hopefully back soon but in better condition. Great to still be able to get out with Dad on the bike too considering he’s in his 60s!

Just rewards.

His and his.

Been a while since I’ve fallen off my bike properly but managed to come a cropper on Friday at Llandegla. There’s a ladder/shore section on a short section of trail about half way round – I normally slow right down and gently roll it. This time I thought I would just try and pop the wheel a bit and clear the tiny little drop and be a bit clever. I overcooked it and I think I landed it nose first, blew through all the travel on my forks and smacked the right hand side into the gravel. It took the wind right out of me and I really hurt my neck in the process. There’s a fairly large lump out of the back of my helmet too which I’m glad was there to take the hit.

Fortunately I was doing a time-lapse of the trail so managed to catch the moments in between being up on the trail and being the wrong way round.

I was glad to be riding with Gav who managed to scrape me off the trail and get me going again. Here’s the section of the time-lapse. Was down for quite a while getting my breath back by the looks of it.

Needless to say I took the rest of the trail pretty gently which was a real shame having driven all that way. Fingers crossed my neck heals up soon as it’s be great to get out on the bike again.

We have our friend’s dog staying with us this weekend. It’s been quite an experience so far. She’s got a lot of energy so we have to play with her to try and tire her out a bit so she sleeps later. The favourite toy seems to be the bee which we drag around the living room and then chase her under the table. She loves it.

She also has quieter moments at times.

Last weekend we headed out with Phil, Sacha and Gav to see Ed run in the Londond Marathon. I was pretty surprised when Ed said he wanted to run but fair play to him and he’s certainly put the hours in training for the event. He was running for Shelter who are a pretty worthy cause. We went to Embankment to see if we could catch a glimpse of him and shout and scream encouragement at him. It’s not real shock that it was pretty crowded and we didn’t actually see him – Phil did catch sight but then doubted himself after. Anyway, plenty of photo opportunities as usual.

Ed, surprised to see us all and pleased with a sub four hour time!

My view of the Marathon.

Dog in the crowd.

Back of the crowd.

We missed him right?

Balloons

Some friends of ours are going away for a long weekend soon and very kindly asked if we would look after their dog, Gina, for them. Emma’s eyes went fairly wide when I asked her and I was up for a long weekend of dog bothering so we said yes. We met them in Peckham Rye park to discuss details, have a coffee and generally play with the dog. Gina is an 8 month old Jack Russell.

A few pictures of course.

Weekends are fairly precious and scarce at the moment. I’m usually working, tired, wanting to ride my mountainbike, wanting to hang out with Emma and catch up on all sorts of other things I usually should have done earlier in the week. Maybe even a quiet pint or two. I normally fail on all levels at this. Not this time though, managed to edit a shoot early Sat morning, send it to the client and then head out to meet some friends for a late lunch at The Riding House Cafe. Fantastic lunch and celebrating two bits of good news. Bit of a wander around Regents Park to walk off our food, pint at the Crown and Goose then home to fall asleep during a film.

Next up on Sunday was a ride around the Surrey Hills with Gary and Dave from work. A beautiful day for it and the Peaslake carpark was almost overflowing even though we got there early. The usual trails – xmas pud, T1, T2 etc then tea, cake, faffing, then over to do yoghurt pots, telegraph row, some steep one I forget the name of then back to finish on Barry Knows Best. We took it a little slower due to watching another rider being carried off the trail, heavily encased in a stretcher, then being loaded into an Air Ambulance. Then back to the flat to make pizza with Emma, have a nap and watch Homeland.

What a superb weekend. Hope the following is just as good.

I love it when my sister visits my Grandma’s house – she always finds the photo albums and then grabs a few snaps to add to Instagram. A lot of them I don’t remember seeing. The idea of memory or a family album is something that fascinates me, I wonder if we’ll still have that with all our digital photos in the future?

Me and Liz – Story time maybe?

Grandma working a switchboard during the war. You can’t see her amazing ginger hair which I obviously inheritted.

Just back from collecting Emma from her Mum’s place near Cambridge. Great to catch a few rays in the sunshine today as well as a nice trip into town to do some shopping. Of course always good to spend some time with snoopy the collie. Shame we have to come back and go to work but never mind.

Finally found a few spare moments to process a the rest of the holiday snaps from our trip to Portstewart a few weeks back. Nothing too earth shattering photography wise but some nice snaps for this months prints.