Wheelers Brunch

Today I went along to the June Wheelers Brunch - a cyclists get together organised by Lorenza from Naturally Cycling: Manchester. I didn't know we had to work for food and drink this time. She had me doing a stint powering the PA system at Bike Fabulous in the Manchester Arndale. And there I was just expecting a nice relaxing chat and coffee before work!

Great to catch up even so Lorenza. Hope to see you next month. ;-))

Brotherly Love Tour Preparation

Well the panniers are packed and I'm ready to go. Will be staying at my brother's house tonight and we will catch the train at 07.30hrs up to Oxenholme tomorrow.

I'm lending my smaller (front) pair of panniers to the bro and just using my rear panniers and a bar bag. No camping/cooking gear but I am going to take a couple of extra camera lenses along as I have the space and will also have the time to use them.

For location use I am going to try out the new phone with GPS and google maps. I'm hopeful it will be give better detail in towns/built areas where I need it. The SatMap is great but the 1:50,000 OS map is really best suited to hill walking than road navigation. If it works out then that will be one less item to carry and charge in future.

I will also be using the phone to update the blog as I go courtesy of a Twitter widget and may even post a proper blog entry with pic/s if I can.

The weather forecast is looking OK(ish) for Thursday but not nice at all for Friday. Ah well, we'll just have to see what comes our way and dress accordingly. Hope to get some more video footage than the last trip though!

Brotherly Love Mini Cycle Tour

Will be on a 2 day tour on Thursday and Friday this week. Catching the train to Oxenholme (south of Kendal) and then cycling back to Manchester collecting 2 BCQ checkpoints on the way. Two differences on this tour; I will be joined by my brother and I will be updating the blog as I go courtesy of my new Android powered phone.

Should be fun. We have a great little B&B booked near to a good pub and will only be covering about 40 miles per day. Hope the weather is kind!

Wet And Windy Mini Cycle Tour

Recently returned from a two day mini cycle tour to Merseyside. I planned a route to collect all six British Cycle Quest checkpoints for the region. I also wanted to try out my new Super-i-Cable (SIC) charging unit. The weather forecast wasn't great but it was accurate - The Wet and Windy Mini Cycle Tour!

Anyway, I got all the checkpoints, gave the SIC a good trial, cycled 119 miles, broke 1 bottle cage, had my first puncture running Schwalbe tyres in over 3200 miles, failed to rendevous with Lorenza who was doing the Manchester-Liverpool cycle ride on her Pashley, got condensation in the bullet cam, gave up trying to find somewhere to wild camp and used the credit card instead, found Haribo Super Mix is a great energy boost and, to cap it all, decided to get the train the last 20 odd miles back to Manchester because I really couldn't face any more miles of suburban uniformity, heavy traffic and crap cycling infrastructure in the cold and wet.

Still, I had a good time. The Vimeo effort really reflects the lack of filming and photography I did. It was either too wet, too windy or I was too cold. Well, Plato did suggest necessity is the mother of invention!