FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby KidStardust » 27 Dec 2012 21:44

Always a pleasure reading your thoughts. Here's to a fantastic 2013 for you and yours.
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby jonathon.e » 21 Jan 2013 17:20

On the outskirts of nowhere,
On the ring road to somewhere,
On the verge of indecision, I will always take the roundabout way.

Well, not really, prefer the shortcuts usually, but occasionally, in order to go forwards we may have to first step backwards. My step backwards is a break, I try to schedule a break in somewhere, so no training, none what so ever, it takes a few days to initially unwind, then the break can begin in earnest. This break is usually the annual holiday, but if illness strikes, then another break ensues. So I am just coming to the end of my three week hiatus ( nice word hiatus, quite like it, also like reciprocity as well ). Initially it is really hard to just stop, but gradually, the wind down kicks in.

The main part of the break was spent relaxing in the Maldives, 10 days of walking around barefoot ( and no I am no pilgrim of barefoot running yet ), and the only exercise was swimming, either snorkelling, or diving, no timed efforts, the only speed efforts were when I was trying to keep up with the Manta Rays, sharks and turtles, just watching them effortlessly moving was a joy in itself, if only it was that easy.

Now to gradually ease myself into the regime again, the weather is not playing ball at the moment, so biding my time, the swimming pools are crowded due to most people not going into work, you could walk from side to side without getting wet.

I try to fit some tips into my log, but rather than fit training and racing tips into it today, for a change I will put some travelling tips in, working in the industry, you get to see a lot of crap, most of it gets regurgitated on the reality tv programmes, you probably know most of them but if not enjoy.

Air travel was once the privilege of the upper classes, passengers dressed to travel, if you are wanting an upgrade, forget it, the only way these days is to get bumped from one flight and haggle an upgrade on the next, airlines always overbook, due to no shows, or open tickets. So if the flight is over booked and you can afford to hang around for a few hours, then compensation can be beneficial.

The better seats are the emergency exits, more leg room, these generally go to the frequent traveller card holder, so get a card before you go. Dress smart, check in on line, and get to the check in desk early, and politely ask, do not demand, the staff will do the attitude test, they have the seat allocation, so even if you have checked in, fail the attitude test, and you may find your seats reassigned, certain aircraft have certain seats that are slightly worse than others. If you cannot get an emergency exit, go for a bulkhead seat, again more leg room.

Dependant on the number who are travelling, check the aircraft, a family of four, cannot sit together on some aircraft due to the configuration being 3-3-3.

If you want peace and quiet, avoid seats adjacent to the toilets, there is one exception to this, and that is the very back seats on a B747. They are in a 2-4-2 configuration, the last seats are near the galley and toilets, but have slightly more room, and are worth getting.

If you are doing a transfer en route, if the transfer time is one hour, you may find your luggage, may not arrive at your destination at the same time, so just put a few essentials in your hand baggage.

Hope these help
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby jonathon.e » 28 Jan 2013 19:42

" Until I know this sure uncertainty, I'll entertain the offered fallacy ",

I am quite sure the readership will be aware of origin of the above quote, as in keeping with the club policy, I thought a bike ride that would qualify for either a Shakespearian comedy or even a tragedy had to happen at sometime.

Fitting in the 100km challenge this January, would leave me few windows of opportunity, this morning was my last one. Now Carol on BBC breakfast had the wind as southerly at 10mph, listening to the noise eminating from outside, it had to be a joke, a check with the airport met, had the wind speed as twice as strong, temperature just above freezing and due to get warmer, so up and out there.

The first ten miles were on unclassified roads, across the top of the Wolds, initially a few icy patches, then a frost covering, with frozen run outs from the ditches that had flooded and frozen over. Keep looking ahead, not exerting any undue pressure on the pedals and keeping the traction going. A few slides now and again but staying upright. Keeping the speed below 16mph and it was hunky dory.

Onto the A roads and heading out to Mablethorpe, slight detour due to an RTA, just a couple of miles, traffic nice and light.
Twenty miles in the saddle moves, no problem, I have an Allen key in my saddle pouch with my spares just under the .. Dining room table, drying out, "bother",

So we continue onwards, hoping that we don't have any mishaps, the wind should by now have moved from a headwind to a side tail wind, but no, where does Ms Kirkwood get the weather details from, a Christmas cracker, really, I have still got an effing headwind and my brainfreeze headache is getting worse.

Mablethorpe comes and goes as I turn North wards, now a nice side wind, fingers losing feeling with the cold, and still not up to 50km.

They have redone some of the road surfacing upgrading from bone crunching to bouncy, which makes it easier. The wind is picking up and catching me out a few times, at mile 48 a gust hits, I compensate or over compensate, go through a puddle. This small patch of water is concealing a pot hole to rival Gaping Ghyll, the front wheel hits the rim, I go down and slide, I would like to say majestically down the road, detaching from the bike which goes furthe, bidons, firing off in all directions, and the tune of air hissing out from the front tyre serenading me.

Quickly get up, luckily no cars coming, pick up the bike and bits and move to the side. Looking the bike over, brake lever knocked out of alignment, and just a burst tyre. Myself a bruised ego, a bruised elbow and a wrenched groin.
And the comedy begins,
Fingers frozen, luckily I have a spare inner tube and a couple of patches with CO2 and tyre levers in my back pocket.
Wheel off, fingers too frozen to push tyre off rim so get tyre levers out, first one snaps, as does the second, bugger, third stays in one piece, inner out, new one in, now I have just changed my wheels, new ones have a deep rim unfortunately the spare inner tube is a short valve one, and it also now has a puncture, probably due to sliding done the road on it.

Patch that, and with some jiggerypokery get the inner on, trying to put the tyre back on breaks my last tyre lever, eventually, after 45 mins a hassle the tyre is on and I can confine for the last fifteen miles.

Two cars stopped, a van which driver chatted to me for ten minutes, asked if I needed assistance and when he was in the local cycle club they fixed punctures using grass, I knew that was possible but not an option for me. The second driver was an old lady, she said" I was driving the other way twenty minutes ago and saw you on the floor in the road, As I was driving back I noticed you were still there so I thought I had better see if you are all right."

At least she asked, so did another cyclist as well, there are good people about. Thankfully the rest of the ride passed by without incident.

I must say that the jacket I was using was one acquired from Aldi, despite sliding down the road, it is hardly marked and not ripped, quality clothing at a cheap price.
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby CCS » 28 Jan 2013 19:59

Ouch - sounds nasty - hope you are OK! It's that sort of thing that makes me decidedly nervous about winter riding.

Got to love those fictional weather forecasts (Accuweather being my very favourite for a good laugh!)
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby Jack Hughes » 28 Jan 2013 20:06

Oh dear. And there was I thinking I was being a faint heart for not venturing out on Sunday. The met office was telling me 20mph with 50mph gusts. And it was bitterly cold.

Hope nothing is too bruised.
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby jonathon.e » 28 Jan 2013 20:45

Nothing damaged,thankfully, just a momentary lapse of reason, causing an error in judgement, one moment I was upright the next horizontal, the quickness of it probably reduced chances of injury, if I had seen it coming and braced myself it might have been different.

The joy of winter riding, it was borderline whether to go out , should have stayed in :roll:

At some stage I will put up the degree of forecast variation that the met office uses, :lol:
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby kfjatek » 28 Jan 2013 21:29

Sounds nasty, good to hear you're all right though.

In PL most weather services report how reliable their forecasts are over e.g. the last week or month. When I moved here I first wondered why they didn't over here - but it quickly became fairly obvious..

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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby Kevy427 » 28 Jan 2013 22:54

Sorry to read about your little 'off' but glad you're ok and didn't get squashed by any vehicles during the fall from grace...Guess the tyre levers were suffering from fatigue in the cold?
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby jonathon.e » 04 Feb 2013 20:45

Years ago, my mother used to say to me, she'd say "In this world, Elwood, you can be oh so so smart, or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart... I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.


My little off last week caused a bit more damage than first thought, scratches and bruises I can cope with, if cyber dyne ever wish to remodel their CSM 101 T-800 model, I would be happy to oblige, however, once the adrenaline and other post accident hormones that got secreted into my system had worn off, I realised that I had damaged my adductor muscle, probably wrenched it when I hit the deck.

This only came to light when I tried to get in the car to go to work and discovered I couldn't lift my leg up when in the sitting position. It just needed to be lifted up by hand, made gear changing a laugh a minute. The pain is not too bad, no running or cycling the past week, probably give it another 7-10 days.

Swimming on the other hand, has surprisingly improved, my aim for winterswim was to knock a minute off my base time, last Friday, doing FC my adductor would twinge with each leg kick, my 400m time was 12 secs slower, than my quickest. So reducing my leg movements today to little more than a slight stabilising flutter, not a big kick, the stabilising movement coming from below the knee to minimise pain, the 400m time was 9 secs quicker with less leg movement and more upper body movement. So kicking is over rated.

Also learned over the past few months with winterswim, my times are quicker in the late afternoon, even after a nine hour shift, rather than first thing in the morning, I prefer early morning training as most races are at stupid o'clock anyway so trying to replicate the race body clock, didn't produce the quickest times, likewise with running and cycling, always quicker in the afternoon. Hey there you go.

Feel free to ignore the next bit, maybe I should have put it in the Shit list, but I don't like putting things in there, you only make your own fate, and sometimes shit happens. I was trying to work out why I came off the bike, I consider myself an average rider, go out in all weathers, ride within my limits, treat every other road user as someone who will try to knock me off, and, the only logical conclusion I could come too, was I lost concentration due to me breaking my own cardinal sin of bringing my work out of the workplace. No I didn't park a 757 in the back garden without my better halfs permission. An ex colleague has filed a grievance against me, and most of the department, along with other staff members. Now part of my job is to ensure that my colleagues maintain a standard that is safe, I have the minimum standard, below which they get taken out of the work position, and I have a Best Practice standard. I try to ensure that they maintain above this best practice, if they fall below that they are still safe but there is a buffer which allows me to get them back up to best practice, rather than unsafe.



Perhaps " I've found smog at the end of my rainbow ".

Moving onto a lighter note, in this months 220 mag, there is an article about 50 one hour session. The first paragraph reads,

" Now is not the time of the year to be grinding out five-hour rides and 40km runs......but doing shorter workouts allows you to focus on other aspects of training, like technique,speed, power and efficiency.

At the start of this training log I think I put:
The new season starts now, I never really have a definitive season, it just blends, the Triathlon events have ceased but there are still events to be had, training continues, do what you feel you need to over the autumn/winter months. Some say it should be base training, with long slow runs and rides. OK, you may get the odd day when the sun comes out, the temperature approaches double figures, you have time off, your family say you can go out, the moon is blue and the planets have aligned, but what if that doesn't happen.

I advocate speed training for winter, and if the above happens go for it, but a LSD run/bike, getting cold, wet, miserable, and hacked off may not be the best. Speed, fast hard intervals, getting warm and staying warm, staying happy, the rain is lashing down, the wind howling and the pillars of heaven are shaking, but that quick hard session leaves a deep down warm feeling, you push it out, the steam rises from your body, you know in an hour you will be back home, a quality session in the bag, handling a bike at speed on a wet road, nervous at first, but a few shaky moments and your confidence improves .

Must be psychic.

Oh, and Mr Graves article about drafting in last months Tri plus, had a lot of regurgated stuff about chasing the press vehicles, this was from the late eighties, early nineties, Allen, Tinley era.

Happy trails, and
" if you find out who the stranger in the bath tub is" can you let me know. 8-)
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Re: FROM THE TEA ROOMS OF MARS TO THE HELL HOLES OF URANUS!

Postby Jack Hughes » 04 Feb 2013 22:01

Good thought provoking stuff.

Gathering the storms to troop, by the sound of it.
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