2409.02 THE WEDDING

On the 19th of August my eldest daughter, Harley, was married to her long term partner, Josh. The day was the culmination of months of organisation by Harley mainly which came together for a magical and emotional day.

2401.24 THE NEXT GENERATION

Our lives are full of milestones, points in our lives that map out our very existance. When we meet the love of our lives, the birth of our children, the arrival of a beloved pet. Of course these are just some of the positives - this is what I want to concentrate on today...

1902.25 TONY GOT A FLYPAST

On Friday there was a substantial event in my home city of Sheffield. If you've following it on the news (particularly BBC Breakfast) it's the story of a man who tends to a memorial in a local park that came to light when on of the Breakfast presenters came across him whilst he was walking his dog. The man wanted a flypast to commemorate the 75th anniversary of a USAF aeroplane that crashed there. We couldn't make the flypast that morning but we still thought it important to pay our respects.

1707.28 HIS NOODLEY GOODNESS

I've been to many weddings in my life. Some have been moving, some have been dull. Some have been enjoyable but I don't think I've ever been able to describe any as "fun", until now.

1705.12 LDN ON A SHOESTRING

...Or a cycling themed trip to the capital when I'm skint. 

My best mate of 30 years got free tickets to the Spin Cycling Festival at Europa in London. What a great excuse for a trip.

1705.01 MY TOUR DE YORKSHIRE

For months now I've had the prospect of my upcoming ride in the Maserati Tour de Yorkshire Sportive in my future. It all felt like it wasn't real...

...until it was.

1703.31 ARTICLE 50 - SHIT JUST GOT REAL

On Wednesday our Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty starting a two year countdown to the UK's exit from the European Union. Britain's ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, hand-delivered a six page letter from Mrs May to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels to formally begin proceedings.

1605.30 STRICTLY SHUFFLE'S WEDDING

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to celebrate my friend "Shuffle's"  wedding. It was at a very nice hotel on the other side of Sheffield. It was in fact the same hotel Morticia used to work in about 20 years ago. It was a well put together do, now my friend Shuffle and his bride (and a number of his friends - not me obviously) are really good dancers. I've seen him perform a number of times. His wedding day was no exception, the happy couple performed a choreographed routine for their 'first dance' before the other dancing couples hit the dance floor. Later the amateurs got to have a go.

Fun on the Dancefloor

It was a great night with only the bar prices letting the event down.

1602.28 TOM SIMPSON MEMORIAL RIDE

I've never ridden this event but I've certainly heard of it so when my club mentioned joining in I felt compelled to join in. I've been a little off cycling (apart from my commutes). It's common to lose your mojo during the winter months so this seemed the ideal way to refocus. I made sure I told as many people as possible so I'd find it difficult to get out of participating. I got the summer bike up on the work stand the day before (it's been hooked up to the turbo trainer for a while) and gave it a good going over and a clean up.

The alarm woke me about 7am and after getting in my club kit and a bit of breakfast I got the bike set off to the starting point. The starting point was in Bircotes, over 15 miles from home - good warm up ride.

The ride out was good, after a few miles I was feeling pretty good. I took it steady whilst keeping an eye on the time. I thought I'd see more riders on the way up, I only came across a few on the way (although I had no idea if they were travelling to the same event). I arrived at about 9:10am. There were about 15 other members of my club there to ride amongst the hundreds of others.

It was a 10am start but the organisers started to let riders go in groups of 30 or so from 9:50am. We were off and although the organisers had stressed that this event was NOT A RACE it was clear from the off that the pace was much more than I expected. I stayed with my club mates for a while but the speed as we hurtled towards Retford was just too much (most of them are seasoned road racers and time trialists). I reached Retford much faster than I anticipated and before I knew it I was through the other side. I caught up with the club as we headed north and stayed with them for a while. We ended up in a large group somewhere near Gainsborough (I think) which scattered our group a little. I got penned in and lost my club again. As we turned west the field became thinner and where there were large peletons at the beginning now we had small groups and individuals. There was one member that I managed to catch up with and although he was a few hundred yards in front I felt confident that he knew where he was going (he'd said before that he'd loaded the route into his Garmin).

The field of riders had all but vanished except for my club mate who was ahead but still in sight. I had started to suspect that I was going the wrong way for a while and I was almost certain when I started to see signs saying I was on the A18 to Doncaster. I lost sight of my lead at the next roundabout. Knowing I was off course and on my own I considered just heading home but part of me wanted to finish so I headed towards Bawtry (knowing that the route passed through there) on a route that took me through the busy retail parks and past the racecourse.

Reaching Bawtry was a big boost to me after seeing riders that had obviously finished and heading home. From Bawtry it was easy going back to the finish point. I was pleased to have made it round even if I'd added miles to my ride. After a short break I had more riding to do. I needed to get home.

The ride between Bircotes and home had a few climbs, nothing nasty but after almost 5 hours in the saddle I felt them all. Having said that I got over and through at a fair pace and arrived home in good time.

Would I do it again? If the weather was as good then yes, but I'd make sure I had the route nailed down and I think I'd want to train a bit harder.

This is what the organisers said afterwards... 

The 2016 Tom Simpson Memorial broke all previous records today with the leading group that included Russ Downing, John and Jake Tanner racing around the course in 2 hours and 5 minutes taking 20 minutes off the previous fast time set two years ago. 399 riders signed on today breaking the previous best of 225 riders . The total money raised today was a staggering £2106.62 which has been banked today and a chq for half this amount has been sent to the David Rayner Fund . Thanks to all of those that signed on and took part in todays ride.

A great start to hopefully a great cycling year.

Strava
Tom Simpson

1206.05 JUBILEE

I wasn't too bothered about the up and coming Diamond Jubilee celebrations at least until the event came along. We didn't attend any events (mainly because there was very little locally). I did find myself being carried forward with the wave of patriotism and national pride, hey they even gave me a medal.

0910.10 EXPLOSIVE!

Nothing much exciting happens around here, or so I thought. In the early hours of Monday morning I was woken rudely by a car alarm. I went through to the front of the house to see one of the neighbours' cars in flames. It was parked on the road (so little danger of the house catching fire). I rang 999 for the fire service, they had already received the call and a fire engine promptly arrived and began tackling the blaze.

So, what it an unprovoked act of mindless damage? An enemy of my neighbour? Or perhaps a racial attack (the owner of the car is Asian). After speaking to him he seems to think it's the first one. Who knows? Thankfully since then it's returned to the quiet, boring street and I like it like that.