Lunar's birthday; Scotty's debut 2014 blast

This blog entry has been posted late because work are making me work many a night shift, am slightly intoxicated at time of writing and today was my daughter Lunar's first birthday!

Baby Lunar reads 'In the Night Garden' with Daddy

Anyways, let's attempt a blog entry. Ok, last week I didn't cycle so many Peter Kay's, less than a 100k in fact. However, I did make it out on 3 separate occasions. Each adventure was using my MTB which had recently had the rear hub serviced again.

The hub on my MTB was a DT Swiss model and it had been wonky for ages. Speeds Cycles in Bromsgrove had serviced it in the past but it never really felt much better to be honest. This time around, I got Cult Cycles to fix it - which they did, but it cost me a whopping £62. Even with hub fixed and mech hanger replaced, my Scott Scale 20 didn't feel perfect. Sadly, my MTB is equipped with Avid disc brakes which are in my humble opinion quite pants. I don't earn enough dollars to replace said brakes…

Anyways, my MTB 'Scotty' was fixed and ready enough for adventure. First adventure was a quick blast with my buddy Ron. We cycled a shortened version of my Deer route which Ron dubbed 'The Deer route - no antlers'. 

For my second trip, I cycled Ron's TROAD route. The TROAD (The Route Of Absolute Doom) is a great ride that Ron jokes is 'his perm'. When I first started cycling this route, I considered it hard, but to be fair it isn't so tough at all - in fact, it's a classic lovely route to cycle and local to me - bonus! When I cycled this route on this occasion, I was caught in a slurry of snow! Could you believe it?! - Snow, when all we've had all year has been rain, rain, rain.

To complete my cycling for the week I had a blast around the Reed route. The Reed route is essentially the Deer route in reverse. I swapped the off-road sections for road, simply because Scotty was kitted out in slicks.

One might re-call I took my weight in January and it was over 92kg, closer to 93kg. Well, I did manage to bring my weight down, in fact I got down to 88kg! However, no photographic evidence is available currently. To be honest, a trip to Lin's plus today's birthday cake piled the weight back on. Is good that I know I can exercise some control. Watch this space.

So, what are my plans for February?! I plan to cycle a (hilly) 200k event on the 18th (weather permitting) and am looking forward to the Snowdrop Express 123k with a whole bunch of friends. Hopefully, the snowdrop will be completed on a single-speed bike. I also plan to eat less cake!

Lunar and Daddy on a future birthday?!