April to May (Something in the way)

Whoa, haven't blogged in a while but taken part in much adventure. Was getting a bit frustrated with this blog platform to be honest and toyed with the idea of creating a new blog. However, for now at least, have decided to stay put. This blog platform is free and despite the others have many improved features, they all charge fees for blog hosting etc and despite talking about monthly fee's what folk to pay up annually. Pah!

Naff pic, great badge

Ron the Phantom

Our trusty steeds

Ok, so what have I been up to since my last post? Well, the first kinda cool thing I did was to cycle to Dynamic Cycles and collect my 'A Day in Hell' pin badge. I collected one for Ron too. Hmm, this means I'll have to cycle this event with Ron one time. Ha!

Next awesome adventure was a 200k audax event. I've since lost most of the info about this ride but let me tell you what I can remember. It was an event titled 'Goats Head Soup' and was about 160k long. I cycled this event with Ron, Jamie and Kay who was cycling her brand new bike. We passed through 2 tunnels including the longest tunnel in England at just over a mile long. Amongst the wonders of the day was a stone circle in or near Compton Martin. We cycled a long stretch without food. It was a lot of fun. This was the first Oliver Ile's audax that any of us had cycled.

The 1st May was the night of the Big Brummie Campout. My girls both wanted to camp initially so we all snuggled into my little 2 man tent in the garden. All was well for about an hour and then the girls decided to abandon camp and go back indoors. I went back indoors too, but only to get Ernie. Ernie and I had a boys night out. At least a few quids were raised to help the homeless.

Lovely views on Gospel Pass Skivers

Fed this horse a locket as had no polo's

Rainbow Dash's last trip

The Gospel Pass Skivers was a further 200k audax that was completed in April. This was an interesting ride and was Rainbow Dash's (my Specialized Roubaix Comp) last trip. Relatively unusual for an audax to start on a Friday morning. This was not the first time I had cycled over the Gospel Pass, however, cycled a different route round. Cycles a stretch with this fella called Frasier who was an interesting guy - though he dropped me when the serious climbs kicked in. Small stretcg cycled with Phil Whiteman (organiser) and about 25% cycled solo style. A nice, relatively tough route (about 3,000m climbing) with Ankerdine Hill (freshly gravel surfaced) proving to be the final sting in the tail.

GerTruDe

Rainbow Dash had seen a number of adventures, however, decided to retire her. I was not happy with the 'suspension' for the front bars and felt it knocked the geometry out and essentially made the bike less comfortable. My previous Roubaix (which I still use) feels way more comfy. Anyways, I had ordered a MTB via the cycle to work scheme but delivery wasn't expected to next year. So, I cancelled the order and replaced with a nice shiny new titanium frame. Yup, I've gotten my hands on a Kinesis GTD ('Go The Distance') V2 frameset. Rainbow Dash's guts (groupset) was used to build up my Kinesis. Welcome GerTruDe, am sure you're gonna be an awesome ride!

Before the month of May was out, I was able to combine 2 great adventures into 1. Rob, Ron and I went for a wild camp and I used this as part of my Gravel Union Doorstep Challenge. The wild camp was fun, despite it raining from start to pretty much finish.

The Gravel Union Doorstep Challenge was a lot of fun. It was a good excuse to pedal a few local miles really and take a few random photo's. I doubt my entries will win a prize.