Watch Wednesday

Don't worry, this isn't a regular feature to the blog, but in the follow up to the hugely popular Road Bike Party Martyn Ashton has done it again with a little help from his friends, who seemingly have recreated some of their own vids but on a rather fine road bike.

 

It's demonstrations by some of the UK's finest riders, so sit back, grap a cuppa and spend 6 minutes of your life having a watch

 

Review

At the run in to 2013 I wrote a post about my goals for the year   In this I had sat down and identified several things which I wanted to achieve during 2013.  I guess they were set to be challenging, a target for the year which is achieved in 2 months is never going to stretch or motivate when the clouds gather and rain is more likely than wall to wall sunshine.
I guess now that we are approaching mid-year it's wise to revisit.

Goal One - Ride Wentwood in  decent Time
hashtag fail.. Crap preparation, crap fitness, crap time, crap crap crap

Goal Two - Ride 2013 milesOk, so at the start of the year this required me to ride 39 miles a week, every week to achieve.  Not a massive distance for roadies, who probably knock out 500 miles a month.  For a slack mountain biker however, this is not the case.  At present I have ridden a grand total of <fanfare> 358 Miles, more a wet fart than a high energy fireworks display I think you would agree.  I do feel confident however, I've started ramping up the mileage and hopefully, with the persistent illness which dogged the start of the year behind me I will start catching up during the next six months.

Goal Three - Learn To Jump
Yeah, still trying, still crap.

Goal Four - Complete a Half IronmanThis is something I still really want to do.  When I discussed it originally with Kate she was quick to reign in my enthusiasm and inject a dose of reality.  We've got a new baby and new babies are renowned for their ability to deliver sleep deprivation with ease.  Training for something as challenging as an 1800m swim, 90k bike and 21k run on minimal shut eye is going to create problems (and is possibly the reason I was struck down by so many bugs during the new year).  I'm still incorporating Running, Swimming and Cycling into my weekly plans however.  I've completed several half marathon distance runs in training already this year and can happily swim sub 30 minute miles whenever I make it to the local pool.  In all honesty though I think that discretion is the better part of valour.  I'm swapping out the half ironman for 2013 and in it's place will sit an imperial century on a bike, possibly by completing this  Still a challenge to someone not used to riding that sort of distance, but something slightly more achievable.  I'm viewing 2013 as a base year however, and will hope that the completion of a half ironman next year will become infinitely more enjoyable with a far increased level of fitness than I can really hope to gain in the time I have remaining before my target event.

What else is there to say....

Along with a huge amount of bikers all over the UK, I have a certain fondness for Mint Sauce.. the mtb riding sheep that sprung from the creative mind of Jo Burt.

Mint Sauce has an iconic status, with deep messages hidden in beautifully drawn whole page cartoons.

I found this the other day.. it's since taken up residence as my wallpaper.. but I just had to share;

How can I say any more?

Hazy Summer Memories Part Deux (Evolution)

A Note before I start...
I gotta say, this isn't a definitive list, more the stuff which have been important to me, if you've been around biking for a little while, check out the links for some "Oh Yeah!" moments, if you haven't, take a look to see how things used to be.. either way let me know what you think.

I remember thinking I was a little strange when I was younger, and not for a lot of the normal reasons typically associated with teen angst (although I had my fair share of that too).  Regardless of my age, I remained obsessed with all things pedal, friends started leaving bikes in respective sheds for longer and longer and then, when cars replaced bikes as the main method for geting around many were finally shelved for good.

Not mine, instead of saving for expensive stereos and bucket seats for xr2i's I was dreaming of things like this..



The Girvin Flexi-stem... ahh.

It's worth mentioning at this point I was about 14 when this came out and that everything is relative...

When I wasn't looking through magazines for expensive add ons I was watching rather grainy biking videos in an attempt to get a biking fix.. MBUK used to give videos out with their magazine, including the rather fantastic Dirt Video.  This was great for the teenage me, when I wasn't able to get out and ride I was able to sit in my room and watch other people do it instead.

These first videos were simple things, riders hooning down fields, poking out their tongues at the camera and wearing typical early 90's oversized tshirts, the bloke behind the lense appeared to be attempting to keep everything in focus whilst being repeatedly kicked in the nuts with a heavy pair of workboots.


Then there was the racing (rare and hardly ever seen on tv) showing the early heroes, Tim Gould, Caroline Alexander, John Tomac, Missy Giove and of course, the legendary JMC The sight of a MTB race in the tv listings had me excited and glued to the tv.. Check the out the colours  1990's bike race


Fast forward to the era of the Playstation and, in my mind came the export from Australia which did something to make up for  Rolf Harris. Mud Cows  This, although still grainy, contained both substance and style.. it was still seemingly filmed by a bunch of mates there was a range of camera shots, humour and bike skills that made me watch over and over, all alongside a soundtrack that I lapped up.

Now, in a pre-ride ritual I could either watch crazy Aussies injure themselves for my amusement or fire up the PS2 and play this... No Fear Downhill Racer

 And now we hit the You Tube generation, biking has gone mainstream and big name companies are making lots of cash, sponsored riders get familiar brands into houses up and down the country through their increasingly mind blowing riding and now mates are able to make professional quality videos with a laptop and a camera costing a few hundred quid.  A favourite of mine these days is The Collective Seasons

Incredible riding, beautiful scenery and big budget camera shots are now the order of the day and some that I've seen in the last few days are dropping my jaw in the way that Mud Cows once did. Life Cycles   La Palma - Dusty Days
 
Regardless, to me the effect is the same as it was back in the early 90's to keep the desire for riding going when my bike is out of reach and long may the film makers continue.