Jake's Rides

New Blog on The Block

My mate Marcus has joined the blogging scene with - Marcus' Marathon Blog. In his own words it's:

A wart's and all training diary of an overweight 33 year old running in the 2005 Flora London Marathon.

Should be a fun read. My fitness level has suffered due to DIY and office-based commitments. Maybe seeing Marcus out and about might convince me I need to get out more.

Incidentally, he was here this past weekend and came out on the town with, but didn't drink alcohol, which he's been off for 130-odd days now. Impressive stuff. Sometimes I wish I could do this, but I know I am too week.

Out and About Again

Sorry, it's been quiet here for ages now. Moving house can drain all your spare time for months. As it has done!

I did manage to get out about a week ago. Just ten miles round the local footpaths. Nothing special. Boring fields and tracks.

What I have managed to do is get out with our next-door neighbour and a buddy of his. They're in to night-riding and have rigged up a load of halogen bulbs and powerful batteries. Bit nerdy but it's great fun.

We're off out tomorrow night to Sherwood Pines. I'll try and take the camera with me.

Tour of Britain

Tour of Britain. Remember it? Went away five years ago but it's back now.

On Friday it's Stage 3, which ends in Nottingham. Might try and get down to Victoria Embankment for 3pm to see it.

Olympic MTB Schedule

I checked the BBC site just now to see when the mountain biking events were on, half expecting to have missed them. Thankfully not. They are later on this week. The ladies on Friday morning and the gents on Saturday.

Mountain Bike schedule

More Foolery

We had a friend visit this weekend as so we took her for a drive round Nottingham to see the sites. Sat at traffic lights just before the Theatre Royal we sat and pondered a drunk, who had passed out on the pavement beside us, clutching his bottle of spirits. As we did two dudes on BMXs both bunny-hopped him, in turn. It was really funny and they knew they had made us laugh as they turned back to laugh at us laughing at them. I love moments like that!

Anyway, it reminded me of the videos of these crazy dudes, which, in turn, reminded me of another link James sent me to more crazy videos. This time they are crazy cycle couriers in the US. Insane!

Still Alive

Sorry about the silence. I've been busy moving house. It's true what they say - it's the most stressfult thing you will probably ever do.

Moving in to an old house means there's plenty to do and I've not yet had chance to get out on the bike. Been doing some driving round though and eyed-up some nice looking countryside and wooded areas. Just need to get myself an OS map of the area so I can go out and discover. Back soon...

Lance is the Man!

You probably don't need telling this, but, Lance Armstrong made history today.

There's is no doubting what an amazing achievement six Tour victories is. But, how does it compare with other sporting greats. Read opinions on this BBC page.

Our Friends in the North

They say people are friendlier in The North and I don't doubt it. Sunderland is about as far north as you can get, in England at least, and I've never met as friendly a bunch of people. Just tonight, out on my bike, I got chatting to another guy, also on his bike. It started with us both bemoaning the new "kissing gate" they've installed on the path we were riding. It finished about ten minutes later with us swapping locations of favourite Chinese take-aways in the area.

It's a shame I'm leaving the region at the end of next week. I'm going to miss it up here. It's also a shame that I have a week before I leave and have so much work on that I have no time to do the things I want to do before I go. Here's a list. As much for my own benefit as anything else:

• Make it to Hamsterley Forest.
• Get to Bamburgh Castle with my camera for a sunset.
• Spend a day riding in the North York Moors and a day in Northumberland.
• Ride my finely-tuned 25 mile circular route one last time

Luckily, Karen is going to be driving back up here at least once a month and I will probably join here a few times. When you've only got a weekend it's amazing what you can squeeze in to a day. I feel ashamed that I've been here over a year and not made the most of it...

GPS and Bluetooth

There's a new gadget about that lets you turn your PC in to a GPS device via Bluetooth. It's called, imaginatively, the Bluetooth GPS and there's a full full review on Mobile Gadget News.

Turning your laptop in to a GPS unit might not sound such a great idea, depending on how portable a laptop it is. More exciting is the idea of turning your mobile phone in to a GPS unit.

Thanks to Clarkey for the link.

Something else for the Wishlist

This month's mbr magazine has a review of backpacks. Timely, as I'm on the market for one. My 10 litre pack just ain't big enough no more. It's ok for short rides if you just want a few tools and a sandwich. However, if you want to take a camera and spare layer of clothing, it becomes a squeeze.

MBR gave 8/10 to the Karrimor's Carve 20 (shown). Not the cheapest of packs at £45 but nothing is when it comes to biking nowadays.

Pack shown is green/black and not too attractive. It comes in charcoal/black though.