Week 3 2013 Brrrrrr

Over the weekend i received an email about a competition to win a "Merida" bike through cyclescheme by recording the most number of commutes....

initially I took this to mean distance as well as commutes , so i thought "who else would be crazy enough to cycle to and from work 28 miles each way for 2 weeks" i might be in with a chance!

With low tyres from previous audax on my new winter tyres a purchase was necessary "Topeak Joe Blow Max HP floorpump" I was reluctant to purchase "cold" from halfords, initially thinking i would purchase their cheapo one, however it looked like junk and a waste of £12.99, bit of a check on the web whilst in store revealed that Topeak is almost fixed price so nothing lost by spending my loo laa in store, purchase made, tyres pumped up, sorted

Up early Monday, bike prepared, loaded up with laptop and clothes for the day (normally all of this would be at work so i could cycle light) 

To say it was chilly would be an understatement but i have cycled in the cold many times so all was good, many colleagues were surprised to see me arrive in cycling gear, additionally to save on weight my attire for the day was of a summery nature, again prompting lots of raised eyebrows.

Journey home was nice, as was the journey back in to work the next day and i felt pretty good.

It occurred to me to check the rules of the competition again as it kept ringing in my ears "number of commutes" this didn't concern me terribly as i thought i was doing the maximum number of commutes a day anyway...to work and back.

Closer inspection of the rules and an email later and it was now clear that the highest number of commutes was to decide the winner and in the event of more than one person having the same number, the winner would be chosen at random......"what a crock!!!!"....so someone who has a 1 mile commute has equal chance....balls!!!....worse than that loads of people were claiming 4 commutes a day, how is that possible, so i quit!

journey home was not so enthusiastic and was quite tiring, so to be fair a week of commuting may well have been a bit much on top of working as well, then the real cold came and the snow, so just as well i reckon

No Business like Snow business

I was all geared up for a lunch time blast in the woods at the back of work on Friday, alas this was not to be as we were sent home early...Saturday however was a different story.....

Single speed out, GoPro mounted, Game on

 

Before

After

My attempts at extreme sports cinematography of the very same expedition can be seen here, the route was a simple blat along the edge of the Jubilee river near my house, bike was fast rolling over the snow, it was great to be out even if it was just over 6 miles.

My cycling week didn't end there, Bike show London was on at the excell, The show was quite good overall but nothing like the images of eurobike, worth a visit if you haven't been before but i think my cycling tastes and interests departed the main stream years ago so it left me wondering if i had wasted my afternoon and the admission fee, although the shoulder massage i was duped into having by Ibiza Angels was fantastic and fixed aches i didn't realise i had :-)

Target for the week 90K

Total distance achieved 181.86K