it goes faster when it matches...

Race Update

2010-04-01T03:40:00.000-07:00

Quick update on what's been happening with the racing season this year.
I've been racing as an A3 this year, so mostly it has been handicap races with the A1 and A2 riders. Aside from one race, but more on that in a bit.

Annaclone GP

10th in this race, a tough course and the a1 and a2 riders caught the handicap group on the last lap, I managed to stay with some of the a1, a2 who jumped through and came in strong with a good lead out.

Phoenix GP

6th position and my first point! Also got £10 for the prize money. Better than a poke in the eye. Was a great race, the a1, a2 groups didn't catch us and I had a decent uphill finish, if I had more of a kick I may have placed higher.

John Haldane

New course for this race in Newry, basically up and down a dual carriageway. Doesn't sound that exciting but a good workout. I took a flyer from the bottom roundabout and attempted to time trial to a win. Got caught about 250m from the line... ah well... gotta give these things a go.

John Moore Memorial

New course for this also, tough course at that. Finished well in the bunch.

PJ Logan GP

Hardest race so far this year, a figure 8 circuit with strong cross winds and LUMPY ass hills. Finished in the bunch. Loads of dropouts so pleased enough with performance.

Ciclosport GP

Was hoping for a better showing here to be honest. Strong headwind on the 'out' stretch of the course. One of my team went up the road, so no chasing. When the a2 group caught us I should have been on my teammate Niall's wheel, but I missed my opportunity.

Tour of Ards

Didn't know if I was to get a start in this as I was on the reserve list, but I turned up on the day and got a race. A hard course on not great road surfaces, but pretty flat. It was fast. Didn't even see the break of the a1 guys going.

This was also the first mass start race of the year. Good prep for the Tour of the North.

Aghagallon GP

What a race. Tried to break on the first lap and one guy came with me. At the end of the first lap, two other bridged to us, then one of them cut in front of me and wiped me out. End of race.

I'm now covered in road rash up my left hand side which isn't terribly pleasant.
Damage to bike:
- tape
- shifters
- rear wheel damage
- pride

Tour of the North

Ok, so I'm getting a little ahead of myself. This starts tomorrow evening at Stormont and I am nervous. The crash this week didn't help either.

Wish me luck!

Reliable Reliabilities

2010-02-15T05:10:00.000-08:00

So its February, and the reliability not-races have started again.

Last weekend 7th Feb was the East Antrim CC trial, nice enough weather and on decent roads. Fast pace at the start with a tasty tailwind the whole way round... till we turned into it and it was headwind time. This was slightly mitigated by the fact that we took in a 3-4 mile descent down into Glenarm which was just awesome. If it had have been drier I think it would have been faster and more awesome-er.

Yesterday was the Maryland Wheelers Trial. Man, this was fast. I reckon an average of about 24mph+ over the course of around 70 miles.
The big boys were fairly hammering the pace. I felt fine till the P-stop... then something happened, either riders went on or something.. but it left everyone chasing like hell to get back on. Including me.

Right into the red-zone, then couldn't settle properly till we hit the climb at the horsehoe bend in Castlewellan, always fun weaving through those going backwards on it.
More fast paced stuff right up to the tea and sandwiches stop.. with blustery crosswinds forcing echelons.
The ride went on in this pace till Saintfield where it turned onto the John Moore race course... then I got blew out. Nothing left in the legs at all.
I'm putting that down to a number of things:
- I had a hard club run the day before
- I had a bit of a sniffle
- I ate the wrong food
- It was nigh on impossible to eat at the speed we were doing
- I was on my winter bike

Pick an excuse.. any excuse :-)

Anyways.. this weekend is the Phoenix CC (my club) reliability trial.. and a summer bike will be out to play. I reckon that alone will drop about 5-6 pounds of weight that I don't have to muscle up a hill.

Feeling somewhat toasted today!

2009-12-03T05:31:00.002-08:00

This is the saddle thats been on my winter bike for the past 6-8 weeks now. I've pretty much been testing it out for Paul @ Wiggle. (Mine is the black one..)

I have to say it really is an excellent saddle. I previously had a Specialized Toupe on there and this replaced it. And it replaced it very well! I would say it took about an hour to get settled on it properly and get the height tweaked a little.
But once that was done, its been all good. I guess the best thing I can say is that I haven't actively noticed the saddle because it hasn't hurt, it hasn't rubbed, it hasn't slipped and its been damn comfortable.

That's *damn* comfortable throughout all the random riding I've been doing too. Because its winter training time, the time spent in the saddle has been longer and at a slower speed so you tend to notice things more. Also it has been subject to some time trial efforts (yes I know.. shouldn't be doing them at this time of year) on the way to work and also a few interval sprints (yes.. shut up.) ending in my slapping my arse on the saddle fairly firmly.

The only downside to it, is that it could be a little lighter. Its coming in at 240g+ whereas a Toupe is about 160g so near 100g difference.
I don't think I'd put it on the race bike due to the weight, but for training and winter... its pretty much perfect.

Would I buy it? Hell yeah. Great saddle, great price... only minor downside is that its a bit heavy. Of course... I could just lose some weight.... hmm.

Spending time going nowhere

2009-12-03T05:31:00.001-08:00

But at least we tried to do it fast.

Yesterday myself and the boss-man were off to a meeting in Dundalk so demo some of the work we've been doing over the past while.
Journey there was fine till we hit Newry, then it was tailback city. Eventually got through this, made it on time and did our thing.
All good. Then we started to head home, and got caught in more traffic again in pretty damn rotten weather.
An hour later we made it through and started making a bit of progress again... then I was home and that was pretty much it for the day.

Not a terribly exciting story. The reason I'm waffling about this is that while I was sitting in traffic I could see some fantastic looking scenery that was around the Mourne area with lots and lots of rolling hills and some mountains. Where did I want to be? On my bike, pulling faces, while climbing up the mountains. Not stuck in the damn car.

The Newry and Mourne area is home to one of the best amateur races that runs during the year, the Newry 3 day. This is the type of race that makes everyone riding it feel like a semi-pro, even just for a few days.

Its got police escorts, rolling road closures and all the good stuff that makes you feel like you are a pro for a day.

I rode this last year, and while I finished in mid table obscurity I had some great rides in it and some standout sections, like when I rode a TTT trying to bring back the break on the first night so our GC guy wouldn't lose too much time, like when I attacked off the front on the second day taking the GC guy with me to get him a gap and then spectacularly blow up to get dropped on the next climb, only to get back on during the descent.

Well... stand out moments for me anyways :-)

Anyways, the basic upshot is that I had some nice daydreams when busy going nowhere.

Friday.

2009-11-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

Been a long week. A *really* long week.
Busy busy in work trying to get some iphone stuff tidied up and also in some of the services work I'm doing at the moment which is pretty full on and tiring. But its Friday... so this is good, even though I can't summon a lot of enthusiasm for it... kinda feel more like just going to bed.

Anyways... on a separate story.... some days you are just angry on the bike... this happened to me yesterday (thanks bank people - shitheads). At about 3-ish got a call from the bank taking away my overdraft and forcing me to put the amount of it on a loan. One would image that they are trying to save money.... one would also imagine that they should look more at themselves instead of people who put a a decent salary into their bank account every month. Anyways, this really pissed me right off... so obviously the way to teach them a lesson was to ride home *really* angry.

So I did.

Drilled it hard into a headwind for a good 3 miles without dropping intensity, sprinted at every single minor incline (I swear not even hills... just rises in the road), leant the bike over to take corners at full speed, trying to rip my feet out of the pedals and break cranks off and just generally riding like an animal. Completely in contravention to the training plan at the mo... but damn it felt good. The only thing that could have been better would have been if I had have been on a lighter stiffer bike instead of the trusty winter steed.

It was fun! But the bank still suck donkey ass.

Rich G's Lyrnskey

2009-11-26T10:53:00.001-08:00

PB250270, originally uploaded by richard.gearing.

Have to say, this looks pretty damn awesome.

One of the weapons for next year!

2009-11-26T10:47:00.001-08:00

caad 9 bb30, originally uploaded by Voodoo2.

Yeah... it took a while, but I managed to get it. At a cost to credit rating, money in bank and all that sort of shit.

But here is spanky caad 9 with bb30 crankset... and man this baby just flies!

Ok... so its been a while.

2009-11-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is mainly because I have been twittering away like a numpty instead of updating the blog! Well, perhaps now I have something profound to say... or maybe not.

Basically at the moment we (the royal we) are in winter training mode... this basically means lots of long-ish slow-ish miles trying to build up my base fitness. What I found last year was that I was burning out on races over 50 miles. So this will hopefully rectify the issue!

Even so... it's hard not to want to put the boot in and give it a lash every now and then!

I've also recently been testing out a saddle from the Kiron me2 range of saddles and I have to say its pretty damn excellent. I would say I've put close to 50 hour solid sitting on it now and it really is very comfortable and fits my arse nicely! I would recommend anyone picking up one of these. The only possible complaint I could have is that if it were a race saddle it could be a bit lighter.

No news on the gardening front... except that the veggie patch has been replaced by a shed. I just didn't have time to maintain it this year so it has become a new shed with my bikes and training kit in it. :-)

Puddles Posing II

2009-03-14T07:36:00.001-07:00

Puddles Posing, originally uploaded by Voodoo2.

The cat in flowers again.... can't do anything in the back garden!

Puddles Posing

2009-02-26T14:19:00.001-08:00

Puddles Posing, originally uploaded by Voodoo2.

well it's the cat. trying to be dead sophisticated and not looking at the camera and stuff. however, she's still a fluffy monster.

want.

2009-02-26T13:43:00.001-08:00

these:

awesome looking cycling shoes. bloody dear though.

preparing for the weekend

2009-02-26T13:37:00.000-08:00

So it's Thursday evening.... and the weekends racing (first of the season) is almost upon me. This week has been interesting. I was happy to get round the Phoenix CC reliability last Sunday without and damn mechanical issues... but it was hard work.

Monday, I did a bit of a recovery ride.
Tuesday, I started to come down with man-flu.
Wednesday, spent all day in bed (more or less).
Thursday, back to work and on the bike... did a turbo session of 90 second intervals.
Friday, working from home as the Sky man is coming to fit a new Sky+HD box.
Saturday, Annaclone GP
Sunday, Phoenix GP

The man-flu is more or less shifted, but nose is still fairly congested... I'm hoping a good nights sleep will sort it out.

Yep... kinda planning to do both races. This is more or less in prep for the Armagh-Downpatrick St. Patricks Day classic... but yes... I am going to be body-bagged if I manage to do both.

Bring it on..... ( I say in pretend arrogance and true idiocy...)

ranting.

2009-02-18T04:14:00.000-08:00

Today seems to be a ranting day.

In that spirit, let me tell you how much I hate IVR systems. They just don't work with Irish accents. Ever. Never mind telling you what date my holiday is on... let me use the keypad. Or talk to someone!! What happened to press one for payments etc??

Muppets.

mechanical difficulties

2009-02-18T04:09:00.000-08:00

I am not having a good start to the pre-racing season. Its just not good... firstly I turn up at the Dave Kane reliability and go with the a-run, little did I know that it was full of first cats who wanted to ride at 30mph on shitty roads round the ards peninsula. And with me being a bundle of nerves at getting back into riding into a fast pack. Joy. I got shelled after about 30 miles and had no intention of finishing it then... too windy by yourself. Feck that.

Next... a training run doing some hill repeats on Stormont on the canyon bike with tubular tyres... all good, hard work (but we like that)... until warming down and I hit a pothole on the newtownards road. I think I may have been the first person ever to pinch flat a tub. Argh. Ok.. so need to get that off and get it repaired to save buying a new one at 40 sheets.

Next... Maryland reliability... going well... had got over initial nervousness and starting to settle in nicely for some hard work... going uphill.. pop. Argh. Chain has popped the missing link used to join it. And thats me stranded in Katesbridge somewhere.... phone Mrs Henderson for a lift him. Doh. It would seem the bike shop put the wrong missing link in for that chain. The difference is a whole 0.2mm.

Next... training run home yesterday.... finishing off with a spin up Castlehill road to warm down. Oh whats that? A crater? Yep. Did I see it? No. What happened? Flatted two tyres and had to walk home. Only half a mile but even so.

Its not going well!

the sky is falling

2009-02-18T04:06:00.000-08:00

Or so it seems to me. A new low has been hit by Marks and Spencer. They're starting to sell Strawberry Jam Sandwiches.

According to the Telegraph, m&s describes the "Simply...Strawberry Jam" sarnie as a "perfect quick fix, credit crunch lunch" - part of a range of no-frills nourishment which also features free range egg or British ham cunningly deposited between slices of white bread.

M&S sandwich specialist Katy Patino enthused: "We are delighted to be launching this national favourite. It really is the ultimate comfort food at an unbeatable price, plus it's the only place on the high street where you can get a jam sandwich. For those who haven't eaten one for years, one bite takes you straight back to your childhood."

For those who are incapable of making a jam sarnie.... there you go. For the rest of the world that has at least 2 fingers... go and make it yourself you lazy git.

tune-age

2009-02-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hyped-up Psyched-Up Tunes

Ok... so as mental motivation is a big part of the whole cycling thing... well for me anyways... I find a good way to get mentally prepp'ed for a race or a reliability is to listen to top music. So in the spirit of that, I've compiled my ultimate playlist for getting ready to motor. Its is a bit of a mad mix of screamy rock and fast dance music. But generally pretty awesome.

Pretty Handsome Awkward - The used
Runaway - Avril Lavigne
Contagious - Avril Lavigne
Buck Rogers - Feeder
Seven Days in the Sun - Feeder
Normal like You - Everclear
Paint your Target - Fightstar
Grand Unification - Fightstar
A piece of mind - Finch
I'm so sick - Flyleaf
Pefect - Flyleaf
Waiting - Finch
Faint - Linkin Park
Everyday Combat - Lostprophets
See you again - Miley Cyrus
Next Contestant - Nickleback
False Pretense - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Misery Business - Paramore
Taste the poison - Story of the year
Hooch - Sum 41
Speak of the Devil - Sum41
King of Contradictions - Sum 41
Confusion & Frustration - Sum 41
No Reason - Sum 41
Welcome to Hell - Sum 41
Asshole - Sum 41
Lights & Sounds - Yellowcard

[daily dose of imagery] houses and the sun

2009-02-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

[daily dose of imagery] houses and the sun

excellent pic of snow, sun and houses.

Just A Dream Away

2009-01-25T12:53:00.001-08:00

Just A Dream Away, originally uploaded by kevin mcneal.

what an awesome pic. I love this... its almost computer generated in look, but from a camera. Some day I would like to be this good with a camera. Awesome stuff.

in anger.

2009-01-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

In anger. Is what I've not ridden my fixed gear bike in, since I broke my collar bone. As it's all healed and sorted out now, I thought as part of this weeks training regime (which has consisted of wine most nights), I would take it to work today and do an easy spin in over 5 or 6 miles, nothing too hard.

So I did.
And I think I'm still feeling pretty skittish on it. Nothing I can put my finger on specifically, but I seem to keep looking for something to go wrong on it. Not great taking off from a stop either and I'm also definitely not as confident riding in traffic on it as I used to be. Although, this morning it was cold and the roads felt a bit greasy too which didn't help.

Argh. One thing I've just remembered. I work on the 2nd floor and you have to ride up the ramps... so obviously I also have to ride down. Hmm... perhaps not such a good idea.

Also, I'm not quite sure where this leaves me with the fixed gear/track bike. The first season I did it, I loved it. But I never crashed that season... so will I go back to it this year? I don't know... I know I will be doing a lot of the club races which are on Tuesday nights anyway, so that rules out some of the track cycling... or is that just an excuse? Should I just sell the bike and give up on the fixed gear stuff?

the wheels on the bike...

2009-01-23T00:07:00.001-08:00

... go round and round, as the old nursery rhyme goes. Although in fairness... thats all I can remember of it.

Anyway. I digress. (Ha... I've always wanted to say that, even though it has no relevance.)

Ok... so this weekend the start of the reliability trials start in Northern Ireland for all the cyclists. For those that don't know (or care), a reliability trial is known as a faster paced club run over 50-70 miles or so to basically verify your bike is working properly, your winter training has taken etc etc.

In reality... its the start of the 'not-racing' season.
In reality... reliability trials are cunningly disguised as 'not-races'. They end up at race speed, are dead competitive and for some bizarre reason some people put a lot of prestige in doing well in them. Sounds like a race to me. Only in colder worse weather.

So, I'm planning to do the one on Sunday from Lurgan. I believe there is a 65 mile distance for it, so I'll probably go for that and see how I get on. My main dilemma is which bike to take... break out the newest addition... or take the old faithful planet-x? hmmm.

neaw year... new gear.

2009-01-09T04:42:00.000-08:00

ah... near year, new year.
after a nice break over Christmas which pretty much consisted of eating too much, drinking too much and then eating too much turkey... its back to porridge.

back to work, back to training.

back to work.
back to portal. need I say more? lots of work to do and not anywhere near enough time to get it done in. but just gotta put the head down and plough on with it. time to get busy.

back to training.
in fairness... I had a good christmas break training wise... got plenty of miles in and was cycling most days, but not all. still, I need to start getting some race fitness beginning to happen even a little.... as the reliability trials are coming up soon and then it will be racing time.. it all seems to kick off fairly early this year for some reason.

anyways... been doing some fun(!) turbo trainer sessions this week. let's leave that at that... torture.

also... a new toy arrived for me from the US. well.. not new, as I knew it was coming and its an ex-team frame... but gonna get this built up into a racing machine. Yes, I know. I don't need a bike. I know that. Seriously. Been telling myself that since I bought it. But even so... those numbers kept typing themselves into the web shops that have the parts. Honestly, not a clue how it happened. :-) for pimpin'

twitter
hmm... started doing this thing... its pretty much social not-working... but all good. check it out: http://www.twitter.com/henderson_mk

what everyone should get for christmas...

2008-12-19T00:19:00.001-08:00

seriously. a scent of the beefs. what were they thinking? for those moments when there is no cooked beefs near you...

Do I need this?

2008-12-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

.... I think not.
But damn... I want it!

And.... I bought it. Whoops.
Call it an early Christmas pressie.... and I kinda accidently bought 2009 centaur components to build it up with.... wheeeee.....

I love getting new bikes.
No - I don't need it. That is beside the point!!

new kinesis frame

2008-12-09T13:15:00.001-08:00

new kinesis frame, originally uploaded by Voodoo2.

i want one of these.

released end feb I think!

Stupidity and or Ignorance.

2008-12-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

Today I was amused at lunchtime. Out and about seeing if I could acquire some more Christmas pressies for folks... and then swung by subway to pick up some food. In fairness... what i really wanted was a pastrami and corned beef deli sandwich from new york with an obscene amount of meat... but this is Belfast.... chances are slim.

(why do we not get nice meats like that all over the show? I reckon if I were in NY, I would have people throwing pastrami at me.... mmmm.)

Background info: As some of you may know there is a contamination scare on Irish pork at the moment... some dimwit either accidently added something toxic... or else was trying to cut corners. Hmmm.

Anyhoo... in subway... and just getting my tuna on wheat... and there are some signs saying they're not putting pork products into the subs for a while. So this guy rolls up:

guy: Can I get an italian bmt (this has pepperoni, salami, ham)
subway dude: No, we're not doing pork products at the moment sir.
guy: ok, can I get a turkey and ham?
subway dude: No, we're not doing pork products at the moment sir.
guy: hmm... can I get chicken and bacon then?
subway dude: No, we're not doing pork products at the moment sir.
guy:.... I am an idiot. (he didn't say that though...)

Oh how I laughed... inwardly of course as he was bigger than me.

Anyhoo... on another note... this scares / annoys me a little, as it just shows how little people actually know about where their food actually comes from. So many people these days think chicken comes in a pre-packed container from the supermarket and have no idea of how it got there or what it went through,

Yes, sometimes I eat crappy meat... I'm no saint either, but I do know where it comes from and how it lived & died... I'm not proud of it and I only do it occaisonally and then feel bad about it.

/dismount the high horse.

did you know....?

2008-12-09T05:40:00.000-08:00

a) December 5th was offical Ninja day. Awesome!

And b) you can search in google in pirate... really. set your preferences language. excellent.

Official Google Blog: Pirates vs. Ninjas: Who would win?

lightning at sunset

2008-12-09T03:00:00.001-08:00

lightning at sunset, originally uploaded by wvs.

This is just an awesome image I found on flickr... via lifehacker (some article about desktops)... hard to believe that it is actually a photo and not just a digital render.

Awesome.
I smell new desktop background.

The cult of mac

2008-12-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

I think I'm being converted slowly.....
Have to say my new employer http://www.instilsoft.com is pretty damn good.

So far I have received:

macbook
macbook accessories
dual core pc + excellent monitor

and now... an iPhone.

As we plan to do some iPhone development very soon and we might as well have the proper goods to do it! They're paying for the phone and I just pay my normal contract stuff. All good.

Go go gadget!!

Eating out.

2008-12-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

Out for din-dins on Saturday night. Myself, Mrs Henderson, Rich Bell and Jayne Bell all off to the Mourne Seafood bar. The one in Belfast... not Newcastle direction. And I have to say that I was very impressed by it.

I had a starter of goats cheese and roasted beetroot, followed by halibut on crushed potatoes and a cream style sauce... can't remember the exact composition of the thing... but it was damn good. Washed down with a nice langedoc wine. Yum yum. I would definitely go back there for more of the eats.

One thing about eating out in Belfast is that it can be hit and miss. Previously Nicks Warehouse used to be a favourite... but the last time we were there it was just ok. As in, you could do better at home if you know what you are about. And as its still quite expensive, around 80-90 squids for two peoples... its not worth trying again to see if they've gotten better. I wouldn't mind giving it another chance though.

Other places that I like a lot in Belfast:
Cayenne
James St South
Mourne Seafood bar
The Point - Ballyhackamore
The elk - Dundonald

In fairness, the last two are not exactly fine dining... but they do damn good bistro style food and are priced accordingly.
And when you feel like the beefs.... Tony Roma's is hard to beat.

I would like to see more mexican style cusine kicking around Belfast though... apparently there is a new place called Chillis in Victoria Square which does Tex-Mex style stuff and I wouldn't mind giving it a go.
Adios!

Bike bike bike....

2008-12-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

So its winter again... and it fairly sucks.
The commute to work today was fine once I got out of the street we live on which was like a skating rink. Man I hate the ice. I can be skittish enough on descents, never mind wondering whether I'm going to hit a patch of black ice or something like that!

Not a lot of training done this weekend.... took Cathy to her first spin class... her legs are still sore. :-) And that was really about it. I did a decent enough bit last week with some running thrown in too.. and maybe 50-60 miles... possibly? Can't really remember. Either way it was ok... but not millions.

Definitely not enough if I'm aiming for an early season victory next year!! :-)

Also had to get a new set of wheels.... 'what... more wheels?' you say? Yep. Because three odd spokes had snapped in the set I was riding on the winter bike and I just ain't gonna take the chance of that falling apart on me at an inappropriate time!

Previous week, I went out on the club run... was possibly a bit over-trained when I went out... as I was wrecked just doing the cycle over to the House of Sport and then had to turn for home after about 30 miles. In fairness it was a tough run... but I should have been up to it. If nothing else at least it was my decision to turn and I didn't (officially) get dropped.

I'll be better soon.

JSR 168 Portal Tech.

2008-12-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Portal technology, as in Java... is just not great.
Its like the guys who thought up the spec, never actually built something in anger before it was all approved and released and that sort of thing. It is just hard to do stuff in it that is really quite simple using normal Servlet style stuff. I.e. links to other portlets. The generated url is different on a per portal basis... so you can't hardcode it if you want to be portable... and each portal vendor seems to provide their own odd way of doing things. Argh.

And Portlets.... I spent the best part of last week trying to find a Wiki Portlet for JBoss Portal. A tricky task.
The only one that seemed to work is JBoss' own version and even then it doesn't seem to render the styles in the right place. We tried to get Xwiki working on JBoss and got so far with this list of changes:

changed XWikiPortletRequest to enable a conversion to a HttpServletRequest
modified components.xml to wire up core portlet components properly
change to stylesheets2.vm for IE directive
change to XWikiPortletResponse to enable conversion to a HttpServletResponse
added jboss-portlet.xml
added jboss-web.xml
changed the authorization to use container based stuff

It still didn't work. And when code was changed to make certain areas of the screen render, it was all over the show. Never mind the fact that it wasn't consistent in what it rendered and when.

Ah well. Its not that Xwiki isn't good... it looks great. The portlet support just isn't there at all yet.

Lets go back to Liferay....

updates

2008-10-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

So its been a long while since I 've posted some stuff up here.
Ah well :-) I'm sure you missed me. (all two readers if even that...)

Anyways... some news:

Work:

I've left singularity (excellent company) to work for Instil i.e. my friend Tara Simpson.
http://instilsoft.com
If you've any development, consultancy, design etc etc that needs doing... feel free to give us a shout :-)

So I'm currently working at Aepona on a contract to do some Portal development which is really good stuff. Its nice to be back working with a small group of local developers who are excellent. I feel that I have the chance to learn a lot here, so all good.

I also got a spanky new apple macbook as a work computer... ooooh.... shiny.

Bikes:

Bleurgh to winter/autumn. Its cold and the hands of ice and feet of coldness have made a re-appearance for me.
I dunno... took warm when its warm and too cold when its cold. I can't seem to win really!
I must admit though that there have been a few nice days and its been good to get out on them.

Best session I managed was the time inbetween jobs when I had a few days off... got a nice mini training camp (yes, I know its winter and I should be taking it easy.) Three days in a row of good riding. Excellent.

Also as its winter/autumn, I've managed to put a few pounds on. Which I'm not overly happy about... work shall have to be done to remove those... but the main issue is that when its cold I really enjoy a glass or three of red wine in the evenings and its not helping the weightloss movement.

No new bikes to speak of... had another blowout on schwalbe ultremo - i.e. pieces of crap. Will not be buying those again. Replaced them with continental force tyres 24mm ones, so we shall see how they work out... well, we'll see next year as they're going on a set of planet x carbon wheels, which i'm unlikely to be riding in the winter.

Its also time to setup the turbo permanently in the living room... yes its an eyesore... but there's nowhere else to put it and it means I'm more likely to use the bloody thing.

Garden:

The veggie garden is a bit of a mess. Doh.
After the fruits of summer (as such) I've left it to go to seed a bit... so I need to spend a bit of time digging it out and getting it ready for next year... this will involve building the beds up a lot higher to get better yield on the things and not planting stupid things... like purple non-sprouting broccolli.

Basically anything thats left needs dugs out and ate, or binned as appropriate and it all cleared up a bit. Should only take a full day doing it I think!

I also hear rumours that friends in NZ (you know who you are) have acquired chooks. (hens/chickens for those un-austrailian) and are/will be getting eggs from them. I am most jealous indeed and say 'hurrah' on your behalf.

Over and out.

/marty

le tour

2008-09-11T04:38:00.001-07:00

France.

US owned and occupied since 1999?

its good to see the man back.

veggies

2008-09-11T04:07:00.000-07:00

ok, so the growing season is nearly over in Northern Ireland... some might question if it ever really started? Anyways...

Things that worked this year:

beetroot (normal)
beetroot (spicy - cylinder shaped stuff that has a kick)
cabbages (eventually)
peas (yum)
runner beans (climbing up the fence and everywhere)
shallots (small but mighty!)
spuds (in containers so they didn't leech everything out of the soil)
parsely & thyme (nice big bush of these things now)

Things that half worked:

carrots (interesting as I had lots of colours - purple, yellow, orange)
onions (didn't get very big)
strawberries (still green! not enough sun)
thai basil (basil doesn't seem to like growing outdoors)

Things that didn't work:

purple sprouting broccolli
parsnips
sunshine (just not enough of it this year)

I think one of the major issues was that I didn't make the beds deep enough for some of the root veg and they suffered as they soil deeper down is quite clayish, so they kind of expanded out... rather than down... I had few curiously shaped carrots.

The parsnips just didn't take at all and the broccolli, while taking up tons of space and growing like mad... decided not to sprout at all... so I think it affected the growing of some of the beetroot, as it was quite small. The very wet weather over here this summer didn't help either... plenty of rain, but just not enough sun to make the things grow.

We also got some curious mushrooms that were never planted... my dad maintains they were 'magic' but we have no evidence to support this as eating random mushrooms is typically not a good idea.

And the leafy veg did get heavily attacked at one point by crawly buggers that decided they would prefer the stuff for their dinner. Hmm... spray spray... die crawly bugger.

Anyways... worth doing! The stuff that we did get was excellent anyways and I enjoyed it!

Plan for next year:

deeper beds, probably at least a foot high.
better soil
veg: carrots, parsnips, beetroot, potatoes in containers
fruit: strawberries in baskets, tomatoes in baskets
berbs: basil, thyme, parsley, rosemary

Now I just need to pull the finger out and get to building the beds up higher!

the fun stuff

2008-09-08T05:51:00.000-07:00

Oh how I laughed... http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/765370039.html

Bike for sale

What kind of bike? I don’t know, I’m not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you’re way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan’s mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are. Not having a rear reflector is like saying “FUCK YOU CAR, JUST TRY AND FIND ME”.

The bike says Giant on the side because it’s referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler. When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

The bike has some rusted screws, but that just shows how much of a bad ass you are. Everyone knows rusted screws on a bike means that you probably drove it underwater and that’s bad ass in itself. Those screws can be replaced with shiny new ones, but if you’re going to go to that trouble why not just punch yourself in the balls since you’re probably a dickless lizard who doesn’t like to look intimidating.

The bike is for men because the seat is flat or some shit and not shaped like a dildo. If you like flat seated bikes you’re going to love this thing because it doesn’t try to penetrate your ass or anything.

I’ve topped out at 75 miles per hour on this uphill but if you’re just a regular man you’ll probably top it out at 10 miles per hour. This thing is listed as a street bike which is man-code for bike tank.

The bike has 7 speeds in total:

Gear 1 - Sissy Gear

Gear 2 - Less Sissy Gear

Gear 3 - Least Sissy Gear

Gear 4 - Boy Gear

Gear 5 - Pre-teen Boy Gear

Gear 6 - Manly Gear

Gear 7 - Big Muscles Gear

I only like gear 6 and 7 to be honest.

Additionally, this tool of all immense men comes with a gigantic lock to keep it secure. The lock is the size of a bull’s testicles and tells people you don’t fuck around with locking up your bike tank. It tells would-be-thieves “Hey asshole, touch this bike and I’ll appear from the bushes ready to club you with a two-by-four”.

Bike is for 150 OBO (and don’t give me no panzy prices)

I love this bike.

2008-09-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

in a non-penetrative sort of way of course. But generally speaking, it climbs like a greased weasel up a tree, descends like a greased weasel stapled to a breezeblock thrown out of a tree, corners like a greased weasel stuck to a train going round a corner and generally goes fast. Damn bike is better than me I reckon.

meccano

2008-09-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show what my shoulder looks like now in an x-ray. Its pretty much totally healed now and I can near sleep on it for a full night. But on the bikes its all good. Can run, swim jump do whatever now.

on the topic of food...

2008-09-08T05:36:00.001-07:00

... and the quality of the stuff in this country.

It just seems to vary from place to place and from good to blatantly crap. For example.... Cathy and me were in Buncrana there for the weekend for her birthday... first food we got was in the hotel, I got a baked salmon thing and she got a roast dinner thing.... mine wasn't actually too bad... but the veg Cathy got with here food were a hark back to the days where 'I'll just cook it for another 15 mins to be sure'. Three different types of veg in a bowl and all had the same texture and near enough the same colour. Not good.

Roll on saturday... had a nice walk on the beach... pretended to catch a skate (fish).

Then we went and got coffee and a wrap.... wrap was mouldy. Nice. That'll teach us not to order the fry.. of which the coffee shop appeared to be doing hundreds.

Time rolls on... burger for dinner... not good quality at all, with a hundred thinly sliced deep fried onions that actually twanged when plucked. Cathy's food was overcooked pasta with dried / lazy garlic and probably a mushroom soup sauce.

I dunno. Am I weird in thinking that cooking is just not that hard? And if you're paying for it, it should be damn good? Obviously there's scales of it... but there's no excuse for dodgy food.

in other news....

2008-08-20T05:51:00.000-07:00

I am up to my neck at work. Actually probably my ears. Lots of crystal reports to get done by this friday, so obviously its good time to do this.... Anyways... been wading through the bowels of .net code this past few weeks and have done the entire service layer for this... unit tests the works. Now I just need it all to be plugged in.

I actually don't like being so busy in work as it ruins my motivation for other things.. i.e. cycling!

And I have a new toy that I want to play with:

Its a bit pimp and done up in team phoenix colours... so have got me a new top/gilet after having to get the last stuff cut off me after the accident.

Now if only the weather would stay nice and I can get a ride...

tough times.

2008-08-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Right now... a really serious accident occured last week in on of our club races and a nice guy called Davy McCall died. Hit by a car from behind. Not good.
More info here:
http://cyclingulster.com/index.php?thenewsid=2852&newstable=news

I was going to race that night, but didn't.

To be honest, its taken the shine off of racing for me at the moment. We had a meeting to determine whether or not we would be running anymore races this year, and I'm pretty much voting 'no'. I think we need to take time and reasses the race courses and get over whats happened.

Tragedy is the only word to describe it.

:-(

i couldn't say it any better myself....

2008-08-16T02:37:00.001-07:00

read
this..

i think it sums up exactly how I feel at the moment about this crappy weather.

on visual studio.....

2008-08-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

....and the art of sucking donkeys.

older versions just are not good. no support for refactoring, i can't even encapsulate members.... arghh. no support for testing.. yuck. why on earth does it look in the GAC for assemblies when I've told them its in a specific location?

and .net 1.1.... don't get me started. No anonymous inner classes or generics.... bah.

Although vs 2008 is supposed to be good..... we shall see.
Bring back Eclipse a proper IDE and some java development! all is forgiven....

more on cameras...

2008-08-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

damn things.
i didn't read the ebay listing properly... doh. silly me.
it stated.... 'sold as faulty as doesn't power up right'..... and my eagle eyes missed it.

so what to do? send it for a repair or sell it and get a nice new-ish one? dunno, man. its confusing.

it's also car m.o.t. month - suckage!

quick update....

2008-08-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

its been a while!
been really busy in work this past while which has kinda impinged on the training business.... but even so have managed to get a few runs in.... still not getting the fitness back though :-( its taking longer than I thought to build it back up and my wind (heh) isn't what it was....

i'll get there though.

new bikey bits on the way too:
- canyon f10 2007 unibet
- centaur group with chorus levers
- brakes....

ah the brakes... I would like some blue frm cl2's but dam they are expensive but very pretty.....

back on the bike

2008-07-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

back on the bike... properly now.

so far:
thursday : 20
friday : 21
saturday : 46 (hilly route up crumlin rd, sheepwalk etc)
monday : 36 (few lumps and tried to go full gas)

so not too shabby. trying to take it easy today on and will probably just put in the 21-22 to get to and from work. Then try for it full-gas tomorrow again.

a much longer ride planned for sat with rich and dt including buns. all good.

cameras

2008-07-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

so I decided to get me a digital slr.
on recommendation of a friend I took the plunge and got a canon 350d from ebay... then a 28-80 lens... and the other bampf too.

should be delivered tomorrow hopefully, then we enter into a new age of hi-def pics.

in other news, I'm back on the bike... so far I've done about 40 odd miles in two days and its hard enough going as I'm finding my chest can't hack it so well at the moment, legs don't feel too bad though...

it will get better :-)

2008-07-13T08:59:00.001-07:00

man, I want to ride my bike.
for once, the weather wasn't actually too bad today - no rain, nice temperature and dry roads. And it would have been a great day for a wee spin. Unfortunately I'm not supposed to ride till 10 days are up... or get my wound wet... and I think sweat counts... so no turbo trainer either.... :-(

Anyways Cathy took advantage of it and got out on her wheels... newly set up with a shorter stem to make a more upright riding position and I think it worked out a lot better for her. excellent!

3 more days to go.... in the meantime, some bike porn :

victory favours those that take the pains....

2008-07-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

and man... have I taken the pain. that has to guarantee at least a placing in a race sometime soon..... yeah, so all surgery done on me now... and i'm left with a nice cut and a large numb section on my shoulder.

it apparently went well, and quick... only an hour till it was done and about 2 in recovery.
then I got back to the ward and my god... how it hurt. never experienced anything like that before... it hurt like hell. many many drugs later... it still hurt like hell. I actually actively sought injections in my arse to control the pain. madness.

anyhoo... its done now, and recovery is coming on well... i'm out of the sling and have a fairly large range of movement going on which is excellent... still about a week before i'm allowed on the bike though :-( but it feels like I could do the turbo now... but i'm not supposed to get the wound wet at all... and considering how much I sweat on the turbo.... :-)

back on the bike

2008-07-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

so today was a trip to the fracture clinic... oh how useful the NHS are. I got poked, prodded and the doc said, its not as broke as it was and its healing. Man, what a useful guy. I bet at the obvious statement parties he wins all the time!

Oh he also told me not to ride my bike.
Yeah... right. As I cycled up there, then got back on and rode to work for the first time since the crash. 3 and 1/2 weeks later... not too bad.

And I do have to say it has put me in such a good mood. Looking forward to the run home in about 5 mins too... gonna go the longer way and see how it feels... I have the lyrca goodness ready to go.

I guess I'm a tad blaise ( i don't know how to spell it ) about it all.. as its getting fixed *properly* on monday. Bupa... I choose you! Titanium plate attack! (odd pokemon reference for anyone who wondered...)

Cheery bye. I'm off for a spin on my wheels (which are curiously mistmatched today..). :-)

motivation?

2008-06-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

ha. after saying irregular updates and I do two in one day... who knew?

anyways... in the cause of motivation for getting back to racing, i'm considering a new bike! Because I need one.... (!). Only having three road bikes already....
Even so... its white and it would be pimp:

one armed banditry

2008-06-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

so typing one handed really sucks. but i'm getting surprisingly fast at it... even so updates to this will be irregular for a while yet.

news:
after the debacle that was the NHS and their docs... I decided to go and get checked out through bupa... so the guy who looked at me has decided to treat this agressively, i.e. cut me open, manipulate the bones, so that they don't heal twisted and overlapping, then titanium plate it. nice.

basically what this means is i can be back on the road about a week after the op :-)
the op is on july 7th and frighteningly enough i'm looking forward to it!

I also have a fracture clinic appointment this friday too, so we'll go to that if even just to check out the x-rays and see how quickly I am healing even though it doesn't really matter anymore.

i am going to be bionic :-)

also at the moment, sleeping is getting difficult again, this thing is starting to heal to a certain extent and now i'm getting more restless in bed... doh. more nights of this to come... and I'm starting to contemplate sleeping with the sling off.

anyhoo... back to porridge.

things that suck.

2008-06-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

crashing. crashing really fecking sucks.

ok, so it was on the night of the 10th of June, i was just starting to feel like i was getting some shape back after our honeymoon, had done some good rides, rode the carrick crit and finished whic was good going as it was really tough, went down to track racing and was having a good night, then the final team pursuit race began...

i took off after john and david neill, pulling hard on the pedals, left foot pops out.

interlude:
for those that don't know track racing is done on a track bike, fixed gear no brakes. you pedal backwards, they go backwards. in other words when they start they don't like to stop and there's a lot of inertia.
:interlude ends

left foot goes down, bike flips me over and i slam into the ground coming out of a sprint, i land on my shoulder and head and then someone else crashes into me (he was ok though.. thankfully).

i'm a bit dazed, nothing is hurting yet, can't move my arm, my head hurts.. oops.
the guys get me off the track to the grass... i'm covered in road rash, this is sore. they get me sitting up and put my arm into position... i almost pass out. they get a sling on me and somehow ring cathy to let her know i'm badly hurt and anthony is coming to get her.

somehow, i get back to the car and essentially drift in and out of coherence.
cathy arrives and we get to the hospital where i wait hours to get seen, obviously the drunks fighting and puking get preference(!).

anyways.. its bad. the bones are well seperated and i'm still bleeding and making no sense. the try to put a sling on, but i can't wear it as it pulls too much and i keep turning grey and almost passing out... so they try to get me to the observation ward as i drift in and out of being awake.

i passed out eventually in the bed with some drugs and got a few hours sleep, next day i get home around lunchtime after getting much stronger painkillers, but even so getting a new sling on still makes me faint with pain.

you can see the distance between the bones there...

the next few days are spent in a blur of drug induced sleep and its only now, a week and a half later that i'm coherent enough and well enough physically to be walking about and doing some things for myself.... road rash is the hardest thing to try and sleep with... never mind that each time you move it hurts like hell...

it also bleeds... well, oozes is a better word for it but it sticks to
everything.

i'm starting to recover now though and want to get back to activity... the cuts are healing too and there appears to be light at the end of tunnel :-)

cathy stayed with me all the time and has been amazing through it all... thanks also to the guys at track, anthony, rachel, brian for their help too on the night.

back to reality...

2008-06-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

well after a nice long break... we're back to work! which fairly sucks... but its gotta be done! must pay the bills....

Some wedding pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/voodoo2/

So... now its time to lose the wedding weight and get back to racing the bikes I think! Did some training on Friday... which pretty much involved me extracting gunk from lungs and tubes etc... then the club run on saturday, which was good actually.... 63 odd miles at a good pace and I felt a lot better.

There's a race tonight out in Carrickfergus... the town centre crit, so I'm going to give it a go! never ridden a crit before... apparently its sprint, brake, turn, sprint, brake turn, repeat repeat.... and its generally mental from the gun. If nothing else it'll get me back into the way of things! Which I need as the Newry three day is rapidly approaching!

marriage

2008-05-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

yup its done :-)
we got married on the 28th at a little gazebo overlooking lake ontario. it was most nice.... then we sat in the sun, drank some champagne.... took some photos, then went to a place called tiara for dinner... which was pretty damn good. I had tuna carpacccio, then sweet pea gnocchi... cathy had a goats cheese salad and then rack of lamb... all washed down with some more bubbles..... all good. I can't really imagine a better way to get married!

bikey bike

2008-05-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

so, we got some bike riding in today and yesterday.... we hired some bikes from a store... i got a dodgy hybrid thing with fat tyres, front suspension and seatpost suspension. cathy got a mtb that clearly had lead weights injected to it.

did a few miles towards lake eyrie/fort eyrie in the sun y'day which was good... sat in the sun, ate a picnic. excellent.

today we went to niagara on the lake on them and called into a few wineries too. for some samples, cheese and biccies.... yum.

however, i have since discovered that suspension seatposts are indeed a means of torture and my arse has been violated/cut off me/impaled. nice. or not. also, suspension on a bike is the work of the devil... why take it and convert all that hard earned forward motion into downward motion because of it?

at the copa...

2008-05-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

... copacabana, they had 14 types of meat,
oh my word, oh what a treat.
they had chicken... beef pork and pasta,
it was all that we could do, just to not eat it faster...

anyhoo... enough of the dodgy lyrics.
we went to a place called the copacabana last night.... it was awesome. 14 different types of the meats carved at your table... as much as you would like. and it all just tasted amazing...

highly recommended!

posh rooms and nice wine

2008-05-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

ps.
our room in niagara rocks. we have three beds... one of which is a king size badboy and as we all know the more beds you have the more important in the tribe you are.... there's a jacuzzi sunken bath doo dah in the master bed room... two tv's and then the other big bathroom.

yes, we are the royalty. and are still kinda waiting for the security dudes to kick out the irish people.

the bikes....

2008-05-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

man, i need to get on a bike.
its been 4-5 days.... doesn't sound a lot... but my legs are craving some high intensity burns on some 700c wheels.... hopefully we will get some hired bikes and I can take a good run at it. i feel a touch like i'm losing some fitness and top end stuff....

get me a 53x12.... get me some shifters.... get me lyrca and a road bike quick! oh and some deep section tubulars too :-)

(yes, i brought my shoes and pedals with me...)

steak

2008-05-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

so, me and cathy are in canada, to get married.... currently sitting in the room in niagara, feeling a little tired as its been a hectic few days. anyhoo... all systems go on the wedding front, documentation is good to go and we just need to pay a quick visit to city hall tomorrow.

anyhoo... toronto was excellent (we were there first)! lots to see and do... and i think we walked about 20 miles in three days.
highlights:
- steam whistle brewery
- the markets
- the italian dude with the fresh pasta at the market (amazing sauce... i think it was a mix of alfredo, pesto and arriabiata - wicked!)
- steak restaurant
- shopsy's lunch place - pastrami sandwiches rock
- hernando's hideaway - get the chimichanga-some-thing-or-others.
- eaton centre - how many shops do you need?
- meese on the reefs (yes it doesn't make sense but it rhymes)

man, just to go into a little more detail on 'steak'. this restaurant is just awesome. i got the rib of beef. on the bone, the NICEST beefs i have ever had. and it was the horse sized portion. cathy got a slightly different cut, but again just so soft and tender.... really you got to go here.

the mexican place is excellent too. we like refried beans.
and steam whistle beer? this stuff just rocks.... imagine a sunny day listening to a dude playing good music, a cold beer, a bbq and the toronto skyline. whats not to love?

lowlights:
- crazy taxi dude called al hasjif or something. man he was angry. and probably had plutonium in his boot. for a bomb or something.
- brewery in the hotel, with 4 beers, none brewed there.
- the chick who couldn't sing in the brewery.
- fat rugby players. like they need to start eating american/canadian portions.

anyways... lots to see in niagara, the falls were excellent and we plan to do the maid in the mist thing.... then get some bikes and get out to niagara on the lake!

more updates soon.....

race updates

2008-05-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

bit out of order this... but anyways.

hillsborough road race:
bad race.... crashes on the first lap, david tweed into hospital, really not in a good way. race restarted, but me and rich pulled out, roads were wet and the group was twitchy as hell.... just as well... more crashes, cars in hedge, joe in hedge, other dude with broken collar bone. doh.

club road race @ hillsborough
heh... 3 laps of pain.... in the second last group... got caught by scratch quickly, man JN is flying. the back strecth with the hills is just hard... and i kept getting caught on the front... stupidity! anyways... last lap and a few guys were off the front, JN had no intention of catching them... so I did a sprint to get them closer... stupidity again! this just brought the group close to them... me burned out and then JN got the win.... he was playing mind games :-) and I sucked it up. ah well. i don't think i had the legs for the sprint anyways.
what is a bit irritating though is getting beaten in the last bit by guys you haven't seen the whole race.... but thats racing dude! next time...

the weekend cometh.

2008-05-16T07:05:00.002-07:00

I don my race face.
I set my gear out.
I prep my bike.

Yip, its that time again.... racing tomorrow in the Tonny Givan memorial race. Sign on at Hillsborough village centre so easy to find. Its a rolling course I think, tight enough, but no major climbs to talk about ( I think )... although I could be proven wrong by this.

Looking forward to this tomorrow after last Saturday's debacle of a race. Got spat out the back after about a lap and a half. Just had nothing in my legs after being ill the week before. Hopefully I'll be back to form and ready to rip it up tomorrow!

team time trialling

2008-05-16T07:05:00.001-07:00

tuesday night, team time trial.

was a good run in all, we did 58 mins odd for 25 miles. not too shabby, but still off the fast pace of the real tt men. In fairness though we were team doomed, in that I'd been sick, Joe'd been sick, Mert had been sick and Mick had been sick. All recently. Anyways! Excuses aside... the route is pretty much up and down the ballymena line. There was a bit of a crosswind which ate into us, so mini-echelons were formed.

I've come to the conclusion that time trials are about setting the pain meter to 'suffer' and sitting in till the end. nice.

wheels wheels wheels

2008-05-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

so I eventually got my am classic carbon 38's. Yay! about 1050 grams of climbing goodness... they've been tub'ed up and are ready to go... minus the cassette. Which should arrive today! Got a 11-25 record cassette for it... so should be nice and light.

Weight all in: 1700g approx. Lighter than some clincher wheels!

needles

2008-05-07T05:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been going to a Physio dude for a week or so now to try and sort out what he reckons is a dose of bursitis on my achilles heel. Basically it means that a bursa (soft fluid sac) hardens to the consistency of a marble and makes stretching difficult. So its near impossible to stretch my calf muscles.

Anyhoo... he's been doing ultrasound treatment, which seems cool, in that it doesn't hurt, but recently he's starting sticking needles in it.
And I don't like needles... but I'll tolerate it a) because it might help. but mostly b) because I can't see it.

its been a week...

2008-05-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

.... or so, since the last post.
And a few things have happened!

Didn't ride on Saturday... was feeling pretty melted from last weeks training to be honest... and me Mick Orr, Joe H and Aero Mert had planned a Team Time Trial practice run on Sunday too.

Which went pretty well all things considered. The weather wasn't great, but we ploughed on anyways and got some good interval sessions in the TTT formation between hillsborough ballynahinch etc direction. All good stuff.

Then the sun came out to play on Monday and we did decide it was good.
So I took the wheels out for a spin... around 40 miles to Killyleagh and back... was a good run and the sun just made it better. Nice. Got some nice stuff for dinner and had wee Guinness to finish the day off....

Except... its 9pm... Tummy isn't feeling great... yuck... think I'll go to bed early... yuck... this isn't moving... I feel sick... 1am.... chunder. Yuck.

And it went on... for the rest of the night... till the morning, when the other end got employed. Yuck.

So lost my dinner, had to take yesterday off work, couldn't eat anything at all... I am owed about a million calories please. Exept I can't eat anything unless its really plain. Doh.

And I've to race on Saturday too... and travel tomorrow... so essentially no training this week... yay. Couldn't have been better planned(!).

time-trial-tastic

2008-04-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

well last night was the 10 mile TT at ballydonaghy.... route was out to the nutts corner roundabount, onto the airport roundabout, then round it and back again... not a bad route. Strong headwind on the way out which was harsh, and it got harsher as the road opened up coming to the roundabout... more of a cross wind on the next section.... but a tasty tasty tailwind on the way back... wheeeee!! Good for getting lots of leg speed!

Anyhoo... time for a 10 was 25.28. Not bad. Average speed of 23.5 mph.

Also, the wheelie wonders arrived yesterday. 1100 grams of climbing goodness!
Only problem is I can't get the tubs on to stretch due to girly like hands and wrists. Doh. To the bike shop! (There also seems to be some old glue residue on it, but I'm hoping that doesn't need to be taken off...)

pu***u*es

2008-04-28T01:13:00.000-07:00

don't say the word... don't say it! the bane of the cyclist... speaking the name is inviting doom upon yourself. or so we think anyways.

but it happened... and verily it did suck as it happened at the worst time.
picture the scene... a sunny sunday afternoon... the tour of the mournes.... the race started fast and it started well for me... I was feeling good... didn't take long for me to settle in, for a change, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and cats scurried out of the way of the fast approaching peleton as we rolled out of newry and towards warrenpoint.... the pace was fast.... we had a police escort and it was going well.

We rolled on round the coast in the nice sunshine at a nice high speed, going through rostrevor etc... all good. A few guys tried to break, including myself, but it wasn't happening, the bunch were too quick....

All going well. Then we hit the descent from Kilkeel in towards newcastle... I'm about 4 off the front and riding well and feeling strong... about 35 miles in at this point.
Bang. No.... thats not me... is it?
Hand up... try to control a wildy juddering bike as the rear wheel bounces on a rough surface... stop stop stop.... noooooooo. Blowout.

On of the mechanics got me a wheel quick... and then told me to draft a motorbike dude... but the motorbike dude rode away... leaving me on my todd, with a 7speed shimano wheel running on 10 speed campag. argh.

Anyways... I tired to get back onto the bunch... but not a hope in hell... they were moving too quick.... I followed the course on round, did the climb at bryansford... passed a few guys who got dropped... and then just went straight back to newry cutting out the last climb at rathriland... got there about 5 mins before the main group... so seen the finish too.

Basically terribly disappointed as I was feeling good, the legs felt good and I reckon I could have had a chance! :-) Although its easy to say that when I didn't finish....

Anyhoo... got home... got a beer.... tried to fix the problem and it turned into the nightmare.... pulled the tyre off and there was a hole aboud 2-3mm wide in the tube.... seemed to be on where it was contacting the rim too... checked the tyre for anything embedded but didn't seem to be anything.... put a new tube in, inflated... bang. popped again... this time it was on the tyre side... checked again.. nothing there... but what i did notice this time was a bit of the bead has detached itself a touch from the sidewall.

tyre in the bin, two tubes down.... doh.

I consoled myself with a beer and steak and chips, cooked superbly by Cathy.

how long must I wait?

2008-04-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Man I hate waiting.
Managed to pick up a set of American Classic Carbon 38's from a dude in the states about a week and a half ago... he shipped them that day... which was cool and they arrived in the UK on the 21st. Three days ago.

They've been siting in customs being inspected for three days so far. Argh... there's seriously not that much to wheels to be honest.

And I wanted them for the weekend. They need glued up with tubs and if they arrive on Saturday morning its not really time enough I think....

tiredness and horse like eating.

2008-04-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

so I've been feeling pretty tired today.... it kinda started yesterday. Did a ride to work and that was fine... but coming home I was feeling pretty wasted on it.... Cathy and I went out for dinner to a local wine bar (which was excellent btw) and then casually sauntered home with a wee bottle of wine to share.... only problem was that I started to feel a bit nauseous on it... it wasn't the food, I actually think it was sheer tiredness... so into bed at about 9.15pm. Party animal I am.

Woke up this morning after sleeping right though and still feeling pretty tired on it.

The upshot of this, is that I'm eating like a machine. And it feels like its too much food for my body to be perfectly honest. I know I'm paranoid about putting on weight, but after listing what I ate yesterday to Cathy, even she thought it was a lot.

Anyhoo... gonna walk home from work today and do a spin class. Perhaps slightly ill-advised but I'm gonna give it a go anyways.

Its the Tour of the Mournes this weekend also... and I really want to be in tip-top form for it... so if I can get this spin class under the belt and then just take it very easy for Friday and Saturday I'm hoping it should be all good.

its monday (again)...

2008-04-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

... amazing how it seems to roll around with nary a question to the world if anyone wants it to?? How rude.

Anyhoo... cases of the monday's aside.... I was racing on Saturday. It was the Seamus McGreevy Race @ Dromore. It was fecking hard. :-) I think that is definitely the toughest race I've ever done.... but I still managed to finish which is a good thing. You can see the Bell looking comfortable going up the hill there...

The race started off fairly sedately until it hit the first long hill.. and man it was a hill.... another 4 times round this (or so I thought)... then rolled up a bit more, round to the left... up some more... ever seen one of those pictures that looks like stairs always going up? This is what this course felt like. Past the finish line - on a hill - and on up some more... still some more climbing with a faux plat on it and finally a stretch of downhill on good road with a tailwind.... oh yeah did I mention that most of the climbing was done into a headwind?? Nice.

Ok... so after a very fast stretch of downhill, round a tight left turn, wee bit uphill, another left turn, some nice road and into a set of lumps, then onto a horrible road surface... northern irish cobbles. nice.... left turn... noooo.... big hill again.... rinse repeat.

I think the break went off at the end of the first lap more or less... I didn't even see it to be honest, I think Jonny Cole tried to get in it but got reeled in by us. Some of the really really really good juniors were in it as well, and that basically means the rest of us mere 30 year old 3rd cats haven't a hope.

Anyways, this went on till what I though was the final lap and then man held up a sign saying two laps to go... :-( I am in pain.

Finn went off the front on this lap with me behind him, not chasing my own man down though. Then there seemed to be a bad crash with one of the guys in front of my group coming down, either hit by a car, or something in the road... either way he came off at around about 40mph... but I think and hope he's ok.

In general it was a good race... definitely more interesting for the hills in it! but damn sore on the legs... so it must be doing me some good.

counting down...

2008-04-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

... till race day :-)

anyways... tomorrow is the Seamus McGreevy race thingy-ma-bob. Apparently its a fairly murderous hilly course... should be good hopefully!

This weeks training has pretty much been about 45 miles on Wednesday split between the morning and after work..... about 18 miles fixed, and a spin class. Not great, but ok.

Feeling pretty tired today though, and had developed a minor scratch at the back of my throat this morning... but it seems to have disappeared... a good thing!

Anyhoo, feeling pretty nervous about this race tomorrow too... but looking forward to it. Gotta get home and break out the climbing bike.... now if only those new wheels I won on ebay would arrive... I could get them glued tonight and take at least a pound off the bike in weight :-)

I'm not a happy leporidae....

2008-04-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

... or the bunnies or not pleased at all.

Turned up at the race last night, managed to find the place which was a good start for me, who has the navigational ability of a spoon, got the bike out, got setup, started to get changed.... f*** f*** F***. Forgot my shoes.

Argh!!! To say I was not pleased is an understatement. I am the official numpty. And it was a lovely evening, and a good circuit and I was really looking forward to it. Fecking thing. :-(

I still hung about and marshalled, might as well get another turn of that out of the way.... but tickle me raw with a turnip, not happy at all.

Its also royally screwed uo my training for this week now too, I've only really today and tomorrow, and I can't go too mad tomorrow as I want to be fresh for Saturday's fun.

tuesday night racing

2008-04-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

so tonight is the first tuesday night road race on the Ballinderry circuit... starting at 7pm. Cool! No racing for me last weekend... but we had a good blast on the club run with some quality hillage in it too.... so I'm feeling pretty good at the minute for the race tonight!

let's see how we go!

victoria park...

2008-04-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

.... just out in sydenham, is really nice actually.
there's ducks and swans and geese... whats not to love?

here's a pic from it I really like.

laithwaites

2008-04-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

gotta love 'em.
they cunningly seem to be able to time each and every wine delivery so that it happens when we need it most.

this week we've been mostly drinking red in the evenings... just a glass of two of a nice shiraz or a cabernet sauvignon.... yum.

the week in retrospect...

2008-04-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

this weeks training has bee fairly light actually.

monday - some miles on the track bike... which kinda hurt
tuesday - only about 15 miles or so time trialling
wednesday - about 38 miles total way in and out of work
thursday - 5 mile run and a spin class
friday - rest!

I think i'm taking a weekend off racing this weekend... just going to do the club run on saturday and take it handy on sunday.

tuesday night racing starts again!

2008-04-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like the club Tuesday night races have kicked off again.... technically they started over a week ago, but I was marshalling so didn't get to ride.

Anyhoo.... course was a 8.5 mile loop around Lyle Hill Upper... (note the clue in the title) and it was a TT. I'd never ridden a TT before so it was all new to me! Got the aero bars clipped onto my titanium bike... plugged in the deep jet 50's and got ready to go. I warmed up with a lap that alternated between hard efforts and some recovery which actually seemed to work pretty well.

So the timing guys were out in force helping out with things too... I went off 4th. The course started on an uphill which I took mostly out of the saddle, then round a tight corner with gravel (whaaa.... skid on the front wheel!!) onto a downhill section where I dropped into an aero tuck on the bars and started to power out... this rolled up and down for a bit till the main hill which is quite steep... out ofthe saddle again to get up this... legs burning now... heart at about 170bpm... over the top, back into tuck... getting up some speed now... around 36mph keep it going till the next turn which was safer than the last.... rolled on trying to keep it going nice and quick with a decent cadence.... onto the 7 mile straight... starting to roll a bit more with a bit of a drag... legs are now seriously on fire and aching... cadence is dropping... heart rate is rising.... final turn for about one more mile back to start... all uphll... argh... spin spin gotta get up this....

Finished in a time of 18.40.... not bad for it! And mid table obscurity for me in the club league so far....

What I did notice is that I was churning a bigger gear in the aero tuck... I think the position doesn't help it. Not sure if a higher cadence of about 110 like in races would have helped? Only one way to find out I guess.

Next tuesday is a road race proper... lets go!

Also... just found the vid from Sox on youtube:

the results from sunday

2008-04-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

its been a long week!

anyhoo its Thursday now and I'm only getting around to putting up a diatribe about last Sunday's racing...

I kinda did just alright... it was a good race in general though I think.
The first two or three laps were very very quick... I reckon people were just going a bit mental as its a short circuit only around about 3 miles or so. Then a break went and I didn't make it onto the back of it.... so the chasing group was a bit ragged and even with a few guys shouting at folk to make up lines and start chasing, it just didn't happen. Anytime that a few guys started ridingh through someone decided to attack... sensible. So we caught some of the stragglers that got dropped from the break, but the main guts of it stayed away. doh.

Next time, I'll make a point of being in the break!

time to get fired up...

2008-04-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so its Thursday. And its been a long week.. hasn't been the best training week either as I've
pretty much just been feeling tired, there's also been stuff going on in general too.,. having to drop bikes off to get looked at, cars... etc etc. So its been light on the training front - some work on the track bike on monday, a few hill repeats, nowt on tuesday, about 25 miles and an interval session on Wednesday and hopefully a ride at lunchtime today and a spin class tonight.... then I think i'll probably take it easy on Friday and Saturday... although it might be worth throwing in one more ride on Friday morning maybe....?

Anyhoo... race this weekend is the Aghagallon cup. 15 odd laps of a 3.5 mile circuit. On the flat, so expecting it to be fairly savage. Have the full support team out with me though... Cathy and some of the folks to cheer me on!

training for lumps

2008-03-31T02:07:00.000-07:00

ok... so as most of the races over here seem to be on lumps I need to get better at doing these... I guess the only way to do it is develop a bit more muscle in the leg...? Or do I need more wind?

Either way... it looks like interval training is going to be the way to go with it. But probably longer intervals of about 90 seconds or so at near full tilt.

hopefully this week I'll get in two interval sessions coupled with the commute to work and that should see me set up for this weekends racing.

aftermath...

2008-03-31T01:54:00.000-07:00

so the weekends racing is over again.... did the ciclosport gp just outside cookstown/magherafelt/somewhere over the other side of the lough. It was a good race! Conditions were absolutely miserable though... rain was chucking down.... puddles everywhere... really poor road conditions with potholes fecking everywhere to sap even more energy from your legs.... nice.

Anyways... was a a 5 lap race of a 10 mile-ish circuit.... pretty rolling course with a few inclines.

The race didn't start well... myself, henry and rich were hanging out at the start line waiting to go off but we seemed to be standing for ages so me and henry went for another spin down the road to keep warm... next thing we know the race had started and we're about 200 metres behind the main group trying to catch up.... totally into the red to get onto the back of the group.... it hadn't started well!

So, managed to get back onto the group... just as they hit the first incline... back into the red.... argh. Managed to hang in there and move up the group to just before the front which was pretty good... although I have to admit at this point I was starting to wonder exactly how i was going to manage to hold on for another 4 odd laps.....

As usual the frist lap and a half was pretty savage with far too many frisky people wanting to attack... but it settled down a bit after this and got a bit more civilised which was just as well! For some reason the back straight to the finish line always seemed to be a place where the pace just ramped up... gotta make it difficult for the pic-takers!!

By lap 4 I was really starting to feel the pain and was dropping back a bit further on the inclines each time... and on the final lap on the outward section in the crosswind i lost touch with the main group on a lump.... a couple of other guys went by me and I managed to grab a wheel and stick with them on the descent and round the corner... then just about clawed my way back into the main group.... *whew*.... moved up the group again to be close to the front. Approaching the finish line everyone was going and I went too... not a full sprint but just upped the cadence to about 130-140... seemd to work pretty well as I made my way through the group and I think took an un-offical 8th place! Un-official in that its not on the cycling ulster results... but on looking at Cathy's pics, it seems to be me there. :-)

You would not believe how muddy, mucky, mingy, boggin' etc etc I was by the end of the race. My gloves were like sponges.... soaked up a good 2 pounds worth of water going round I reckon... nice. I think next time... lighter *waterproof* gloves!

The Bell: somehow not as boggin'.

Lessons learned:
* be at the start line - duh.
* don't get lost getting there.
* spongy wet gloves suck.
* racing in the rain does not a pretty rider make.

The weekend's racing

2008-03-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

So this weekend there's a couple of races on.... one out cookstown direction on Saturday and one in Omagh on Sunday.
I think i'm going to be giving the Cookstown one a good go this weekend..... route is as below:

View Larger Map

Apparently is pretty flat with a little bit of rolling in... so could be diffficult to get away on this... but gotta do it! The plan for the rest of the week then will be some intervals on a spin bike tonight... then try and get in 20 milees before work tomorrow and a spin class tomorrow evening.... then try to put my legs up all day on Friday!!

the long road

2008-03-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

so as it was a holiday weekend and I had some time off.... a good bit of training was done.

Friday:
Managed about 35 hilly miles on Friday... although it was a bit irritating as it was a lot of stop/start at traffic light etc... route took in the antrim road, glengormley, then out the back roads to carrick and back into belfast. I will say that it was a bloody headwind the entire time. I swear it changed direction to match whatever way I was cycling. bah.

Saturday:
Saturday took in a much longer route with Dave and Rich. Kickoff from the house of sport at 9am... then we took back roads out towards saintfield/ballynahinch with only a minor detour due to navigational error.... then on towards clough and what was apparently a loop to dundrum... except the sea was on the wrong side of the road... doh.

anyhoo... mistakes rectified... a nice tea stop in dundrum, scones and coffee... then onto bryansford and up spelga where Rich proceeded to win the KOM. Then down from there... back into a fairly serious headwind which was freezing.... ontowards Rathriland and some more hills where Rich managed to suffer his way up them... up the boiling well and into Dromara. At this point I kinda stopped though.... was starting to feel the cold right through me and into my chest... so a halt was called and I rang for a lift from my lovely lovely girlfriend :-) The guys were good enough to wait with me too and then they soldiered on home!

Good run in general though.

Sunday:
Nice easy recovery ride with Cathy to spin out the legs and get her used to the road bike again. About 15 or so put in.

Tuesday:
About 33 miles mostly uphill! Nice ride aroud the castlereagh hills with some nice steep hills to get me ready for more lumpy roads this weekend.... yeeeha!

training, training

2008-03-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

ok... so this week has pretty much been trying to get a few miles in while I have some time off work. So far, I've managed two nice hilly routes of about 35 miles each... but I'm feeling it in my legs today... so this morning was a little recovery ride on the way to work and I'll try to tear it up a bit more on the way home.

Then tomorrow off :-) yay.

I think a ride on Friday of about 40 or so.... then Rich wants to do some big miles on Sat down Newcastle direction and up over Spelga which I'm looking forward to.... a nice long steady climb instead of the lumpy goodness.

No more races this week as the Tour of the North is on... so a visit to Stormont on Friday to watch the prologue will have to be done!

race complete!

2008-03-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Rotten weather on Sat. But a great race!
Quite a few turned out for the John Moore Memorial race... the route was Temple, Ballynahinch, Saintfield, Temple and by god, the last half of it was lumpy.

I've decided I don't like lumps. Bloody things sap the strength from your legs and make it most difficult! But I will concede that they make the race much more interesting as anyone could just sit in on the flat. Gotta get better at doing those....

Anyhoo... stayed up at the front, close to the sharp end of things for the first lap and then looked around to see that about 15 of us had blown a gap and with three phoenix guys in the break this was pretty good! Except
for the fact that we did a lot of work on the front... which sapped my strength a bit... then couple that with the lumpy goodness and a bit of a headwind and it was a recipe for me to get dropped out of that group on the tail end of the third lap. boo. It was good while it lasted though, we were tanking along at a nice pace.

Even so, I hooked up with a couple of other shelled guys and we managed to work together to get up the road to the finish before the main group caught us... but it was a tough one!

Next race is after the tour of the north... although both of them seem to be quite a distance away?
Might be best to leave it till the ones after and do the Aghagallon cup which is for 3rds only. Hmm.

The day before....

2008-03-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

So its the day before a race out in Carryduff direction... John Moore memorial promoted by Castlereagh CC... I think this is a 50 odd mile race from Temple, Ballynahinch, Saintfield, Temple.... so its probably going to go over that buggering 'lumpy' bit of road that sucks the life out of your legs.

Weather so far is looking pretty crap... but better than it did earlier in the week... maybe it'll get better more today?? Wishful thinking I think. Northern Irish weather sucks the proverbial donkey.

Anyhoo, even so... I'm looking forward to this and reckon it should be good race, Andy and Rich (who's still not 100%) reckon its a good course, so I'd love to give it a lash.

Next thing is bike choice.... go for the one with the extra grippy tyres or break out the carbon beast??

Conjestion

2008-03-11T04:17:00.000-07:00

Hmm... so its Tuesday and my nose and throat seem to be fairly well clogged up with gunk. Yuck.
It doesn't seem to be interfering with training too much but it kinda feels like i'm not getting just enough oxygen on the bike. :-( I would like to not have the cold/flu again!

Anyways, 15 odd miles on the way to work today pushing along at a decent place and I think I may do a bit of climbing on the way home, maybe head up Purdysburn Hill for a bit of crack :-)

Newry Race - John Haldane Memorial 9th March 2008

2008-03-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

So, it was the first race of the this years season for me after having missed a) the club reliability and b) the annaclonse gp and the phoenix gp due to the dreaded doom. And I was, quite frankly, cacking myself.

The race itself is on the Kilkoo circuit, 3 laps of a 13 odd mile loop that is more rolly than hilly. Tailwind out and a blustery head wind on the way back in.

The race itself started really quickly with the tailwind and the group was up to well over 30mph without a second thought... condition of the road wasn't great and I tried as hard as I could to stay out more to the right.
So far so good, I managed to hold my position reasonably well up close to the front, but not at the point of it... I wasn't feeling that frisky!

The race rolled on with a lot of folks having many a crack at splitting the group.... but it just didn't seem to happen... maybe its like this in most third cat races?

I managed to stay in touch with the front of the race right round for all of the laps... and had a wee dig off the front on the third lap... managed to stay away from all of about 5 mins :-) then got reeled in sharpish as I turned back into the headwind.

Anyhoo... it all finished up in a bunch sprint at the end, and after taking an inadvertant shove on each side I backed off... 15th or 50th... still means no points!

Was a good race I thought anyhoo and I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to next weekend now!