the sky is falling

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

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

[daily dose of imagery] houses and the sun

excellent pic of snow, sun and houses.

Just A Dream Away

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.

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...

... 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.

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