I am impressed

with myself!  Yesterday I rode just short of 100km.  Although half of this was on the road, the other half, was quite tough, and included over 1300m of climbing.

Where I live the routes are 90% stoney, so yesterdays ride was also demanding on the shoulders, and in fact gives a full body workout. 

Yesterday I rode the climbs hard, and the descents smooth, but what impressed me more than anything was my techinical descending, I am far more in control of the bike now, and actually, the bikes can ride the terrain easily, it's just all in my head.  Yesterday I did nice drops, technical and steep (very steep) descents, and to cap it all, about 15m of steep steps at the end.  

Yesterday was a good day.  Hope you had one too

aaaarrgggghhhhh

When Sean S Cunningham directed Friday the 13th, he must of had a vision of today.  For me, today has been a good day, for some, it's a bad day.  

I believe that it is what you make it to be, and if you go around looking for bad things, then you will surely find them.  Today, I did a good ride with my good friend Roger,  couple of hours, I was on my Single Speed, and Roger was on his Fixed.  

It was his first time to do a long ride on a fixed bike, and to be honest, his first 'long' ride for quite some time.  

I picked up a couple of Jones Dry X as well, as the my walls on my MTB were almost transparent in places. 

So before I get onto my only 'horror' part of the day, I first needed to meet the good lady from the Subway.  

Everyday, without fail, I meet her, so that we can walk home together. It has only been that when I am away on business that I fail to attend this most important job of being a husband to a Chinese lady.  

Now I thought today was Friday 13th, not 14th, 13th, but as I walked the short 10 mins to the Subway stop, I counted no less than 16 people selling flowers at Country Economic saving prices, it was not as much as bees around honey, but more like flies around pooh. 

As much as I hate rain, I despise Valentines Day, why on earth, would a descent man, have to wait till one day a year to tell his loved one, how much they love them?   

I tell my wife frequently, I try to be the best husband there is, and I do lots of little things ALL the time, like meet her from the station and walk home with her.  

I do not have to wait for one day.  Last year though I made a mistake.  I bought a present.  It surprised my wife no end, but that one fateful day has set a precedent, and today, I was hit with emotional blackmail.

"How much do you love me?"

"You know I would do anything for you" (under breath except be gay, as then I couldn't have you, and.......... please don't say it, please don't say it)

"Well how about tomorrow, we both go cycling together, up Miao Feng Shan?"

" (silence, but at least it has cycling in it, continued silence)"

"You can do it on your Single Speed"

FFS

aaaarrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh

Now normally on Saturdays I go MTBing, and tomorrow, Coach had planned me to do a short 3 hour hard hilly session, but tomorrow IS Valentines Day, and I do love my wife so much.

So I want to say a BIG personal thanks to Valentine of Terni, and wish I could walk up to him in person as say "Sean, can you pass me the Chainsaw please."

a day of change

I've been busy of late, not because I have a hectic and great training schedule to keep to, but I have also started working for a Sports Event Management Co.  

My role is to find sponsorship so that we can improve revenues for the company, and also, as a participant of some the sports which the Co. organises, to raise the level of the events so that competitors have the want to go back for more.

Since things are very quite with my own business, I have to, out of need, look for other oportunities.

On top of all this, I need to pay more attention to my good lady, she is very busy with work, and I have to say, is more than an Angel.  Especially during these times.

So today, I have another Job interview, with a Chinese Electronic manufacture.  I feel things are on the up, I am becoming more and more busier, which is something I like very much.

Something I don't like though, is rain, after being born, and living in England for some twenty-something years, I don't like the rain.  In fact, I hate the rain. Guess what, it is raining.

Now I know that Beijing is officially in a drought, but today it is raining.  Not a lot of rain, that anoying rain, which doesn't quite warrant an umbrella, but yet, will get your hair wet, if you don't use one.

The real problem with rain in Beijing, is that if you are cyclist, is the amount of black crap that comes up from the ground.  Beijing is a very dry, dusty city, so when it rains, all the polution in the air, is washed down and mixed up with the sand and dust on the ground.

I'll leave you to think about the disgusting mess it trudges up.

Leaving on a good note, it's only for one day, and hopefully tomorrow will be bright and pleasant.  Great for a 1 1/2 hour ride.

Get Your Chimp Out!

Yesterday I was feeling a little down, so I needed to P myself up. 

This morning, the cat, was driving me mad with his constant wailing, I know he does this before he finds somewhere comfortable to sleep (normally in the morning it's the sofa.... but I'm on that at the moment)  I just then thought, come on, get your chimp out!

When I was in a holding camp, prior to the Olympics, during dinner one night, the guys started talking about their chimps.

BC have a psychiatrist, they also proabably have  psychologists, but the guy I am talking about, is a psychiatrist, and everyone at BC talk to him.

The chimp according to Steve Peters (who is not only a very accomplised runner) says there are two aspects of your brain that work independently of each other. One is quite emotional and irrational; the other is logical, capable of making good judgments. He calls the emotional part ‘the chimp’.

One day, during the Holding Camp, I asked John the Mechanic how he got into being the BC Mechanic?  He used to race in Ireland (he's Irish) got involved in an accident, then ended up being a mechanic for the Irish Ladies Team.  It just snowballed from there. Do you still ride?

Na.

At a later chat at dinner, the Chimp conversation arose, John thinks (although he didn't say) that he's to big to be a rider.  So he doesn't ride.

Johns Chimp, is (what HE thinks）is his weight, that Chimp, the controlling emotional side of him is stopping him from riding.  He needs to set that Chimp free, and get back out on the bike.

My cat this morning, just needed to let his Chimp out and go and find somewhere else to sleep (which he has done)

Yesterday my emotions were running amock, I need to work on my Chimp too, do you?

The P Factor

Things aren't going well for me at the moment, regarding work wise.  It has been too quite for too long now, and so therefore I think I have to look at other options.

Instead of dwelling on this, I use the P factor.  This is obvious as it means the Positive factor.

So I'm going to point you in the directions of some goodness today!

First, Mr Fat Eldens blog, in which Team Fatty has now raised more than $106,000, $46,000 of which was raised during a recent raffle.  Nelsons wife is battling against Cancer, and his blog, which is read by thousands, serves as a great reminder to us all, that we can all pull together.

Next I came across this, and was really amazed by it.  Isn't it amazing that the most brilliant ideas in the world, are also often, the simplest.

The last thing, which is often the first thing I look at when feeling in the need of a lift, is my wedding photos.  I know now, that I am the happiest man alive