Bodmacity

After what seemed an eternity Jake is back at school and in Reception no less. He looks so cute in his new uniform. He has a white polo shirt, blue sweatshirt and grey shorts. He was also wearing his new black school shoes.

Jake was fine in the morning and got dressed without any trouble. We decided, because it was a special occasion, to take him to school together. It was a lovely morning so we thought a walk through the park would be nice. Jake opted to take his scooter. He delighted in overtaking us down Vicars Hill. I pretended that Mia’s milk bottle was a special turbo button :-).

At the school all the parents and children were milling around. Jake immediately saw James and started to play. At 9am the teacher rang the big hand-style school bell and the children queued up ready to go into the building. It was sad to see my little Jake all ‘grown up’ and entering the next stage. It seems like only yesterday that we were taking him to the Nursery playground around the corner. Having said this it is also exciting especially for Jake, who has all his best friends in his class. What an angel!

Mia woke at 5.15am and I took her downstairs. I put her in her usual place on the sofa bolstered by the nursing pillow. While I had my head turned away she launched forward and went flying off the sofa, hitting the side of her head on the floor :-(. Luckily she was okay after a long cuddle, although the side of her face has a large red mark on it now.

Later on Amy and co attended London Skyride. I offered to look after Mia and Jake this time because Amy missed out last year, and I didn’t think Mia was old enough to travel in the trailer.

After they set off for Cuttysark Gardens, we spent the morning shopping for picnic supplies and then waited for the call from Amy. Unfortunately I missed her call and the resulting voicemail sounded like she was calling from the Marianas Trench so I didn’t know what the plan was.

The upshot was that I decided to put Mia down for her afternoon nap and cancel the picnic. Jake and I had fun playing Wii Sports Resort, especially the sword play game.

Later we started watching “Dr Who – Planet of the Spiders”, a classic 70’s episode that I remember as a young child. Jake enjoyed the first three episodes but was a little frightened to begin with.

We tried to get Jake to bed early because tomorrow is his first day back at school. We partially succeeded. After reading his stories and putting him down, we thought he had gone too sleep. Then we then heard the door open. Amy spied a little foot waiting by the door. Then we heard Jake whispering, “Mia, you brother’s here!”. Pickle-chops!

Mia has been waking like clockwork at midnight and 4am. Without fail. Every night. The reason? Not sure. Could be a growth spurt or perhaps teething. Those elusive pegs still have yet to make an appearance.

She has graduated from ‘daddadadaada’ to the emphatic ‘hed! hed! hed!’ :-).

She is still practising her crawling. She is not quite there yet but I’m sure she will get the hang of it within the next month or so.

On Saturday I decided that today was to be the garden camping treat for Jake. We went up into the loft and while Jake sat next to the door I carefully lifted the tent out of the miniscule crawlspace. I emerged covered in dust and what looked like black soot.

When I unpacked the tent in the garden it was in better nick than I thought. I had visions of a dirty, mud encrusted mess from the last time it was used(Glasto or Reading I think) but we must have cleaned it before packing it away :-). It did smell pretty bad, so once it was erected we opened both flaps to let some air through. It appears that the groundsheet hasn’t stood the test of time too well. The blue paint seems to be flaking off when it is touched. In minutes Jake and I ended up covered with the small flakes, which was a little annoying.

In the evening at around 8pm we entered the tent. Jake, obviously was beyond excited. I figured that he would not readily sleep so we played Lego Batman on the DS for a while. At around 10ish I turned it off and we settled down. To Jakes credit by 10:30 he was asleep. But was I? No! What with the constant roar or aircraft overhead and Jake’s incredible snoring in the lughole it took me a good while to drift off. Drift off I did in the end but slept badly mostly due to the very uncomfortable blow up mattress.

Jake woke in the morning at around 8ish, which wasn’t too bad. We were greeted with the sight of Amy and Mia in the Kitchen :-). All in all it was a good bonding experience with Jake. Next year we hope to go REAL camping. In the meantime I will be making visits to the camping section of Decathlon[rubs hands in delight]…

View Lewisham Alps in a larger map
I put together a circular cycle route using Google Maps yesterday(note because this map is live it shows the latest route not my original one). This route brings together some of the meanest hills of Lewisham. After loading the map into my G1 I set off. I started the clock ticking at the traffic lights just before the Lewisham DLR station.

The Blackheath end of the route has just one hill and is nothing to worry about. I kind of got lost here because my GPS kept locking up so I lost time. Soon I was whizzing along the back roads of Hither Green which brought me close to home and Ladywell Fields. Some unexpected cyclocross action was called for here as the cycle path has been dug up for some major landscaping along the Ravensbourne River.

The next set of hills had me puffing away, namely Canonbie and Sydenham Rise. These were the worst though. Again I lost my way and ended up having to climb Kirkdale twice. I have since amended the route to avoid confusion.

After crossing Peckham Rye I was keenly aware that Sainsburg’s closed at 10pm so I ended up missing out on Gellatly Road(a pig of a hill) but made up for it by going home via Jerningham Road(a long steep sucker).

Stats for attempt 1
Miles:19.9
Average speed:12.9mph
Maximum speed:32.7mph
Time:1:45:03

*UPDATE 20/08/2010*
I went out yesterday with the updated Lewisham Alps route. I think it will need another minor tweak and it will be perfect. I added an extra loop around Hither Green but it meant having to stop at multiple small junctions. Also one of the roads was very rough and bumpy. Not good enough for the Lewisham Alps route so it will be removed! Again I took a couple of wrong turns and lost maybe 5 minutes. The new route back along College Road to Dulwich Village was excellent though. A long fast descent of loveliness.
My statistics for attempt 2 are below:

Stats for attempt 2
Miles:20.5
Average speed:14.3mph
Maximum speed:30.0mph
Time:1:18:10

I have been looking for a while now to upgrade my tyres on the commuting bike. The Kona Dew Drop came with stock 37mm Continental CountryRide tyres which although fine for their intended purpose are not the lightest or speediest tyres around.What initially piqued my interest for a thinner, lighter tyre was the fact that they could give an instant boost to ones cruising speed. Anything that gets me to work quicker is a good thing! I also wanted a little bit of puncture protection to see me through the harsh British winter.

Continue reading “Continental Gatorskin Tyres”

Mia is still officially the most smiley baby in the world ever! She is just so happy and contented. She only cries when she really wants something. She will wake up gently mewling. We will go into her bedroom and she will look up and give us a big gummy smile. It really does melt you heart.

Continue reading “The latest developments of Mia Moobs”

This weekend was the Dunwich Dynamo, which by all accounts was the best ever. Warm, balmy temperatures combined with a nice tailwind and attended by more than ever. 1400 cyclists I believe. It looks like it’s definitely on the cards for next year In between I hope to ride my first 100 miler. And also, [whisper it]the first Barclays London Bike Hire cycle to Brighton[/whisper it].

Instead of toiling overnight to Dunwich, Amy and I had a relaxing weekend sans l’enfants. It was lovely to have a nice lie-in and then a leisurely potter over to Greenwich to watch a film. Inception, was the film and it was a great view. Highly recommended. Okay, it has glaring inconsistencies. If you get over these issues you will enjoy it.

Yesterday afternoon I received a text message from Ben asking if I would be up for a cheeky pootle in the evening. I said yes although to preserve my legs I promised myself that I would take it easy on the way home from work. Continue reading “Ride to ‘Look Mum No Hands’”

Taken from the Tfl website

Top tips for cyclists:
Take a safe start position at lights
Wait in front of other vehicles when you’re at traffic lights – the blue painted box with a white cycle symbol shows you where.
Arrgh. I cannot get there, a taxi is blocking my way. Should I go around on the right-hand side? I’ll try that. Arrgh. The lights have changed! Now I’m stuck in the middle of lanes of traffic. What to do?

Large vehicles at lights
Get well in front of large vehicles such as lorries and buses and do not wait on their left. Make eye contact with the driver so they know you’re there. If you can’t get in front safely, wait behind the vehicle.
Sound advice, I’ll just sit here sucking in diesel fumes until I pass out. Lorries should be banned in rush hour.

Never undertake a large vehicle at a junction
Avoid cycling on the left or near the front of large vehicles especially near or at a junction where the vehicle may turn left – the driver can’t see you. Take a cycle training lesson to learn how to be safe around large vehicles.
I’m new to this cycling lark. I wonder why the blue lane leads me down the left side of the lorry when I have been told it is dangerous to do so? Maybe a segregated lane at junctions would have been a good idea. No, that’s far to radical. Silly me.