Holiday Time

It was an early start. I tried to get totally organised for the Snowman Triathlon and my holiday the night before but I was being a stress-head and didn't get close. So 5am it was. I got a funny look from my neighbour when washing my bike in the pissing rain at 7:15am. All went to plan and I made it to the train station with 5mins to spare. Shiiiiit! I had forgotten to change my pedals on my bike...I had keo shoes packed and SPD pedals on the bike! I missed the train.

It was a celebration day at work as we had hit a big target: to get 1 million people riding bikes regularly. I'm not sure how the stats were done but we got cookies and cake! It's great to see how the sport has progressed since I started riding the bike. Lets hope it all continues after the new Whole Sport Plan.
What's less positive is all the Lance Armstrong stories in the national press at the moment. I've got to say it's not been a surprise to me. I seem to recall doing a big calculation, when procrastinating during the write-up of my Ph.D., finding that he'd either have a similar aerobic capacity to a blue whale or better efficiency to than Newton's Balls. It was inconceivable to me that he wasn't doping.

OK, so all my cycling heroes have been done for doping. I kinda get why they have done so too. I can't say, hand-on-heart that I wouldn't have done the same if I was in their position, even being a very strong advocate against doping in sport. What gets my goats is Armstrong's total disrespect towards his colleagues, lying, cheating and fraudulent behaviour. His charity work is a red herring. He must be a tortured soul and that's the only thought that enables me to feel a degree of empathy towards him.

After work I headed off to North Tea for coffee and a sandwich. A CD release event was going on so the place was full of cool-trendy Northern Quarter types. I read for a bit, nattered with Wayne and then headed off to catch my train to Bangor, via Chester. Rosemary's train was running late and it could have gone totally wrong. Luckily, she arrived only 30 minutes after the expected time.