Tuesday 31 December 2013

New Year's Eve...more rain and blustery weather

More rain and blustery winds mean no riding today either. So much for my plan to ride out to Warlingham Green all week! Well, who knows, if I'm up to it I'll ride out on New Year's Day 2014, like I did earlier this year (to Botley Hill alone and straight back).

Not much else to report. It's dark outside, there's a load of rubbish on television tonight and, well, that's about the size of it.

This is the last post of 2013 and it's been a good year of riding. We didn't make the Black Horse Ride in the summer, but here's hoping there will be one next year as we're all raring to go. We also didn't get round to riding to the pub, which was a shame, but again, let's try and rectify that next year.

I'm not going to make any new year resolutions, but if I was going to, it would be to keep the bike in a good state of repair, rather than ride (as I tend to all the time) with a dodgy this or a dodgy that – at the moment it's a dodgy front brake and a bottom  bracket in need of fixing). I might even give the old Kona a clean, unlike Andy's Blast, which is always caked in mud.

Had a word with Phil today via texting and I think he'll be back on the bike soon...and he has a load of Christmas cake he might bring along too, so, the sooner the better on that score. Andy's partial to a bit of Christmas cake and so am I, so bring it on.

The other bit of good news in the pipeline is that Simon Cotter from down under might well be in the UK in April. If he does come over, we're planning to meet up and who knows, have a ride, although a beer will suffice. Here's hoping he comes over.

It would be great if Greg Bowles from Iowa made the trip too one of these days, although I'll be in the USA a fair bit, no doubt, so if I can get to Boone, Iowa, I'll drop by and wish him well.

Newsflash!

Just heard on the television news that the UK is 'bracing itself' for more storms and heavy weather, so I'll leave fixing my fence until it's over and done with, although it's the early part of the year that is normally characterised by bad weather conditions. We should be due a consignment of snow soon, any time between now and the end of March, although, as readers of this blog are only too aware, we've had snow in April before – back in 2008, pre-blog days. There are photos on this blog of Andy and I out in the snow in 2008.

A geeky point...

Yes, it's very geeky, but just to let you all know that the busiest year so far for this blog was 2012 with 157 posts. 2013 put in just 118!

A cringeingly poor joke...

Wife to husband: "When I married you, you said you had an ocean-going yacht."
Husband to wife: "Shut up and row."

Next ride...

Saturday 4th January 2014. Be there or be square!

Happy New Year to all those who read and contribute to this blog, especially Andy, Phil, Simon, Greg and my brother Jon (who we ought to see more often).