Some people are just born to sing…. and others just enjoy it anyway.
Lily’s rendition of Jingle Bells
Listen here >> Jingle Bells
Putting up the tree
Lovely day last Saturday – always nice at this time of year to spend a day just being around at the weekend because I tend to be racing on a Sunday in the Autumn and early winter. Lily, Katie and I just did a few jobs around the house, including getting the Christmas tree up and decorated. It’s a drawn out festive season when you have little children, but it helps grown ups to get excited.
Follow the link to see some pics of Lily helping to get the tree up, and some snaps of her Preschool nativity play, at which Lily was angelic. Almost literally.
National Trophy round 4: Peel Park
Finally things started to come together in a National Trophy race for me this year. Whilst 27th probably doesn’t sound altogether impressive, it signalled that I’ve started to shake off the demons that have delivered me to three dreadful rides in the premier UK cyclocross series.
It was a superb course – the hardest I think I’ve ridden for a few years – with slippy corners leading into rutted muddy bogs and some classic off-camber twists and turns made nigh on impossible by the thick mud.  I was just in a much better frame of mind than i have been for most of this season’s races and i didn’t panic when I fell three times on the first chaotic lap, fighting for places in a packed, panicking string of riders.
What capped it was that Rob Jebb, my Wheelbase team mate, won ‘our’ first ever National Trophy race, on a course that was suited to the stronger riders.
Race report and photos here.
Got his Mo-grow working
My mate James is living in Australia for the moment, and they do this thing every year – growing a moustache in support of a Prostrate Cancer charity.
To the right is James’ lovely slug.
And to the left he can be seen in a context he’d now find comfortable.
Remixing is the sincerest form of flattery
James Spitznagel enjoyed my latest experimental track ‘HB01’ so much that they remixed it!
It’s a pretty experimental bit of music to begin with but James has taken it to another level. Now it ebbs and flows, and drifts in and out like some tidal whalesong. I’m truly flattered and it whips the pants off the rushed original.
Listen to it here.
A million miles
The term “travelling salesman” takes on a new meaning when you consider the tale of Peter Gilbert, a gentleman from the United States, who has just clocked up a million miles in his Saab over 17 years.
He drove the car seven days a week, racking up the miles as his work took him through rural Wisconsin.
“When I hit 600,000 miles, the car still wasn’t burning oil,” Gilbert said. “That’s when I thought it could go a million miles.”
But Wisconsin’s harsh winters took a toll on the car. Its sporty exterior still looks good, but road salt has rusted its frame. Gilbert realized it might no longer be safe if he hit another deer or had a serious accident.
“There was no point in driving the car any longer,” he said. “Even though it might have gone another million miles.”
Link here.
It was 19 years ago today
… that Mr Kirkup told the band to play.
December 6th, 1987 could well have been one of the big defining moments for the UK music industry, but it turned out to be just the day when The Doofers, undoubtedly the biggest thing in the Sedbergh School music scene that year, travelled to the Lindens studio in Rosgill, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
We were so green, but just full of youthful confidence, and recorded two songs (pretty much live, with singing over-dubbed after). The recording sounds very dated now, as does most stuff from 1987, but I’m just so glad we did it. What a day to remember. We were glowing when we got back witht the tape to play our friends.
More Than You Ask For (MP3, 3.3mb) was my favourite of the time because it was a bit more up my rocky street, but Happiness (MP3 2.2mb) stands the test of time as the stronger song.
Scared of Santa
Thanks to my brummie buddy Simon who sent me these.
Santa is a scary fellow indeed and no wonder – he’s got a big beard, you can’t see his face, he wears some very dodgy gear and on top of this, your parents tell you that he knows when you’ve been good or bad.
Click on the picture to see some classic photos of children who are clearly terrified.
The Hugheses multiply
Our lovely friends Andrew and Denise Have added the 6lb Kitty May Hughes to their family. After a far from ideal pregnancy, we’re just chuffed to bits at the safe arrival of this little sister for Will.
It’s not all good news though. She’s half Welsh and early signs are that she may be partially ginger. Will have to report back on that one.
According to the fantastic Baby Name Voyager, the name was fairly but not hugely popular up until the 1970s, but it’s not in the top 1,000 names now. That’s a plus really, it’s a lovely name but it’s not too obscure or frumpy.
Xmas list
Not that I’m being a brat, or perhaps the opposite of a brat, but there’s not really much I want this Xmas (and birthday in early Jan).
This, being fundamentally a materialistic person, opens the way to target some real luxuries that I’d never bother getting.
Luxuries such as
- a hard vault case to prolong the life of my Oakley M-Frames and their spare lenses.
- a protective pod for my racing helmet, to stop it getting scuffed to bits in the car.
- a carbon fibre bottle cage (or even a matching pair) to finish off the appeal of my lovely road bike
Food for thought, folks…..
A mere 160 megapixels
Just in case anyone with their Digital SLRs out there is feeling smug, take a peek at this.
North of England Cyclocross championships
I only rode my first North of England champs last year but really enjoyed it. It’s a good atmosphere and it’s a mid way between the lower key regional races and the just-too-hard National Trophy races.
This year’s race was held near Beverley in the East Riding, at Bishop Burton Agricultural college. It was a good venue and the opinions were mixed about the course. From my point of view, I thought it was a cracker, because it was the first muddy, leafy race that I’ve done this year (despite the wet autumn). The field sections were heavy going and the course only had a couple of bits of relief in it, but I was ready for a slog like that.
By the time the forty of us lined up, I was ready to race and well prepared, and even had a very good start (4th into the first corner), but it all went bang – literally, when my rear tyre punctured on a large pothole about a minute into the race. By the time I’d carried my bike and ridden some sections on the flat tyre to the pits area, I was in last place and suddenly was faced by a new game plan!
I’d worked out before the race that, given my form and the other riders competing, I was not going to repeat last year’s 7th place, but hoped for a top ten. Now, in last place some five minutes into the 60 minute race, I really had my work cut out, big time.
Thanks to some great pits support (thank you, Billy, Jack and Mick), I got my spare bike and then changed (mud clogged) bikes each lap in order to make up as much time as I could. It was good for morale passing so many riders so quickly, but the momentum gradually levelled off and I couldn’t close down on the two riders stopping me from my top ten place. 12th on the day was more than satisfying, but it was annoying being lapped.
Wheelbase won the team prize for the third year running, this time without my help!