I love catching up with my Strava feed on a Sunday morning. On Saturdays, We Run, etc. Then on Sunday I get to see what my friends managed to achieve 24 hours earlier. Most of these are ParkRun routes. I don't dwell on the timings. It's all about the taking part. Just Do It, etc. My Sunday morning Strava feed is probably the happiest, warmest place on the modern interweb.#
I watched the Forest Vs Fulham highlights from Friday night on MOTD. Oh dear. We're in a relegation scrap, for sure. And all before the first international break of the season. Four defeats in a row doesn't look good for Steve Cooper. Patience should be the key, but I fear the rather impatient owners won't be quite so generous.#
It was the morning of the Constable County Sportive rolling out of Weird Wiv. Good luck to all the riders, etc. But it's not for me. I bulk at the idea of paying to ride a bicycle, run a race etc. I prefer the randomness of doing something that isn't organised. And so I cycled over to Sunny Colch for a Sunday morning roll out with the CTC Club. Chapeau!#
This definitely wasn't organised. I'm amazed that the hit and miss WhatsApp group managed to raise four riders for the 9am roll out. Once again I had a wardrobe malfunction. I was wearing shorts, long sleeve lycra and a gilet. Yet still I couldn't get warm until after around an hour or so of riding. We formed a mini echelon to keep the Estuary Wilds winds at bay.#
For all my moaning, this remains my favourite time of the year for riding a bike. It wasn't painfully cold, yet the sun didn't dehydrate you. Factor in the falling golden leaves and the general autumnal freshness and aromas, and you have pretty much the perfect ride.#
It was a busy morning out around the lanes as we headed out towards Hadleigh. The freshly ploughed fields were a very satisfying site for any OCD riders out there. HELLOOOOO.#
Morning coffee was taken at a new farm shop that has just opened at Gawd Knows Where. It was a little pricey at £3.50 for a cappuccino, but it did the refuelling trick. The talk was of D and his epic ride across Portugal in the past week. We've all been following his adventures via Strava. #
I said my farewells as the trio of other riders pressed on for a full day of riding. I had rowing commitments later in the afternoon. I plotted a route on my Beeline via Manningtree. Constable Skies could be seen overhead. I passed P on the run in closer to home. She was out with her Sunday CAMRA cycling crowd.#
I stopped off briefly at Elmstead Market. Covid shit boosters were on offer with a walk up and get jabbed service. It was so popular that they could only prick pre-booked oldies.#
Back at base and another Colne Radio offer of work came my way. YES PLEASE. We managed to find the right number of people for the September training sessions as a result of the social campaign. Th aim is to repeat this for October.#
I spunked out £2.60 for the first Travelling Wilburys CD. No particular reason - it was just my earworm when I woke up this morning. I'm finding that I'm buying up loads of CD's from around '88 - '90. This seemed to be the Golden Age of CD's.#
At the opposite end of the musical cannon was The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle which got an airing over lunch. I really enjoyed bingeing on the Danny Boyle series last week.#
I headed out into the garden for a brief tidy up as the winds picked up. In my AirPods was the latest Garibaldi Red podcast and the painful inquest following Forest's collapse on Friday night.#
I was booked in for the late WivGigs Sunday Social row. It was touch and go if we would launch. The wind speed was at the tipping point where we usually cancel. But we had a strong crew and decided to give it a go. We rowed upstream towards what should have been calmer waters around Rowhedge and the Hythe.#
I was on stroke - the leading rower. I could feel as soon as we hit Rowhedge that the wind was picking up. Windy corner was especially... windy. We somehow managed to turn the boat around in a very tight spot, and then try and seek calmer waters. The sight of half a dozen mature lady swimmers around the muddy banks was the signal that this was where needed to be.#
We pressed on a little up towards the trots. The weather continued to tease us. We taunted it back with some powerful strokes. Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.#
Back at the Sailing Club we gave Audacity a good clean. I got to see the new cover frame for the first time. This has been lovingly hand built by a club member over the past few months. It looks beautiful. A decent row. Same again tomorrow, Captain.#
I played the Nicolette album Let No One Live Rent Free In Your Head on CD early evening. Gosh, it's a stunner. I'd forgotten how bloody good this is. I promised A that we would watch Julian Temple's Filth and the Fury film as we continue with our Pistols binge. It's remains very, very moving.#
I love catching up with my Strava feed on a Sunday morning. On Saturdays, We Run, etc. Then on Sunday I get to see what my friends managed to achieve 24 hours earlier. Most of these are ParkRun routes. I don't dwell on the timings. It's all about the taking part. Just Do It, etc. My Sunday morning Strava feed is probably the happiest, warmest place on the modern interweb.#
I watched the Forest Vs Fulham highlights from Friday night on MOTD. Oh dear. We're in a relegation scrap, for sure. And all before the first international break of the season. Four defeats in a row doesn't look good for Steve Cooper. Patience should be the key, but I fear the rather impatient owners won't be quite so generous.#
It was the morning of the Constable County Sportive rolling out of Weird Wiv. Good luck to all the riders, etc. But it's not for me. I bulk at the idea of paying to ride a bicycle, run a race etc. I prefer the randomness of doing something that isn't organised. And so I cycled over to Sunny Colch for a Sunday morning roll out with the CTC Club. Chapeau!#
This definitely wasn't organised. I'm amazed that the hit and miss WhatsApp group managed to raise four riders for the 9am roll out. Once again I had a wardrobe malfunction. I was wearing shorts, long sleeve lycra and a gilet. Yet still I couldn't get warm until after around an hour or so of riding. We formed a mini echelon to keep the Estuary Wilds winds at bay.#
For all my moaning, this remains my favourite time of the year for riding a bike. It wasn't painfully cold, yet the sun didn't dehydrate you. Factor in the falling golden leaves and the general autumnal freshness and aromas, and you have pretty much the perfect ride.#
It was a busy morning out around the lanes as we headed out towards Hadleigh. The freshly ploughed fields were a very satisfying site for any OCD riders out there. HELLOOOOO.#
Morning coffee was taken at a new farm shop that has just opened at Gawd Knows Where. It was a little pricey at £3.50 for a cappuccino, but it did the refuelling trick. The talk was of D and his epic ride across Portugal in the past week. We've all been following his adventures via Strava. #
I said my farewells as the trio of other riders pressed on for a full day of riding. I had rowing commitments later in the afternoon. I plotted a route on my Beeline via Manningtree. Constable Skies could be seen overhead. I passed P on the run in closer to home. She was out with her Sunday CAMRA cycling crowd.#
I stopped off briefly at Elmstead Market. Covid shit boosters were on offer with a walk up and get jabbed service. It was so popular that they could only prick pre-booked oldies.#
Back at base and another Colne Radio offer of work came my way. YES PLEASE. We managed to find the right number of people for the September training sessions as a result of the social campaign. Th aim is to repeat this for October.#
I spunked out £2.60 for the first Travelling Wilburys CD. No particular reason - it was just my earworm when I woke up this morning. I'm finding that I'm buying up loads of CD's from around '88 - '90. This seemed to be the Golden Age of CD's.#
At the opposite end of the musical cannon was The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle which got an airing over lunch. I really enjoyed bingeing on the Danny Boyle series last week.#
I headed out into the garden for a brief tidy up as the winds picked up. In my AirPods was the latest Garibaldi Red podcast and the painful inquest following Forest's collapse on Friday night.#
I was booked in for the late WivGigs Sunday Social row. It was touch and go if we would launch. The wind speed was at the tipping point where we usually cancel. But we had a strong crew and decided to give it a go. We rowed upstream towards what should have been calmer waters around Rowhedge and the Hythe.#
I was on stroke - the leading rower. I could feel as soon as we hit Rowhedge that the wind was picking up. Windy corner was especially... windy. We somehow managed to turn the boat around in a very tight spot, and then try and seek calmer waters. The sight of half a dozen mature lady swimmers around the muddy banks was the signal that this was where needed to be.#
We pressed on a little up towards the trots. The weather continued to tease us. We taunted it back with some powerful strokes. Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.#
Back at the Sailing Club we gave Audacity a good clean. I got to see the new cover frame for the first time. This has been lovingly hand built by a club member over the past few months. It looks beautiful. A decent row. Same again tomorrow, Captain.#
I played the Nicolette album Let No One Live Rent Free In Your Head on CD early evening. Gosh, it's a stunner. I'd forgotten how bloody good this is. I promised A that we would watch Julian Temple's Filth and the Fury film as we continue with our Pistols binge. It's remains very, very moving.#
