A lovely holiday in Europe once again – my kind of thing – but sadly, another holiday without Lily. Approaching 24, she’s started her full time career now and the luxury of ten days off work hasn’t got to her just yet.
Continue reading “Annecy (and more) 2026 hols”
It was 2020 when we last were lucky enough to ski together as a family, and that was a different world. At the time, I recall seeing someone in Grenoble airport wearing a face mask and thinking what a freakish hypocondriac they were. (They weren’t, as it turned out).
Continue reading “If (insert name of beer preferred brand) made ski breaks”
The annual blog posts I’ve done on this race are not quite countless (because I’m also meticulously counting events), but date back some time. If you told me in September 1995 that I’d be writing blog posts each year after the 3 Peaks to offload the event’s happenings, I’d have given you a funny look. Particularly as that was definitely pre blogging, and pretty near pre internet. But the ritual continues, and I do like to site and gather thoughts.
Continue reading “Home to roost – the 2025 3 Peaks cyclo-cross”
It was Lily’s fault. She decided to have a bit of a rebirth in autumn with her running, and entered the Manchester Marathon. She ticked that box with military precision at the end of April, with a brilliant and consistent run. The first Haygarth marathon completion, in this branch of the family. But before that had happened, she told me she wanted something to aim for after that was done. So, slightly tongue-in-cheek, I suggested we did a triathlon.
Continue reading “You can but Tri”
I don’t really like to look back too often. Whilst we all tend to love a good remenisce, I try to focus on the future. Last year at this time, I was coming to the conclusion that I just needed to get on with the things I like doing – to walk the talk – to enter races, and do races. Racing has been my mantra, really, when it comes to bikes. I mean, I do like a good bike ride, but I need to know what it’s ‘for’.
Continue reading “2024 – a race oddity”
My 24th completion of the most wonderful cycle race in history and again a contented, warm, relieved and melancholy Dave is here to get his thoughts down before they blend into the myriad of complex memories of the previous 23. The race that keeps on giving.
Continue reading “24 / heaven – the Three Peaks Cyclo-cross”
My first, in fact, THE first Gralloch last year was fun. Big fun. But it felt like a bit of a learning exercise, and this year my firness was much better. I was excited, and, dare I say relaxed? I was just going to throw myself into it with all that I learned in 2023. But that was about as good as it got in terms of results and outcomes. A day of misfortune and balls-ups.
Continue reading “The 2024 Gralloch – we go again”
After so much goind on this spring, I feel spoilt. Spoilt to have so many things to do, and to have so many people to share them with, Flanders, France, Scotland… I’m a lucky man. The short but very sweet trip to Krakow was possibly the most surprising.
Continue reading “Krakow with Katie – another country, and a great time”
Feeling like I fell on top of the ‘lucky git’ pile. It’s a long story, but I mentioned to Katie about a year ago that I felt that Elsie got a lot more of my time that Lily did, because of our shared love of cycling, and the trips that Elsie and I have made to things like the cyclo-cross worlds in Hoogerheide, or the Tour de France in Paris. Katie suggested I should take Lily on a ‘school time’ ski break.
Continue reading “Lil and Dave Les Houches ski trip 2024”
Winter weekend breaks don’t come in much better style than filling it with cyclo-cross fun…!
Fantastic mad 48 hours covering so much in Prague and Tabor – for the World Cyclo-cross championships.
Another lovely day in Buile Hill on Saturday brings the cyclo-cross season for me and Elsie to a close.
The third year running that this event has been dry, fast, and the death-by-a-thousand-corners course finally gave me the ride I’d waited for here, with a sweet end to my cyclo-cross season riding the v50 and then the Elite race cats.
Continue reading “Another year in paradise”
How apt. More on that later.
This was the second year of the UCI Gravel series and the first time a round had been held in the UK. The Gralloch was going to be exciting, star-studded, and a proper decent race. That it took place 3 hrs drive from home was a luxury and a lure. Plus, loads of the ‘cross people were there, too. It’s always a small world in off road cycling.
Continue reading “Gralloched”