Sometimes in life it’s time to stop doing what you enjoy, and pay some dedicated time to other family members.
With young families, my brother in law Simon and I get very little time together and no quality time to speak of in the last couple of years. With his birthday fast approaching, I decided to redress this by trying to get some good face-time together as a little treat to him. Continue reading “Selfless devotion to family”
Interesting project on at the moment on behalf the design team for Whyte Bikes. Ian (who works on product design there) and I go back a long way and given my boundless enthusiasm for cyclocross (and what younger people might call ‘experience’), I’m starting to test a bit of a new venture for them. Whyte are an English brand famous for their mountain bike range, but wanted to get into the cyclocross market. Their new frame – currently a prototype – is highly immersed in that. It’s radically mountainbike, actually – in many ways. Certainly an interesting prospect. Continue reading “Everything’s gonna be all Whyte”
Very much looking forward to the second running of the Ronde Van Oost Lancashire on the 2nd April this year. Friend Alan’s organised it again using the same route as the first Ronde in 2010. Named and themed after the Ronde Van Vlaanderen (or Tour of Flanders for you Anglophiles), it’ll visit some of the backest of back lanes and 2lb loafiest of cobbles streets.
Adding to the value, my brother (and recent Here Come the Belgians signing) Phil ‘de Vlaeminck’ Haygarth will be joining us, as well as Matthew ‘Bosberg’ Pixton, and many other classics riders of note.
Full route, description etc here on Crossjunkie’s blog
The lovely Mrs Haygarth ripened to a good age in very graceful and elegant style with a low-key party at home for a few local friends and family.
It’s always a bit weird having a birthday at the cruddy end of Christmas and New Year and last week’s birthday party was serene and very enjoyable. What we’d optimistically hoped would mean a few friends for a nice toast and some daytime nibbles turned into a prolonged afternoon complete with lots of children running about playing some very complex games of hide and seek in a confined area. Continue reading “KT @ 4T”
As always, a lovely family time for us guys. It was a bit of a catch-up time for me with Sally & Simon who I have hardly really seen in the last six months.
With such young children in the family those six months seem a very significant chunk of time, and inevitably there’s lots of the old ‘blimey you’ve grown’ stuff generally going on. (Not me though – I’ve shrunk about half a centimetre since September according to a semi-ritualistic measuring of people against pen-marks on the door – but I’ll chat to my physio about that) Continue reading “Xmas and Boxing Day and beyond”
This weekend was another one of those ‘pinch yourself’ ones for me. Those of you who know me will get the picture: Saturday: Play guitar in the band, Sunday: Race cyclocross. Continue reading “A weekend of Cyclocross and Music”
Somethimes I do thing on a whim. We all do I guess. I didn’t take it very seriously and can’t even remember what prompted my to “take part” in this year’s Movember – a fundraising gig for men’s health charities. Continue reading “Movember – an experience not to be repeated in a hurry”
Had a wonderful few reasons to reflect on this time of year in the last few days. Autumn’s a strange time of year in its gentle onset of cruelty, as we lose the evening daylight, and the warmth of each day dies out. But it also offers so much too. The first warm fires to make an hour by the TV seem like the best thing to do rather than a waste of time… the orange Alpenglow that makes otherwise drab scenes more paletable; and above all, the start of the proper cyclocross season. Continue reading “The Autumn of my Life”
Here’s a conundrum of sorts. What do you do when you have to race a bike down hills like this as fast as you can and have a front brake that looks like this. With a level head, you might be forgiven for making a decision along the lines of “you’ve got work tomorrow” etc. It did go through my mind, and for a second, I thought my race should really have ended there and then – half way down the first of three descents. But that wasn’t going to happen, was it?! Continue reading “Three Peaks Cyclocross 2010”
Seems to have flown by this year. Kept busy by exercise, workloads, 40th birthdays spread over a few months, and some lovely holidays, the period since the 2009 3 Peaks Cyclocross seems to have flown by. My preparation over the last few weeks has been as obsessive and meticulous as ever (possibly more so… were that possible). Continue reading “In readiness… 3 Peaks time of year again”
Our little Lily’s growing up seemingly-so-quickly and yesterday’s intimate but fun birthday celebrations after school were a pleasant way of sharing her 8th birthday with a few friends. Continue reading “Lily’s eighth birthday”
A minor mountain climbed yesterday at Lee Quarry in the fourth race of the five race Hope XC Series, as one gangly bet rider set out on his first race at Lee Quarry since he broke his collarbone there in April 2009. Continue reading “Exercise and Exorcism”
