James Thinks

A few photos from a 50km DIY I did today from Church Stretton to Marton and back.

I saw The Dean advertised and entered it on a whim. It was popular, not quite so hilly and much of it was familiar territory. In fact the route overlapped with at least four other rides I've done in the last year.

In the days before the second Blacksheep event of the year, the weather provided much cause for discussion. The forecasts variously promised ice, snow, torrential downpours and gale-force winds.

For the third time in a year I told my friends I'd be cycling further than I ever have before.

I always try to be aware of the sounds the bike makes and investigate any unusual rattles. After a 120km ride last year I noticed that the rack was noticeably loose.

Not content with making some great bike lights, Hope have proven themselves by providing a free light-fixing service to our three-year old light.

A few months ago I tried to fix an old monitor that had gone, literally, on the blink.

My last two 200km audaxes were calendar events. Kings, Castles, Priests and Churches in December and Mr Pickwick's January Sale in January. Due to having been all kinds of busy, I'm writing them up now.

On seeing this my first reaction, if not outrage, was to think the actions of the teacher were unreasonable. In general I would expect this to be a simple freedom of expression issue.

It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, but at 7:30am, the car park in Grazeley was noticeably slippery. Still, a good crowd of us set off with caution.

If I had to pick one word to describe my 2013 it would be "colds". This year I'd guess I've had more days feeling at least a bit ill - sore throat, runny nose - often nothing serious, but annoying. Eventually I realised that if I stopped doing things because of a cold I'd get nothing done at all.