Time to Negotiate

I like my toys! And having committed to the London Triathlon next August the one thing I'm missing is a road bike! So negotiations have been ongoing with my beloved wife, Janey. It's funny how it's men that seem to want the toys. Anyway, yesterday I drove down to the Specialized shop in Plymouth to drool over some fantastic machinery. I left with a demo bike to have a go on.

Today I cycled to Plymouth, loved the bike and cycled back on my new one! That's about 100 miles all in! Slightly fatigued, but it must be the trampolining every night that's strengthening my chicken legs, because it wasn't too bad. 

So what's the deal. Well it's like for like. I've had to assemble all my past toys and put them on e-bay. Which brings a tear to my eye, but it's totally fair. The deal is to sell enough toys to pay for the bike before the Visa bill hits the desk! I'm on the case as we speak - pressures on or I can expect a very severe word in my earhole. Now the bike in question is a Specialized Roubaix, and it's awesome. Over that sort of distance I thought it'd either be really uncomfortable on my butt or would put strain on my back. But it was as smooth as you like. Quite a hilly route, but there's a great stretch from the roundabout just outside Liskeard all the way to the Bodmin Parkway railway station. It's ever so slightly downhill all the way and you can stick it on the big ring and really give it some. Bit scary with the big lorries hurtling past only feet away - keeps you on your toes at least.

Which brings me sweetly onto our clear out. We're having a mega Autumn clean. So much stuff around the house surplus to requirements. We're going to do a few car boots to clear it all. Quite fun as it goes.

Surf's dropped off a bit now - but how good was that for a few days! Right out of the top draw.

Fin's got a swimming gala in a minute and then there's an open day at Wadebridge school. Bit undecided about what to do when Billy reaches secondary age - keeping an open mind at this stage.