Matt - April 25th

Have you heard that!!?? "Matts been looking daft for some time"!!! Jon and Cleve are just envious that i have the body to pull off the cycle gear and pink helmet!! You will notice that i am getting the stick as the one who looks daft, but Jon will only put his helmet on around a mile from his house in case someone see's him that he knows. Acknowledgement i think that he knows that he also looks equally as daft as me!

I did actually take the plunge and rode to my parents house in the cycle gear (wrestling outfit and all). Amazingly i did the 28 miles in 1 hour and 25 minutes. I think it was a case that i was trying to ride as fast as i could so that nobody would see me. I did notice that as i was heading down a hill that a child in the passenger seat of a car had his head angled at almost 180 degrees trying to look at me!

Last weekend was our second group ride. Jon and I braved the cycle gear and even went out of the house in it!! We needed drink and flapjack for the ride and called at a local garage. I was expecting the Cas foke to stare, but they didnt bat an eyelid. I havent checked YouTube yet to see if the CCTV footage of us has been put on under the title 'What do these 2 think they look like?'.
Cleve turned up at Jons house (an hour late) ready with skull cap on (again someone else who knows how daft he looks as he wont have his picture taken wearing it!!). We planned on a 60 mile ride and headed out, but due to the route being shorter than we expected we ended up at home having done 38. The weather was terrible and we had the cold, wind and rain and i was absolutely soaked. We did do extremely well though. Few stops, conquered hills with little difficulty, each taking the lead throughout the ride. Lesson learnt on this ride: take a mobile phone. All 3 of us left the house without one, noticing after 20 miles that we didnt have one. This is a real mistake for the 3 of us and our past history of issues while riding.
I reached home and each of the 3 layers that i had on were soaked. I have been ill for the past week with a sore throat, sweats and shivers and lack of appetite as a result i expect of the weather. Things are progressing extremely well and we are getting quite good! Cleve thinks our next one should be a biggie of around 80 miles. I pray that the weather improves soon or i am going to be seriously struggling!!

Jons April Blog

The cycling gear has now arrived. I didnt have a hand in actually ordering it and at first glance it appeared that we have ordered all of the clothing from "Wrestlers R Us".

Matt came over last weekend and had kindly brought me pair of lycra dungarees which resemble the wrestling costume of the legendary 1970's wrestler Mick McManus. He featured often on World of Sport with Dickie Davies. Apparently they help with aerodynamics!!!

Matt and I both tried on our costumes (note the word "Costume!!") at the same time. We walked into the kitchen where a small crowd had gathered and brought the house down. I think I actually saw someone crying with laughter!!

I haven't been brave enough to wear anything yet as I dont think my body is toned enough to pull it off. Matt has worn his already, but he has been looking daft on his bike now for quite a while, so he's used to it!!

We are doing around 35 to 40 miles now and things are getting much easier. Im getting more and more confident as time goes by.