Damn it’s been one helluva week. Work. Beer. Hangover. Curry. More Curry. Work. More work. Today I actually managed to get out on a bike. The weather, which has degenerated back into a state not too dissimilar to last year, actually improved slightly this afternoon.
Of course I was up at some ungodly hour to go riding this morning so I was lucky enough to experience the soaked through/drying out experience repeatedly. Which was nice. Was kind of expecting it, but… So with my new aim of riding in lots of new places this year, I have procured Mike Pearce’s guide to the Peak District and Derbycestershire.
Today I tackled a ride based loosely on route 5, and took the singlespeed out to Carsington Water near Ashbourne. I say based on because 19 miles ain’t very much riding for almost two hours of driving to get there, so I extended it a bit (and managed to get lost a couple of times) It turned out to be quite well suited to the singlespeed (now running 36:17) and I really enjoyed it.
I think the most exciting thing about the whole ride were a couple of greasy muddy descents, with both tyres clogged up with mud and a fully rigid set up it reminded me of all the winter racing in Guernsey. It was a good laugh. Found this today from the mind of RHS – another page to add to the links.
Talking of which the Drop-In video link ain’t working anymore. If you want a copy e-mail me.
This is in from Big Dave:
From: Big Dave
Subject: fastest ways to get homeIt’s interesting to see how many people are going home now. Most are going home becuase their orders have dictated such. Some units just arrived, and they got turned back around to go home. Now that would have been sweet.
Lots of people get sent home on “emergency leave.” Some people are fortunate enough to not have to buy airplane tickets home for this reason. Their units are cool and tell them to stay home and they will meet back up with them in the states. Other units are asses and make their soldiers pay for the tickets. The only reasons for emergency leave are a death in the immediate family.
Other soldiers get sent home after being severely wounded. And of course, POW’s get sent home as well (too bad the are being detained again once they get home). They are supposed to be sent on leave and they can be discharged if they want out. The guys at Ft. Bliss are basically being sequestered.
The last method of getting sent home is….pregnancy. Last week a plane with 52 pregnant females took off for the states. I wonder how many of them will be headed home to their husbands! Hi honey, I’m home!!! Whoops.
Lot’s of people are still arriving, eager to go to Bagdad. Most return with a bewildered look on their face – disappointed with what they had to deal with up there. There are still more troops coming in than going home. We’ll see how long this lasts.
Big Dave
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