Summers here then...

Me in Richmond Park 27-05-07

...yeah, looks like it too...not! What the bleeding hell is going on with the weather eh? I took the photo on today's post Sunday afternoon during a 24 mile bike ride around Richmond Park...I went round twice as it happens and it was raining for the whole time! The trails in there were sodden with rain water and rather quite muddy too...but did I care? Hell no! I Loved it to be perfectly honest. The only thing I don't like is having to wash my bike when I get back home. And it was cold too! My fingers were positively frozen halfway around and if I had two slices of white bread & a dollop of ketchup I could have made a fish finger sarnie;) I needed it though...the bike ride that is. I don't seem to be cycling as much as I was several weeks ago or indeed last year when I was on Hep C treatment. But maybe it just feels that way...i dunno. Maybe it's because I am doing loads more kayaking than I did last year...tonnes in fact. Still haven't gone anywhere too far away from home apart from Lulworth Cove six or so weeks ago. North Wales is still in the pipeline thats for sure...but I have this endurance type mountain bike race next Sunday on the Welsh borders and am looking forward to that. Looks like rain too!! Oh well...when did a little water & mud hurt eh?
So I washed me bike when I got back home and hosed down my legs, trainers and cycling jacket...yes it was that bad;) I was out on Dessert Storm as Elvis was in the shop for a service before my big race so I wasn't too worried about getting me bike muddy. Elvis doesn't like mud...Yet! He's only a baby;)
That was Sunday afternoon...in the morning I met up with a friend of mine Anna (a fellow forum member & Star Wars nut;) to visit the new Star Wars 30 year anniversary exhibition situated along the South Bank in London. It was wet and coldish but once inside we were quite at home amongst such cool props, models, artwork & costumes. A lot of it I had seen already before at an exhibition I visited way back in 1999...but a true Star Wars nut never gets tired of seeing this sort of stuff. I did wonder at the time of the 99 exhibition wether I would see it all again...I did & then some. But one thing that did upset me a little was the complete absence of the Millennium Falcon! Maybe it was there and I missed it...but I doubt it. I'll take my own next time;)
What else has been happening? Oh, my Nephew Samuel, my oldest Sister Manfs Son, is down from Doncaster for the week staying with me yougest Sis Tarn. I don't see him too often and it was Lovely to spend a little time with him and Daisy on Saturday night. He is 14yrs old and has severe Haemophilia 'A' just like his Uncle jason;) He amazed me when he said that he hasn't needed an injection of Factor VIII in over six weeks. That sounds pretty good to me. I seem to remember always having injections when I was that age. I took my shooting stuff round to show him his uncle in action. He too treats himself. He learned a year or so ago now. Daisy was cringing in the corner of the room as I stuck the needle into my leech like vein and Samuel said 'What's the matter Daisy? He's only sticking a bit of metal into his vein.' Only from the mouths of haemophiliacs;)

So to fully update this post and eventually send the buggery thing...I did nothing all day Monday (well it feels that way anyway) as the weather was bloody terrible again! I got up late...saw the bruised grey skies and the swollen clouds spilling their guts all over London and decided to stay in and have a fish finger sarnie for lunch. Then I realized that Lee was coming around to take us to collect our bikes from Westcott, Surrey...which we did...in the rain...then back home again and alone once more...hiding from the rain! F*ck it I thought and tied me kayak on top of me car and took the bastard thing down to the Thames in Twickenham and paddled the sod to Teddington Lock & back against a very strong current & a pretty strong headwind coming back! Oh...& it was still raining! I needed it though and am so glad I went. I never saw one other boat of any kind (that wasn't moored with current tightened ropes) during the whole 1hr 8mins paddle! Ok...so I am a bit of a nutter then and no I didn't do nothing all day;) I got my hair cut too...My best friend Lee came round just minutes after my paddle and made me look like a commando...Thats better I thought and maybe now I will go faster on my bike next Sunday and do an eskimo roll on Thursday...we'll see eh;)
And finally today (Tuesday)...spoke on the phone to a friend this morning...a bit of shopping lunchtime for Letraset to customize my number plate (121) for my race next Sunday and another head torch since my other one went for a swim in Teddington Lock the other week, then another bike ride around RP twice round entirely on the roads. It was quite cool and the skies threatened to spew all over me again but this time I was lucky and God had hung a giant sick-bag right under the cloud in question and saved me;) The London skyline looked beaten by the dark clouds on one side and tickled by the sun on the other and smack bang right in the middle was a rainbow dipping it's wick into the bowels of the derelict wonder that is Battersea Power Station...sans pigs. But the photos are shit and therefore won't make it to my blog. 23 miles later and here I am...belly full of food...can't remember what...and thinking about having a nice hot bath:)



Jason






(C) JPT 2007.........1547.28 miles

"Are the cows really coming home?"

Graffiti at the South Bank yesterday morning...


Right...Ok! So my breakfast decides to come out of my arse the minute it hits the bottom of my stomach! Thats what it seemed like anyway...is that even possible? I feel bloody great, so it ain't nothing like no bug or germ or anything. So what then? My HIV drugs? Maybe...but then why not every day? Maybe it does happen everyday but I just don't remember? I think i'd remember mind...don't you? Would you? Well there you go then...so it ain't every day.
Do I neen to eat breakfast again? Do I have to take my tablets again? Are they in my body still or are they on their way to the coast in the shitty dark confines of an old Victorian sewage pipe? I don't rightly no......I'm not a sewer rat...but one thing I do know is that I feel fit and healthy...oh...wait a minute! I did go kayaking last night and performed a roll without my nose clip thingy on and plaster (band-aid) strewn pool water went right up my nose and went all fizzy behind my right eyeball! Maybe that is what caused the chocklick taps to open up this morning?
Anyway...I'll wait until lunchtime before I eat again and just be thankful that it didn't happen in my sleep or here at my desk or in Ian's kayak last night;)
Nice bit of kayaking though...not too many rolls from yours truly...seemed to have a mental block and was very inconsistent, where as Lee did six in a row in my boat the git;) (oh, did I tell you that he did his first rolls last Thursday?) I blame it on the cows! Seriously! They're coming and they're mooing and shitting all over the place...eating grass and swatting flies and scratching their big fat arses on fences & trees. See! I told you the cows are a coming;) Shouldn't joke about it really, but if I didn't i'd cry and that wouldn't be very good now would it...the last time I cried I was quite upset and frustrated and in...oh well...that's what happens when you fall eh.
I tried out three different kayaks last night and rolled in two of them. Ian wasn't feeling too good after eating a large meal just before getting in...not a good idea! And as I said, Lee was on a roll...literally! I just went around and around like a man possessed...splashing everyone and generally acting like a big kid on speed! Lee'll vouch for that;) My bruised knee from last week wasn't too bad although it has been rebruised since last nights paddle session and my little toe injury has all but gone away. I can't crack it yet like I do with all my other toes and all my fingers because it still hurts! But soon:)
My mind wasn't on it to be perfectly honest. I felt good fitness wise but mentally I was mooing...you see I had spent the whole day before in Westminister at a hearing for the Independant inquiry into contaminated blood products. I wasn't giving evidence as were several people like myself, but just watching & listening in the small but packed room over looking Westminister Cathedral in London. I was with Ros who invited me along...I had never been to anything like this before and have always in the past tried to ignore or brush aside events/occasions like it. Selfish and cowardly maybe, but at the time I was hiding from it all and I suppose if you're not ill then there's nothing wrong and therefore what has it to do with me? Interesting attitude no? Sorry...couldn't help it at the time but now I want to see and hear what is going on...the stories of wrong doing for all those years that I am a part of wether I like it or not. I wanted to be there this time to witness, to hear and to feel what has happened. I am one of 361 Haemophiliacs out of 1243 who got HIV still left alive...I had know idea it was that little a number!!...and I think it only fair that I witness the outcome of this..."the worst medical disaster in the history of the NHS". Not to mention the 4670 patients that were given HCV (including Ros) of which there are 2552 left alive!
It was hot and cramped in there yesterday...not just for the audience but for the people reading their evidence and for the panel listening and documenting the whole thing. The stories that were read out were sad and emotional to hear...and all too familiar! But where as I have been well and have more or less hidden myself away from all this kind of stuff, there were people there who are very very passionate and determined to get to the bottom of this fiasco. I totally admired these people and their fighting attitude for closure/recompense/apologies/sympathy/answers...but mostly an end to it all! I was left feeling a little like I didn't deserve to be there though. There were stories of Hep C & HIV related illnesses that have almost killed and even deaths where they were! One story was of a haemophiliac boy who died and he was just seven years old. His Mum & Dad were their speaking about it and I just didn't know where to look! Other stories were told by widows of Haemophiliac husbands now dead and.........and then there is me with sore joints and...oh I know, I know! I have been affected! It has made a massive impact on the outcome of my life etc...I have ignored this for so bloody long that it has made me feel this way! I am angry! I am upset! But......but....!! But what? See what I mean! Damn it!!
It was difficult and emotional and I will be going to the next one and the next.........incidently, I submitted my evidence to the enquiry but said no to being invited to read it out...I am glad I said no as my story pales in comparison to the majority...that sounds awful doesn't it? But this is the way I feel. But I am starting...maybe I can make a difference in other ways...I can ride my bike to the moon and back...kayak across all the oceans that our dear planet has to offer...but it will never change what has happened! It did happen...it is part of history now for good, in which I am a part of. There is no getting away from it...what is done is done. There is no going back...no amount of money or apologetic words or answers to questions are going to bring back the dead, nor make better those of us that are ill or have been ill or who will be ill someday. How do I sound as you read this?.........Just so long as it never happens again is what this should really and only be about. But even then I have my doubts! We will never stop it...but we can try.

The weekend Hep C bash up & over at Chrissy & Jb's was great:) You may have already seen the photos I took over on the forum. It was an experience to behold and was very well organized by the 'Newly weds'. My good friend Ros was their too and a few others I had met previously and lot's of new faces also. I was exhausted when I finally got home after dropping no less than four members off in various locations up & down the country...it was great:)

Also, today is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. It was released in US cinemas today all those years ago...We got to see it in the UK a whole year later for some reason. And also today is World Towel Day to celebrate the life of Douglas Adams...what ever you do...don't forget your towel and lastly...DON"T PANIC!!!!!!!!!



Jason

P.s. Sorry about this posts photo...although I did take it on the day of the enquiry & in site of the Houses of Parliment, I thought it would be more interesting than a shot of 'Big Ben' & the 'House of Commons'. I do have a shot of Ros at the enquiry talking to Lord Archer but it came out a little grainy...hence the graffiti, which has nothing to do with kayaking, the enquiry, Star Wars nor World Towel Day...I do however hope that you like it and it has made YOUR day;)






(C) JPT 2007.........1500.80 miles

World Towel Day 2007

Me with my towel today...Richmond Park.

Ros of Arabia with her towel today...Kidderminster, UK.

So here are a couple of towel pics from me Jason & my good friend Ros from Kidderminster, UK. The pic of me is my third in a row for towel day...with my trusty 80's Hitchhiker towel that my Bro brought back from Forbidden Planet when he used to work there back then...The late great DNA even came in the store one afternoon and did a book signing when my brother was there.
Thought I might hide my face this time as I kinda felt like it if you know what I mean. The moment called for it and I shall never look back. I did not get any strange looks from any passers by and felt quite 'Normal' running backwards and forwards from camera to sitting posistion across the fallen tree that I made my home for ten minutes during yesterday afternoons trip around Richmond Park in West London. And as Ros said...'I am just a big plum coloured pile of fungi growing out from a tree trunk.'

As for Lady Ros of Kiddy...she was only to happy to show off her wonderful smiling face and did so by wrapping 'Lawrence of Arabia' style her precious towel around it...framing the whole cheeky lot with so much soft cotton that one could cry with happiness at the sight!

Remember folks..."Don't Panic!"

Jason






(C) JPT 2007.........

"From Death Row with Love"

My one perfect arm...


What easier way in could there be?

And I still do it...

It'll be alright Jason. This stuff that we give you is some kind of a miracle drug. Just been delivered from across the sea...far far away. Collected and saved just for you and your profusely bleeding brothers & sisters. It's nice isn't it. Look how clear the liquid is inside the pretty little glass bottles. Shimmering under the hospital lights like a minute ocean filled with the most precious & rare pearls. These will make you smile again...gone will be the days & nights where you cry like a baby whenever you move. Gone will be the times when you feel like stabbing yourself in the ankle to relieve some of the pain. And gone too are all those times when you wished you were dead.
You can keep the flip-off lids from the bottles and play with them...like draught pieces. Aren't they just so cool. And the little butterflies with their beautiful brightly coloured wings. And just look at the size of those syringes. When you have finished with them you can rinse them out and play in your garden with your Sisters and squirt water at them. The Summers just won't be the same anymore. You're such a lucky lucky boy.
Just keep filling yourself up with this stuff and all will be well again...I can assure you of that. Don't worry about running out, as the kind Men & Women from across the otherside of the ocean are all too willing to give you more of their beautiful blood. They even take blood from each other and use the same needles so all you little boys and girls don't run out of yours. And they get paid for it to...pocket money for sweets, cigarettes and various other things that make them feel wonderful while they are helping you. One of them was a thief...another a violent drug dealer. There was even a murderer and a rapist...all trying to help you...to save you...along with my fellow medical colleagues.

Repeat after me children..."We thank the medicoes"



Jason


'Ian Kevin Curtis R.I.P. Walk In Silence'






(C) JPT 2007.........1463.45 miles

"The Agony & the Bloody Ecstasy"

Butterflies entwined...

My BMX bike is in the shed...It is three o'clock in the morning and all I want is to die!

Blood begins to simmer into some kind of semi-controllable frenzy...eventually erupting over into a much less manageable boil! I want to bite through my tongue and chew it off just to see if the pain in my arm will go away, maybe letting a little blood out in the process that has taken up residence in my elbow. Wrappers of various penetrating paraphinalia flutter down to the well worn carpet of this sickening room. I fumble helplessly with tiny glass bottles and razor sharp needles! Sordid thoughts of sawing through flesh & bone to relieve some of the agony push their way through my mind like a runnaway locomotive! Intent on a little relief from this intruding parasite...perfectly named pain!
As my heart beats faster & faster, threatening to burst it's volcanic hot contents all over the space in front of me, staining anything & everything. I can't get the tops off quick enough! Brave soldier...You're my brave soldier...such a brave brave soldier! The speed at which I work would become a blur to even the sharpest set of eyes. It hurts like hell though and I feel my teeth grinding each other flat! Why me I cry! What have I done to deserve this? The boiling hot iron filled liquid squeezes through absolutely every available nook & cranny...every fibre & capilary...ripping out minute fragments of my ever so precious cartilage!
On goes the hollow hair thin tube...razor sharp at one end and attatched to a syringe at the other. Putting this stuff together kills me and all I want to do is find a hole and fall head first into it...hitting the sides as many times as I can before I eventually reach the bottom with a gigantic thump! But there isn't one...there never is. The only hole I get to see is a tiny pin prick of a hole that I make in my numb & abused vein that sticks out like a starving leech...hungry for food...squirming for sustenance...pleading for plasma. The cooling effects of this deliberately spilled liquid is instant. Pushed and pulled and pushed some more...fuck the bubbles! It's all good stuff today. The hiss of cooling blood deafens the ears of brave young boys & girls alike. I feel like floating off to somewhere nice. Somewhere to recover from this pain induced exhaustion. My brow is wet from sweat...my throat is dry and tight! I feel dizzy with the euphoric ecstasy that now flows steadily through my tiny network of almost beaten veins.
Now there is time to relax a little...let myself go a little...maybe I can cry now? My jaw becomes loose again and all is simmering once more. I swallow and close my eyes. Gone are dreams of unscrewing my elbow joint and tossing it away in the trash. Gone also is that unbearable & frightening feeling of arms exploding...oh how I wish it would...Just for a moment. I can sleep again now can't I Mummy? Can you hold my arm a while until I fall asleep? I'd hold it myself but I don't think it likes me very much. I hate this being brave! Brave soldiers? I'm not a brave soldier! I'm just a little boy with a very bad bleed! Thats all.



Jason






(C) JPT 2007.........1420.49 miles

"Tablet Shaped Boy"

Made of chalk...

Time flies when you are having fun they say.........

So used to swallowing these little blocks of compacted chalk powder & various other chemicals everyday for what seem like and in actual fact are years...I reckon that if you looked at me from space through a telescope I would look just like a giant tablet. And if I ran into and right through a brickwall, then the shape left behind in the wall would almost certainly be in the form of a perfectly shaped tablet! I swear that once when I was riding my bike through Richmond Park at great speed, a little boy looked up at his Mum and said "Mummy, Why is that big tablet riding a bike?'
My throat is tablet shaped too, stamped with a series of numbers & letters all the way down into my fizzy pill shaped stomach...SQV-500...GILEAD 4331-300...ACV-200...DS-100...SUSTIVA...If I bothered to look in the loo after a good dump, me thinks it may well be full of perfectly formed pills...all ready to go back in the cupboard;)
Also, my eyes are shaped like tablets.....the reflection in the mirror tells me so. A girl once told me that I had Lovely tablets.

My heart has this uncanny knack of being able to mimic the dimensions of a pill as it finds it's way down through the various stages that it goes through in order to deliver it's much needed medicine into my body very well...
...In goes a mouthful of different shaped tablets of many different colours. Pills & capsules along with the tiniest swig of water...already the size of them are changing...dissolving, as my heart reduces in size as the blood red pumping muscle releases blood to the rest of my body, the tablet has begun to dissolve & break up as it takes it's turn to do the very same thing by way of disintegration.
Then as my heart increases in size again....a new batch of blood having found it's way into my heart to keep me alive....the ingredients of the tablet have filled my belly with fizz and start to distribute important chemicals around my infected body and do the same thing. Then not long after the tablet has gone.....in goes another one, heart back to it's normal size, filled back up with fresh blood again. The container of tablets in the cupboard has an excited look on it's face......Me next! Me next!

Then we come to my brain. My brain isn't much I have to admit, but I do need it nevertheless and it does do a good job of helping me remember things like when to take my tablets and when to re-set my alarm on my mobile for my next batch of tablets & birthdays and things like that (mostly...although more often than not, my brain and it's memory section are all but dust). My brain has this job to carry out every single day of it's life! I don't think it has been damaged yet.....as far as I know. There isn't a blood test yet to tell. But one thing I do know.......My brain is tablet shaped just like everything else about me. My whole life has been shaping this way for a very long time. Not just any old tablets either, like vitamins and paracetamol, but real tablets that are sometimes quite poisonous and mostly life saving...Mostly!

What then, must my liver look like? What kind of god awful shape has that slippery wet lump turned itself into? She has been good to me though and I have been good to her. I know she doesn't like certain things passing between her lips but I am afraid I have to force feed her some of those ingredients so as to keep us healthy. I know from reading the information leaflets that come with my HIV drugs that she doesn't like some of them, but she doesn't tell me....not out loud she doesn't anyway....she tells the doctors at the Royal Free Hospital when I'm not looking. She kind of leaves these special signals in my blood that the doctor steals with a speshial blood extractor from the miles of veins hidden just below the surface of my skin. She has been photographed by the best medical paparazzi in the world. I didn't see the pics.....I looked the other way and thought of Enid Blyton's Mary Mouse. Happy thoughts.
Up until recently she was ill but I nursed her back to good health with all these tiny injections and more pills! She seems to be all better again now. She is a very precious part of my life and I am so happy she has got better. This doesn't mean I can treat her like normal though.....I still have to take special care of her.....so take special care of her I shall . Did you know that she is the largest organ in my body? The larger they are.....the harder they fall!

Look after it!



Jason






(C) JPT 2007.........1403.09 miles

Sex and Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll...

Me shooting Ros!


Sex? Ok...maybe not the sex part. Sex? What is sex anyway? It sounds good! Am I missing something? I have heard about it...seen pictures etc...Anyway;)...But the rest...oh yes! Lots of drugs...as always plenty of drugs. I don't even think about them though. The automatic swallowing of my drugs come natural to me. As does the shooting up of my Factor VIII and my nightly painkillers. They're keeping me alive right? Nuff said! Swallow em...inject em and stay alive...so I do. And plenty of rock...Not Brighton rock either. Or your granite sort. More of your musical kinda rock. I am always listening to my music...in the bath soaked in sweat...at my desk where my trusty apple mac is at...cycling around Richmond Park or some such similar place...and in my car...especially in my car. Nice and loud...heavy & quiet...soft & dark...short & long...angry & sad...happy & uplifting. That's my music...what rocks me baby!
So we come to the roll. Ok, I had a very nice roll for lunch today and know doubt another roll for lunch tomorrow...sausages with dijon mustard or ham & turkey with cranberry jam. Very tasty...very rolly, but not the sort of roll I am talking about in the title! Have you guessed yet? Ok I will tell you. Last night (Thursday) I executed...that's right, I executed my first ever kayak roll (eskimo roll) ever in the whole wide world! And I didn't even plan on doing it. It was my fourth time in the pool in four weeks and only the second time that I had actually tried it. The second and third visits to the pool in Ealing were just mucking around in the water going round and round all the others who can do rolls and thinking how Lovely it would be to do an eskimo roll myself one day. And then along came yesterday. Daisy was there...she was assisting me on my first real roll too. Waiting in her boat, ready to come over if I needed rescuing. I did too a few times...and from Lee and Ian. But then something clicked. Ian had finished with trying to show me and helped Lee instead. I managed a few 'Almost' rolls, but still not a roll! Daisy & I were alone now and instead of just mucking around in the pool, I decided to try again and again and again...sometimes three attempts before I whacked the bottom of my kayak to signal to Daisy to come rescue me. I was almost out of breath but Daisy was there when I needed her. I had taught her only the week before how to perform a rescue on someone in this way...what sort of things to look out for etc. She was brilliant and utterly trustworthy.
And then it happened! I did one! It was just after a few 'almost' rolls and two where I almost rolled onto the side of the pool! Dasiy was there waiting to come over and another kayaker was watching too. I said that I did one and he said that indeed I did. Then I told him that it was my first ever one. He congratulated me and said the drinks were on me. Daisy was smiling and knew that I had done one too. Lee & Ian missed it as they were practising together still. It's Lee's turn next...he's getting there too and it is only a matter of time before something clicks with him. Then I reckon Daisy will have to have a go.
I was elated from that moment on. I had about an hour left in the pool (out of 90 mins) and went off with Daisy & the others and tried to perfect it. I did around 10 in total and three of those were in a row...straight over again...upside down, then back up again. My shoulder hurt and one end of my paddle snapped off! It still worked ok, but I will need a new one. I must have wallopped it on the bottom of the pool...or on the side? I found the missing piece and kept it as a little trophy:) I'm not too bothered about the breakage as this gives me the perfect excuse to go and purchase a wonderful brand new Andrew Ainsworth paddle...the man who designed the Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet & armour:)
The real test will be to see if I can still do one next Thursday. I am pretty confident and keep doing the roll over in my head. Daisy, Lee & Ian will be there just in case I drown;)

Thursdays roll wasn't the only first that I have had recently. I had another one at the beginning of the week too. I was staying with my dear friend Ros for a few days up in Kidderminster. We both have 'Funny Blood'. She has vWd Type III (severe) and I Haemophilia 'A' severe and we took it upon ourselves to inject each other our Factor VIII (not at the same time if you were wondering;) Something we had never done before to another person. We had always wondered if we could do it...be alright...not kill them or fill them up with air bubbles and give them the bends or dig the needle right through the vein, elbow joint and into the table beneath. And the answer is yes we were fine:) It was a very special moment! First time in the vein and no air bubble insertion either. A first for both of us:) Her vein was much smaller than mine was. Mine is more like a leech compared. I was afraid of hurting her...she says that I didn't. I never felt a thing either. She sat down with her five pieces of kitchen paper and her dead straight arm and I stood up in the kitchen by the sink...Perfect shooters...the pair of us:)
I had a bloody wonderful time up there with Ros & her Hubby Ade. Did a bit of cycling too. They made me feel very welcome...Thanks guys:) Also Ros & I made some tasty cakes just before I went home again on Wednesday (chocolate & date Rice Krispy cakes), and I ate a couple just before I went into the swimming pool with my little wedge of orange that is my kayak. They must have helped...I like to think they did anyway;) Thanks Ros:)

So on to the photo...I don't have a photo of me doing an eskimo roll or my sausage baps, but I do have one of me injecting Ros her Factor VIII. I hope you don't mind me using it. It is a little wonky I know & I managed to chop the top of your head right off along with your Lovely hair;) (Better the hair than the air eh;) but I was busy concentrating between the air in the syringe, the look on your face for signs of the bends and what the camera was doing;)

So there you have it...a fully fledged Eskimo and a highly trained couple of phlebotomists:) The world is our oyster Ros;)


Jason...May the fourth be with you...






(C) JPT.........1329.69 miles.

My Cycling for April 2007...

On top of Hergest Ridge, Kington (nr Kidderminster)


Sunday 1st April 2007 & 12:30pmish on my Mums bike (see blog entry dated 1st April 07), RP, 14.53 miles, I didn't have my Cateye as my bike is in the shop for repairs. Dry, sunny and very warm and windy. Temp 16, wind 17. Total 923.92 miles.

Monday 2nd April 2007 @ 18:00pmish (Dessert Storm), RP, BP & Mark & Ria's (West Molsey) to feed cat, 28.68 miles, 2hrs 6 mins pedaling (out of 2hrs 28 mins total), very warm, dry & sunny, then dusk & dark, medium wind, av 13.5, max 26.9 mph, temp 18, wind 12. Total 952.60 miles...(563.3 miles since I got cateye)

Wednesday 4th April 2007 & 13:30ish....see blog dated today (Dessert Storm), LH, PH, HH, 20.46 miles, I ordered my new bike (2007's Kona "The King") from Nirvana cycles in Westcott just before my ride....£1800 down from £2000:), 2hrs 26 mins pedaling (out of 3hrs 27 mins total), sunny with a few clouds, warm with a cool breeze, av 8.3, max 37.3 mph, temp 10, wind 16. Total 973.06 miles...(583.8 miles since I got Cateye)

Friday 6th April 2007 @ 20:15pm, PH, HH on new bike (Double Decker/Elvis) with Lee, 9 miles, 1hr pedaling (out of 1hr 23 mins total), coldish, breezy, av 7.3, max 25, temp 7, wind 5. Total 982 miles...(582 miles since I got Cateye)

Saturday 7th April 2007 @ 18:00pm, BP on Elvis, 12.85 miles, 56 mins pedaling (out of 58 mins total), warm, no wind, av 13.7, max 22, temp 16, wind 5. Total 994.88 miles...(608 miles since I got Cateye)

Monday 9th April 2007 @ 16:00, Tow-path & BP, on Elvis, 21.62 miles, 1hr 40 mins pedaling (out of 1hr 45 mins total), warm, light breeze, av 13, max 24.5 mph, temp 16, wind 7. Total 1016.47 miles...(629.6 miles cycled since I got Cateye)

Tuesday 10th April 2007 @ 18:00pm, RP on Elvis, 17.20 miles, 1hr 17 mins pedaling (out of 1hr 29 mins total), warm, light breeze, av 13.4, max 24.1 mph, temp 17, wind 6. Total 1033.67 miles...(646.8 miles since I got Cateye)

Thursday 12th April 2007 @ 13:30pm ish with Daisy, Elvis, 7.81 miles, 51mins pedaling (out of 1hr 29 mins total), warm & sunny, light breeze, av 9.2, max 19.4 mph, temp 17, wind 7. Total 1040.48 miles...(654.6 miles since I got Cateye)

Friday 13th April 2007 @ 19:00pm with Lee, Elvis, 27.42 miles, 1hr 58 mins pedaling (out of 2hrs 21 mins total), warm, sunny-dusk-dark, light breeze, av 13.9, max 25.8 mph, temp 15, wind 4. Total 1067.90 miles...(682.0 miles since I got Cateye)

Saturday 14th April 2007 @ 09:45am with Angela (WW), Elvis, 30.50 miles, RP, Thames tow-path from BP, 2hrs 23 mins pedaling (out of 3hrs 45 mins total), very warm & sunny, light breeze, av 12.7, max 27.9 mph, temp 18, wind 3. Total 1098.40 miles...(712.6 miles since I got Cateye)

Monday 16th April 2007 @ 16:30, Elvis, 20.24 miles, RP, 1hr 20 mins pedaling (lap of RP (Tamsin Trail) @ 29 mins 8 secs), very warm with light breeze, av 15, max 28.4 mph, temp 23, wind 6. Total 1118.64 miles...(732.8 miles since I got new Cateye)

Wednesday 18th April 2007 @ 12:00pm with Jac on DS and I on Elvis, 24.18 miles, RP & tow-path to Kingston, 2hrs 13 mins pedaling (out of about 5hrs total), warm & sunny, light wind, av 10.8, max 28.2 mph, temp 14, wind 8. Total 1142.82 miles...(757 miles since I got new Cateye)

Friday 20th April 2007 @ 18:50pm with Lee, Elvis, 25.48 miles, RP x two laps...clock off road & anti on Tamsin, 1hr 57 mins pedaling (out of 2hrs 29 mins total), cool with light wind, av 13, max 25.6 mph, temp 11, wind 10. Total 1168.30 miles...(782.5 miles since I got new Cateye)

Saturday 21st April 2007 @ 09:10am, Elvis, Met Angela (WW) at BPTT and went to RP along the tow-path, 24.56 miles, 2hrs 3mins pedaling (out of 3hrs 35 mins total), warmish with light breeze, av 11.9, max 26.8 mph, temp 12, wind 5. Total 1192.86 miles...(807 miles since I got new Cateye)

Sunday 22nd April 2007 @ 13:30pm, Elvis, 11.85 miles, Tedd Lock to Kingston...Mums by road, then to Twick riverside then home by road, 59 mins pedaling (out of 1hr 10 mins total), warm & breezy, av 11.9, max 26.1 mph, temp 21, wind 11. Total 1203.71 miles...(818.9 miles since I got new Cateye)

Monday 23rd April 2007 @ 18:00pm, Elvis, 20.67 miles, RP, 1hr 26 mins pedaling (out of 1hr 45 mins total), cool & light breeze, av 14.3, max 33.7 mph, temp 12, wind 7. Total 1224.38 miles...(839.6 miles since I got new Cateye)

Tuesday 24th April 2007 @ 14:00pm, Elvis, To Tarns for lunch with Millie & Mum...then Daisy, 6.42 miles (got puncture on way home...had to walk 1 1/4 mile, warm, av 9.7, max 22.5 mph, temp 17, wind 9. Total 1230.80 miles...(846.1 miles since I got new Cateye)

Wednesday 25th April 2007 @ 16:30pm with Angela (WW), Swinley Forest, 9.41 miles, 1hr 22 mins pedaling (out of 2hrs 17 mins total), warm & sunny, no wind, av 6.8, max 25.3 mph, temp 16, wind 8. Total 1240.21 miles...(855.5 miles since I got Cateye)

Friday 27th April 2007 @ 18:45pm, 26.25 miles, RP x two times, Lee & Ian, light-dusk-dark, warmish, light breeze, 2hrs 5 mins pedaling (out of 3hrs 34 mins total), av 12.6, max 26.7 mph, temp 16, wind 8. Total 1266.46 miles...(881.8 miles since I got Cateye)

Monday 30th April 2007 @ 12:00pm ish, 9.30 miles, Kington on Elvis (Ros was waiting in the town), sunny and warm, strong wind coming back over the hill from Gladestry, 1hr 2 mins pedaling, av 9.5, max 32.1 mph. Total 1275.76 miles...(891.10 miles since I got Cateye)



Jason





(C) JPT.........1275.76 miles