Right at the roundabout

Greetings true believers! The training goes well, I managed to get a couple of sessions on the stationary bike in whilst in Dublin. Kept things ticking over nicely for todays Bataan Death March onto the SD. Deadly chose a different way today, out towards Arundel which was a truly momentous moment.

Let me tell you why.

For those of you who haven't yet gathered I live in a Seaside town called Worthing, which is OK but you have to always put "near Brighton" whenever anyone asks you where it is. Amy and I met while I lived in Hove, but we had to move to Farnham for a while but we always wanted to move back to Hove. Indeed, my daughter was born at the Royal Sussex and is therefore a Brightonian by birth.

Worthing, in my snobbish mind, was basically a bland giant care home punctuated by the occasional Burberry check of Otto Von Chav. However it was much cheaper than Hove and would be a be a good base for us to find somewhere in Brighton or Hove, whilst enjoying the lower prices. Consequently I never really bothered to get to knew the place before we moved or since, but I knew two key facts; that it was near Brighton, and that it was where Oscar Wilde wrote "The Importance of Being Earnest".

During my 1st week here I discovered other key facts;

The cinema is shit
The pubs are shit
The shopping is shit
The restaurants are shit
My son is a Porkbolter*
Old people on motorised Invalid Carriages are bastards
*People from Worthing are called Porkbolters

However, it didn't bother me as soon I would be returning as the prodigal son to Brighton, right?

Wrong, Mr C, very, very wrong.

Thanks to the collapse in house prices and the current economic environment, one thing has become clear for many people around the country:

I hope you like your house, you're not going anywhere else for a while.

So suddenly, I began to realise that Worthing has some pretty nice things going for it;

I can buy fish off the boat
I can buy a seriously white pair of Reeboks
There is a really friendly MTB Club















I can go kite surfing (eventually)
I can stroll by the sea

The South Downs are beautiful!!















One other strange thing is that the magnet towards Brighton has weakened, and i now have to accept that i live in Worthing, not Brighton - which also means i have to turn right at the roundabout. I found there is a Sainsburys, and a NEW part of the SD!!!















I picked up the Steed from Darren at Quest at 10AM today, shining like a new pin with some new parts that are more reliable. Apparently they will also save me 300g in weight. Well bloody hell, I reckon I can save 3kg by having a big dump. (Thats also free not £150 sterling).

Holy Shheeeeaaat! The mud god shined on us today, the bastard.














As you can see from previous ramblings we have recently had snow, and snow melts and creates mud. which is very draining on energy, as obviously you are having to lay down some power to get through which is knackering.















I ran out of steam quite badly, so I need to learn how to fuel for these rides so my muscles have sufficient stores. It was lucky that we stopped at Hikers on the A24 for a Sausage Roll or I would have collapsed, but 3rd ride out today and this was the toughest. Hopefully now my body will now start to adapt to the stresses placed on it and get fitter.

Body, please hurry up.

The other thing that happened is that my shorts decided to give up the ghost to day and split in half, by the time I got home I was wearing a skirt. Good look.

El Steederino was caked in mud by the end, so I got Spike to work on it, he did a good job too. Had too as I wouldn't let him in until it was squeaky clean!















But another 20 miles cracked today at ave 7mph, getting better. Getting stronger.

Have my 1st night ride of the season on Tuesday, which will be a laugh -

Rock on!