Bend & Stretch

Hmmmm

Aside from a few cycle commutes early December I seem to have temporarily fallen out of love with my bike? The recent cold weather plus the siren call of cake haven't helped much either. Still, I've got my Addiscombe Cycling Club (ACC) darts matches to help keep me fit (darts is a sport isn't it?).

More importantly, I've been secretly going to weekly Pilates classes since November. This is a class I helped to organise for ACC. We meet every week and Adam, our wonderful teacher, puts us all in a world of worthy pain. It's great fun, helps with building core strength, helps with balance and makes me think much more about posture and poise than I've ever done before (I'm the one on the left in the photo - yeah right!). This is Adam's website http://pilates-balance.com/ why not take a look and perhaps go along to a class or two yourself? I think you'll like it.

Snoop

New Year Cheez - Who Needs It?

Spent a wonderful December 31st celebrating Keira's birthday. Yummy heart shaped cake made by Holly (Keira's cousin) and, of course, pass the parcel.

Late afternoon saw us blasting off for Southsea where cake number 2, also heart shaped but this time made by the lovely Donna, was eagerly consumed.

10pm and several beers later it's off to Age's place to celebrate......his birthday. DJ sets in the kitchen, dear friends, hugs, kisses and more beer. Midnight came and went. Around 2am (I think) Mark and Age played and sang for the masses. Tuneful, melodic, great fun. Stupidly Mark then handed me his geetar and we went down down down as the flames went higher. I doubt if Portsmouth Prison Blues or Rock the Casbah has ever been sung faster, louder, raucouser?? More country cheez, 80s guff and to be honest, I forget where we finished. I vaguely remember getting to bed around 5.30.....sorry if yer ears are still buzzing, blinder!

What do a great customer experience, finance and happy accidents have in common?

I hope you won't be surprised to learn......it's cycling (well duhhh).

As you know, I commute by bike into London when I can. Well today, I had to resort to the train (booo).

When I got to the station the newspaper guy spotted me coming and already had my paper ready. I haven't seen him for weeks. That proactive service gave us a few seconds to talk. We talked about working over Christmas, he suggested I cycle in on the days he is closed (well he can't sell me a paper when he's not open). We wished each other a Happy Christmas. I also bought two other things (unplanned). Good work newspaper guy.

I saw this letter in The Independent a while back:

"For Sale. Economic cycle. Stabilisers fitted. Quick release wheels. Derailleur gearing." Sent in by Rod Danton of Wingham, Kent. Hilarious!!

On a recent ride into work, my bike picked up a piece of glass and pssssss, bye bye front tyre. Changed the tube and carried on. Result was I arrived at work about 20 minutes later then planned. As I walked into the office in my finest lycra wear, who should I bump into?? None other than triple Beijing Olympic gold medal winner and hero of mine, Chris Hoy!! I came over all starstruck as we talked all too briefly. If I hadn't caught that flat, I'd have missed him. Best puncture I ever had.

Cheers - Snoop

Sensory Overload

The Snoop family took another visit to the Tate Modern last Thursday night, this time to see the Mark Rothko and Cildo Meireles exhibitions.

Tate Modern is such an exciting place to visit, right from the moment you set foot into the vastness of the Turbine Hall you just know something exciting awaits. Last night was no exception.

Mark Rothko once stated "If a thing is worth doing once, it is worth doing over and over again - exploring it, probing it, demanding by its repetition that the public look at it." I think we all know how that feels. For me, it's about translating the monotony of each and every pedal stroke into a fluid, collaborative series of motions building to a flat out crescendo at the finish of the time trial. What does it mean to you?

The nature of Rothko's comment feels almost like his undoing? So many have since imitated his bold, powerful style that on first look, I couldn't help but think "what's all the fuss about?" These vast blocks of colour felt quite remote, although some of the combinations of orange and red vibrated and stood out from the crowd. I confess I had to work hard to overcome my prejudice before enjoying the scale of his later work. Rothko exhibition is on until February 1 2009.

I had no prior knowledge of Cildo Meireles. What an immersive experience. Meireles work is highly interactive and we are encouraged to literally enter into the pieces. About his work, Cildo says "My work aspires to a condition of density, great simplicity, directness, openness of language and interaction." We had loads of fun exploring and playing with this exhibition. Rolling balls across the floor, balancing stuff, crunching glass beneath our feet, rustling through a forest of plastic rulers whilst endless clocks ticked away. We marvelled at a huge sculpture of radios, hissing and playing hypnotically. We lost ourselves in a red living room and we wished it was ours.

For us, Cildo was the star of the show. His exhibition is only on until January 11, so if you have some time over Christmas, why not pay a visit? Great fun.

Cheers - Snoop

New Art Riot

Mrs Snoop and I visited the Saatchi Gallery recently to see "New Art From China". A fascinating exhibition of…..new artists from China (maybe you were expecting something else?). A completely mixed bag of styles and emotions. We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition which is housed in the new Saatchi Gallery at Duke of York Square just off Kings Road. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/new_art_from-china.htm Admission is free, though I don't know how much longer the exhibition runs for.

If you find yourself in London this is definitely worth a look, and the mojitos in Caffe Fratelli over the road aren't bad either.

Cheers - Snoop

velopaint rocks!

This is a photo I took of the T Mobile team in the Tour of Britain London stage in 2006. I think this is one of my better attempts to capture the excitement of cycle racing. I received an email from an Addiscombe Cycling Club mate exiled in Chicago earlier this week. Turns out he used this photo to inspire a painting!!

If you want to see the result, then go to http://velopaint.blogspot.com/2008/10/magenta.html and check it out for yourself.

Cool

Good, and not good enough

Here are the cycling goals I set myself at the end of last year for the 2008 season.

“Come on then......let's 'ave it.

1 - PB in a 10 mile TT

2 - PB in a 25 mile TT

3 - PB in a 50 mile TT

4 - PB in a 100 mile TT

5 - Complete SCCU BAR

6 - PB in a 12hr TT

7 - Equal my PB of helping/marshalling at least four events (again)

8 - PB on the Bec CC Hill Climb (Again! Have I learnt nothing this year?)

9 - Keep the Yellow, Black & White flying over The Rawson Shield (team effort y'all)”

So – how did I fare?

1 – new 10 mile PB by 2 minutes (was 27min 37, now 25.43)

2 – new 25 mile PB by 6 minutes (was 1hr 11.10 now 1.04.50)

3 – new 50 mile PB by 4 minutes (was 2.26.37 now 2.22.38)

4 – new 100 mile PB by 20 minutes (was 5.30.43 now 5.10.43)

5 – completed the SCCU BAR knocking 24 minutes 54 seconds off my 2007 time

6 – Seriously, did I say I was going to do a 12 hr TT???!!! Nope - after my mid season unwellness there was no way this was gonna happen so I bottled it and went to Disneyland instead. Smart move.

7 – Job done, in some style if I might say

8 – after a rough night in hospital with a sick daughter, I did not make it to the start line. She’s much better and at least I avoided suffering up that damn hill.

9 – Oh yes, team ACC nailed it!

I've had a weird year. Great winter training and early season form, knocked for six after I stupidly knackered my shoulder in May whilst doing the gardening (it’s still not right). PBd in every race I finished bar just one, and I won the handicap in the Southern Counties 10. The one and only event I didn't PB in also happened to be the one I enjoyed the most largely due to the fact that I rode it intelligently (yes honest) and finished all the way up there in mid table mediocrity, a place I could only dream about in 2007. I should feel much more satisfied with these results yet my fading form has left me frustrated.

Thanks to Super Toks (again) for getting me to write down my goals and huge thanks to Richard Viney. Without his help, advice and a worrying willingness to inflict pain on me I'd never have made such consistent improvements. I’m sure I can go much faster in 2009. Need to get back to some training and a few sharper targets.