sonic

Proof if ever it was needed that I am not a morning person (Although this was about half 11) and also that my haircut on Monday is long overdue.

tiny victories

Spent almost all day trying to set up my front wheel as tubeless again. With very little success-the maxxis is a bit baggy and needs a compressor to get it started and seat the bead :( After trying in vain for hours I finally threw in the towel. Then I was struck with an idea, remembering how tight the dry-x was on the rear I experimented a bit and got that tubeless using only a minipump! Admittedly it offers as much grip as a gran wearing slippers on an icy morning but I felt a quiet satisfaction in getting something tubeless. (I'll probably take it off tomorrow)

on the up

Walking back from my lesson noticed that people are starting to sit outside for coffees in the evening, mind you it is 21 degrees at 9 in the evening!....

Only a week away from my first wage in Spain, thank god. Also trying to sort out bikes and traveling for the SSUK in 2 weeks, tapped the original goon to borrow a 69er but meant to be taking Chops' rig, either will be awesome fun.

I'll leave you with Zardoz, never heard of it? No, me neither but was introduced to it today, anything with Sean Connery in that outfit must be good...

threads

Hmmm, can buy the retro 29er jersey now but not sure if I wouldn't prefer the black one? In fact I'd actually quite like an evil jersey ;)

endless

Went for a ride this morning, good to be out but had the Bonty dry X tyre on the rear and because it's been raining loads it felt like I was riding with a flat tyre, I found myself fighting it constantly - about as close as I'll ever get to speedway. Still fun and the first time I've got mud on the Ferrous this year but on a descent I unseated the front (tubeless) tyre and it burped all it's air out. Minipump proved useless so had to pull out the special rim strip and put an inner tube in. Not easy when there's stan spunk everywhere and the tube is a 26" one. To make matters worse I don't have my track pump here so I can't even set it up again as tubeless unless I borrow a shop's pump, which wouldn't be a problem except there's a section of rim without rim tape to allow the tubeless valve to sit properly and I'm worried I'll pinch the inner tube. Endless.

Rain? Here?

Sadly for our latest visitors, Carli and Zarka, the rain in Spain is mostly falling around our house :( Ah well at least there are plenty of bars and cultural treats to sample. Although the above picture demonstrates that even with stunning places like the Reina Sofia to visit and great weather my persistent picture taking can harden even the most laidback personality. At the moment I should really be finishing my English lesson plans but I'm easily distracted what with the cold and having not thrown a leg over the bike in almost a fortnight. Gonna go for a pedal tomorrow regardless of weather (amn't I a brave wee fellow?)

I've noticed that with 2 female guests at casa de carla the bathroom has taken on quite a different personality; rather than smelling 'bearable' and being slightly nausea inducing [clearly this is due to Carla's ablutions not my own] it now smells like the perfume counter at House of Fraser and contains enough cleaning products that we could open our own branch of Boots. Not that I'm complaining.

Had another proper Saturday and I'm starting to get used to it. Almost since I left school I've had a job where I had to work at weekends and to be honest I quite enjoyed it, I like being able to mooch about town when it's quiet through the week. However, since moving here I've had my weekends free and I'm getting a taste for it; seeing Carla during the day, going for rides with mates and generally just indulging in proper 'weekend' stuff has been cool.

In other news, G has been under the knife (finally!) only to find the floating bit of bone isn't an issue and they're gonna leave it there?! Isn't science woNDeRful? He *might* be fighting fit for the ssuk but I'm advocating a recover [drink] first, ride later policy- I just don't want the bastard lapping me with a gammy arm.

mebbes aye, mebbes no

Too lazy to post properly at the moment, look at my flickr for a photo diary. In the meantime I'm considering investing in this at somepoint...