To the End

Song: La Roux - Bulletproof

Game: Virtua Tennis 3
DVD: American Dad

This weekend, I took up a challenge my Art Editor proposed to me, a 100 mile bike ride to Marlborough and back in 2 days. It was for a charity and all the money raised was going to a cystic fibrosis charity group. A challenge I eventually accepted after a few months of negotiating, I got a cover out of the deal, haha.

So the day came it was 9:30 and it started off alright, just down the canal path I usually take to work, John was struggling to keep up with the rest (Due to not riding for 6 years and also just recovering from Swine Flu) but he kept on battling through to the next stop. I wasn't finding the bike ride hard, but was finding keeping up with the front runners hard, the gap between me and them was getting bigger and bigger the further we went but they would always wait for the people at the back at certain junctions, so they got a break as we caught up.

If we thought the canal paths was hard, we was in for a treat later on. On the later routes, they were hell, just hills after hills. They were painful, went as far as I could but in the end, had to push the bike up the last bits, it was quicker pushing the bike up than actually riding it in first gear. After around 6 hours of cycling (including all the stops and lunch break) we arrived at the camp site, never been so happy in my life, my arse was so sore that it felt like I was in prison for a week, back was aching, legs were weak, and just overall exhausted. We spent the night at this camp site, had plenty of food and drinks and chilled out before the journey home.

Sunday came, early wake up call, made by the rain. Had some breakfast and was all set to go, then it started pouring with rain again, I can see this was going to be a lot tougher than the journey here, due to the wet conditions. At around 11, we set off for the second leg, and went through the forest, was quite nice route this was. With John not doing the second leg, I was at the back, struggling to keep up with everyone. As we reached the hill section of the route, It started to rain again which made it ever so much harder to climb up it. I was on my third Snickers bar by then, needed it to give me the energy, after about 2 hours and many curse words used, the hills were over.

As we got back onto the canal path, it was muddy, very muddy. At first, I tried to avoid as many puddles as possible but in the end, it was losing battle. I was covered in mud, from back to front. shoes was wet and shorts were brown now. Probably should of got some mud flaps for the bike, arse was getting wet and was starting to get uncomfortable, but I had to battle on. The return trip home seemed a lot quicker, and as we arrived at Bradford-Upon-Avon, we knew the end was in site. Was going to be around 30 minutes ride and we bomb it back to the finishing line, I sense we was nearly there and found some energy from somewhere for the final straight. We arrived at the George in Bathampton and it was over, pints are in, and my bed is in distance.

It was a challenge, and I achieved it. So I'm pretty happy about that. Until next year.

The riders at the start in Bath

Down the canal path, we encountered many things

During one of many breaks we took

Waiting for the rain to stop on day 2

The forest route was good fun

There were many hills on this ride, some more painful than this one

A quick rest before setting off again

Arrived back at the George

We've finished the ride, and covered in plenty of mud

Year Zero

Song: Rick James - Give it to me baby

Game: 1 Vs 100
DVD: American Dad

Update on my website. New logo, just because I felt it needed freshening up a bit. Also some new pieces of work on there. There will be more work put up onto the site very soon.

Zerothreeten Website

Parklife

Song: Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dance Floor

Game: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
DVD: Total Recall

Finally, the wait is over. After they decided to take a break and do their own things. (Damon - Gorillaz, Mali Music, Monkey. Graham - Solo Albums. Dave - Politics. Alex, Writing and Cheese) I didnt think they would ever get back together, but it really really could happen, and it did. They finally decided to get back together for a string of big gigs. The first one announced was this gig in Hyde Park.

Throughout the week, I was dreading the weather forcast, as it stated it was going to rain on Friday. As the big day finally came, it was still unclear what would happen, but thank the lord, the rain stayed away and the sun was out in its full glory. It was such a lovely day, exactly what we all wanted. The gig was good. Not amazing. But good. I think I probably built it up too much, like I normally do and left a tad bit disappointed. Nothing Blur did wrong, but probably because I expected too much. The fact the crowd were a bit boring where we were stood didn't help either, and also there was no spectacular fire work display, but then again, most indie bands don't really do that do they...? Im not saying I didnt enjoy the gig, because I loved it, the songs brought back many memories of many moments in my life. The sing-a-longs were also pretty awesome, and it was genuinely good seeing the full band up there on stage looking happy and enjoying themselves again. They played a blinding set from the hits to the more obscure album tracks. They showed tonight that they are back, and better than ever!

Highlights

1. Tender, 2. The Universal, 3. For Tomorrow, 4. Parklife, 5. Song 2

Blur, Hyde Park