The Daily Splash

A friend of the Daily Splash has pointed me in the direction of his interesting blog about his quest for fitness for timetrialling:

What is Project 4 Cycling?

In August 2011, I entered my first cycling time-trial. In fact, at the age of 38, it was my first cycling race of any kind. I did better than expected and better than anyone in my cycling club expected. I won a prize. I was the fastest “B Group” rider.

Proud as I am of my ride, I’m aware that I am the tallest man in Lilliput, so to speak. The fastest “A Group” rider finished 4 minutes faster than me. But there was a huge difference between us from the start, not least in the difference between his lovely TT bike and my battered commuter. But that got me thinking, what is the difference between us? Can I bridge the gap?

And that’s where the idea for this challenge and project came from. The challenge is simple: Be four minutes faster over the same course in 12 months time. The project is to figure out how that can be done without dedicating my life to it.

2 today!

Having discussed the downside of parenting below the Daily Splash is in a mood to recognise the upside this week. Having spent Sunday afternoon with Bertie in one hand a beer in the other and with the Test match on one screen and football on the other it all didn’t seem too bad. This should be the shape of things to come in an ideal world.

After waiting nearly a year for the bike frame to arrive from Storck in Germany we now find it hasn’t actually been machined to the correct size and doesn’t allow the wheel to be fitted.  The drop out should be slightly over 10mm but it appears it is slightly less, enough less to be too narrow for the axle stub to fit it.

Having passed through anger in about February the only reaction was resignation as yet another summer slipped by.

Now planning bike routes for summer 2015 as it might all be finished by then.

The Daily Splash was embarrassed this week when a free car valet almost turned into a disaster. Flora’s car seat had been in position for so long that it was practically glued to the car with various chunks of partly-chewed biscuit and chocolate and required intervention with a newly aquired power tool to remove.

In fact recently the latest MOT at Seat had been unable to test the rear seatbelts  properly due to a hardened plug of semi-chewed millionaires shortbread stuck in the mechanism.

Flora has now promised to be more careful but one suspects that only the actual threat of being put to work on cleaning the upholstery of chocolate on a regular basis will do the trick.

While having a first child was wonderful, elating, adrenalising and to be honest didn’t really affect our lifestyle too much, having a second is all of those things but add exhausting, tiring and knackering. One thing for it:

[As an aside it is worth noting that when Flora was 8 weeks old she had been the subject of approximately 8000 photographs, albeit not all of them worthy of publication....Poor Bertie has probably a 10th of that number. Too much time spent taking pics of espresso-making...]

The Daily Splash suffered a further embarrassing incident this week on only the second day in the new house – getting locked in the loo. It was only on attempting to leave the bathroom that it became apparent that the door handle was broken and no amount of jiggling wriggling wiggling or waggling  would release it. Even when they could stop chuckling and focus on the job in hand both mother-in-laws were unable to facilitate a dignified exit.

Fortunately just as the Daily Splash was preparing to self- defenestrate his wife picked the lock with an old paper clip. phew.

This had unforseen consequences however, as since then the house occupants have been carrying their phones everywhere. Unfortunately to date this has resulted in one phone dropped in the loo and one into a tin of paint (loo phone dead, paint phone seems to have survived up to now…). Definitely a case of chaos theory in action.