Went to the Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester. Had a smashing time. We won lots of medals. Many truly awesome performances, by British and visiting riders.
Next year the world championships are being held in Manchester.... I just might go....

We have passed the middle of February and the weather is being as unpredictable. I cycled to work once this week and once last week. I am planning on slowly building up to do it more often. My first attempt was in -7 degrees, this week it was a much more balmy 5 degrees or so. Whichever way you look at it I made it! There certainly is a lot of satisfaction in it. And it's nice to cycle to go somewhere, rather than in ever increasing circles. It also has the advantage that it gets the exercise in when I otherwise wouldn't/couldn't.
Next major thing for me is the World Cup at Manchester Velodrome. I think this is the fourth of these events that I have been to, and after only doing one day last year I am going for the full three days this time. As ever I am really looking forward to it and a few folk I know are riding. So Go Kate and Go James!!!!

This is my friend John. He is a proper cyclist.....

New Year has been and gone, it has been a while since my last post.
Tragically much of my good work on the weight loss front from the last few months of 2006 was undone again over christmas. Just need to get meself back on track.
I have acquired a MXR EVH117 Flanger, which is also stripey.
I have been out on my bike this year, and have rebuilt the back wheel. So hopefully an improvement in the weather will enable the cycle commuting to commence.
And if I can do that a couple of times a week that will be good exercise.Everything has gone rather quiet on the boat front, but it is the off season, so not entirely surprising. Did get out for a sail on New Years Day though 8~)

And lo time has rolled on yet further, the sailing season is now over.
I went to a jam session in Yorkshire which was smashing fun all round.
And I might have added a Boss NS-2 to the pedalboard...
And mibbe a PS-5 too....
Possibly with the Roland EV-5 expression pedal... (Although technically it isn't on the board as I ran out of space)... tee hee.....
I also replaced a couple of leads with the George L's, and wired the new ones in with the same...
Another couple of daisy chains mean everything is now powered by the One-spot, except the Robot Ring Modulator which is on batteries (no power socket, and no free spots on the PSU!)
The Pitch Shifter is after the robot at the front of Loop B with all the modulation pedals, and the Noise Suppressor has all the 'preamp' pedals (including the compressor, wah and graphic equaliser) in it's loop and it's 'in' and 'out' are connected to the loop A 'send' and 'return' of the Line Selector. The only pedals in front of the LS-2 are the the UFO which doesn't like being after buffered pedals, followed by the tuner and the volume pedal.

And we trundle on towards winter. 'twas bluddy cold this morning I'll tell you....
Nothing much else happening to be honest.
Some better sailing winds, still some lightish conditions, but not the drifting of a month or so ago.
We did have one cracking day with a big long reach, planing all the way... tee hee...
Went to the first Revolution meeting at the Manchester velodrome, which was cool. My friend Marco took his bow from international racing, which is sad but everyone has to give up eventually....
So I've got the next Rev meeting to look forward to and a jam session with some friends in Yorkshire at the end of November.... which i'm well looking forward to.

After a few weeks of frustrating light winds I was all set to give it a miss if today looked like being more of the same. I usually do reasonably well in light winds, it's just there isn't much of that there excitement involved.
So when I trundled up to the sailing club things were looking quite promising, around a top end force three with a lot of gusts about. So around the appointed time headed out for the first race. Lots of planing around before the start (wahey!) and then as we start the race........ it all mysteriously disappeared. The course involved a leg which involved sailing in the lee of an island, which threw up the usual unpredictability in strength and direction involved. So all in all rather frustrating with none of the planing about I was hoping for.
As we broke for lunch I was in serious danger of giving the remaining two races a miss but then lo and behold when I got back to the shore the wind picked up again... Appeared to be something to do with the big black clouds hanging aboot....
So having monitored the situation over lunch, seeing as wot the wind was still up, I headed out for the next race. A bit of a delay at the jetty meant I missed the prep signal and didn't have a time on the start, thus winging it would be in order. Kept an eye on the other boats and formed up on the line.... unfortunately a bit close to the line....
Thus had to do a quick u turn and recross the start line. Naturally there was a big gust hit me at this point making things a bit hairy 8~)
Anyhoo, course was a bit more to my liking this time with a cracking long reach diagonally across the loch. Much planing and spray flying, Yay! Did some death rolls on the run but somehow survived without wiping out the committee boat and race officers. Didn't do fantastically well but had good fun and was completely knackered....
This time I remembered to bring a water bottle with me so no dehydration.
The last race was a slightly shorter course but still a couple of promising legs. The wind was up and down, with a few nice planes. Exhaustion and a slightly sore knee meant I did pretty crap again but hey, it was great fun!

Hello.... It's been a wee while...
Had a good sail at the sailing club today. A three race day. The wind was up and down and shiting all over the place, which isn't unusual for the castle loch. The main difference from the usual experience was the size of the ups... The gusts were getting pretty vicious.
The first race was ok but not outstanding, I think I was fifth on handicap in the end. We had a break between the first and second races and when we went out again the wind had eased considerably....
By the time we came to the start the wind had picked up again, and was variable throughout the race. I managed to clock myself on the head before the start which wasn't ideal, but the race was ok. I think I was second in this one. Which is nice.....
The third race was preceded by another vicious increase in the wind. I was getting a bit tired and dehydrated so I headed for shore after one lap...
All in all it was a pretty satisfying, as I feel my performance was ok at this stage in proceedings.